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20
The Census gives 4.9 persons per house for Ilford, so that
by multiplying the number of inhabited houses by 4.9 gives
the population I have taken above. There are two possible
sources of error in this estimate.
(1) That 4.9 persons per house does not represent Ilford
at the present time. The tendency is in all these suburban
district for the number of persons per house to increase, so
that this error, if present, under-estimates rather than over
estimates the population.
In Walthamstow at the census, persons per house 5.8
„ East Ham do. do 5.6
„ Romford do. do 4.8
(2) The second source of error is that the number of
empty houses may be under-estimated. This error has been
carefully guarded against in counting them, and moreover
allowance has been made in addition for possible errors. So
that I have adopted the figures given by this means rather than
the Registrar General method. In a rapidly growing neighbourhood
like this it seems to me this is more likely to be the
correct one if carefully carried out. Also, too, it must be
remembered that the Registrar General's estimate is based
on the ratio of increase during the ten years between the last
two census years Now, although the increase of Ilford was
phenomenal during those ten years, the first four years showed
comparatively but slight increase, and the real increase came
during the last six years, so that is another reason, I think,
why this estimate is more likely to be the correct one.
The Registrar General's estimate is 54,322.