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7. Advance copies of the English and Chinese schedules were forwarded to all Government and Grant-in-Aid Schools and the largest of the Chinese Private Vernacular Schools, and the co-operation of the masters was solicited in explaining to their pupils the objects of the Census and the correct methods of completing the schedules. Advance copies were also forwarded to all the newspapers, and during the week immediately preceding the Census, general instructions were widely advertised in the English and Chinese Press.

8. The City of Victoria was divided into 97 sections, based on the Health District boundaries, two enumerators being detailed as a rule to each section. Most of the sections adopted in 1911 were reduced in size, but many were found in practice to be still too large for two enumerators to handle properly and speedily. Shaukeiwan and Quarry Bay were divided into 5 sections and the Kowloon Peninsula into 35 sections, of which many proved too large. Each enumerator received a card of appointment in English and Chinese, and a set of instructions in Chinese; the boundaries of his section were endorsed on the back of the card in Chinese, but though I personally took all the enumerators round their sections and explained to them on the spot exactly what ground they were to cover, it was found difficult to convince some of them that their section included every building within the boundaries mentioned on their card.

9. For tabulation the slip system was again used, but before the next census it will be necessary to consider whether the use of tabulating machinery would be justified, if the population increases at anything like the present rate: otherwise a large number of clerks will be required, who will need a large amount of office accommodation, and may be difficult to recruit at a reasonable wage if employment happens to be good at the time.

10. A room on the top floor of the Courts of Justice was used as the General Office, and after experiment was found capable of accommodating 22 clerks and a supervisor, to which figure the original staff engaged was reduced. With more office room available the time required could have been reduced, but it is preferable and more economical to employ a smaller staff and take a longer time to complete the work, as it requires some little while for the tabulating clerks to become proficient. The piece work system adopted in 1911 was not used as it is apt to result in the work being done carelessly and hurriedly in order to earn a larger bonus. Overtime was worked during October in order to complete the report before the end of the year, and the bulk of the staff were discharged on October 31st.

Section I.-Distribution of the Population.

(Tables I & II).

1. The population of the Colony is composed of four distinct sections (a) that of the New Territories, Northern District, which is purely agricultural, living in about 600 small villages and hamlets, only a few of which have a population exceeding 500, (b) that of the New Territories, Southern District, which is mainly dependent on fishing, the Tsun Wan district partly depending on the cultivation of pineapples, (c) that of Hongkong and the Kowloon Peninsula, which chiefly depends on general commerce and shipbuilding, (d) that of the Floating Population living on junks and small boats, which in Victoria Harbour depends on service rendered to shipping, and in Cheungchow and Tai-O in the New Territories South, Shaukeiwan and Aberdeen on the Island of Hongkong, on fishing.

2. New Territories.-In the New Territories North the population is stationary: in the Southern district a large increase is shown for Cheungchow and Tsun Wan, Tsun Wan being 4,903 against 2,982, Cheungchow 5,037 against 3,964: the Island of Lantao shows a decrease from 6,710 to 5,958. The population of the whole of the New Territories comprises roughly one seventh of the total land population.

3. Of the remaining six-sevenths the great majority are an urban population, massed round the shores of Hongkong Harbour, the majority at present residing on the northern slope of the Island of Hongkong.

4. City of Victoria.-The City of Victoria, a term hardly known to ordinary re-