Census Of India 1921 Vol.5 Punjab And Delhi Pt.1 (report)

· 1923 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1FITNJAB (SHSUe WffOBT, 1921.

2Change ol

3Sopeiin-

4teDdent,

5T1

6officials wlio had to undertake the work in British districts without

7any diminution in their other duties. Amongst a ^oup of very capable and

8helpful officials I would single out Sardar Bachittar Singh in Patiala, Syed Abdul

9Majid in Kapurthala and Syed Altai Hussain in Jind, but with one exception the

10work of all was so good that I feel considerable diffidence in specially mentioning

11any by name.

12Five Extra Assistant Commissioners worked under me in the Census De-

13partment ; Lala Arjan Das worked as my Personal Assistant between 2l8t Janu-

14ary 1921 and 31st August 1921 and was succeeded by Sheikh Abdul Majid who

15had already been in charge of the Lahore Sorting Office. The Personal Assistant

16was in general charge of the tabulation work ; and both incumbents of the office

17worked well, Lala Arjan Das gi\dng me material assistance in the preliminary

18stages and Sheikh Abdul Majid preparing and checking the tables ; the whole

19work was new to Sheikh Abdul Majid, but he organised both the sorting and tabu-

20lating work on soimd lines and justified his selection. The other three sorting

21offices were also under men new to the work : they were Syed Abdrd Haq at

22Ludhiana, Lala Bishamber Dayal Singh at Karnal, and Malik Chiragh-ud-din

23at Lyallpur ; the newness of the work led to several mistakes being made which

24caused much trouble to rectify but on the whole the work was satisfactory, that

25of S. Abdul Haq being rather more dependable than that of the others. .

2620. Owing to iU-health I was obliged to take leave from the 21st Septem-

27ber 1922; pre^^ous to that date ill-health had delayed my work, and on relinquish-

28ing my charge I had only written so much of the Introduction to the Report

29which precedes this paragraph and Chapter I, but Parts II and III of the Report

30had been completed and were Avith the Press. I relinquish charge without infor-

31mation as to the identity of my successor who \rill write the major portion of the

32Report and complete this introduction.

33L. MIDDLETON.

3420-9-22.

35Inteoductory note continued.

3621. I took over as Superintendent, Census Operations, on the 3rd October

371922, Sheikh Abdul Majid, B.A., LL. B., having remained in charge of the Office

38after Mr. Middleton’s departure. As he has noted Mr. Middleton had completed

39Chapter I of the Report, and this chapter alone contains a comprehensive survey

40of nearly all the subjects dealt with in the census. Mr. Middleton also took to

41England and completed there the whole of the Administrative Volume, Part IV.

4222. My oAvn task has been to see a great portion of Parts II, III and IV

43through the press and to write the eleven remaining chapters of Part I. Two months

44were spent in gaining familiarity with all the phases of census work, and in the

45remaining five months the chapters have been written rather faster than at the

46rate of one a fortnight, so as to complete the report by the end ol April. Under

47these circumstances I have had strictly to limit the time devoted to the investiga-

48tion of those fundamental principles without which it is impossible to understand

49the problems of migration, birth and death-rates, and age-distribution.

5023. Throughout the chapters for which I am responsible I have sought,

51wherever possible, to express results in a precise statistical form with due regard

52to the probable errors of enumeration. Neglect of this consideration has led to

53the formulation of inany utterly unproven and even demonstrably false proposi-

54tions. Every census report in fact bristles wfith dogmatic statements and I

55should hesitate to estimate how many are contained in the chapters WTitten by

56myself. I am fully aware that that to make much unquahfied statements is con-

57trary to the spirit of scientific progress, and would ask the reader to believe that

58the limitations to which most of the statements are subject were in many cases

59present to my mind even when they are not exphcitly set forth.

60Nothing, in fact, is more conducive to dogmatic statement than the

61masses of statistics contamed in a census report, yet no where is dogmatic state-

62ment less justified or the critical spirit of present-day statistical doctrine more

63necessary. Indeed modem statistical methods probably indicate more often

64what conclusions are false than what conclusions are trae and even this seemingly

65negative result may be reached only after patient and abstruse enquiries.