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7
PART I.
A. Population.
At the census in 1901 the resident population of the City of Westminster
was 183,011; for the year 1908 it is taken by the RegistrarGeneral
at 170,545. This is arrived at by a calculation based on
the assumption that the rate of decrease ascertained at the census
taken in 1901 as having taken place since the census taken in 1891
is still continuing. In Westminster, where improvement schemes on
a large scale are in progress, it is obvious that the risk of error
may be considerable.
The fluctuations which take place may be seen in the returns which
are sent to the Local Government Board each year for the purpose of
calculating the population in connection with the Equalisation of Rates
Act. The City Comptroller has been good enough to supply me with a
copy of these figures, and I have added the populations as estimated by
the two methods. These do not take into account the inmates of
Westminster workhouses and infirmaries which are outside the city.
According to one method the population of Westminster has declined
regularly from 183,011 in 1901 to 170,545 in 1908 ; according to the
other method a decline is also shown up to 1907, though at different
rates each year, but in April, 1908, instead of a decline an increase has
occurred, the figure being 175,200, 3,159 more than the estimate in
1907, and 4,655 above the estimate of the Registrar-General on which
he calculates his birth and death rates. Consequently if the equalisation
of rates method be the more correct, rates calculated on the other
estimate will be about 2½ per cent, too high.
A point to be noticed is the increase (shown in column two) in
houses comprising two or more tenements, these have increased from
231 in 1902 to 361 in 1908, and the number of separate occupiers in
them from 8,926 to 11,495.