Hongkong, June 13.
The Hongkong Government has issued a preliminary report of the census, taken last April, which states that the* Sanitary Board's discussion of overcrowding, shortly before the taking of the census, gravely affected the accuracy of the returns in the congested areas. In the New Territories, the majority of the inhabitants were absent from their houses, being engaged in making preparations for the planting of the rice crop. Large numbers of the adult male population of the island and of the mainland were away in their native villages, it being the middle of the Ching Ming festival. These factors undoubtedly reduced the numbers reported in some cases, but it is impossible to estimate the percent tage which should be added to the figures in order to arrive at the true total of the normal population of the colony, but the figures of the floating population give an accurate idea of the normal average floating population. The following are the figures given The Island 341,360
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.