270
bered that there is an important Naval Hospital in Hongkong to which invalids from the entire Fleet are sent during the greater part of the year, and that the deaths occurring in this institution necessa- rily influence the death-rate to a degree proportionate to the strength of the entire Fleet rather than to the mere strength of the local contingent.
The Chinese boat population of the Colony has been estimated to the middle of the year to have been 33,360; this, however, includes some 1,500 Chinese who are employed on board the various ships in the Harbour. These people make their homes upon the junks, cargo-boats, sampans, etc., and it is interesting therefore to note the differences in the incidence of various diseases upon them and upon the land population. The number of registered boats belonging to the Port is as follows:-
Fishing and Trading Junks,
Cargo-boats, Lighters, Sampans, etc.,
Total,..
This gives an average of 3.2 persons to each boat.
5,922 4,032
9,954
It will be noted that the population of the Colony is classified primarily into Non-Chinese and Chinese; with these latter I have included the Eurasians, who were returned separately at the recent Census but only to the number of 251. The non-Chinese civil population includes British, who at the recent census numbered 2,374, Portuguese who numbered 2,267, Japanese to the number of 398, Germans 366, Americans 223, Malays 219, Philippine Islanders 216, with a sprinkling of Frenchmen, Spaniards, Jews, and a variety of other nationals both European, Asiatic and African. The total Euro- pean and American population (exclusive of the Portuguese) to the middle of 1897 was 3656.
The Population of the Colony of Hongkong is essentially an adult one, for among the non-Chinese population no less than 52.6 per cent are between the ages of 20 and 45, as compared with 33.8 per cent at the same ages in Great Britain, while among the Chinese population 55.9 per cent are between these age periods.
The preponderance of the male sex is also most marked, especially among the Chinese, of whom no less than 70.9 per cent are males, while among the non-Chinese population the percent- age is 58.6 of males. The explanation of this great preponderance of young inale adults in the Chi- nese population is, as I have explained in previous Reports, that so many of them are attracted here from the neighbouring provinces of the mainland by the prospect of good wages and the protection of the British flag, and are content to leave their wives and families in China, during their sojourn here, for the facilities of transport to Canton and the neighbourhood are so great that it is a simple matter for them to visit their homes at frequent intervals.
This constitution of the population has a most important bearing upon the vital statistics of the Colony, for it should most certainly be associated with an abnormally low death-rate as well as a low birth-rate. This latter we undoubtedly have among the Chinese population, but I regret to say that instead of a death-rate of about 11 or at the most 12 per 1,000, such as should obtain in a population so largely composed of young adults we have a death-rate of no less than 18.85 per 1,000, the excess being, among the native population at least, largely due to the insanitary conditions under which the great bulk of them are at present compelled to live. A far more graphic but equally true expression of this fact would be that no less than 1,800 Chinese die annually in Hongkong, as the result of gross insanitary conditions, many of which are at present permitted by the laws of this Colony.
The city of Victoria is now divided into ten Health Districts, with an Inspector of Nuisances in charge of each, and the following table gives the number of houses and of floors (ie., separate Chinese dwellings in most cases), the population and the extent of each of these districts.
Districts.
Chinese Houses.
Floors.
Chinese Population.
Non-Chinese Non-Chinese
Houses.
Population. Acreage.
Total No. of persons per acre.
1
303
811
7,720
31
428
531
15.3
2
955
2,353
21,120
1,108
267
83.2
18
33
4,210
355
1,869
158
38.5
4
776
2,341
23,230
128
1,834
45
556.9
5
980
2,686
21,720
21
351
23
959.6
6
805
2,308
16,680
3
398
23
742.5
7
722
2,227
16,010
179
27
599.6
8
732
2,231
18.540
5
129
42
444.4
9
1,023
2,457
23,860
19
160
40
600.5
10
564
1,213
7,370
47
296
258
29.7.
7,078
18,660 160,460
616
6,752
1,414