1887-1903
HONG KONG, 1902.
17
The Chinese inhabitants contribute by a voluntary assessment among themselves to the pay of district watchmen, a native force which is of material assistance to the regular police. During the year 1902 over $17,000 was contributed for this purpose.
IX.-VITAL STATISTICS.
(A.) POPULATION.
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. This is 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 Hong Kong 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.
(B.) 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 of small-pox, of which 41 were fatal, occurred during the year, and a somewhat serious outbreak of cholera, which was responsible for 433 deaths took place synchronously with plague. It is probable that the spread of the disease was encouraged by the shortage of the water-supply in the Spring, which was the result of the deficient rainfall of 1901. There were 425 deaths from malarial fever, and 453 from beri-beri. The total number of deaths from all causes was 6,783, including 352 members of the British and Foreign community.
15374
B
379