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89
These figures, demonstrating a transcendent growth, speak
for themselves; nevertheless, attention may he called to the tact
that in a quarter.century the rateable value of property became
more than quintupled, and that in the last decade the mere
increase was double the total in 1856.
The population and the number of inhabited houses increased
nearly threefold in 25 years; the increase in the last decade
alone attaining the proportions of a large city.
In the nature of things the material growth of the parish
must cease ere many years shall have passed, and there will be
an arrest to the increase of population, for there will be no
room for additional buildings; but property in some parts of the
parish will probably continue to increase in value long after the
population shall have become comparatively stationary: even
now the rateable value has attained such proportions as to be
exceeded by that of the cities of London, Liverpool, Manchester,
and Bristol only. At present the population of Kensington
to that of London is about 1 to23½ and the rateable value 1 to 16½.
MARRIAGES AND MARRIAGE RATE.

The marriage rate, i.e., persons married per 1,000 of the
population, was 17.8. The marriage rate in the country generally
was 15.4 per 1,000, against 14.4, 14.9, and 15.1 in the three
* In nay last annual report, the number of marriages in 1881 was stated to be
1,761, that number having been given me in error for 1,461.