that there had been an astonishingly big increase in the Auckland district.  The Committee has had two separate explanations of this.  In the first place, it was explained that the apparent increase was due to a change in the method of compiling the returns in Auckland.  On reference to Auckland officials the Committee was informed that the method of compilation had not been changed.  Whether or not this type of crime increased substantially throughout the Dominion in one year must, for the present, remain undetermined.

(b) Statistics of Juvenile Delinquency

The figures compiled for the Committee by the Superintendent of the
Child Welfare Division show that: 

(i) There was a substantial increase in juvenile delinquency
during the Second World War.

(ii) After the war was over, the rate settled down to something
like the pre-war rate.

The following is a fair selection of these figures (alternate years being taken): 

Number of Offences and      Rate per 10,000 of
Complaints of Children      Juvenile Population
Year              Out of Control, etc.     7-17 years  10-17 years
1934                      1,653                53          73
1936                      1,786                57          79
1938                      2,447                77         105
1940                      2,464                79         107
1942                      2,421                79         107
1944                      2,493                84         113
1946                      1,786                60          83
1948                      1,589                51          74
1950                      1,464                46          66
1952                      1,883                56          78
1954                      2,105                56          81

In making comparisons it should be noted (as explained later) that during recent years the Department has undertaken much preventive work which may account for a return to the pre-war rate in spite of the existence of other factors leading to an increase in delinquency.

(c) Juvenile Delinquency in Maoris and Non-Maoris

Another illustration of the care required in the use of statistics is afforded by a comparison as between Maori and non-Maori offenders in the 10-17-year-old group. (For the purpose of these figures “Maori” means of the half-blood or more).

For the year ended 31 March 1954 there were 565 Maori delinquents, or 28 per cent of the total number of juvenile delinquents.  During this same period there were 1,433 non-Maori offenders, or 72 per cent of those delinquents.  But the Maori offenders came from 10 per cent of the juvenile population, whereas the non-Maoris came from 90 per cent of that population.  On that basis juvenile delinquency among Maoris was three and a half times that among the rest of the child inhabitants of New Zealand.

The Committee has been unable to arrange for a dissection of the figures to ascertain whether there was a bigger percentage of sexual offenders among young Maoris than among other sections of the people.  A considerable portion of offences may come from factors inherent in the culture and traditions of the Maori and their difficulty in conforming to another mode of living.