336
The Chinese boat population of the Colony has been estimated to the middle of the year to have been 34,700; this figure cannot, however, be relied upon as necessarily accurate, for owing to an error in the census returns for 1891 pointed out in my Annual Report for last year, a correct basis for calculating this population is wanting. It would appear, however, that there has been a steady increase in the floating population and at the census taken in 1897 it was found to number 33,275.
The number of registered boats belonging to the Port in 1899 was as follows:-
Fishing and Trading Junks,
Cargo-boats, Lighters, Sampans, etc., ....
Total,
The number of boats licensed in 1898 was 10,150, and in 1897 was 9,954.
6,405 4,480
10,885
The population of the Colony is classified primarily into Chinese and Non-Chinese, the fornr being greatly in the majority. The Non-Chinese comprise a white population of 13,060 of whor... 6,155 are civilians and the remainder belong to the Army or the Navy. The coloured races number 2,760 and comprise East Indians, Malays, Filipinos and a few Africans.
The white civilian population was shown at the 1897 census to consist of 2,374 British, 2,276 Portuguese, and a sprinkling of Americans, Germans, French, and other Europeans.
The population is essentially a male adult one, as no less than 70.9 per cent. of the Chinese population and 58.6 per cent. of the Non-Chinese population are males, while more than half the population (55.9 per cent. of the Chinese and 52.6 per cent. of the Non-Chinese) are between the ages of 20 and 45. The proportion of the population of Great Britain between these ages is only 33.8 per cent.
The City of Victoria is divided into ten Health Districts with an Inspector of Nuisances in charge of each district; there are also five First Class Inspectors of Nuisances, each of whom has the general supervision of two districts and has in addition certain special duties such as the disinfection of infected premises, the prosecution of offenders, the upkeep of the dust-boats, dust-carts, etc., and the control of the Chinese cemeteries.
The following table gives the number of Chinese houses and floors (¿.e., separate Chinese dwellings in most cases), and the number of inmates per house and per floor :—
HEALTHI DISTRICT.
CHINESE HOUSES.
Total Chinese. Total Dwell- Floors.
Number Average
of Number of Floors per Dwell- Empty Dwelling.
ings.
Number of
Floors.
Number of Number of Chinese Chinese Persons per Persons per Empty Occupied Occupied
House.
Floor.
One Two Three Four Five- story story story story story Dwell Dwell- Dwell-Dwell- Dwellings.
ings. ings. ings.ings. ings.
1
182 422
55
659
1,191
1.8
20
29
12.6
7.1
2
408 406
6
827 2,065
2.5
1
26.9
10.7
3
8 23
4
1
69 486
889985
31
85
2.7
:
Most of the Chinese in this District occupy quarters.
in European Offices.
336
19
911
3,036
3.3
5
22
26.3
7.9
5
19 156 629 147
10
953
2,816
2.9
15
53
23.7
8.0
6
47
110 507 156
4
824 2,432
2.9
13
107
21.5
7.5
7
co
8
79 520 133
740 2,258
3.0
19
10
22.3
7.3
co
8
2
106 510 116
:
734 2,208
3.0
26.2
8.7
9
45 500 412 78
1,035 2,593
2.5
10
48
24.1
9.7
10
72
216 163
455 1,009
2.2
4
64
16.7
7.9
Totals and Averages,
3832,074 3,711
976
25 7,169 19,693
2.7
51
339
23.4
8.6