Also "the mortality returns were not kept in such a manner as to lead to accuracy, for while all deaths of non-residents were excluded, the deaths of residents dying outside the district in similar institutions were not included. "It is impossible to make an accurate statement as to the correct meaning of the mortality returns--the returns are erroneous." A similar miscalculation was made by the Vestry of St. George, Hanover Square. In their report for 1890-1 they stated that they had no reason to believe that the population was much different from what it was in 1871 and 1881. The census, however, showed that it had fallen over 11,000. In each successive census the number of inhabited houses in London was enumerated. In this one the number was 547,120--being an increase of nearly 60,000; but not much instruction was to be obtained from such general figures beyond the fact that houses were becoming more and more densely packed. The substitution of blocks of dwellings for small houses had also made considerable progress during the intercensal period.[174] The same reasons as to the diminution of the number of houses in the central parts of London continued to be given by Medical Officers of Health. In St. George-in-the-East it had been brought about "by the extension of warehouses and the demolition of insanitary property." In St. Martin-in-the-Fields it was "due to many former residents having removed to the country, and to the demolition of so many houses for improvements." In the Strand to the fact that the district was becoming like all the central parts of London, "a business, as distinguished from a residential district." The Vestry of St. James' reported that "buildings formerly occupied as dwellings were being replaced by warehouses and business premises commanding a higher rent. As the centre of trade extends, this condition of things must be expected to continue, just as the increasing volume of trade has converted the City of London at night from a populous place to little more than a city of caretakers," and they drew attention to the "enormous number of people engaged in business in the parish during the day time who resided elsewhere." On the south side of the river the same story was told. The Medical Officer of Health for Lambeth remarking in his report that-- "The displacement of population from the central districts of Lambeth, and the settlement of population in those districts which are situated in the outer ring, or on the circumference of the inner, is a part of a greater movement which affects the whole metropolitan area." The census of 1891 is specially memorable by the fact that for the first time a mass of most valuable information was obtained which was wholly new, and which threw a blaze of light upon the condition of the housing of the population of London.