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7
Population.
The population of the Finchley District in 1881 was
11,045; in 1891 it had grown to 16,419. The increase of
population between 1881 and 1891 amounted, therefore, to
5,374. Now if this rate of increase is assumed to have been
maintained up to the middle of 1895, one arrives, by a
logarithmetrical calculation, at an estimated population of
19,451. But the increase which forms the basis for such a
calculation does not appear likely to have been maintained
during the past four years, from the fact that fewer new houses
have been erected in the District during this period. The
estimation of the numbers of a population which is based upon
the increase which obtained between two previous censuses,
often leads to a conclusion far wide of the actual mark, and it is
generally better to check the estimation by reference to the ratebooks.
It thus appears that in the middle of 1895 there were
3,346 inhabited houses, 1,263 which were in the sub-district of
East Finchley, 781 in North Finchley, 624 in Church End, and
483 in Whetstone. For reasons which I mentioned in my last
Report, I believe the average number of occupants to each
occupied house in East Finchley, North Finchley, Church End,
and Whetstone was 5.7, 6.0, 6.1, and 5.2 respectively. Further,
the rate-books showed 195 empty houses, and if one individual
is accredited to each of these (in order to account for caretakers
and their families), the population of the District works out to
18,398—a figure which falls short by 1,053 the logarithmetrical
calculation employed by the Registrar-General; and one
which I feel pretty confident is nearer the actual truth than the
latter. Some error is of course inevitable in default of an annual
census, and it is for many reasons preferable that such error
should rather be on the side of under-estimation than of
over-estimation.
The estimated population for each of the sub-districts
is as follows:—
East Finchley 7.304
North Finchley 4,724
Church End 3.945
Whetstone 2,425