HH62/2/RENFRE/13

Transcription

[Page] 12

In one or two instances I have been unable to obtain the popula-
tions of landward sections of Registration Districts from the census
returns of 1881.
It will be observed that the mean increases of 5·8 per cent. in the
First District, and 3·2 in the Second, cover considerable fluctuations
in particular localities. In the First District the highest rate of in-
crease in the intercensal period was in the suburban district of Cath-
cart (under which designation the exigencies of the census returns
compel me to group Old and New Cathcart and Netherlee), with an
increase at the rate of 114 per cent.; Scotstoun, on the north side of
the Clyde, and the purely landward portion of Renfrew Parish,
which includes Scotstounhill, come next. The most marked rate of
decrease is shown in the case of the village of Inkerman, where the
population has declined, with some fluctuations, by 30 per cent.;
next comes the village of Newton Mearns, with a decrease of 25 per
cent., and the landward section of Neilston Parish, with a decrease
of 22 per cent. All the landward sections show a decrease, with the
exception of Renfrew (which, on the north side, is suburban), and
Abbey landward (which is also, in another sense, suburban). In the
Second District the highest rate of increase is shown in the case of
Bridge of Weir (Ranfurly) with 52 per cent., and Kilmalcolm village
with 41 per cent. The highest rate of decrease is found in the
mining village of Clippens, 36 per cent., next coming the Parish of
Houston landward, with 25 per cent.
On reference to old records I find that the population of the
Parish of Eastwood in 1801 was set down at 3375, as compared with
16,042 in 1891; while during the same period the population of the
Parish of Cathcart has risen from 1050 to 16,510 - surely a marvel-
lous rate of increase.
In Tables I. and II. of the Appendix, there is given a careful
analysis of the census abstracts of 1891, in so far as the sections of
the County are concerned which are under the sanitary jurisdiction
of the First and Second District Committees. Of much the most
importance here, from the sanitary point of view, are the figures
showing the average number of rooms per house; the same results
being obtained, however, in a general way, but upon an enlarged
scale, when the number of persons per thousand rooms is taken.
From the average size of house, the average social grade of the
population, so important an element in the sanitary problem,
may be deduced with considerable precision. The smallest houses

[Page] 13

are found to be those at Scotstoun, where the average number
of rooms per household is as low as 1·5, implying the existence of a
considerable number of one-roomed houses. Next come Linwood and
Gateside, each with an average of 1·9 rooms per household, and
Elderslie, Inkerman and Newton-Mearns with an average of 2·0;
thereafter Nitshill and Neilston with 2·1; Busby (Renfrewshire) and
Blackstoun with 2·2; Barrhead with 2·3. At the other end of the
scale we find Wemyss Bay (+ Inverkip landward) with an average of
6·8 rooms per house; Langbank, 6·2; Erskine landward, 5·8;
Kilmalcolm landward, and Eastwood landward (including Giffnock),
5·5; Eaglesham landward, 5·4; Kilbarchan landward (including
Milliken Park), 5·3; and Renfrew landward (including Scotstoun-
hill), 5·2. In order to place in greater relief the influence
of social position and the crowding together the population
upon sanitary conditions I have drawn up the following tables,
in the first of which I have placed the ten sections of the County in
which there are the greatest number of persons, in the second the
ten sections having the smallest number of persons, per thousand in-
habited rooms. In each I have set down the mean percentage of
deaths under 5 years * - that is, amongst young children, who are
most susceptible to insanitary influences, over the ten years 1881-90;
the mean death rate from zymotic, i.e., preventible, diseases, per ten
thousand; Ϯ and the mean death rate per thousand, from all causes.
It will be seen that the mean or average percentage of deaths under
five years is 44·6 amongst the closely aggregated populations as com-
pared with 26·2 amongst their better-off neighbours. The zymotic
death rate is in the first case 37, as compared with 13 in the second,
or almost three times as high; and the mean death rate 18·9, as com-
pared with 13·1. Were the figures selected from the data of a large
town, the results would be even more striking, as the circumstance
of living in a one-roomed house, in a large town, implies many sani-
tary disabilities which are not associated with the tenancy of a one-
roomed house in the country, where the beneficent powers of
Nature are active to mitigate the results of man's heedlessness and
neglect.

* I shall subsequently refer to the relative value of this as a test of sanitary
conditions.
Ϯ So stated to avoid the use of obscurantist decimals.