Interviewer instructions
16. Meaning of household A household will usually consist of a group of persons all of the same family and living in a single dwelling house. In general, the key to the definition of a household for the Census is that its members should normally eat together food prepared for them in the same kitchen and that they should share in the cost, collection and preparation of this food. However, in determining what a household is, you will encounter situations where it will be necessary to extend this definition and to take into account not only the eating and house-keeping arrangements, but also the sleeping arrangements. This will particularly apply to related family groups such as those where a married son sleeps with his wife (or a married daughter sleeps with her husband), and any children they may have, in a house apart from the remainder of the family, yet all share in the eating and house-keeping arrangements. In a case such as this, it is better to treat this as two separate households, with a separate Household Schedule, for each. Similarly, if there are two children married, and each couple, either with or without children, sleeps in a separate house while sharing in the eating arrangements, there should be three separate Household Schedules for this particular group of people -- each schedule with its own number (See paragraphs 19, 20 and 22).
17. The extended definition of a household should apply only in instances such as these where the people sleeping apart form a separate biological family unit. In all other cases, even though the various members of a household may be distributed throughout two or more houses for sleeping, they should not be recorded as separate households. Hence, if the head of a household sleeps with his sons in one house, and his wife sleeps with the daughters in another, all of these should be regarded as forming just one household.
18. There will be cases when the rules, given in paragraphs 16 and 17 to use in deciding what is a household, will not apply and some further guides which will help you are:
(a) A servant who sleeps in the house or in an out-building on the premises belongs to the household.
(b) Servants who sleep away from the household in which they work should be included in the household in which they sleep.
(c) A visitor and any of his children, who are fed from the family kitchen, also count as members of the household.
(d) A boarding school, or hotel, supplying meals forms a single household.
(e) If there is more than one household living in a single house and if each of these households makes its own separate arrangements for eating, these should be regarded as separate households (and be entered on different schedules).
(f) An institution such as a hospital, a boarding school or a gaol, may be a single household, but if within it there are separate quarters for all or any of the staff, such quarters are separate households.
(g) Any vessel, which is in port in your Area at midnight on the night of 12th September, or arrives in port the following morning without having been enumerated elsewhere, should be regarded as a household in your Area.
19. How to record a household: Each household which you will visit should be recorded by writing the name of its head on a separate line in your Record/Compilation Book. Each of these lines is numbered, and a household will automatically take the number of the line on which the name of its head is written. If you make a mistake, or if for any other reason you have to cancel an entry on any line, write "Cancelled" on that line and do not attempt to use the number for another household.
20. After you have written the name of the head of the household and the date of your visit in your Record/Compilation Book, write the number which then belongs to that household on the line "Schedule Number" in the top left-hand corner of the Household Schedule. This helps you to identify both the household and the schedule for that household on your second visit. In the space provided on the top right-hand corner of the schedule you should a1so write the name of the Island (not the Island Group); the number which has been given to your Area; and the name of the town, village, settlement, locality or estate, crossing out whichever of these terms does not apply. Any additional details, such as street names and house numbers in towns which you may need to identify the household on your second visit should also be written in this space. If the household to be recorded is a hotel or an institution such as a hospital or school or prison, this should be clearly stated here.
