348
The number of occupied houses in the City of Victoria, at the middle of the year, was 6,837; and of these about 479 were exclusively European, so that the average number of Chinese occupying each of the remaining 6,358 houses was 26-3, and as some of these houses are occupied by the better class Chinese, it can readily be seen that the poorer portions of the city are greatly overcrowded.
The acreage of that portion of the city already occupied by buildings, including shops, godowns, etc., is 574 acres, distributed as follows:--
No. 1 Health District.
>>
2 3
"
"
31
4
"
.100 acres.
No. 5 Health District....
95
6
">
"2
86
7
""
55
8
""
13
55 acres.
63
50
70
The population of the city, both European and Asiatic, may be estimated at 176,000 consisting of Chinese 167,500 and non-Chinese 8,500, (the remainder of the civil population residing at the Peak, at Kaulung and in the villages) which gives an average density of population of 300 persons per acre, which is six times the average density of population of London, and is another evidence of that terrible overcrowding, which is largely responsible for the high death-rate and for such uncontrollable outbreaks of disease, as that which swept over the Colony during 1894.
The Chinese boat population has been stated to number 33,180, and it must be remembered that these people live entirely on board their small craft, and have little or no intercourse with the land population. The number of registered boats belonging to the port is as follows:--
Fishing and Trading Junks,. Other boats (sampans, etc.).
Total,..
5,630 3,804
9,434
Of this total about one-fifth would be absent from the waters of the Colony at the time of the taking of the census, and as the estimate of the present boat population is based upon those returns, it may be considered that an average of from four to five persons live upon each of these boats.
The Chinese population is peculiar in the great excess of males over females, the proportion being approximately one-fourth females and three-fourths males, while moreover these latter may, in a sense, be regarded as picked lives, for the great majority of them are young adults, who reside in the Colony solely with the object of earning and accumulating money, and with the full intention of returning to their homes, on the mainland, within a few years.
BIRTHS.
The number of births registered during the year was as follows:-
Chinese community............ Non-Chinese community...... 119
Males. 682
Females.
Total.
513
1,195
113
232
1,427
This is equal to a birth-rate of 5.8 per 1,000. The number of births among Europeans was 95; of which 79 were British, 13 German and 3 French. The births among the Portuguese numbered 63 and among the Indians 66, while there were also 3 births of Japanese and 5 of natives of Malay; the birth-rate among the non-Chinese community was therefore 214 per 1,000, while that among the Portuguese community alone was 28.25 per 1,000 and among the British (exclusive of 19 births which occurred in the military quarters) was 22.4 per 1,000. This is one of the most satisfactory features in connection with our vital statistics, indicating as it does the remarkable extent to which family life prevails in this far-distant Colony.
The number of Chinese births registered conveys a most erroneous impression of the actual birth-rate among the Chinese, for no less than 805 births must be added, none of which were registered by the parents. This figure has been computed by the Assistant Registrar General from the figures relating to the deaths of unknown infants in the various Convents, and the bodies of newly-born children found in the Harbour, or in the streets, and includes all such children as appeared to be less than one month old. With this addition, the number of Chinese births will stand at 2,000 exactly, and the birth-rate at 8-4 per 1,000, which is an exceptionally low rate, even taking into considerations the great preponderance of inen over women in the population. There is, however, another circumstance that bears largely upon this question of the birth-rate among Chinese, namely, the fact that no less than 9 per cent. of the Chinese adult female population of the City of Victoria are prostitutes, residing in public brothels, while probably as many more are to be found in the private dwellings, especially of the poorest classes.
The addition of the above 805 unregistered births raises the total birth-rate for the Colony to 9-3 per 1,000.
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