Sessional_Paper_1892 — Page 237

233

find out when births take place, but, notwithstanding the exercise of all reasonable vigilance, I am afraid births do occur which never appear in a register. The following table shows the number of births and birth rates for the last six years:

Total Births.

1886.

1887.

1888.

1889.

1890.

1891.

Births,

1,557

1,705

1,662

1,683

1,617

1,734

Annual birth rate per 1,000.

British and Foreign,

Chinese,

17.09

18.38

18.05

16.71

15.22

19.53

8.05

8.61

8.18

8.18

7.72

7.13

Whole,.....

8.57

9.16

8.73

8.65

8.14

7.71

From this return it will be seen that, while the birth rate among the British or Foreign community has risen, that among the Chinese has fallen.

Deaths. (Ordinance 7 of 1872.)

The deaths among the British and Foreign community numbered 191; among the Chinese, 5,183, making a total of 5,374 for 1891, as compared with 4,553 in 1890.

The annual death rate per 1,000 among the British and Foreign community was 18.20; among the Chinese, 24.18; among the whole population 23.90. It may be interesting to compare this death rate with that of the chief towns of England and Wales. The following extract from the Times Weekly Edition of the 12th February shows the death rate of the chief towns of England and Wales for the week ending February 6th :--

The weekly return of births and deaths in London and in 32 other great towns is published, by authority of the Re- gistrar General, for the week ending Saturday, February 6th. The deaths registered last week in 33 great towns of England and Wales corresponded to an annual rate of 26-2 per 1,000 of their aggregate population. The deaths registered in each of the several towns, alphabetically arranged, corresponded to the following annual rates per 1,000:-

Birkenhead,

Birmingham,

Blackburn,

Bolton,

Bradford,

Brighton,

Bristol,

Burnley,

Cardiff,.

Croydon,

Derby,

Gateshead,

Halifax,

Huddersfield,

Hull,

Leeds, ................................................

Leicester,

.216 .21.7

Liverpool, London,

.27.7

Manchester,

.27.4

Newcastle-on-Tyne,

.13.8

Norwich,

.23.7

Nottingham...

21-2

Oldham,

.20.7

.25·3

Plymouth,

Portsmouth,

..23.6

Preston,

.19.6

Salford,.......

.21.2

Sheffield,

.17.4

Sunderland,

18.4

Swansea,

.22.7

West Ham,

.17.1

Wolverhampton,

.16.2

..27.1

.30.6

.24.2

.20-6

.39.6

.26.4

.25.3

..17.7

.30-6

31.1

.24.6

.20.9

..20-8

...23-7

...23.3

..26-8

It must be borne in mind, however, when considering the death rate of Hongkong, that the popu lation is not a normal one, the number of people in the prime of life being in the proportion of about 3 to 1. Besides, many of the Chinese leave the Colony for China when they are seriously ill, as they naturally prefer to die in their own country, and, in the case of Europeans also, they in many instances go away when in ill-health, and this no doubt helps to keep the death rate lower than it otherwise would be.

Infantile Mortality.

A reference to Table V., Return B, will show that the number of deaths under one year was 1,533 or 28.53 per cent of the total mortality for the year. This is an exceedingly high rate of infantile mor- tality and seems difficult of explanation, seeing that the total number of births for 1891 is only 1,734. The Sanitary Board took up the question of the high rate of infantile mortality in Hongkong some years ago, and attention has been called to it on more than one occasion since, but no entirely satisfactory explanation of it has ever been given. Most of the infantile deaths occur in the French and Italian Convents, and it has been suggested that children in a moribund condition are taken to these institutions from the mainland of China and from places in the Colony, the births of children in the latter case not being registered.