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pursued by the late Registrar General, that is to say,
"by adding to the population as enumerated at the
last census a tenth of the difference between that
number and the number obtained at the previous
census for each year that has elapsed since the
last census, and a fortieth of that difference for
each odd quarter," is incorrect. It assumes an
arithmetical instead of a geometrical progression in
the increase of population.
Notwithstanding the trouble and expense involved
in numbering the people, it would be well,
having regard to the importance of obtaining accurate
vital statistics, which are necessarily based upon the
numbers of a living existent population, if the census
were taken in England every five years, as it is on
the continent. A knowledge of the movements and
distribution of populations, the recognition of the
rapid growth of new industrial centres, and of the
enlargement of old ones, of the continual influx
and efflux of persons to and from the larger towns,
and of the permanent drain by emigration, more
particularly in times like the present, is necessary
in order to ascertain each year the actual as distinct
from the natural increase of population, and to
determine with accuracy birth rates and death rates,
and the multiform questions arising out of them—
questions to statesmen, and to all who are charged