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5
North-East 69
North-West 63
South-East 45
South-West 41
An average of 6.2 per house would represent 1,351 inhabitants,
which, added to the estimated population of 1906, would give a
population of 53,351. The figures in this report have been based
upon an estimated population of 53,000.
Seven years have now elapsed since the official census was
made, and the further we are removed in time from that census
until the next, the more inexact our estimates become, and the
less reliable are all vital statistics. It is to be regretted that there
is not undertaken by the Government a census every 5 years.
There are other methods by which an estimate of the population
can be made, but, as explained in previous reports, for Acton these
are more unreliable than the one given above.
The method adopted by the Registrar-General is based on the
assumption that the rate of increase which prevailed in the last
completed intercensal period has since been maintained. According
to this method, the increase is geometrical, but how fallacious
the results obtained by such means are, may be easily understood
from the following figures. Between June, 1901, and June, 1905,
the average yearly amount of dwelling houses erected exceeded
440, but between June, 1906, and June, 1907, the number was less
than one-half. Ver recently the population has not been increasing
to the same extent as it did immediately after the census. The
results obtained by this method are vitiated by the introduction
of factors which formerly were not in existence. In Acton, since
1901, the development of large industries and the introduction of
the electric tramway, have rendered the Registrar-General's method
of calculation almost valueless, and one is justified in discarding it.
Another method is based upon the extent of the excess of the
number of births over the number of deaths in any particular year.