October 11, 1902.]*
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
the drought and the consequent want of water in the maias.
JUDICIAL STATISTICS.
The number of exvictions in the Superior Conrts during the last 4 years are as fo'low :-
1898 1809 19 0 1901 1.
one of the gravest social evils. If the Registrar- General, who acts as President of the Society, has reason to believe that a girl is being sold into a life of prostitution against her wili, or if she is, in bis opinion, of too tender an age to judge for herself as to her mode of life, she is sent into the Po Leung Kuk, where she is fod, lodged, and, unl ss she has relatives who will receive her, appropriately educated until shao. bas an opportunity of making a respectablo marriage or of earning an honest livelihool by her own exertions. The institution is managed by a number of Chess gentlemen who are annually elected as & Managing Committee. The number of women and children admitted
into the Iome during the year was 89, being 52 more than i, 1907 187 were rextured direct to parents or relatives or were sent to some Benevolent Society in China, 3 were a lopted. placed at school, and were mazzi..
Reformatory.
The Belilios Ra ormitory, present d to the Colony by Mr. E. R. Bellios, CM.G. has not been occupied. It has basu proposed to make use of the building, with the donor's consent, by turning it into a school. The matter is at present under consideration.
Savings Bank.
There is no Post Offico Savings Bank in Hongkong. A branch of the Hongkong aud Shanghai Baukiug Corporation takes the place of such an institution in this Colony.
Police.
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The total strength of the Police Force, which stood at 630 in 1893, 827 in 1-99, and 929 in 19 10.
DOW stauds at 924, including 145 Europeans. 366 Indians and 409 Chinese, Tue gradual diminution in armed robberies and lawlessness in the New Territory made it possible to withdraw a number of men from that part of the Colony during the year to strengthen the force in the ity of Victoria and Kowloon. The executive staff now consists of a Captain Superintendent, a Deputy Superintendent and two Assistant Superintendents. The enduet of all the contingents is reported to have been satisfactory. Since the middle of the year, the Chinese Provinci | Authorities have maintained a fore of soldiery along the northern bonudary of the New Territory, who have co-ope ated! with our Police in preventing the iucnrsion of arined robbers into the Colony.
Prison.
The daily average of prisoners confined in Victoria Gaol was 499, as compared with 486 for the year 1900. There were 18 convicts in the Gel on the 31st Dea mber, 1941, against 141 on the some date in 1909, 96 in 1899, 55 in 1898. This shows an increase of 125
per cent.
during the past 3 years. This large increase is synchronous with and largely attributable to the inclusion of the New Territory in the Colony.
The total profit of all industrial labour
amounted to $24,783 as compared with $17,458 for the preceding year. All minor repairs to the Gaol have been carried out by prison labour. A new wing was completed and occupied by long-sentence prisoners early in the year. The question of extending the Prison accom modation in the Colony has been for some time engaging the attention of the Government.
Jbe Superintendent of the Gal is also Captain Superintendent of Police, and is assisted by ar Assistant Superintendent, a medical officer, chaplains, and Europeau and Indiau warders.
Fire Brigade.
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For effuges against For offences ag inst
the person.
property.
3. For other offences.
Trk 34
19 430
13 3 :0 12 21
17
This re-
The total of all cases reported to the Police was 9.172 as against 9.873 in 1900. prescuts a decrease of 7.19 per cent. In offenes which are classol ruder the term serious" there was a decrease of 128 cases or 3.42 per cent.: in miner offences a decrease of 578 cases or 9.03 percent. Three men were arrested and convicted for being members of an unlawful (the Triad)sorioty. The e was a notable decrease iu piracies and armed robberies, partly tion on the subject. no doubt owing to the efficacy of recent legisla.
VITAL STATISTICS,
Population,
Th· lest Cousus was taken in January. 1901, whuhe population was found to be 283,975, exclusive of the Army and Navy. The numbers of those forces amounted to 7,649 and 5,597, respectively. In the middle of the year the population is estimated to have been as fol lows: Non-Chinese Civil Population, 9,560; Chinese Population, 280.564; Army. 5,162, Navy, 5,074. Total, 3 10,660, The New Torri- tory was not included in the recent Census, but a fairly accurate enumeration of its population was in ude.
It numbers about 100,000, which brings the total population of the Colony up to rather over 400,00. It is significant that while the total inere se in the pops lation of the Calouy during the five years between 1897 and 1901 Was 35,095, the iner, ase during the same period in the popula- tion of British Kowloon (which used to be a garden suburb of Victoria) was less than 16,534, or neatly half the increase for the whole Colony. There were 1088 births during the year, and of that number 843 were Chinese This is equal to a general birth rate of 3.6 per 1,000, as compared with 33 in 1900, 4.3 in 1899, and 47 in 1898. Owing, however, to the large number of Chinese infauts who die unregistered, it is estimated that a more correct birth-rate for the past year would be 4.7 per 1,001,
Publi: Health
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As compared with the 1988 births mentioned above, there were 7,082 deaths in 1901. This gives a death rate of 21.5 per 1,000 as compared with 239 in 1900, 23.8 in 1899, and an average of 22.5 per 1,000 during the past five years. The deaths included 1.562 from bubonic plague, which again visited the Colony and ran its usual course. Excluding the deaths from plague. the death-rate for 1901 would have been 19,03 per 1,000. Among the nou-Chinese the deaths numbered 412, of which 3 were among the Civil population, 96 among the Army, and 14 This is equal to a death-rate among the Navy. of 20.5 per 1,40. The British deaths among the uon-Chinese numbered 116; tlie rest were chiefly Indiaus, Malays and Portuguese. 1,651 cases of plague were reported during the year, of which all but 89 were fatal. The disease showed an increased tendency to attack Europeans. The chief causes of death among the non-Chinese resident civil community were plague, phthisis,
The Superintendent of Fire Brigade is also Captain Superintendent of Police and Super-malaria and paeumonia. There were more cases intendent of Victoria Gaol. The Europeau members of the Brigade, with the exception of the Engineer, are also members of the Police Force voluntarily enlisted, and for their service in the Brigade they re vive a small addition to fheir pay. There are also a number of Chinese foremen and engine-drivers. The Brigade possesses a powerful floating fire engine for use in the Harbour, four lead stam engines, and 29 despatch boxes, Tha 5 fire engines
were all built by Messrs. Shand & Mason.
There were 58 fires and 84 iuc pient fires during the year, and the Brigade turned out 57 times. The estimated damage caused by the fires was $630,381 jaud by the incipient fires $212. The only year in which greater damage was done by fire was 1898, when the total damage was 8829,8 14.
Towards the end of the year the work of ex- tinguishing fires was rendered more arduous by
289
larvicides of the breeding places of the an‹ pholos mosquito is being actively continu-d.
Sanitation.
of
Sanitary Bond and th Legislature, during In spite of the efforts of the Government, the
the past few years, the simitry state the Colony stid leaves much to be desired. The City of Victori retains its unenvied pre- eminence in the matter of surface crowding, and in spite of the enforcement of the provisions of the Insanitary Properites Ordinance of 1899, the condition of the vast majority of the Chinese dwelling-houses is far from meeting the requirements of modern sanitary science. As there seemed to be no prospect of amelioration without the adoption of more radical measures than had hitherto been attempted. and as the Community showed by » Petition which they aid essed to you in the course of the year that they were prepared to face the heavy expenditure which stronger measures would certainly involve, Sir Henry Blake asked you to send out an expert to enquire into the sanitary state of the Colony and report apo n the steps which in his opinion should be tak n to remedy existin r defects. In October, 1901, you informed Sir Henry Blake that you had selected Mr. Osb rt Chadwick, C.M G., a sanitary expert of wide experience and no stranger to Hongkong, for this special work. About the same time you informed him that you had selected Profesor Simpson, M.D., 16 pay a simultaneons visit to the Colony with a view to a thorough enquiry being made into the origin of bubonic plague, and the best m aus of viding against its annual reappearance. notice of the work done by thes gentlemen, who had unt yet arrived in the Colony at the end of 1901, will, it is hoped, appear in next year's Report. A certain result of their visit must be the introduc ion of legislativa measures to consolidate a damnd the present Health and Building Ordinances
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of small-pox theu usual, and some cholera cases needed improvement in the sanitary condition were imported. It is hoped that when the much
of the City is effected, there will be a large decrease not only in the deaths resulting from bubonic plague but also in those from phthisis and other chest diseases, which are more or less directly attributable to overcrowded and insanitary dwellings. It is to be regretted that the experiment of once more sending troops to reside in the building which was originally destined to be a Military Sanitarium, has not proved successful, and the hops expressed in paragraph VIII (6) of the Report on the Blue After a brief period of freedom from malaria, book for last your have not been realised. the troops stationed there began to be at tacked in considerable numbers and had to be wholly withdrawn from the bailding, which now stands empty. The treatment with
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Climate.
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The average monthly temperature through. out the year was 72.1 deg. F. as comp tred with 71.5 deg. F. during 19.0; th - mouthly temperature was attained in July, maximum
whon it reached 82.2 deg. F., and the minimum monthly temperature was recorded in the month of February, being 548 deg. F. The highest recorded temperature du ing the year was 92.7 deg. F. on August 3rd, aul the lowest was 38.4 deg. F. on F benary 4th The total rainfall for the year was 557 inches, as compared with 73.73 inches in 1990 aul an average of 772 inches during t'e pist ten years. The wettrst month was May with 14.10 inches, while there were also 14 inches of rain in the mouth of August: the driest month was January, with only 0.685 inch. The greatest amount of rain which fell on any one day was 4.23 inches ou April 7th, while no rain fell on 213 days of the year; the relative humidity of the atmosphere throughout the year was 75 per cent. as com- pard with 77 per cent. in the previous year The average daily amount of sunshine through- out the year was 5 5 hours, and on 35 days only was no sunshine recorded. It may be mentioned that the rainfall of 1901 was less than half the rainfall of the year 1891. Tytam Reservoir, the principal source of wat r supply, was not filled throughout the year, and only one rainfall during the last 20 years (that of 1895) was lower than that of the year under review.
POSTAL SERVICE.
The cessation of the Boxer troubles in the
North of China gave an impetus to trade. which was faithfully reflected in the stady increase in postal business. The monthly sales of stamps showed an increase of $21,765, as compared with 1900, and for the first time since the adoption of the penny postage the revenue exceeded the highest revenue from the same source in former days. The returns from the Branch Post Offices at Shanghai and in China
also show gratifying results. The revenue of the Department from all sources in 19 I was $355,912, and the Expenditure 8273,685. The nett balance to the Hongkong Post Office on the year's transactions amounted to $82 227. The Acting Postmaster General comments on the fact that though many foreigu Post Offices were opened at various ports in China during 1901, no new British Offices or Agencies were opened. He is strongly in favour of the establishment of Agenci s at Chefoo, Tientsin and Peking.
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