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The Census General Regulations, 1931

[10 March 1931]

1931. No. 150

THE

THE CENSUS GENERAL REGULATIONS, 1931, DATED MARCH 10, 1931,* MADE BY THE MINISTER OF HEALTH UNDER SECTION 3 (1) OF THE CENSUS ACT, 1920 (10 & 11 GEO. 5. c. 41), FOR THE PURPOSE OF ENABLING ANY ORDER IN COUNCIL DIRECTING A CENSUS TO BE TAKEN, TO BE CARRIED INTO EFFECT.

1931, No. 150.

The Minister of Health in pursuance of the powers conferred on him by subsection (1) of section 3 of the Census Act, 1920, and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Regulations:—

1. (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Census General Regulations, 1931.
(2) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
"The Minister" means the Minister of Health;
"The Act" means the Census Act, 1920;
"The Act and Regulations" means the Act, these Regulations, and any other regulations made under the Act;
"Census Order" means any Order in Council made under section 1 of the Act;
"Census" means any census directed by a Census Order to be taken;
"Special Regulations" means, in relation to any Census Order and census, any regulations which may be made for the purpose of giving effect to the Census Order;
"Census day" means the day upon which a census is to be taken;
"Enumerator" means an officer appointed under paragraph (1) of Article 3 of these Regulations;
"Prescribed person" means a person required by a Census Order to make a return;
"Registrar" means a registrar of births and deaths and includes an interim registrar of births and deaths, and any person for the time being appointed by the Registrar-General to act in the place of a registrar for the purposes of these Regulations.
(3) The Interpretation Act, 1889,(a) applies to the interpretation of these Regulations as it applies to an Act of Parliament.

Enumeration Districts.

2. (1) It shall be the duty of a registrar, when so required by the Registrar-General, to prepare and submit to the Registrar-General in such manner and within such period as the Registrar-General may direct, a scheme for the division of the registration sub-district in which he acts as registrar into districts for the purpose of a census enumeration.
(2) The Registrar-General may approve any such scheme with or without modifications, and the divisions shown in any scheme so approved shall, until the scheme is superseded by a further scheme, be enumeration districts for the purposes of any census.

Appointment of Enumerators, etc.

3. For the purpose of any census—
(1) The Registrar-General may appoint, or authorise a registrar, subject to his approval, to appoint for any enumeration district an officer who shall perform in that enumeration district the duties of an enumerator under the Act and Regulations.
(2) Any relieving officer or collector of the general rate shall, if so required by the Registrar-General by writing under his hand, with the approval of the Minister, act as enumerator for any enumeration district in which such officer or collector resides or performs the duties of his office.
(3) In the case of an enumeration district comprising only persons with respect to whom a single prescribed person is required by a Census Order to make a return, a registrar shall, if so required by the Registrar-General, act as enumerator for that district.
(4) Every registrar and every person appointed or required to act as enumerator under these Regulations and every person assisting a registrar or enumerator in the performance of his duties shall, in the case of a registrar at such time as the Registrar-General may direct and in any other case before he acts as such enumerator or assistant, or performs any of his duties as such, sign an undertaking in the form set forth in the Schedule to these Regulations or in a form substantially to the like effect faithfully to perform his duties under the Act and these Regulations.

Forms of Return.(a)

4. (1) Every return made by or on behalf of a prescribed person shall be made on such form as may be prescribed by the special Regulations and shall comply with any instructions shown on the form.
(2) The Registrar-General may cause any such forms to be translated into Welsh or into any other language if it appears to him necessary for the purpose of the census enumeration, and paragraph (1) of this Article and the Regulations by which the form is prescribed shall apply to any forms so translated.

Delivery and Collection of Returns.

5. (1) Every registrar shall enter in the enumeration books provided for the purpose of the census enumeration by the Registrar-General such particulars as the Registrar-General may require and shall; not later than fourteen days before the census day, furnish every enumerator appointed or required under these Regulations to act for an enumeration district within his registration sub-district with such an enumeration book and with a sufficient number of forms of return and such other forms as may be necessary for the purpose of the census enumeration.
(2) The enumerator shall, not earlier than eight days and not later than the day before the census day, deliver to each prescribed person in his district or to a person acting on behalf of such prescribed person the appropriate form of return, and shall, upon so delivering the form, enter thereon and in the enumeration book such particulars as the Registrar-General may require.
(3) The enumerator shall, if so requested by any prescribed person or by any person acting on behalf of such prescribed person, give such explanations as to the form of return or the procedure to be followed in making the return as are reasonably necessary to enable the prescribed person to make a proper return.

6. Every person with respect to whom it is the duty of a prescribed person to make a return shall give to the prescribed person such information as he may reasonably require for the purpose of enabling him to make the return:
Provided that no person shall use, publish, or communicate to any other person any information so given otherwise than in accordance with these Regulations.

7. (1) Any person who may be entitled under any special Regulations to claim to be allowed to make a confidential return may serve on the enumerator upon his attending to deliver the form of return a claim on a form to be provided for the purpose by the registrar of the registration sub-district within which the enumerator acts.
(2) The enumerator shall upon being served with a claim deliver to such person a separate form of return and shall, upon delivering the form of return to the prescribed person who would but for such claim be required to make a return in respect of the person claiming, give notice of the claim to the prescribed person.
(3) Where such claim and notice have been duly served, the prescribed person to whom notice is given shall not include in his return any particulars with respect to the person claiming other than the name of such person and the relation in which he stands to the prescribed person, and the person so claiming shall be deemed to be the prescribed person w7ith respect to himself and shall, in making his return, state therein the name of the person who but for the claim would have been required to make the return.

8. (1) When the particulars required by the Census Order to be stated in the returns include particulars as to the rooms occupied by the persons with respect to whom the return is to be made, the enumerator shall, upon attending at any premises to deliver a form of return to a prescribed person, make all such inquiries as are reasonably necessary for the purpose of ascertaining such particulars, and shall enter the particulars so ascertained upon the form of return before it is delivered.
(2) The person to whom the return is delivered shall give the enumerator all such information as he may reasonably require for the purpose of making the entry aforesaid.

9. (1) The enumerator shall, as nearly as may be in the course of the day following the census day, collect all forms of return delivered by him and shall examine each return and satisfy himself that the entries thereon are properly and sufficiently made, and shall make all such inquiries as are reasonably necessary for that purpose and shall himself make such corrections in the return as appear to him on inquiry to be required.
(2) Every person shall give to the enumerator all such information as may reasonably be required by him for the performance of his duties under paragraph (1) of this Article.

10. The enumerator shall, on receiving each return, enter upon the return and in his enumeration book such particulars as may be required by the Registrar-General to be so entered, and shall within eight days after the census day—
(a) enter in the enumeration book and in all forms of return collected by him such further particulars as may be required by the Registrar-General; and
(b) deliver to the registrar the enumeration book and the returns of all prescribed persons in his district duly completed as aforesaid, and do such other acts and things relating to the census enumeration in his district as may be required by instructions and directions of the Registrar-General given under these Regulations.

11. (1) The registrar shall examine the enumeration books and the returns so delivered to him, and where it appears to him that any book or return is incomplete or that any entry on a return is insufficient or is inconsistent with any other entries, he shall require the enumerator from whom it was received to take such steps as may be reasonably necessary, whether by inquiry from any prescribed person or otherwise, to complete or correct the book or return, and to forward the book or return duly completed or corrected to the registrar within the period specified by the registrar for that purpose.
(2) The registrar shall, within forty days after the census day, forward to the Registrar-General the enumeration books duly completed for all enumeration districts within the registration sub-district, together with the returns made by all the prescribed persons within that sub-district, and do such other acts and things relating to the census enumeration as may be required by instructions of the Registrar-General given under these Regulations.

Miscellaneous.

12. The Registrar-General may himself give, or may authorise a registrar to give, to an enumerator, and may give to a registrar, such instructions or directions, whether particular or general, as he may think necessary for the due performance by registrars or enumerators of their duties under the Act and Regulations, and any such instructions or directions shall be complied with by any registrar or enumerator to whom they are given.

13. Where it appears to the Registrar-General that a registrar or enumerator is for reasons of health or otherwise unfit to perform his duties under the Act and Regulations, the Registrar-General may appoint some fit and proper person in his place to perform such duties.

14. The Registrar-General may, if he thinks fit, require a registrar or enumerator to make a statutory declaration that such registrar or enumerator has properly and sufficiently performed his duties under the Act and Regulations and may authorise the superintendent registrar of the district, or, in the case of an enumerator, the registrar of the registration sub-district, to take such declaration.

15. The Registrar-General may appoint any superintendent registrar or, with the consent of a local authority, any officer of that local authority, to be a census advisory officer for any area, and any person so appointed shall perform such duties in relation to a census as the Registrar-General may assign to him.

16. A person having the custody, whether on his own behalf or on behalf of any other person, of any forms of return, enumeration books or other confidential documents relating to a census shall keep such forms books and other documents in such manner as to prevent any unauthorised person having access thereto.


SCHEDULE

I,          
[*being the registrar or interim registrar of the          
registration sub-district, or a person appointed by the Registrar-General to act in the place of the registrar of the          
registration sub-district for the purposes of the Census General Regulations, 1930, or being an enumerator appointed for the purposes of the Census, 19     , or being an assistant employed by for the purposes of the Census, 19     ]
hereby undertake and promise faithfully to perform the duties imposed by the Census Act, 1920, and the Census General Regulations, 1930, so far as applicable to me, and to fulfil all the obligations required of me by the Act and by the Regulations, and I hereby state that I have read and understand the provisions hereunto annexed of section 8 of the Act, and of Article 16 of the Census General Regulations, 1930.

Signed.....................................

In the presence of......................................

Section 8 of the Census Act, 1920, is as follows:—
" 8. (1) If any person—
(a) refuses or neglects to comply with or acts in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or any Order in Council or regulations made under this Act; or
(b) being a person required under this Act to make a statutory declaration with respect to the performance of his duties, makes a false declaration; or
(c) being a person required by any Order in Council or regulations made under this Act to make, sign, or deliver any document, makes, signs, or delivers, or causes to be made, signed, or delivered a false document; or
(d) being a person required in pursuance of any such Order in Council or regulations to answer any question, refuses to answer or gives a false answer to that question;
he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.
(2) If any person—
(a) being a person employed in taking a census, without lawful authority publishes or communicates to any person otherwise than in the ordinary course of such employment any information acquired by him in the course of his employment; or
(b) having possession of any information which to his knowledge has been disclosed in contravention of this Act, publishes or communicates that information to any other person;
he shall be guilty of a misdemeanour, and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment with or without hard labour for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine, or to both such imprisonment and fine."

Article 16 of the Census General Regulations, 1930, is as follows:—
"16. A person having the custody, whether on his own behalf or on behalf of any other person, of any forms of return, enumeration books or other confidential documents relating to a census shall keep such forms books and other documents in such manner as to prevent any unauthorised person, having access thereto."

Given under the Official Seal of the Minister of Health this tenth day of March, nineteen hundred and thirty-one.

W. A. Robinson,

Secretary,

Ministry of Health.


NOTES


* These Regulations supersede the Provisional Regulations which were made on the 24th day of November, 1930.


(a) 52-3 V. c.63.


(a) See the reference at p.88 below to the Census Special Provisional Regulations, 1931.


* Strike out the words which do not apply.