Observations upon the Census. 33 
found to be 51°35. The quantity of rain which fell at 
Launceston during the year was 28°716 inches, being 6°794 
less than fell at Hobart Town, corroborating, as remarked 
on a former occasion, the well-known fact that rain falls in 
varying quantities at points not far distant from one another. 
II. Observations upon the Census taken throughout Van 
Diemen’s Land, 1st March, 1851. By J. Barnarp, 
Esq. [Read 10th July, 1851.] 
THE circumstances under which the recent Census of the 
Population of Van Diemen’s Land have been taken pos- 
_sess more than ordinary interest: for not only has a most 
important local purpose been served, by the data thus afforded 
for the arrangement of the electoral districts under the new 
Constitution granted to the Colony; but, regarded as an in- 
tegral part of the British dominions,—of that mighty empire 
on which the Sun never sets,—and the whole of which was 
almost simultaneously in course of registration, the proportion 
which Van Diemen’s Land contributes, however insignificant 
in itself, towards the aggregate sum of those who live under 
British sway, can scarcely be viewed with indifference. 
Apart, however, from merely political or national consi- 
derations, there are others, of a social and moral character, 
which must prove influential with those whose views are 
bounded by the soil on which they dwell. Without identi- 
fying themselves, perhaps, in feeling with the pride of 
nationality which boasts of subject millions beyond the 
Atlantic or the Ganges, it is yet a source of gratification 
to them to trace the progress of their adopted country, and 
the increase of their fellow-Colonists: and, besides, there are 
D 
