1908 | 9,091 | 20,886|146,625 | 176,602 | 505 1909 | 9,613 | 21,710|153,578 | 184,901 | 523 1910 | 9,500 | 21,381|149,080 | 179,961 | 503 1911 | 9,136 | 18,758|139,801 | 167,695 | 465 1912 | 8,756 | 17,668|132,443 | 158,867 | 439 1913 | 8,781 | 17,102|125,081 | 150,964 | 413 1914 | 7,738 | 15,598|113,088 | 136,424 | 369 ------+------------+---------------------------+-----------+---------- For many years past, a marked decrease has taken place in the number of persons sentenced to penal servitude. In 1872, there was a convict population of 8,823 males and 1,249 females. This had fallen to 2,568 males and 98 females at the end of 1913-14, representing a decrease of over 70 per cent. As will be seen from the following Table, the average length of sentence has also fallen considerably:-- ---------------------------+----------------------------------------- |Sentences of convicts in custody on the Sentence. |last day of each of the following years-- +--------+--------+--------+-------------- | 1872 | 1891-2| 1902-3| 1913-14 ---------------------------+--------+--------+--------+-------------- Life | 152 | 268 | 138 | 128 Above 15 years | 101 | 177 | 64 | 38 15 years and over 10 years | 308 | 332 | 166 | 73 10 years and over 5 years | 7,898 | 1,498 | 581 | 343 5 years and over 3 years | 1,613 | 1,726 | 1,141 | 830 3 years | -- | 28 | 819 |1,254 +--------+--------+--------+-------------- Total |10,072 | 4,029 | 2,909 |2,666 ---------------------------+--------+--------+--------+-------------- The most gratifying feature shown by the comparison of statistics prior to 1914 is the wonderful decrease in the number of convictions under 21 years of age. These figures can be traced as far back as 1848:--