ON OFFICIAL STATISTICS. -425 



items. Thus, if out of a total of 10,000 persons, tliere should 

 be 5,000 Protestants, 3,000 Roman Catholics, 1,000 Pagans, and 

 1,000 of religion unspecified, it is common to make 10,000 the 

 universal divisor, which of course gives 50 per cent of Protes- 

 tants, 30 per cent, of Roman Catholics, 10 per cent, of Pagans, 

 and 10 per cent, of unspecified religions. It is perfectly clear 

 that the 1,000 unspecified should be omitted altogether from the 

 calculation, and the universal division should be 9,000, which 

 would give 55-6 per cent., instead of 50 per cent, of Protestants; 

 33-3 per cent., instead of 30 per cent, of Roman Catholics; and 

 ll'l per cent., instead of 10 per cent, of Pagans. Exactly the 

 same result would of course be arrived at by distributing the 

 1,000 unspecified amongst the specified items, in proportion to 

 their respective numbers, and using the unreduced total of 

 10,000 as the universal divisoi'. 



Having, I believe, said enough about the census, I will advert 

 to certain points in connection with other statistical matters in 

 respect to which defects, or shortcomings, have come under my 

 notice, or it has struck me as desirable that caution should be 

 exei'cised. 



The returns of the State revenue and expenditure are often 

 given in so cumbrous a manner, that without more information 

 than is to be found upon the face of the returns, it is impossible 

 to find out what are the true receipts and disbursements of the 

 country in any given year. In these cases, refunds, drawbacks, 

 advances to be recouped, and recoups of such advances, are mixed 

 up with the statements, and both sides of the account are swelled 

 thereby, so that both revenue and expenditure appear to be much 

 larger than they really are. On examining the financial returns 

 of one of the colonies a short time since I found, without diffi- 

 culty, that over £500,000 might well have been excluded from 

 both I'evenue and expenditure, and there may possibly have been 

 much more to which similar exception might have been taken, 

 which I was not able to detect. From an accountant's point of 

 view it appears to be considered not undesirable to multiply cross 

 entries, but the statistician, whose ol)ject it is to give a clear 

 account of the condition of things, eliminates them wherever 

 possible. This applies not only to the revenue and expenditure 

 of the country, but to those of municipalities, charitable institu- 

 tions, friendly societies, and almost every other body which 

 furnishes statements of its financial position, which statements 

 are often burdened not only with cross entries innumei'able, but 

 with balances brought forward, contractor's deposits, and repay- 

 ment of the same, bank overdrafts, borrowed moneys, &c., <fec. 



With reference to the Customs returns of imports, there can 

 be no doubt that the values are considerably over-stated in some, 

 if not all the colonies. This probably arises from the fact of the 

 merchant's invoice being taken as that upon which the Customs 



