§ Mr. LEWIS HASLAMasked the Home Secretary whether, if figures are readily available, he will state the number of children committed who were placed under the supervision of probation officers in 1913, 1914, and 1915, respectively, and the number or recommittals in such cases; will he state the number of children sent to industrial schools and to reformatories in each of those years; how many were sent to reformatories after having committed one offence only; and, if such figures are not now readily available, will he consider the desirability of the provision in future of such Returns annually as will show the results achieved by the system of probation in dealing with children's cases, and also of other statistical details referring to the treatment of children's cases, with the object of arriving at the best methods of dealing with such cases?
Mr. SAMUELThe number of children (under fourteen) and young persons (fourteen to sixteen) placed on probation by Juvenile Courts was 4,465 in 1913 and 4,496 in 1914. The number for 1913 includes 2,633 children under fourteen. I cannot give any figures as to recommittals. The numbers of children and young persons sent to industrial schools and reformatories were as follows:
In 1913, 674 children and young persons were sent to reformatories who had not been previously convicted and 332 who had one previous conviction. The figures for 1914 were 616 and 383. In many cases there had been previous offences though the Court had not proceeded to conviction. Statistics for 1915 are not yet available. In order to save labour to the police and other authorities, the judicial statistics have been somewhat curtailed for the pre- 2284W sent, and any inquiry as to the working of the system of probation must be postponed until after the War.
— Industrial School. Reformatory School. Children. Children. Young Persons. 1913 … 4,613 353 871 1914 … 4,435 387 881