Enclosure No. 2 to Despatch No. 113 of the 24th March, 1902.
Hon. Registrar-General,
433
Herewith rates of mortality among Chinese and non-Chinese respectively for the past five years.
1901. Chinese. 23.77 per 1,000. Non-Chinese. 20.5 per 1,000.
1900. 34.1 do. 30.41 do.
1899. 34.4 do. 15.2 do.
1898. 22.6 do. 19.0 do.
1897. 19.03 do. 15.0 do.
It must be borne in mind however that both Chinese and Non-Chinese leave the Colony in large numbers when sick and the figures therefore understate the case very much. This is especially so with the Chinese community, who are here so close to their native villages that they can return there for a few cents only when ill and are induced to do this by the sanitary regulations as to disinfection, burial etc., in force in this Colony.
Last year the death rate among the Chinese female population of this Colony was 35.03 per 1,000 whereas among the Chinese male population it was only 19.49 per 1,000, but here again the figures are probably vitiated by the fact that men can get away from the Colony more readily than women perhaps when sick.
(Sgd.) F. W. Clark.
19th March, 1903.