The following Table is interesting in showing the committals to prison for the last three decades, commencing in 1881--the earliest date from which the comparison is possible. It will be observed that the Prison population in 1883 stood as high as 622 per 100,000 of the population of the country, and that for the year ended 31st March, 1914 it had fallen to the lowest then recorded, _viz_:--369. The great decrease that has taken place since 1914, as will be shown subsequently, reduced the ratio to 70 per 100,000 of the population:-- ------+------------+---------------------------+-----------+---------- Year |Convicted of| Convicted of Offences| Total. | Per ended |Indictable | tried summarily. |Committals |100,000 of 31st | Offences +---------------------------+ on |population March.| tried at |Indictable.|Non-indictable.|Conviction.| of the | Assizes and| | | | Country. | Sessions. | | | | ------+------------+-----------+---------------+-----------+---------- 1881 | 9,528 | 139,546 | 149,074 | 580 1882 | 10,550 | 150,888 | 161,438 | 621 1883 | 10,069 | 153,645 | 163,714 | 622 1884 | 9,780 | 151,056 | 160,836 | 604 1885 | 9,886 | 150,096 | 159,982 | 594 1886 | 9,617 | 138,015 | 147,632 | 542 1887 | 9,611 | 144,989 | 154,600 | 562 1888 | 9,024 | 138,755 | 147,779 | 531 1889 | 9,198 | 144,765 | 153,963 | 547 1890 | 8,180 | 137,088 | 145,268 | 511 1891 | 7,843 | 132,789 | 140,632 | 490 1892 | 8,302 | 128,958 | 137,260 | 473 1893 | 8,542 | 136,996 | 145,538 | 495 1894 | 8,590 | 147,876 | 156,466 | 526 1895 | 7,991 | 139,836 | 147,827 | 492 1896 | 7,933 | 146,019 | 153,952 | 506 1897 | 7,386 | 140,727 | 148,113 | 482 1898 | 8,004 | 145,961 | 153,965 | 496 1899 | 8,315 | 151,744 | 160,059 | 510 1900 | 7,194 | 146,266 | 153,460 | 483 1901 | 7,091 | 141,509 | 148,600 | 461 1902 | 7,764 | 159,232 | 166,996 | 513 1903 | 8,271 | 168,286 | 176,557 | 535 1904 | 8,640 | 21,730|159,518 | 189,888 | 569 1905 | 8,761 | 21,784|167,396 | 197,941 | 586 1906 | 8,972 | 21,890|164,194 | 195,056 | 571 1907 | 8,966 | 20,272|149,105 | 178,343 | 516