80
BOCHUM.
working classes, and its patrons include a large proportion of small depositors.
At the end of 1904 the 21,007 depositors had accounts as follows :—
Savings.
No. of Depositors. ! Percentage of whole.
To £3 inclusive
Over £3 to £7 10s. inclusive
„ £7]0s.„ £15
„ £15 „£30
„ £30 „£150
„ £150 „ £500
„ £o00 ... ... ...
3,960
2,916
9,73,
3 325
6,211
1,540
318
18-8
13 8
13 0
15-7
29 5
7-3
1*5
The statistics of population show that Bochum had a death rate in 1905 of
19'4 per 1,000. The death rate for the whole of Westphalia in that year was
18*3 per 1,000. The birth rate was 42*9 per 1,000 in 1905, comparing with a
birth rate of 39*7 per 1,000 for all Westphalia. In 1903 the birth-rate of
Bochum was 39'4 per 1,000 and the death-rate 20*5. The incorporation of the
four outlying communes has thus been accompanied by a higher birth-rate and a
lower death-rate. The illegitimate births in 1905 and 1904 were 3*1 per cent, of
the whole, against a proportion of 2*6 per cent, for Westphalia generally. The
deaths under one year were 151 per 1,000 births in 1905 against 174 per
1.000 in 1904. The deaths from tuberculosis in 1905 were at the rate of
5*6 per 1,000 of the population, against 4*2 per 1,000 in 1904.
The following Table shows the birth and death-rates and the infantile
mortality for the period of years :—
Year.
Birth-rate per 1,000
of Population.
Death-rate per 1,000
of Population.
Infantile Mortality
per 1,000 births.
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
42 4
40 5
39*4
42 9
251
21*5
20-5
#
19-4
184
169
144
174
151
* Owing to the incorporation of several townships in this year the rate is not available.
. Occupations, Wages, and Hours oe Labour.
Of 134,279 workpeople employed in 1905, in 13 groups of industries
carried on within the district of the Bochum Chamber of Commerce, 91,860, or
68*4 per cent., were engaged in coal mining ; 18,082, or 13*5 per cent., in
smelting works ; 6,514, or 4*9 per cent., in metal manufacturing processes ;
and 5,408, or 4 per cent., in machine works of various kinds ; and if to
these be added o,814, or 4*3 per cent., employed in the mineral industries
(ore raising, &c.), 9o*l per cent, of the whole were engaged in the various
branches of the coal and iron industries. I he district of the Bochum
Chambei of Commerce includes several large towns and a number of rural
communes, yet, as the industrial character of the district is uniform, these
figures faithfully reflect the predominant position of coal and iron in the
economic life of the whole of this important part of Westphalia. Bochum
merely typifies the rest of the Buhr coal basin. In the two mining districts of
.North Bochum (in which the town falls) and South Bochum there were in work,
in 1905, 2o pits, vith a total of 26,935 men (16,099 in North Bochum and
10,836 in South Bochum). Some of the collieries are within the municipal
area, and even within call of busy commercial thoroughfares, but others are
at a considerable distance from the town.
