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VIII CRIMINAL AND POLICE.
The total of all cases reported to the Police was 17,560 being an increase of 3,366 or 237 per cent. as compared with 1923. There was in 1924 an increase in serious offences of 548 or 137 per cent. as compared with the previous year. The number of serious offences reported was 170 over the average of the quin- quennial period commencing with the year 1920. The number of minor offences reported shows an increase of 2,818 as compared with 1923 and was 3,424 over the average of the quinquennial period.
The total strength of the Police Force in 1924 was Europeans 235, Indiane 504, Chinese 305 making a total of 1,544 exclusive of the six superior officers and staff of clerks and coolies. These figures include police paid for by the railway and other Government departments. Of this force 15 Europeans, 29 Indians, and 141 Chinese were stationed in the New Territories during the year.
The District Watchmen Force, numbering 122, to which the Government contributes $2,000 per annum, was well supported by the Chinese during the year. These watchmen patrol the streets in the Chinese quarter of the City. They are placed on police beats and are supervised by the European police on section patrol. A detective branch of the force has doue useful work under the supervision of a European Inspector.
The total number of persons committed to Victoria Gaol was 7,382 as compared with 5,338 in 1923. Of these 1,644 were committed for criminal offences against 928 in 1923. Of committals for nonetiminal offences there were 23 more for hawking without a licence, and 30 less for unlawfully boarding steamers, than in 1923.
The daily average of prisoners confined in the Gaol was 106 the average for 1923 being 861, and the highest previous average being 707 in 1922. The percentage of prisoners to population, according to the daily average of the fortner and the estimated number of the latter, was 0:13. The average percentage for the last ten years was 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 Victoria Gaol has accommodation for 700 prisoners including patients in Hospital. The Branch Prison at Laichikok has accommodation for 350 prisoners in association.
The prison disciplius was very satisfactory, the average of punishments per prisoner being 043 as compared with 0,5 in 1923 and 0.52 in 1922.
Long sentence prisoners serving two years and upwards are taught seful trades, including printing, book-binding, tin- mithing, mat-making, tailoring, carpentering, etc. The profit on the work done was $121,064.03 as against $116,714.72 in 1923. A sum of $4,427 was received and credited to Government for non-Government work as against $1,207 in 1923.
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IX. VITAL STATISTICS.
(a.)-POPULATION,
The civil population of the Colony, according to the census taken on April 24th, 1921, was 625,166, of whom 83,103 reside in the New Territories and in New Kowloon; at the census taken in 1911 it was 456,739 with 104,257 as the figure for the New Territories and New Kowloon. The estimated total population at the middle of the year under review was 799,550, 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 714,550, of whom 16,000 were non-Chinese.
The distribution of population estimated to the middle of 1924
Chinese
l'opulation.
was as follows :—
Non-Chinese Civil Community,...
10,000
City of Victoria fincluding Peak)..
420,000
Villages of Hongkong,
29,800
Kowloon (including New Kowloon),
180,000
New Territories,
85,000
Population afloat,
68,750
783,550
799,550
Total Chinese Population,
Total Civil Population,
()-PUBLIC HEALTH AND SANITATION.
The activity in building operations, which has been so notice- able a feature since 1912, has not abated, and the demand for housing accommodation by the Chinese continued to be greatly in excess of the supply, as many of those who fled with their families to Hongkong during 1911, 1912, and 1013 elected to remain in the Colony.
The birth-rate for the year was 5'47* per 1,000 among the Chinese community and 1825 per 1,000 among the non-Chinese community, as compared with 6'97 and 23:03 for 1923.
The death-rate for the year was 219 per 1,000 among the Chinese community and 15-86 among the non-Chinese civil com- munity, as compared with 23′27 and 14-83 for 1923,
The deaths from Malaria numbered 707 (874 in 1923), The deaths of Chinese from this cause in the City of Victoria numbered 187 out of a population of 420,000 or a rate of 044 per 1,000 per annum.
The deaths from Plague numbered nil as compared with 136 in 1923.
• This figure in wholly misleading as it is impossible to register mora thau a portion of the births.
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