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12
The increase in the population of the district is assumed to
have been nearly 55,000 during the ten years included in this
table, which would make the density of population as great as
14.7 persons per acre, against 30.8 in 1870. That the actual
population is not much, if at all, less than the calculated number,
viz., 178,750, is shown by the number of births, which was no
less than 6,312 in 1879, against 4029 in 1870, or 33.3 per 1,000
population in 1870, against 35.9 in 1879. It is probably true
that a larger proportion of married persons now inhabit the
newly built (smaller) houses than obtained in 1869, owing to
the exodus of working people from other parts of London to the
comparatively cheaper residences in this district; but I do not
think that this would cause a greater difference than that mentioned
above, viz., 35.9 against 33.3 per 1,000 population. The
number of deaths has not increased so greatly as the births,
which, as the density of the population has become much greater,
shows a satisfactory sanitary condition of the district. As pointed
out in my last report, the number of applications for the drainage
of newly built houses corresponds very closely, if they be multiplied
by 6.5 (the proportion of inhabitants to each house), with
the number of new houses which would be required to provide
accommodation for the calculated number of added population.