--------------------+---------------+---------------- Year | Under 12 |12 and Under 16|16 and Under 21 ------+------+------+-------+-------+-------+-------- | M. | F. | M. | F. | M. | F. 1848 | 1,332| 215| 10,537| 1,718| 21,324| 6,307 1856 | 1,674| 316| 10,134| 1,857| 17,655| 7,231 1866 | 1,485| 152| 6,614| 1,105| 18,480| 6,147 1873 | 1,370| 112| 6,692| 1,185| 19,992| 7,033 1876 | 940| 58| 5,292| 848| 20,356| 6,572 1886 | 229| 21| 4,016| 547| 19,813| 5,143 1896 | 59| 1| 1,336| 102| 13,433| 2,924 1906 | 3| --| 999| 30| 15,878| 2,248 1910 | 1| --| 139| 3| 12,236| 1,186 1911 | --| --| 32| 2| 10,380| 1,163 1912 | --| --| 22| 1| 8,265| 938 1913 | --| --| 27| 5| 7,789| 900 1914 | --| --| 12| --| 6,320| 858 ------+------+------+-------+-------+-------+-------- It will be seen that the category (16-21) has fallen from 13,433 males in 1896 to 6,320 in 1913-14. In the 'seventies it represented 1,306 per 100,000 of the population of the country of that particular age, and since that time the ratio has fallen as shown below:-- 1883 1,164 per 100,000 of population 16-21 1893 728 " " " 1903 499 " " " 1914 212 " " " The following Table is interesting as showing the higher average age of the prison population in 1913-14 as compared with ten years before that date, indicating the fact that the supply of younger recruits is failing:-- ----------+----------------------------------------------- | Age on conviction, and the Proportion Per | Cent. which each Category bears to the Total. +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- | Under | 21 to | 30 to | 40 to | 50 to | 60 and | 21 | 30 | 40 | 50 | 60 | over ----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------- Males-- | | | | | | 1902-3 | 11·6 | 26·7 | 26·9 | 18·2 | 8·1 | 8·2 1913-14 | 6·1 | 24·8 | 28·8 | 21·3 | 10·0 | 9·0 Females-- | | | | | | 1902-3 | 4·8 | 25·3 | 35·0 | 22·6 | 7·8 | 4·3 1913-14 | 2·5 | 18·4 | 34·1 | 29·1 | 11·3 | 4·4 ----------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------