55
The differences between Northern and Southern District do not stand out too clearly in the 1911 tables since the Southern District figures there include New Kowloon, and exclude the boat people. Nonetheless, Southern District has 16.2% of recorded males working on boats as against 9.3% in Northern District in 1911, and higher percentages in all categories of shopkeeper and artisan. The more urban and coastal character of the islands can be seen, if dimly.
In 1921, however, there is an "Occupations" table specifically for the Southern District Floating Population. This is reorganised below, as Table 23. If this Table is read with the Southern District figures in Tables 19 and 20, a fuller picture of Southern District life can be had. The floating population table in the census, as for the land people, provides an occupation for 4,129 males as against a total recorded male population of 4,137, and so enters people under more than one occupation category, and must be read with care. The details of absolute numbers, therefore, cannot be relied upon.
Table 23
Occupations of the Floating Population, Southern District, 1921
Occupation Males Females Agricultural occupations 2 0.0% Fisher(wo)men 3174 76.9% Net weaving 0 0.0% 896 59.9% Rope making 2 0.0% 57 3.8% Sailcloth (hemp) weaving 4 0.3% Seamstresses 33 2.2% Carpenters and allied trades 9 0.2% — Boatmen (see Table 24) 755 18.3% 430 28.7% Fishmongers 31 0.8% 11 0.7% Other shopkeepers 14 0.3% 1 0.1% Coolies, hawkers, general labourers 68 1.6% 9 0.6% Religious occupations, fortune tellers 4 0.1% 1 0.1% Barbers, hairdressers 1 0.0% Cooks 5 0.1% 11 0.7% Domestic servants 16 1.1% Washerwomen 13 0.9% Teashop workers 4 0.1% Seamen/cooks on ocean-going vessels and steam launches 59 1.4% 14 0.9% TOTAL 4129 100% 1496 100%11 Includes "coxswains"