7.
114
MARRIAGES.
(Ordinance No. 7 of 1875 as amended by Ordinance No. 15 of 1902
and Ordinance No. 6 of 1903.)
The number of marriages solemnized during the year was 131, as compared with 146 in 1903. Twenty-one marriages were contracted at the Registrar General's Office. Two certificates were issued under the Foreign Marriage Ordinance. The Church of the Holy Trinity at Kowloon and the Basel Mission Chapel at Shaukiwan were licensed for the celebration of marriages. 335 permits to fire crackers were issued in the case of Chinese marriages.
8.
BIRTHS AND DEATHS.
(Ordinance No. 7 of 1896.)
Tables.
IV (A).—Return of Births and Deaths registered during the year 1904.
IV (B). Return shewing the Number of Births and Deaths registered at the various Registration Offices in the Colony, during the year 1904.
IV (C)-Return shewing Death-rates in different groups of Ages, for the year 1904.
1904.
IV (D). Return shewing the Number of Deaths in Hospitals, during the year
IV (E)-Return shewing the Number of Patients under treatment in the Tung Wa Hospital during the year 1904, with other particulars.
IV (F).—Return shewing the Number and Causes of Deaths registered during the year ended the 31st December, 1904.
9.
BIRTHS.
The births registered during the year were as follows:-
Males.
Females.
Total.
Chinese,....
621
321
942
Non-Chinese,
119
144
263
740
465
1.205
This is equal to a general birth-rate of 3.30 per 1,000, as compared with 3.17 in 1903. The birth-rate in the non-Chinese Community alone was 139 per 1,000, as compared with 15.2 in 1903.
The nationalities of the non-Chinese parents were as follows:-British 106, Indian 37, Malay 8, Portuguese 73, Philippinos 14, German 13, American 3, French 2, and seven other nationalities one each.
The number of Chinese births registered is not a full record of the births that have occurred in the Colony. The births of many of the infants that die during the first month or so of life certainly remain unregistered. The number of infants one month old and under that died in the various Convents or were found by the Police in the streets or in the harbour was 572-203 being males and 369 females. Proba- bly none of these was registered.