166 
DANTZIG. 
municipal electrical works and public slaughter-house on the east. Generally 
speaking, the working classes of Dantzig seem inclined to choose a dwelling 
either in the immediate neighbourhood of these various works or else in the 
Old Town, rather than in the new suburbs which have sprung up on the north 
and west since the removal of the fortifications in these directions. This is 
a point to which further reference will be made later. Meanwhile it may be 
observed that the whole urban or municipal area of present-day Dantzig extends 
far beyond the lines of * the present fortifications ; the maintenance of these 
defences is a serious obstacle to the erection of houses within certain zones 
which are subject to what are known as the Rayonsgesetze or laws regulating 
the erection of houses within a fortified area. Thus while the urban district of 
Dantzig comprises an area of 7,874 acres, only 1,396 or a little more than 
one-sixth of this space is occupied by houses, and 500 acres by roads, streets 
and railways. On the other hand there are 1,020 acres of land used for 
military purposes, and only 20 acres of public parks and gardens. It is 
not to be supposed from this that the people of Dantzig have very 
restricted facilities for open-air recreation. The contrary is indeed the case, 
for there are large tracts of woodland owned by the municipality within 
easy reach of the town and kept in their natural state for the benefit 
of the inhabitants. The sea can be reached by train, electric tramway 
or steamboat for a few pence in less than an hour, and that these facilities 
are extensively used is evident from the fact that during a Sunday in summer 
the railways alone have taken from 26,000 to 28,000 passengers to and 
from the sea in the direction either of Neufahrwasser (the port of Dantzig) 
or of Zoppot, a sea-bathing resort a few miles further west along the Baltic 
shore. 
As regards the growth of population Dantzig ranks low among the great 
cities of Germany. At the Census of 1905 it was found to contain 159,648 
inhabitants, the mean population being estimated as 158,300. 
The following Table shows the mean population, together with the birth 
and death rates and rate of natural increase of the population of Dantzig for 
the 15 years, 1891-1905 :— 
Year. 
Mean 
Population. 
Birth rate 
per 1,000 of mean 
Population. 
Death-rate 
per 1,000 of mean 
Population. 
Rate of Infantile 
Mortality 
per 1,000 Births. 
1891 
1892 
1893 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 
1898 
1899 
3900 
1901 
1902 
1903 
1904 
1905 
121,140 
122,380 
123,390 
124,310 
125,230 
127,400 
130.300 
133,270 
136,560 
139,530 
142,790 
146,240 
153.300 
156,100 
158.300 
35 7 
321 
331 
331 
32 8 
33 4 
334 
342 
362 
34 2 
35 8 
361 
343 
334 
331 
254 
22 7 
26- 7 
24-0 
25 6 
21-8 
25 7 
22-2 
23-3 
27- 9 
23 6 
22- 3 
22-6 
216 
23- 3 
269 
259 
299 
264 
295 
245 
303 
243 
266 
320 
266 
209 
244 
220 
246 
In 1881 the mean population was 109,280, so that in the period of 
25 years the increase in the population has been less than 50 per cent. 
While the birth and death rates show considerable fluctuations, the general 
tendency of both has been to decline, the latter more noticeably than the 
former. Dantzig has still a somewhat high rate of infant mortality ; it will 
be seen that the figures for the last five years show a considerable decline, the 
mean of the rates for 1901-5 being 237, as against 277 for 1891-5 and 275 for 
1896-1900. 
In the matter of drainage and water supply Dantzig is in advance of many 
larger cities in Germany. Indeed, with respect to the former it claims to have 
been the first city on the Continent to introduce a trunk system of drainage.