K 6
The estimated population to the middle of 1909 is as follows:- Non-Chinese Civil Community,
Chinese :-
City of Victoria (including Peak and
14,000
Stonecutters' Island),................
180,750
Villages of Hongkong,
18,800
Kowloon,
74,600
Floating population,
46,240
Mercantile Marine,
2,770
Total Chinese Civil Population,
323,160
Army (average strength),
4,500
Navy (average strength),
2,217
343,877
Total Population of the Colony in 1909
exclusive of the New Territories (except New Kowloon),......
The Chinese population of the New Territories (exclusive of New Kowloon) was 85,011 at the Census taken in 1901 but there are no data as yet on which to base an estimate of the increase in population (if any) in this portion of the Colony since that date.
The following is the distribution of the population as estimated above:--
Europeans and Americans, Africans,
according to nationality
11,390 13
East Indians,
4,384
Chinese and Malays,
323,844
Mixed and Coloured,
4,246
Total,
343,877
The Civil population consists chiefly of male adults. At the last Census (1906) the proportion of males was 70.1 per cent. of the total Civil population; at the 1901 Census the proportion was 72.6 per cent., so there was an increase in the proportion of females (which means an increase in family life among the Chinese) during that interval.
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 average strength of the troops in Garrison during 1909 was 106 British Officers and 1,942 British N. C. O.s and men with 37 Indian Officers and 1,864 Indian N. C. O.s and men, and 51 Chinese attached to the Royal Engineers. There were also 453