934
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 27ти SEPTEMBER, 1890.
in the Eastern District, among others the Royal Naval Seaman's Hospital and European residences on Morrison Hill, Caroline Hill, and Leighton Hill, all situated in extensive grounds of their own. In this district there is still room for further building.
With the exception of the extreme western suburb of Kennedytown, and small portions of the Wantsai and Causeway Bay Districts on the eastern side of the town, the whole of the lower levels of the city are closely built over.
In the mouth of March of this year, the Registrar General caused a census to be taken in three disti:ts of the western part of the city, of the respective areas of 13, 7·71, and 3·52 acres including streets, with the result that an average population was found of 1,077 1,602 and 488 persons to the acre in the three districts respectively. I'doubt if this density of population is reached in any city or town of the United Kingdom or of the continent of Europe. In considering however the question of the effect of overcrowding on the health of the population of Victoria. the fact must not be lost sight of that the city is of but limited width, occupying only a narrow strip of ground, with an extensive harbour on its northern, and with a considerable open space on its southern side.
METEOROLOGY.
Rain-fall. It will be seen from table No. 1, which I have compiled from the Reports of the Director of the Government Observatory that the island of Hongkong is subject to very heavy rain-fall during short periods. I submit herewith some information on this subject in the form of diagrams shewing the great variations in the amount of rain-fall during different mouths in the year. The contrast between the heavy rain-falls that annually occur between May and September and the small rain-fall recorded during the months of January, February, November, and December is particularly noticeable.
Temperature, Humidity, Duration of Sunshine.—In table No. 2 will be found the mean monthly temperature obtained from hourly observations also the mean humidity for each month, and the total duration of sunshine. The temperature ranges from about 45° to 90° Fahrenheit, and the humidity in 1887 ranged from 19 to 95.
}
Winds.-Table No. 3 gives the direction, duration and velocity of the winds for each month in the year.
Easterly winds predominate nearly the whole year but southerly winds occur to a large extent during the months of May, June, July, August, and September. The Meteorological Observatory is situated on the Kowloon peninsula 110 feet above sea level.
No. 1.
HONGKONG RAIN-FALL TABLES.
1884.
Months.
Total Rain-fall
in inches.
Maximum
Daily.
Maximum
Hourly.
Number of days on which rain-fall excccded
Number of
bours in which rain- fall exceeded
Inches. 2.24
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
5
25
∙10
January,
0.000
0·000
0.000
0
0
0
0
February,
3.423
1.266
no record
4
0
March,
5.827
1.987
1-345
4
6
12
April,
5.261
1.385
1·055
6
13
May,
9.039
2649
0.800
19
June,
11.035
2:585
2:030
1
13
21
July,
13.075
8-710
1-760
1
X
13
33
August,
10.815
2.295
0.835
35
September,
12:370
5:585
1.190
5
5
26
October,
3 085
1:350
0-730
2
11
November,
1.495
0.925
0·120
0
I
1
December,
0·000
0·000
0·000
0
0
0
Totals,..
75.425
46
65
178