993
HONGKONG
No fewer than twenty-one of the component parts of the British Empire were represented in the population. Of the British inhabitants, 2,024 (1,199 males and 825 females) were born in England, 575 (389 males and 186 females) in Scotland, 25 (16 males and 9 females) in Wales, 153 (101 males and 49 females) in Ireland 2,759 (1,258 Portu- guese, 95 Japanese, and 154 others) in Hongkong, 1,480 in India, 125 in Malaya, 153 (67 males and 86 females) in Australia, 19 in New Zealand, 56 (30 males and 26 females) `in Canada, 29 in the West Indies, and 14 in South Africa.
The Census Officer estimated the number of British nationals of European race at 4,300, and of British children of European race of all ages at about 500.
The Garrison consists of British and Indian troops. There is also a local Volunteer Defence Corps. The approaches to the harbour are strongly fortified, the batteries consisting of well-constructed earthworks. The western entrance is protected by three batteries on Stonecutters' Island and two forts on Belcher and Fly Points, from which a tremendous converging fire could be maintained, completely commanding the Sulphur Channel. Pine Wood battery, on the hill above and west of Richmond Terrace, has a wide range of fire. The Ly-ee-mùn Pass is defended by two forts on the Hongkong wide and another on Devil's Peak on the mainiand, and if vessels survived that fire they would then have to face the batteries at North Point and Hunghom, which completely command the eastern entrance. Another battery on the bluff at Tsim-tsa Tsui, Kowloon, commands the whole of the centre of the harbour. The batteries are armed with the latest breech-loading orduance. The Colony of Hongkong pays to the British Government a military contribution fixed at 20 per cent. of the revenue.
In addition to the fortifications the Colony possesses a small squadron for harbour defence. The Naval Yard consists of a large dock, an extensive range of workshops and offices east of the Artillery Barracks, and the Naval Authorities have another large establishment on the Kowloon side near to Yaumati.
CLIMATE
As intimated in earlier paragraphis, Hongkong formerly enjoyed a most unenviable notoriety for unhealthiness, and in years past the troops garrisoned here suffered grievously from malarial fevers, A great deal of the sickness in the early days of the Colony was believed to have been caused by excavating and otherwise, disturbing the disintegrated granite of which the soil of the island mainly consists and which appeared to throw off malarious exhalations when upturned. At the present time, however, the Colony is one of the healthiest spots in the world in the same latitude. The influence of the young pine forests created by the Afforestation Department and the training of nullahs on the slopes have no doubt been beneficial in checking malaria, and the attention latterly bestowed on sanitation has not been without its due effect. The deaths from malaria in 1920 numbered 332. The general death rate per 1,000, in 1920 was 21.19. Among the Chinese community the death rate was 22.78 per 1,000, compared with 23.3 in 1919 and 24.5 in 1918. The birth-rate among the non-Chinese community was 19.78 in 1920. The birth statistics for the Chinese community do not give an accurate record of the number of births
Four successive years of comparative drought, 1898-1901, led to the assumption that the rainfall of Hongkong was decreasing. But such is not the case; the mean annual rainfall for the period 1902-11 was 84.21 inches against 68.29 inches for the period 1895- 1901. Until 1918 the rainfall was never so heavy as in the period 1888-1894, when the mean annual fall was 101.08 inches. In 1914 it was 100.21 inches, in 1915 it was 76.025 inches, in 1916 79.85 inches, in 1917 81.48 inches, in 1918 101.605 inches and in 1919 76.14 inches.
TRADE
The value of the trade of Hongkong was estimated for many years at about £50,000,000 per annum, but the returns compiled by the Statistical Branch of the Imports and Exports Department, established during the war, showed a total (excluding treasure) for 1920 of £212,302,539, viz., exports £103,932,602 and imports £108,369,937.
United Kingdom
...
British Colonies, Dominions and Protectorates
China
...
...
Japan, Korea and Formosa
Other Foreign Countries
...
...
...
Imports Exports £ 15,818,927 £ 2,192,698
16,997,081
23,837,685
26,902,000
71,322,120
12,068,286
8,842,042
63,900,642
47,468,037