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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 1909 it is taken by the RegistrarGeneral
at 168,883. 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,
as stated above, by 14,128 in the nine years ; 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 there was an increase.
This year the equalisation population is 175,100, a little lower than in
1908, but it is 6,217 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 too high. The figure, as estimated by me, is
172,150, and it is on this that the various rates in this report are
calculated.
A point to be noticed is the increase (shown in column two) in
houses comprising two or more tenements; these have increased from