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for non-criminal offences there were 281 less under the Harbour Ordinance, and 95 more for hawking without a licence than in
1914.
The daily average of prisoners confined in the Gaol was 594, the average for 1914 being 600, and the highest previous average being 726 in 1904. The percentage of prisoners to population, according to the daily average of the former and the estimated number of the latter, was 0.11. The average percentage for the last ten years was 0.12. Owing, however, to the large floating population, which is constantly moving between the Colony and Canton, the percentage of crime to population does not convey an accurate idea of the comparative criminality of the residents of the Colony. The Gaol has accommodation for 630 prisoners.
The prison discipline was satisfactory, the average of punishments per prisoner being 1.41 as compared with 1.34 in 1914 and 1.22 in 1913.
Long sentence prisoners serving two years and upwards are taught useful trades, including printing, book-binding, tin-smithing, mat-making, tailoring, carpentering, etc. The profit on the work done was $63,515 as against $66,034 in 1914. A sum of $3,082 was received and credited to Government for non-Government work against $3,329 in 1914.
IX.-VITAL STATISTICS.
(a.)- POPULATION.
The civil population of the Colony, according to the Census taken on May 20th, 1911, was 456,739, of whom 101,287 resided in the New Territories and in New Kowloon; at the Census taken in 1906 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 509,160, but this includes the New Territories; and, as the birth and death figures given below do not include those from this area (with the exception of New Kowloon), the population for the purposes of calculating these rates is estimated at 418,160, of whom 13,320 were Non-Chinese.
The distribution of population estimated to the middle of 1915 was as follows:
Non-Chinese Civil Community, 13,320
Chinese Population.
City of Victoria (including Peak), 259,750 Villages of Hongkong, 15,200 Kowloon (including New Kowloon), 73,100 New Territories, 91,000 Population afloat, 56,790 Total Chinese Population, 495,840 Total Civil Population, 509,160Page 30
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