average of 10,500 in the year under review), the total of receptions is always greater than the total of individuals received, because a good many persons are received more than once during the year.

The number of receptions of prisoners under sentence was as follows:

Of these prisoners, the number who also received a sentence of Preventive Detention was: 22 in 1925-26, and 33 in 1924-25.

There was again a decrease in the total number of receptions into prison under sentence as compared with the previous year, but on this occasion the decrease was smaller, being 882. The decrease shown in our last report was 2,597.

The daily average population of the prisons and Borstal Institutions was 10,509. The following table gives the analysis, and compares it with that of the previous year :

This daily average population again showed a small decrease of 211 as compared with that of the previous year.

The next table shows the total number of receptions into prison on conviction during the year under report, as compared with the numbers since the beginning of this century.

Next follows the number of receptions on conviction per 100,000 of the population of the country for each of the periods mentioned in the last table. The population figures on which this calculation is made are those given in the latest revised estimate issued by the Registrar General :

Compared with the average for the las, five pre-war years, ended 1914, the year under review shows a fall of 3,792, or 43 per cent., in receptions after convictions on indictment, and 112,146, or 75 per cent., in those after summary convictions.

Distinguishing between men and women, the number of receptions after convictions on indictment during the year under review was 4,689 men and 301 women, as compared with 4,854

* See also paragraph on Recidivism, page 9.

men and 324 women last year. When compared with the prewar year, 1913-14, these figures show a fall of 35 per cent. in the case of men and 44 per cent. in the case of women. The receptions after summary convictions for indictable offences were 8,884 men and 1,046 women as compared with 9,207 men and 1,150 women last year. Those for non-indictable offences were 21,348 men and 6,576 women as compared with 21,814 men and 7,073 women last year.

The total daily average population for each year from the last year of the war onwards has been as follows:

During the year under review the general prison population continued, as before, to show a tendency to a slow decline.

Probation, allowance of time in which to pay fines, and the operation of the Mental Deficiency Act, were, as for some years past, the chief factors in this decline; while the increased efficiency of the agencies for the assistance of all classes of prisoners on their discharge, combined with the training given to as many as possible during their imprisonment, also contributed in a perceptible degree.

Remands.-The number of persons received on remand who, after production at Court, did not return to prison on the same charge, was 6,620, as against 7,005 last year, or a decrease of 385. With the assistance of the cards now placed in remand and trial prisoners' cells, there is no reason to think that any prisoner can be in doubt as to the procedure for obtaining bail.

County Court Debtors.-The number of debtors committed by the County Courts again shows an increase, being 2,743, as against 2,145 last year. In 1923-24 it was 1,726. In these cases commitment takes place only after proof that the defendant has had the means to pay and has not done so.

Other persons treated under the prison rules for debtors.These are persons committed for non-payment under wife maintenance and affiliation orders, and also rate and income tax defaulters. Those committed under wife maintenance and affiliation orders numbered 6,312, as against 6,067 last year; while the rate defaulters were 1,859, and the income tax defaulters 329; as against 1,724 and 535 respectively in 1924-25.

The total number of persons treated under the prison rules for debtors was thus 11,610, as against 10,858 last year.

II. ANALYSIS OF OFFENCES.

We next give an analysis of offences, the figures for the previous year being given in a parallel column for comparison :

Of 34,921 men received on conviction :13,573 were convicted of Indictable offences.

35,875

14,061

Of Non-indictable Offences (akin to Indictable) :

2,784 were for Assaults.

2,798 1,392

712

525

379

Of 7,923 women received on conviction :-
1,347 were convicted of Indictable Offences.

8,547

1,474

Of the Indictable Offences :

989 were for the various forms of Larceny.

1,048

197

32

29

Of Non-indictable Offences (akin to Indictable) :303 were for Assaults.

1924-25.

301

139

159

76

113

The following table compares 1914, the last pre-war year, with the year under report in respect of the principal offences for which prisoners were received :

Twenty-two thousand nine hundred and eighty-eight out of 34,921 men received on conviction during the year, and 6,840 out of 7,923 women, had been previously convicted* ; or 66 per cent. of the receptions of men, and 86 per cent. of those of women. Eleven thousand nine hundred and thirty-three of the men, and 1,083 of the women, or 34 per cent. and 14 per cent. respectively, are believed not to have been previously convicted. Of the number who had incurred previous convictions :

13,788 men and 2,257 women had been previously convicted 1 to 5 times.

3,767 men and 882 women had been previously convicted 6 to 10 times.

2,815 men and 944 women had been previously convicted 11 to 20 times.

2,618 men and 2,757 women had been previously convicted over 20 times.

* Charges dealt with under the Probation Act, 1907, are not included among the previous convictions.