78
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 12,805 of whom 6,742 are civilians and the remainder belong either to the Army or the Navy. The coloured races (non-Chinese) number 5,719 and include East Indians, Malays, Filipinos, Eurasians, Asiatic Portuguese and a few Africans and Japanese. At the Census taken in 1897 the Asiatic Portuguese numbered 2,267, while at that taken in 1901, they were returned at 1,956 only.
The Civil population is essentially a male adult one as no less than 72.9 per cent. of the Chinese population and 62.5 per cent. of the non-Chinese Civil population are males, while more than half the Civil population (50.2 per cent. of the Chinese and 56.4 per cent. of the non-Chinese) are between the ages of 20 and 45. The proportion of the population in Great Britain between these ages is only 33.8 per cent. The proportion of males at the Census taken in 1897 was, among the Chinese 70.9 per cent., and among the non-Chinese 58.6 per cent., and the reduction in the proportion of women both among Chinese and non-Chinese is, I consider, the direct result of the greatly enhanced cost of living of late years, and the increasing difficulty in obtaining suitable accommodation for families.
The City of Victoria is divided into ten Health Districts with an Inspector of Nuisances in charge of each District; there are also five Senior Inspectors for the City, each of whom has the general supervision of two Districts, while there are also special Inspectors for the work of disinfection, for prosecutions, for the control of the Chinese cemeteries, for drainage work and other matters. Kow- loon is similarly divided into two Health Districts, with an Inspector of Nuisances in charge of each, but has already become so important a suburb-the population having doubled in the last five years- that I think there is now ample scope there for at least three Inspectors, and the District should be sub- divided accordingly.
In addition to the foregoing it is proposed to appoint five Plague Inspectors in the ten Health Districts of the City, that is one for each two Districts, and a Plague Inspector in Kowloon, whose special duties have been defined in another document.
The following table gives the number of Chinese houses and floors (ie., separate Chinese dwellings in most cases), and the number of inmates per house and per floor, in the City of Victoria.
City of Victoria Health Districts.
One- Two- Three- Four- Five- storey storey storey storey storey Dwell- Dwell- Dwell- Dwell- Dwell-
ings. ings. ings. ings.
Average Total Total number of Number of Dwell-
ings.
ings. Floors.
Dwell-
floors per persons per
House.
Number of persons per Floor.
ing.
1
195
430
220
31
876
1,839
2-1
14.5
6.9
ลง
2
16
339
538
81
974
2,632
2.7
23-8
8.8
Most of the Chinese in this
3
1
29
23
53
:.
128
2.4
District occupy quarters at-
tached to European offices
and dwellings.
4
3
45
545
373
4
970 3,240
3.3
25.4
7.6
5
146
564
226
32
968 3,148
3.2
23:0
7.1
6
44
54
394
351
39
882
2,933
3.3
21.9
6.6
7
17
35
430
323
12
823
2,747
3.3
17.4
5+2
1
47
601
283
1
933
3,035
3.2
22.4
6.9
9
16
472
475
100
1,063
2,770
2.6
23.6
9.0
10
21
394
320
37
772 1,917
2.5
16.8
5.7
Totalsand Averages,
314 1,991 4,116 1,805
88
8,314 24,395
2-9
21.8
7.4