ment of that office. The last census of Ireland has been taken under the instructions of the Registrar-General of Ireland.

IV. Statistical Organizations.-The Congress, according to a programme issued by the Central Statistical Commission of Belgium, first considered the question of statistical organization, with a view to the adoption of some uniform basis in all countries, both in the modes of collecting statistics and in the official publication of statistical documents. It is greatly to be desired that henceforth the statistics of countries may be compared. To realise this, some general basis must be adopted; we must settle on the nomenclature of things; we must, so to say, adopt a universal language for the purpose, and simplify the tables which are to be the basis of comparison. The best instrumentality for the accomplishment of such an object is the creation, in each state, of a central statistical commission, or an analagous institution formed of the heads of the administration with the addition of some individuals eminent in statistical science, the central commission communicating with branch commissions in the provinces for all that is local or provincial. The central statistical commissions of all countries might be in constant communication among themselves, exchange their publications, and also transmit to each other the schedules used for the collection of information, so that they may be classified and organized. In order, also, to furnish the easiest means for the transmission of such documents, it was recommended to establish in each country a centre, or a person especially dedicated to send and receive all communications and publications of a statistical character. The statistical accounts were recommended to be made as accessible as possible, especially in the most useful parts, by publishing, at reduced prices, the summary tables with explanatory texts.

The importance of such arrangements is patent. Great difficulty is at present experienced in obtaining information from foreign governments through the want of knowing what is actually published in other states, and through whose medium it may be ascertained. Equally important is the suggestion of publishing the summaries of statistical documents at moderate prices, as their bulk is a complete barrier, not only to the purchase of them, but also to their being easily handled and studied, the practical information they contain being often buried in the amount of particulars, chiefly of local interest.

V. Population. The law of population is the most important subject of statistics. To ascertain the various causes which affect the state of population to appreciate the true relation of all the social elements and to show how each individual contributes his quota to the solution of the great human phenomena, are the labours of consummate philosophy and of deep mathematical science, able to grasp at great truths, fix their principles, and deduce their consequences. The wider the sphere of observation the more solid will be the laws which it discovers. The recurrence of facts under different climates and in different states of society, and the modifications which certain laws assume as elements are changed or modified, are sources of careful study to the statist who takes man as the centre of his observation. Yet this important study is now restricted to small divisions of the human family, owing to the want of uniformity and unity in the collecting of the census in different countries. In England the

United States, Sardinia, Norway, and the Netherlands, the census is collected decennially, in France every five years, in the German States triennially, in Belgium at variable periods. Besides, great variety exists in the items of information collected, and on the principles on which the censuses are based. The Congress had the subject under careful consideration, and after considerable discussion it came to the following recommendations ::

1. That the census of population should exhibit the number of individuals actually in the country at the date of enumeration; and also such particulars as may be required of those individuals who have legal domicile in the country, although absent from it.

2. The census to be taken not less frequently than every ten years, and in the month of December.

3. A special return for each family or household.

4. Special agents, or enumerators, to be employed.

5. The returns to state name and surname, age, place of birth, spoken language, religion, condition, whether single, married, or widowed, profession, or occupation, residence, whether temporary or permanent, children receiving education, houses by stories, and number of rooms occupied by each family, gardens in connection with the house, existing sickness, number of blind, deaf and dumb, absentees, and number of persons residing in public or private establishments.

In addition to the above there ought to be an annual registry of population, exhibiting the births by sex, by age of both parents, legitimate and illegitimate, number of twins, stillborn, deaths, marriages and divorces, by months. The deaths, by sex, by age, and by months, distinguishing among dead children, till three years of age, the legitimate from the illegitimate. The deaths by months, with the causes of death, and the profession of the deceased; marriages, with the age of the parties, their condition, profession, and number of children, distinguishing the legitimate and those acknowledged as such. Considering the extreme importance of a uniform nomenclature of diseases equally applicable to all countries, the attention of learned men is to be called to the question for further consideration at some future congress.

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VI. Territory. National Survey.-The question of population is immediately connected with that of territory, and with the national survey. In Great Britain the survey has hardly been commenced, though in Ireland it is complete. The Congress adopted the following general recommendations:-That it is desirable that each country shall be surveyed and mapped in a uniform manner. The satistical portion of the national survey should include the survey the boundaries of the communes and their sectional divisions, the triangulation, the detail survey of roads, fields, &c., and the map of the whole country to be laid down on the ordinary scale of 1-2,500 (about our common scale in England of three chains to one inch, or 26 2-3 inches to one mile). The following modifications to be adopted under certain circumstances:-For forests and mountains the scale of 1-5,000, (nearly 13 inches to the mile), for villages and crowded districts 1-1,250, (say 50 inches to the mile); for maps of large towns intended for sewerage and sanitary

purposes, the scale of 1-500; general index maps to be on the scale, either of 1-10,000 or 1-20,000, (that is about six inches and three inches respectively, to the mile), for the purpose of bringing together under the eye, a considerable surface of the country, when minute detail is not required. The reference or terrier exhibiting the names of the owners, the nature, cultivation, and area of each parcel. The valuation consists in recording the terms of leases and sales, as well as the prices current of produce for a period of fifteen years, in order to determine the value and rent of farms, and the average value of each kind of property. To fix by districts, the types and value of each class of cultivation; to apply this classification to each parcel, and register the value in the reference book. The permanency of the survey, that is the keeping it up to the actual state of things, being admitted as a principle, it is necessary to take means to do this so effectually as to avoid the very costly, if not very useful method of revision at distant periods. The means suggested for such a purpose, are by noting in supplementary plans or maps, the change of form or limits of each individual field; the change in the nature of the cultivation; the change of owners and the changes in the value of property, in exceptional cases provided by law. The following rules for making the survey were recommended:-That the triangulation be made according to a general map of the country, if there be one, and if not, that it be commenced by the great triangulation, dividing and subdividing the triangles which it will produce, into smaller triangles, to serve as the basis for the survey. That the valuation be undertaken immediately after the survey. That the valuation be made in such a manner, that the same figures should represent, as nearly as possible, the same value in all the districts, and that the whole valuation should accurately represent the whole revenue of the real property of the country, at the time the survey is made. That the survey may prove the fact of possession, and be accepted as evidence of title. No corrections to be made in the survey unless proved by authentic legal documents.

VII. Emigration.-Emigration has of late frustrated the natural course of the law of population, and produced a complete metamorphosis in the position of our working classes. A visitation of providence has on a sudden depopulated portions of the sister island. The boundless wealth of the United States of America, and the wonderful discoveries of gold in California and Australia, have in their turn created such an avidity to emigrate, that the number of emigrants for some years past, has actually exceeded 300,000 per year, and in the ten years ending March, 1851, it amounted to 1,693,516. Emigration is also the natural consequence of social disorganization, political convulsions, and religious excitement. Fanaticism and credulity send thousands to new and distant American settlements. Persecution drives, once more, Protestants and Jews out of Catholic countries. These are the causes of important changes in the resources of countries, and they demand a deep and intelligent consideration; hence the statistics of emigration afford a wide field of instruction. It is, therefore, important that a systematic plan be adopted for the study of these social disturbances, and to this effect registers of emigration should be kept in each town.

The information required with regard to each emigrant, is the name and surname, place and date of birth, sex, age, and condition; religion, profession, and approximate value of the resources or capital at his disposal; the day of departure; the name of the country where he goes to reside; the port of embarkation; the port of debarkation; the known or probable general causes of emigration. In the case of an entire family composed of children and adults, under twenty-one years of age, with no personal property, it will be sufficient to state what amount of capital the father possessed for the maintenance of his family. The individuals who emigrate privately will be registered, with all the information which may be obtained. By means of such information, collected in all countries, general accounts will be made up annually, shewing the causes of emigration, the number of workmen and amount of capital they have taken with them from the mother country. A similar system may be carried out to verify the emigrations. Registries might be established at the ports of embarkation and debarkation, exhibiting first the ports of embarkation, the number of immigrants, men, women and children; the country whence they come, the number, tonnage, and flag of the ships by which they came; the cost of the passage on an average for each destination. And for the ports of debarkation the number of emigrants, men, women and children; the country to which they belonged; the number, tonnage, and flag of the ship by which they came; the number of deaths during the voyage by sex, age and profession, together with the causes of death; the number and sex of sick persons at their arrival; and the condition and probable resources of the emigrants.

VIII. Agricultural Statistics. How far the yearly home produce yielded the necessary amount of food for the growing population of these kingdoms has ever been a subject of anxious speculation, and the source of grievous losses. In the absence of any reliable account of the produce of the crops, the wildest statements circulate freely, and they find sufficient credence to affect the markets, the forerunners of misery and suffering among the masses. Year after year a cry is made for agricultural statistics, but in vain. In Ireland they have been taken by means of the police, but no general system has yet been adopted for England and Scotland. It is to be regretted that the Statistical Congress should have directed their attention merely to the periodical general accounts, rather than to annual returns. However useful it may prove to have periodically a perfect knowledge of the conditions, proceeds, and results of agricultural industry, their value cannot be compared to that of a practical answer to the difficult question, as to the possible quantities of supplies of food to be imported from foreign countries before next harvest. Numerous means are suggested to collect such returns, and it is to be hoped that Government will, without delay, establish a permanent yet simple machinery for such an object. The congress bestowed on the subject of agricultural statistics that attention it demands, and had under consideration the time at which agricultural statistics ought to be taken; the periodicity of such statistics, the instrumentality to be used, and the information to be collected. As to the mode or instrumentality, the congress could only recommend to

use agents faithful and intelligent, so that all the facts may be verified in the same places. What is the most convenient time for the collection of agricultural statistics cannot be laid down. Leaving it to the judgment of the different governments and statistical commissions, the congress could only suggest that the last quarter of the year would be preferable. Nevertheless, it may be objected that the statistics of cattle would be better to be taken in spring. As to the periodicity of such statistics, it should not be at greater intervals than ten years. It is also recommended to form two columns, one giving the results of the year, and the other the average result of the period elapsed between that and the previous accounts. And with respect to the items of information, they should comprise all the conditions, proceeds, and results of the agricultural industry of the country at a given time, and all the facts which may assist towards their proper appreciation in all their different aspects.

IX. Industrial Statistics.-Industry is a general term embracing all manner of pursuits. It comprises agriculture, mining, manufactures, commerce, and fisheries. Yet by a conventional application of the term, it is more properly used with respect to manufactures and mining. Of this important element of the prosperity of Great Britain, we possess most meagre accounts. Of the number of mills or factories, number of workmen, amount of produce, and other items, no statistics are collected except for those establishments which come under the supervision of "the Factories Regulation Act," or of that on the working of mines.

The decided opposition shewn by the manufacturers to any government interference renders it impossible to collect further accounts in this country. The congress recommended the following principal subjects of information:-The number of men, women, and children, under sixteen years, employed in the factories, distinguishing the number of children engaged as apprentices, and the conditions of apprenticeship; the wages, showing the number of workmen who receive average wages, and more or less than the average. It should be stated also whether the workmen receive board and lodging. The statistics of manufactures are divided into two great branches, viz.: Textile Industry, comprising manufactures of hemp, flax, wool, cotton, silks; and Miscellaneous Industry, including, for example, sugar refineries, ship building, &c. For both branches the inquiries should relate to the number of establishments, the mechanical force employed, the number of workmen, and their wages. As to Mining Industry, the information to be collected should relate to combustibles, minerals, and metals, shewing the mines at work; their situation, depth, extent of the bed and qualities, the mechanical instruments used for extraction, number of workmen, average wages, and quantities extracted. The establishments to be classified according to the kind of metal produced or manufactured, such as iron, copper, lead, zinc, &c.; and specifying the principal instruments used for the work, such as furnaces, forges, founderies, &c.

X. Commercial Statistics. Of all statistics the statistics of commerce are subjected to the closest analysis. The merchant governs by them his daily operations; the economist draws from them the great lessons derived from the distribution and interchange