Rural Depopulation 133 



considerable number of the so-called urban 

 districts, though technically urban, were 

 distinctly rural in character, being in many 

 cases small towns in the midst of agricultural 

 areas, on which they are dependent for 

 their maintenance as business centres. 



In the present 1901 census there are 1,122 

 urban districts as against 664 rural districts. 

 But of these urban districts as many as 

 215 had populations below 3,000; 211 had 

 populations between 3,000 and 5,000 ; and 

 260 had populations between 5,000 and 

 1 0,000. 



In popular discourse, when urban popu- 

 lations are spoken of, the general implication 

 is that we are dealing with large cities, 

 and not with good-sized villages and small 

 country towns. Accordingly, it is useful to 

 follow the census authorities in 1891 and 

 in 1 901 in estimating the growth or decrease 

 of the rural population if we include with 



