Introduction

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PRELIMINARY REPORT


ON THE

FOURTEENTH CENSUS OF SCOTLAND.


PART I—INTRODUCTION.


TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE WILLIAM ADAMSON, M.P.,
Secretary of State for Scotland.


  CENSUS OFFICE,
    NEW REGISTER HOUSE,
        EDINBURGH, 26th June, 1931.

SIR,

I have the honour to submit a Preliminary Report on the Fourteenth Census of the population of Scotland which, in conformity with the Census Order 1931, was taken on the 26th April of the present year. The Tables appended to the Report set forth the numbers and sexes of the population as enumerated in Scotland, and in each County, Burgh, Parish and Parliamentary Constituency. A Table shewing the population of National Health Insurance Areas, and the number of persons returned as having the right to medical benefit under the National Health Insurance Acts is also appended, together with a Table shewing the numbers of the population returned as speaking Gaelic.

The procedure of Enumeration at this Census followed substantially that adopted at all recent Censuses. The 1076 Districts for the purpose of the registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages were sub-divided by the local Registrars into 9178 Enumeration Districts, and for each District an Enumerator was appointed on the recommendation of the Registrar to undertake the distribution and collection of the Schedules and their transcription into Enumeration Books. As on former occasions persons on board mercantile shipping were enumerated by officers of H.M. Customs and Excise, and arrangements for the enumeration of lighthouse keepers and their families on rock lighthouses and remote lighthouse stations were carried through by the Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses. Valuable assistance in the enumeration of homeless persons was rendered by the police.

The Census Schedules were delivered by the Enumerators to householders and other persons required to make returns during the week commencing 20th April, and their collection immediately after Census day was satisfactorily accomplished throughout the country. From the abstracts of the Enumeration Books into which the Schedules were transcribed by the Enumerators special Population Summaries were compiled by the Registrars, and transmitted to the Census Office, and from these a Provisional Statement shewing the male and female population of Scotland, and of its Counties and Large Burghs was prepared, and the figures were announced by you in Parliament on the 9th inst. From the Summaries also this Preliminary Report has been prepared. They have all been carefully examined in the Census Office, and the Population Tables now submitted may be accepted as substantially correct; but it is probable that as a result of the detailed examination and checking of the Enumeration Books themselves which is in progress for the purpose of the final report on the Census some of the population figures presented in this Report may require amendment. While they must accordingly be regarded as provisional, judging from past experience no material discrepancy is to be anticipated.

The final Report on the Census will probably comprise three Volumes. The First Volume will be issued in Parts, one in respect of each of the four large cities, and one for each of the counties. These Parts will contain the final population figures of the city or county and of its local sub-divisions. They will also shew sex, age, marital condition, and the birthplace and nationality of the population, together with the numbers engaged in the various occupations and industries, and the numbers of houses of different sizes and the families occupying them. The Second Volume, it is intended, will deal with Scotland as a whole and its principal divisions, and a large amount of local detail will be omitted. The Third Volume will deal mainly with Occupations and Industries in detail.

In conclusion I wish to record an acknowledgment of the valuable assistance given by other Government Departments in promoting the success of the enumeration, and by local authorities in furnishing particulars of the numerous alterations of local sub-divisions and in other ways, and also of the co-operation of the Press and the British Broadcasting Corporation in the endeavour to bring the requirements of the Census prominently to the notice of the public.

I have the honour to be,
SIR,
  Your most obedient Servant,
  A. FROUDE,
  Registrar-General.

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