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The total of all cases reported to the Police was 10,421, as against 9,172 in 1901.
This shows an increase of 13.61.
per cent.
In the division of these cases into serious and minor offences there appears an increase, as compared with 1901, of 594 cases or 17.45 per cent. in the former, and of 655 cases or 11.35 per cent. in the latter. The serious offences in which the increase was most noticeable were burglary and larceny.
The increase in crime in the Colony is no doubt largely due to the restlessness of the neighbouring districts in China, and the influx of Chinese paupers who were the victims of bad harvests and spasmodic rebellions in the two adjoining provinces.
The Police Force is composed of 133 Europeans, 367 Indians and 419 Chinese, and has thus increased, largely owing to the necessities of the New Terri- tory, by nearly 300 members during the past five years. The executive staff consists of a Captain Superintendent, a Deputy and two Assistant Superintendents.
The daily average of prisoners confined in the gaol during 1902 was 576. The average may be said to have been raised by about 25 per cent. during the past ten years.
Constant attention is given to the instruction of long-sentence prisoners (first offenders) of good conduct, who are employed at industrial labour, viz.:-Boot and Shoe-making, failoring, Mat-making, Carpentry, Tinsmithing, Net-making, Mat- tress-making, Rattan work, Knitting, Printing and Book-binding the knowledge of which is useful and educational, rendering many of them much better adapted to earn an honest livelihood after their discharge from prison.
The total number of forms printed at the Gaol during the year 1902 was 3,050,828, and 11,949 books were bound, The value of work done by the Print- ing and Book-binding Department was $29,039.13. Deducting the cost of paper, leather, etc., used during the year, from the net earnings, the total profits on all industrial labour amounted to $29,439.91 for year 1902.
The Chinese inhabitants contribute by a voluntary assessment among them- selves to the pay of District Watchmen, a native force which is of material assist- ance to the regular Police. During the year 1902 over $17,000 was contributed for this purpose.
IX.-VITAL STATISTICS.
().-POPULATION.
This is
The last Census was taken in January, 1901, when the population was found to be 283,975, exclusive of the Army and Navy. The estimated population at the beginning of the year under review, (the naval and military forces being similarly excluded from the estimate), was 311,824, including 18,524 non-Chinese. exclusive of the New Territory, the population of which is probably slightly under 110,000. The total population of the Colony may therefore be estimated in round figures at 421,000 of all nationalities. The total number of births registered in the Colony was 1,200 and of deaths 6,783. This gives an annual birth rate of 3.8 and a death-rate of 21.7 per 1,000. The excess of deaths over births is explained by the fact that thousands of Chinese families are represented in Hongkong by men only, and that a large proportion of the population of the Colony is a floating population of adult males. It should also be remembered that a large proportion of births among the Chinese remains unregistered. The preponderance of male over female births is very marked among the Chinese community, being in the proportion of 190 males to every 100 females. The proportion among the non-Chinese community was 111 to 100 as compared with 107 to 100 in 1901.
(6).—PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAnitation.
The Colony was again visited by Plague in the Spring and Summer of 1902, though the outbreak was much less severe than in several former years. 546 Chinese are known to have died of this disease in the Colony, and 26 members of the British and Foreign community, which includes Asiatic Portuguese. 57 cases