AnnualReport-1908

HUMIDITY.

Max. Mean. Min.

Rel.

K 3

METEOROLOGICAL Return.

The following Table records the meteorological conditions which prevailed during 1908:—

Month.

Barometer at M.S.L..

TEMPERATURE.

Cloudiness.

Sunshine.

Rain.

WIND.

Abs.

Dir.

Vel.

ins. ° ° ° p. c. p. c. ins. p. c. hours. Points. m. p. h. January, 30.19 66.8 62.4 58.1 78 0.44 76 143.2 E by N 11.3 February, 30.12 62.3 58.3 54.9 76 0.38 83 87.4 ENE 14.8 March, 30.09 65.9 61.2 57.0 76 0.42 66 146.0 E by N 15.4 April, 29.94 71.7 68.5 65.5 89 0.62 87 80.8 E 18.9 May, 29.87 80.8 76.1 72.1 79 0.72 62 219.8 E 12.3 June, 29.78 83.6 80.2 77.2 84 0.87 84 147.8 SE 13.0 July, 29.73 87.0 82.3 78.7 82 0.91 65 227.0 S by W 9.1 August, 29.72 87.3 82.1 78.5 83 0.91 66 219.9 ESE 7.1 September, 29.86 85.7 80.9 77.3 81 0.88 67 179.8 E by N 9.0 October, 29.92 80.8 76.8 73.4 78 0.72 69 174.4 ENE 17.2 November, 30.09 75.8 70.2 65.6 63 0.49 60 189.8 NE 11.7 December, 30.13 67.9 63.3 59.5 76 0.45 75 101.7 NE by E 10.5 Mean or Total, 29.95 76.3 71.8 68.1 79 0.65 72 1,917.1 E 12.5

2.640

2.830

0.765

11.150

1.325

15.245

22.262

12.065

13.720

5.440

0.145

4.255

91.875

The average rainfall for the decade ending 1897 was 92.6 inches, and for that ending 1907, 77.3 inches.

POPULATION.

The population of the Colony is primarily divided into Chinese and Non-Chinese. The Non-Chinese comprised at the Census of 1906 a white population of 12,925 of whom 6,085 were Civilians while 4,429 belonged to the Navy and 2,411 to the Army. The coloured races (Non-Chinese) numbered 8,500 and included East Indians, Asiatic Portuguese, Japanese, Filipinos, Malays, Africans, Persians and a few others.

The following Table shows the distribution according to nationality of the population as estimated for the year 1908.

European and Americans. 11,252 Africans. 10 East Indians. 4,116 Chinese and Malays. 316,850 Mixed and Coloured. 4,260 Total. 336,488

The population exclusive of the Army and Navy consists chiefly of male adults. At the 1906 Census the male population was 70.1 per cent. of the total civil population; at the 1901 Census the percentage was 72.6 so there has been an increase in the percentage of females during the past few years.

Of the Chinese population in 1906 70.3 per cent. were males, and over half the civil population (56.9 per cent. of the Chinese and 52.6 per cent. of the Non-Chinese) were between the ages of 20 and 45 years.

The estimated population to the middle of 1908 is as follows:-

Non-Chinese, exclusive of the Army and Navy,

13,200

Chinese:

City of Victoria (including Peak and Stonecutters' Island),

177,130

Villages of Hongkong,

17,330

Kowloon,

74,350

Floating Population,

44,940

Mercantile Marine,

2,700

316,450

Army (average strength),

4,483

Navy (average strength),

2,355

Total population of the Colony in 1908 exclusive of the New Territories (except New Kowloon),

336,488