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14
Population.
Any statement as to the number of inhabitants in any district
seven years after the last census cannot pretend to be very
accurate, and at best can only be a careful estimate. In some
places where the population is only affected by the normal excess
of births over deaths, and little or no addition is being made to
the number of houses, it is easier to make a correct estimate than
in others in which different conditions exist. In this district it is
impossible to state with any certainty what was the total population
at the middle of the year 1908.
But the effect that an under-estimate or one too high has on
the vital statistics for the year is well known, and unless the
method adopted for estimating the population is clearly stated, the
value of any figures based on the estimate must be reduced. The
various methods generally used for calculating populations were
explained in the Report for 1905, and the subject was also referred
to again in the Report for last year. It is sufficient therefore
simply to say that the system adopted in this district is that of
the Registrar-General and is the same that has been used in
previous years. The fallacy of this method is that it assumes the
rate of increase in the years following any census to be the same
as in the ten years preceding it. It is obvious in this district
that progress has been more rapid in the years since 1901 than
in those before, and therefore the official estimate is in all
probability lower than the actual number of inhabitants.

Although separate estimates have been made for Heston and
for Isleworth, and statistics have been Worked out for each of them,