400
Sub-districts 7 and 8 are in New Kowloon, the remainder comprise the whole of Old Kowloon. The Non-Chinese population of Old Kowloon at the 1906 Census was 2,269 civilians and 2.215 troops, most of whom reside in sub-districts 1 and 2, while the Non- Chinese population of New Kowloon was 47.
BIRTHS,
The births registered during the year were as follows:--
Males.
Females.
Total,
Chinese, Non-Chinese,
...736
388
1,124
.161
135
296
Total 1907......
..897
523
1,420
1906.....
845
476
1,321
This gives a general birth-rate of 4:31 per 1,000 as compared with 404 per 1,000 in 1906 and 341 per 1,000 in 1905.
The birth-rate amongst the Non-Chinese community was 15.95 per 1,000 as compared with 14:06 per 1,000 in 1906 and 17:03 in 1905.
The nationalities of the Non-Chinese parents were as follows:-British 122, Indian 40,. German 11, French 1, American 1, Portuguese 79, Filipino and Malay 20, Japanese 1, Jewish 6, Dutch 3, Parsee 4, Swedish 2, Roumanian 2, Brazilian 2, Swiss 1 and Dane 1.
The number of Chinese births registered does not give an accurate record of the num ber of births which have occurred. Owing to the custom of the Chinese of not registering births unless the child has survived for a month and often in the case of female children not at all, it is probable that the majority if not all of the infants which are sickly at birth or die before they have lived 1 month have not had their births registered. It is customary, therefore, to assume that all children of 1 month old and under who are admitted to the various convents (being brought there sick by poor people) and all children found dead in the streets, harbour, hillsides, etc., by the police, have been born in the Colony but not registered. By adding the number of such children to the number of the registered births a somewhat more correct number of births is obtained and from this is calculated a corrected birth-rate.
The number of such children in 1907 was 510 males and 873 females, total 1,383, which being added to the registered births, makes a total of 2,803 as compared with 1,904 in 1906. The corrected birth-rate is therefore 851 while amongst the Chinese community alone the rate becomes 8·06 instead of 3.62 per 1,000.
The preponderance of male over female registered births is very marked amongst the Chinese, there being 189 males to 100 females; in 1906 the proportion was 199 males to 100 females. With the 1,383 above mentioned unregistered births however the proportion
falls to 99 males to 100 females.
In the Non-Chinese community the proportion of male births to female births for 1907 was 119 to 100 as compared with 122 to 100 in 1906, 103 to 100 in 1905, 83 to 100 in 1904 and II1 to 100 in 1903 and 1902 respectively.
DEATHS.
The deaths registered during the year numbered 7,286. The death-rate was therefore 22-12 per 1,000. These deaths include 198 from Plague.
The following Table gives the death-rates during the past five Census years :-
Non-Chinese.
Chinese.
1881
18.22
24-45
1891
18.20
24.18
1896
19.91
24.75
1901
20.50
23.77
1906
14.02
26-41