The Canadian province of Prince Edward Island has three counties that have historically been used as administrative divisions for the provincial government, and prior to Confederation (in 1873), the colonial government. The current system of land division in Prince Edward Island, including its three counties, dates to a series of surveys undertaken in 1764-65 by Captain Samuel Holland of the British Army's Corps of Royal Engineers. Holland's survey saw the island divided into the three counties, each of which had a "royalty" (or shire town) as a county seat. The rest of the county outside the royalty was sub-divided into parishes for the Church of England, measuring approximately 60000 acre; the parishes were further sub-divided into townships measuring approximately 20000 acre. The counties are no longer used as administrative boundaries for the provincial government; however, they continue to be used as census divisions by Statistics Canada for statistical purposes in administering the Canadian census.