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An Act to amend the Acts of the last Session for taking Account of the Population.

[6 April 1841]

4 Vict. c.7

3 & 4 Vict. c.99. 3 & 4 Vict. c.100 Census to be taken on 7th June and following Days, instead of the 1st of July.	Whereas the Acts passed in the last Session of Parliament, intituled respectively An Act for taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain, and An Act for taking and Account of the Population in Ireland, require to be amended; be it enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That the Accounts required by the first-recited Act to be taken on Thursday the First Day of July shall be taken on Monday the Seventh Day of June, and if it be necessary on One or more of the Days then next following, instead of the First Day of July, and shall be Accounts of the living Persons who abode in the several Districts therein described on the Night of Sunday the Sixth Day of June, instead of Wednesday the Thirtieth Day of June; and the Accounts required by the same Act to be taken of houseless Persons, and of Persons travelling and on Ship-board, or who for any other Reason were not abiding in any House, shall also refer to the said Night of Sunday the Sixth Day of June, instead of Wednesday the Thirtieth Day of June; and the Accounts required by the Act secondly recited to be taken in the Month of July shall be taken on the Seventh Day of June, and, if it be found necessary, on One or more of the Days then next following.
Accounts to be verified in Scotland before 30th of June.	II. And be it enacted, That the Times to be appointed by the Sheriff Deputes or their Substitutes, and the Provosts or other Chief Magistrates of the Burghs, for the Assistance of the Schoolmasters and other Persons with their Returns, shall be not sooner than the Fifteenth Day of June and not later than the last Day of June in this Year, instead of the Times by the first-recited Act limited; and when such Returns shall be verified before a Justice of the Peace, as by the said Act in certain Cases is provided, the Schedule shall be transmitted to the Sheriff Deputes or their Substitutes before the last Day of June.
How Age shall be reckoned.	III. And be it enacted, That the Persons charged with taking the said Accounts shall not be required to ascertain the Age of any Person above the Age of Fifteen Years more nearly than is herein provided, nor shall any Person be liable to any Penalty for refusing to tell his or her Age to any Person so charged more nearly than is herein provided; and every Person aged Fifteen Years and not aged Twenty Years may be set down as Fifteen Years, and every Person aged Twenty Years and not aged Twenty-five Years may be set down as aged Twenty Years; and in like Manner the Age of every Person may be set down as that Multiple of Five Years which either expresses his or her real Age, or is next below his or her real Age.
Overseers, Relieving Officers, and Peace Officers bound to act as Enumerators.	IV. And be it enacted, That the Overseers of the Poor in every Parish, Township, and Place in England and Wales, and the Constables, Tithingmen, Headboroughs, or other Peace Officers for such Parishes, Townships, and Places, and the Relieving Officers in any Union formed under the Act for the Amendment and better Administration of the Laws relating to the Poor in England and Wales, shall be bound to act as Enumerators under the first-recited Act and this Act, within their respective Townships, Parishes, Unions, and Places, if required so to act by the Commissioners appointed under the first-recited Act; and every such Overseer, Relieving Officer, Constable, Tithingman, Headborough, and other Peace Officers, who shall refuse or wilfully neglect so to act and duly to perform the Duties required of the said Enumerators by the said Act as amended by this Act, shall for every such Offence forfeit a Sum not more than Ten Pounds or less than Five Pounds, at the Discretion of any Justice of the Peace to whom Complaint thereof shall be made by or on behalf of the said Commissioners, to be recovered, in case of Nonpayment, by Distress and Sale of the Goods of such Offender.
Schedules may be left at Dwelling Houses. Occupiers to fill up the Schedules, and sign and deliver them when required. Penalty for Neglect.	V. And be it enacted, That Schedules shall be prepared, under the Direction of the said Commissioners, for the Purpose of being filled up by the several Occupiers of Dwelling Houses as herein-after provided; and the Registrars in England and Wales, and the Schoolmasters and other Persons charged with taking the said Accounts in Scotland shall, in the course of the Week ending on Saturday the Fifth Day of June in this Year, leave or cause to be left at every Dwelling House within their District One or more of the said Schedules for the Occupier or Occupiers thereof or of any Part thereof; and upon every such Schedule shall be plainly expressed that it is to be filled up by the Occupier of such Dwelling House, (or where such Dwelling House is let in different Stories or Apartments, and occupied distinctly by different Persons or Families, by the Occupier of each such distinct Story or Apartment,) and that the Person charged with taking the said Account will collect all such Schedules within his District on the Monday then next following; and every Occupier of any Dwelling House, or of any distinct Story or Apartment in any Dwelling House, with or for whom any such Schedule shall have been left as aforesaid, shall fill up the said Schedule to the best of his or her Knowledge or Belief, so far as relates to all Persons dwelling in the House, Story, or Apartment occupied by him or her, and shall sign his or her Name thereunto, and shall deliver the Schedule so filled up, or cause the same to be delivered, to the Persons charged with taking the said Account, when required so to do; and every such Occupier who shall wilfully refuse, or without lawful Excuse neglect, to fill up the said Schedule to the best of his or her Knowledge and Belief, or to sign and deliver the same as herein required, or who shall wilfully make, sign, or deliver, or cause to be made, signed, or delivered, any false Return of all or any of the Matters specified in the said Schedule, shall forfeit a Sum not more than Five Pounds, or less than Forty Shillings, at the Discretion of any Justice of the Peace or Magistrate before whom Complaint thereof shall be made, to be recovered, in case of Non-payment, by Distress and Sale of the Goods of such Offender.
Schedules to be collected from House to House, and corrected if found to be erroneous.	VI. And be it enacted, That the Persons charged with taking the said Accounts in Great Britain shall collect all the Schedules so left within their District from House to House, and, so far as may be possible, on the said Monday the Seventh Day of June, and shall complete such of the Returns so made to them as upon Delivery thereof to them shall appear to be defective, and correct such as they shall find to be erroneous, and shall copy the Returns so made to them, when completed and corrected, into the Account which, by the first-recited Act, they are required to take of the Persons living within their several Districts, and shall add thereunto the Accounts which they shall have taken of all the other Persons living within their District, in the Manner prescribed by the said Act, who shall not be included in the Returns so made to them.
Account of Parliamentary Burghs in Scotland to be taken as of Royal Burghs.	VII. And be it enacted, That all the Provisions in the first-recited Act contained with respect to the Royal Burghs in Scotland shall apply to every Burgh in Scotland, whether or not a Royal Burgh, which now returns or contributes to return a Member of Members to Parliament, and in which there is a Provost and Magistrates, and to none others.
So much of first-recited Act as authorizes the Commissioners to prepare a Table of Allowances to Enumerators, &c. repealed.	VIII. And be it enacted, That so much of the first-recited Act as provides that the Commissioners shall prepare a Table of Allowances to any Parish Clerk or other Person who shall have assisted the Rector, Vicar, Curate, or other officiating Minister in England, or to any Sheriff Clerk, Town Clerk, or Schoolmaster in Scotland, or to any Person employed in the Execution of the said Act, other than the Enumerators, Registrars, and Superintendent Registrars employed in England and Wales in the Execution of the said Act, shall be repealed.
Justices in Sessions to allow Compensation to Enumerators, &c. and order Payment thereof out of the Poor Rates.	IX. And be it enacted, That the Justices of the Peace in Special or Petty Session assembled, having Jurisdiction in any Parish, Township, Chapelry, or Place in England and Wales, shall allow to the several Overseers, Constables and other Peace Officers, and Relieving Officers, who shall be required to act as Enumerators under this Act, a reasonable Compensation, instead of the Allowance to Enumerators as fixed by the said Commissioners, for their Labour and Trouble necessarily undertaken, and also for their Expences (if any) necessarily incurred by them in the Execution of the first-recited Act and this Act; and shall also allow to the Parish Clerk or other Person who shall have assisted the Rector, Vicar, Curate, or other officiating Minister in the Execution of the first-recited Act, a reasonable Compensation for so doing, upon his producing a Certificate from the said officiating Minister to that Effect; and shall order Payment thereof to be made out of the Poor Rates of such Parish, Township, or Place, and such Payment shall be paid by the Overseers, and shall be allowed in their Accounts.
Sheriff Deputes, &c. in Scotland to allow Compensation to Schoolmasters and others.	X. And be it enacted, That the Sheriff Deputes or their Substitutes and Provosts of the Royal Burghs and other Burghs in Scotland herein specified shall allow to the Schoolmasters and others a reasonable Compensation for the Trouble by them necessarily taken, and also for the Expences (if any) by them necessarily incurred, in the Execution of this Act, and shall order Payment thereof, and also of the Sums respectively payable to the Sheriff's Clerk or Town Clerk, and to the Sheriff's Officer or Town Officer, to be made by the Collector of the Land Tax of and for the Shire or other Place (as the Case shall require) out of any Money in his Hands, and such Collector shall pay the same accordingly.
Recited Acts to be construed with this Act.	XI. And be it enacted, That the Two recited Acts, as amended by this Act, shall be construed with and Part of this Act.
Act may be amended.	XII. And be it enacted, That this Act may be amended or repealed by any Act to be passed in this Session of Parliament.