397
Neither the Census returns, nor the estimates given above, include that portion of Kowloon to which the jurisdiction of the Sanitary Board was extended at the end of last year.
The total strength of Troops in Garrison on June 30th, 1900, was 53 British Officers and 1,143 British Warrant Officers, X. C. O.'s and men, with 11 Indian Officers and 909 Indian Warrant Officers, N. C. O's and men. making a total of 2,116 as compared with 3,098 in the previous year. There were in addition 81 British women and 150 British children, and also 82 Asiatic women and 139 Asiatic children on the strength. The reduction in the number of troops in the Colony at this period of the year is explained by the fact that a number of them were serving in the North with the China Expeditionary Force. At the Census taken in January, 1901, there were 5,501 officers and men and 2,139 camp followers resident in the Colony, making a total of 7,640.
The total strength of the British Fleet on the China Station on June 30th, 1900, was 6,719 British Officers and men, 390 Chinese servants and 1 Japanese servant, making a total of 7,110 as compared with 7,738 in the previous year. At the census taken in January, 1901, the actual num- ber of Officers and men of His Majesty's Navy present in the Colony was 5,597, and the estimated average number resident here (ashore and afloat) throughout the year 1900 is put at 3,110.
The Chinese boat population of the Colony (including 1,180 Chinese on the merchant ships in the Harbour) numbered 41,280 at the Census taken in January, 1901, and has been estimated at 40,180 to the middle of the year 1900.
The number of registered boats belonging to the Port in 1900 was as follows:-
Fishing and Trading Junks,
Cargo-boats, Lighters, Sampans, etc.,........
Total......
7,434
4,933
.12,367
This represents an average of 3.2 persons per boat, which is precisely the same as the average in 1897, after the previous Census.
The number of boats licensed in 1899 was 10,885 and in 1898 it was 10,150.
The figures for 1900 do not include 1,165 fishing junks licensed for Cheung Chau, 767 for Tai O and 2,154 for Taipo, as these villages in the New Territory do not come within the jurisdiction of the Sanitary Board, nor are they included in the estimates of population.
The population of the Colony is classified primarily into Chinese and Non-Chinese, the former being greatly in the majority. The Non-Chinese comprise a white population of 10,020, of whom 4,342 are civilians and the remainder belong either to the Army or the Navy. The coloured races (Non-Chinese) number 4,788 and include East Indians, Malays, Filipinos, and a few Africans and Japanese, while the coloured Portuguese alone number 1,898.
The civil population is essentially a male adult one, as no less than 72.9 per cent. of the Chi- nese population and 62.6 per cent. of the Non-Chinese civil population are males while more than half the civil population (55.9 per cent. of the Chinese and 47.6 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 recent Census has revealed the fact that during the past four years-that is to say since the Census taken in January, 1897--the excess of males over females has become more marked, both among the Chinese and the Non-Chinese community, for the previous proportions were 70.9 per cent. of males among the Chinese, and 58.6 per cent. of males among the Non-Chinese. The greatly increased rentals of domestic buildings, during the past four years, are no doubt the cause of this reduction in the female population, for both the Chinese and the Non-Chinese community have found it increasingly difficult to obtain family dwellings at a rental which would bear a just proportion to their earnings. It will be noted that the reduction is even more marked among the Non-Chinese community than among the Chinese, and until cheap and rapid transit is afforded to the outlying dis- tricts of the City, I am afraid that this great disproportion of the sexes will be maintained, or even further accentuated.
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 for the City, 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 up-keep of the dust-boats, dust-carts, etc., and the control of the Chinese Cemeteries.