19
+
it was 301,967 exclusive of the New Territories and of New Kowloon. The estimated total population at the middle of the year under review was 464,277, but this includes the New Territories; and, as the death figures given below do not include those from this area (with the exception of New Kowloon), the population for the purposes of calculating death-rates is estimated at 373,627, of whom 18,837 were non-Chinese.
The distribution of the population at the Census was as follows:-
Population. Non-Chinese Civil Community City of Victoria (including Peak) 219,380 Villages of Hongkong 12,075 16,106 Chinese Kowloon (including New Kowloon)... 67,602 New Territories 80,622 Population afloat 60,948 414,661 Total Chinese Population...... 456,739 Total Civil Population(b) PUBLIC HEALTH AND SANITATION,
The gradual replacement of the old type of Chinese dwelling by the new premises erected in accordance with the Public Health and Buildings Ordinance 1903 is effecting a slow, but certain, improvement in the healthiness of the native quarters; but this has been somewhat discounted during the past year, by an abnormal influx of Chinese refugees from the Canton district, which was coincident with the revolutionary movement in South China. It has been estimated that at least twenty thousand people arrived in Hongkong within a period of a few weeks during the months of April and May from this cause, and although some of these fugitives had no doubt returned to China before the close of the year, yet there is ample evidence that a sufficient number have remained to throw a considerable strain upon the housing accommodation of the Colony. A further, but smaller, influx due to similar causes occurred during the month of November. The chief sufferers from this cause would seem to be the Portuguese, who are largely employed as clerks, accountants, etc., in both Government and private offices. This section of the community has for some years past occupied dwellings of European type in the neighbourhood of Caine Road, Shelley Street, Mosque Terrace, etc., but they have recently been dispossessed by more wealthy Chinese tenants from Canton. At the same time the poorer classes of refugees have crowded into the native quarters of the City and of Kowloon, with the result that there has no doubt been some amount of overcrowding of a temporary nature. This has been dealt with, where it has been found that premises unfit for habitation-such for instance as basements-have been occupied, or where the overcrowding has been excessive; but it has been felt that the conditions were for the time being abnormal, and a rigid enforcement of the overcrowding laws has not been attempted.