In Australia, those individual figures have been turned into statistical brackets, and the individual returns destroyed. Currently, a return can be kept for the future if the person requests it, but once again, only brackets are asked for. Doug. roy.stockdill@btinternet.com wrote: > Here's a thought that struck me only yesterday when I was doing some > research in the US censuses..... > > People often complain in this country that the census questions get more > and more intrusive every decade, though whether there will ever be another > one seems to be up in the air at the moment. > > However, I was doing some research in the US censuses in connection with > the latest subject for my Famous family trees blog at Findmypast (a UK > celebrity with an American connection) and looked at the censuses from > 1840 to 1940 online. > > Looking at the census for Brooklyn in 1870, I suddenly noticed that there > were two columns (8 and 9) headed "Value of Real Estate" and "Value of > Personal Estate". The person I was looking at said they had real estate > worth 10,000 dollars and personal estate of 3,000 dollars, which I imagine > was quite a lot in 1870. Whether the question about personal estate > related to furniture, household effects, etc, or actual cash was not > clear. Checking further, I discovered the same questions about real and > personal estate values were asked in 1860 also but in 1850 only the > question about real estate value appeared. > > The questions about the value of real and personal estate appear to have > disappeared by the census of 1880 - perhaps too many people objected to > being asked such personal questions. I find it interesting that in > America, the land of liberty and dislike of government interference, such > questions could ever have appeared in a census at all. > > Someone may prove me wrong but I don't recall any UK census asking a > question about property values and certainly not how much money you had in > the bank. I can imagine the outcry if they did! > > -- > Roy Stockdill > Genealogical researcher, writer & lecturer > Famous family trees blog: http://blog.findmypast.co.uk/tag/roy-stockdill/ > > "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, > and that is not being talked about." > OSCAR WILDE