Census in the olden days

It’s census year in Sri Lanka. Enumeration of people had been done from ancient times as detailed in the Report on Census of Ceylon 1946. This is the first of two articles based on facts and figures of the report authored by Superintendent of Census A.G. (later Sir Arthur) Ranasinha, who became Secretary to the Treasury and later Central Bank Governor

By D.C. Ranatunga

A female officer from the Census Department walks in and hands over a red sticker. “Please display it on the ‘uluvassa’ (door frame) near the entrance to the house or any other prominent place and see that it’s not removed till September,” she politely says.

There is a number written on the sticker. This, we are told, ensures that the house is listed so that you will be counted in this year’s census. This year’s operation has been termed the Census of Population and Housing.

The report issued after a census is a comprehensive one covering various aspects and becomes a valuable socioeconomic document. The reports of early Superintendents of Census – as the chief official was designated then – provide a wealth of information related to the time the census was taken.

Epoch-making publication

The report released after the 1901 Census was described as an epoch-making publication. A. (later Sir Arunacahalam) Mahadeva’s report ran into four volumes. They contained more concentrated information about Ceylon than had ever been before assembled in a single volume except perhaps by Sir Emerson Tennent, Lond. 1859, 1860.

These reports were described by the Times of London as “the most comprehensive authority on the ethnology of Ceylon and of its varied people, their history, their religions, languages and literature”.

Echoing the praise of the Times, Armand de Souza, Editor of the Morning Leader, wrote: “Perhaps the most luminous dissertation on the ethnological, social and economic conditions of the island. In it would be found the language of Addison, the eloquence of Macauly and the historical insight of Mommsen.”

In more recent times, A.G. (later Sir Arthur) Ranasinha released a comprehensive report after the 1946 Census. Volume 1 Part 1 is a ‘General Report’ starting with a history of Sri Lanka. The first chapter titled ‘The Peoples of Ceylon: An Epitome of History’ traces the history from the founding of the Sinhalese race, through the times of the kings and foreign invaders, up to the Kandyan Convention and after.

Discussing Ceylon at the eve of the Census of 1946, the report describes the structure of the central government, provincial administration and summarises the key areas of government activity. Some interesting facts and figures emerge.

Interesting facts and figures

In 1946 there were 189 government hospitals throughout the island including a maternity hospital, an eye hospital, a hospital for women and children, an infectious diseases hospital, two leper asylums (the one at Hendala had been built by the Dutch Governor Simonsz 1703-1707) and a mental hospital.

Commenting on the road network, the report says there were over 17,500 miles of roads and cart tracks traversing the island. There were 29,949 motor vehicles and two ordinances had been enacted in 1938 and 1942 with the object of organising and controlling motor traffic.

There were 180 post offices, 382 sub-post offices and the more remote rural areas were served by 484 village receiving offices which handled mails. Twenty years of broadcasting had been completed and there were over 12,000 radio licensees paying for the service of broadcasting.

Early days of censuses

The report goes on to discuss early days of censuses which, Ranasinha says, appear to have been taken for a variety of purposes in different countries since the rise of ordered governments in the world.

In the third millennium before Christ, in ancient Babylon, the Kings of the second dynasty of Ur recorded on tablets (these are preserved in the British museum) particulars relating to temple property, agriculture, stock-raising and so on, with the object presumably of assessing the wealth of their domains for purposes of taxation.

In the second millennium before Christ, Ramesses II of Egypt divided the country into administrative districts and registered every head of a family and all members of his household for the purpose of carrying out public works as well as for taxation.

Among the Hebrews, Moses was directed to number the children Israel and to levy a poll-tax of half a shekel of silver per head, and King David carried out an enumeration “of the valiant men who drew the sword,” which, however was not finished “because there fell wrath for it against Israel”.

Solon in Greece made his famous division of the population into classes after making an estimate of the worth of the goods of every private citizen.

Origin of the word ‘census’

He then talks about the origin of the word ‘census’. It is derived from the Latin word “censere,” to assess, and is associated with that “mustering of the host,” that distribution of the Roman assidui (freeholder) into tribes, classes, and centuries which the Roman King Servius Tullius is believed to have effected.

Every fifth year, according to the constitution which bears his name, the population of Rome was to be enumerated together with the property owned by each family. The officers in charge of the classification were called “censors” who were expected to perform the lustrum or purificatory sacrifice, on behalf of the people, which followed each census.

The intercensal period of five years was thus itself called the lustrum. The Roman census was a quinquennial registering and rating of Roman citizens and their property at the end of each lustrum.

Although there are no authentic records, it is most likely that in ancient Sri Lanka enumerations would have been undertaken from time to time. The call-up of labour for the construction of irrigation works and religious edifices, or the muster of troops for war could scarcely have been systematically conducted, unless records have been compiled to show at least the heads of families who held lands to which such services were attached. Nor would the King’s revenues, derived mainly from cultivated holdings, have been permitted to suffer for want of such records.

The known existence of lekam-mitti or palm leaf registers, in the declining days of the Sinhalese Kingdom would justify the inference that, in the days of its greatest authority, detailed inventories of all that was needed to be considered for taxation or general administration would have been carefully taken and registered in appropriate records.

Modern census

The report states that the modern census is far different in its character and purpose from the ancient enumerations. It has ceased to be directed towards a specific object, fiscal, military or other. It is now conducted as a sociological inquiry and collects information which is not only useful for administrative purposes, but is also of importance to the student of economics.

The change may said to have occurred with the revival of census taking in the 17th century A.D. when, with the encouragement of the great financier, Colbert, the Minister of Louis XIV, the Intendant of the Colony of New France in North America conducted in 1666 a “nominal” or a name by name enumeration of the people, on a fixed date, showing age, sex, occupation and conjugal condition.

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