practice still maintained, in contrast to that prevailing
in the rest of the empire. The record was by families, and included the
sex, age and civil condition of each individual, with a partial return
of profession or trade. Later on, the last item was abandoned in favour
of a fuller return of agricultural resources, a feature which has
remained a prominent part of the inquiry. After the British occupation,
a census was taken in 1765 and 1784, and annually from 1824 to 1842, the
information asked for differing from time to time. Enumerations were
conducted independently by the different states until 1871, when the
first federal census was taken of the older parts of the Dominion. Since
then, the enumeration has been decennial, except in the case of the more
recently colonized territories of Manitoba and the North-West, where an
intermediate census was found necessary in 1885-1886. The census of
Canada is organized on the plan adopted in the United States rather than
in accordance with British practice, and includes much which is the
subject of annual returns in the latter country, or is not officially
collected at all. The details of deaths in the year preceding the
census, for instance, are called for, there being no registration of
such occurrences in the rural tracts. In consideration of the large
immigrant population again, the birthplace of each parent is recorded,
with details as to nationality, naturalization and date of immigration.
Occupation is dealt with minutely, in conjunction with temporary
unemployment, average wage or salary earned, and other particulars. No
less than eleven schedules are employed, most of them relating to
details of industries and production. The duty of filling up so
comprehensive a return, involving an answer to 561 questions, is not
left to the householder, but entrusted to enumerators specially engaged,
working under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture. Owing to
the sparse population and difficulties of communication in a great part
of the dominion, the inquiry, though referred to a single date, is not
completed on that day, a month being allowed to the enumerator for the
collection of his returns and their revision and transmission to the
central office. A special feature in the operations is the provision,
necessitated by the record of the _legal_ population, for the inclusion
in the local return of the persons temporarily absent on the date of the
census, and their adj