# IX.-VITAL STATISTICS
(a.) POPULATION
The population of the Colony according to the Census taken in 1901 was 283,975 while at the Census taken in 1906 it was 301,967 exclusive of the New Territories, New Kowloon and the Army and Navy Establishments. The estimated total population at the middle of the year under review was 435,986 as follows:-
Non-Chinese Civil Community, 14,260 Hongkong, 198,720 Chinese Popula-tion, Kowloon, (New and Old), 80,200 Floating Population, 48,010 Mercantile Marine, - 2,990 329,920 Army, (average strength), 4,433 Navy, (average strength), - 2,362 6,795 New Territories, (exclusive of Kowloon), 85,011 Total, 435,986
(b.) PUBLIC HEALTH AND SANITATION
During the year under review further progress has been made in rendering existing domestic buildings rat proof as a preventive of Plague, 324 ground surfaces of houses have been repaired, and 1,675 buildings have had rat-runs filled up with cement.
The cubicle question has for many years been one of the most difficult problems in connection with the sanitary welfare of the Colony, but it would seem that, at last, it has been solved in a satisfactory manner by a judicious combination of stringent regulations with administrative discretion. The Public Health law of the Colony prohibits the erection of cubicles in ground floor rooms and limits those on upper floors to two in number, while it also limits the height of the partition walls to six feet and regulates their construction in certain other directions, but a discretionary power is granted by the Ordinance which has now been vested in the Medical Officer of Health and the Assistant Medical Officer of Health and they have thus been enabled to permit the erection of a larger number of cubicles on any floor, wherever the lighting and ventilation of the premises has been found to warrant such a concession.
New buildings (domestic) to the number of 93 were erected during the year and in these the effect of the present Ordinance is seen in the increased amount of open space about the houses, which the law requires. Scavenging lanes which have to be provided in the rear of new houses also increase the open space about them and tend to reduce overcrowding.
The general death-rate for the year was 22.50 per 1,000 among the Chinese community and 10.04 per 1,000 among the non-Chinese community as compared with 21.68 and 12.45 respectively during 1909.