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10
VITAL STATISTICS.
Population.
For the proper understanding of the health conditions of
a place, it is important that as accurate as possible an estimate
should be made of the population, and this importance is all
the greater in a place like Merton, because even a small
addition or subtraction makes an appreciable difference in the
statistics. The estimate for 1908 is 12,550.
Unfortunately, the Census is taken at periods of ten years
only, and the difficulty of a fairly proximate estimate becomes
greater in proportion to the remoteness from the last actual
count. The difficulty becomes greater in Merton, because the
place has expanded in quite a different ratio to the period
previous to the Census of 1901, and has become more urban
in type. Therefore, the only method I have employed for
calculating, has been to take the number of houses actually
in occupation in the middle of the year (and for this I am
indebted to Mr. Downing, and his assistant, Mr. Greig), and
multiply by a factor ascertained from a partial Census in each
area. The results are shewn in Table A and Table II.
Owing to the reasons given, it would be erroneous to act on
the assumption that the same average rate of persons occupied
each house as in 1901.
For the better appreciation of the figures one other point
is deserving of mention. The ages of the inhabitants influence