EXTRACT from the ACT 3° & 4° Victoria, cap. 99, Intituled
“An Act for taking an Account of the Population of Great Britain.”

 

 

Penalty for refusing information, or giving false Answers.

 

XX. “And the better to enable the said Commissioners, Enumerators, Schoolmasters, and other Persons employed in the Execution of this Act to make the said Inquiries and Returns, be it enacted, That the said Enumerators, Schoolmasters, and other Persons shall be autho­rized to ask all such Questions as shall be directed in the Instruc­tions to be issued by the said Commissioners, with the Approval of One of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State, which shall be necessary for making the preliminary Inquiries and for obtaining the Returns required by this Act; and every Person refusing to answer, or wilfully giving a false Answer to such Questions, or any of them, shall for every such Refusal or wilfully false Answer forfeit a Sum not more than Five Pounds nor less than Forty Shillings, at the Discretion of any Justice of the Peace or Magistrate before whom Complaint thereof shall be made.”

 

 

The above may be shewn by the Enumerator to any Person refusing to answer, or questioning his authority to require an Answer, or giving an Answer which he suspects to be false.