M 11
The excess of males over females is very marked. At the census of 1911 there were 135,563 more males than females enumerated and in 1921 the difference had increased to 140,048.
The floating population (64,300) is distributed amongst the following classes of boats :-
Passenger boats.. 1,918 Lighters, cargo, and water boats. 1,855 Fishing and other boats 6,306 Hulks 76 Boats (mostly fishing) in New Territories ... 5,238There is a continual flow of the populace between this Colony and China and the population to a large extent appears to be constantly changing, but it cannot be said to what extent arrivals in any year are of new comers or of people returning after having previously left the Colony.
The river steamers plying between Hongkong and China brought 645,744 and took away 636,694 persons.
The Kowloon-Canton Railway brought 526,111 persons and took away 522,909.
This gives a total of 1,171,855 immigrants and 1,159,603 emigrants by these routes alone but, as there are other means of entering and leaving the Colony e.g. by junks and ocean going steamships these figures do not accurately show the interchange of population.
BIRTHS.
The Chinese are careless in the matter of registering births especially those of Female children. It appears to be a Chinese custom not to register even the birth of a male child unless such child has survived for at least one month, while female children frequently are not registered at all. This refers to the custom in China of enrolling the child's name at the ancestral temple and no doubt this custom prevents the registration in this Colony of births as required by the Births and Deaths Registration Ordinance which appears to have no counterpart in China proper.
The number of births reported by registered midwives for 1922 was as follows:-
Male Female 2,814 2,490 5,304