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remote institutions by taking advantage of the facilities provided by the Correspondence School. The privileges of the National Library Service have been extended to our institutions, which supplements the institution libraries with more attractive and up-to-date books. Wireless is now installed in all the larger institutions, and a regular circuit for the showing of 16 mm. films has been arranged. The Department is mindful that prisons are not intended to be places of comfort and enjoyment, and all amenities are designed to be corrective and reformative. The prison population during 1947 was a little higher than during the previous year. Fortunately, there has been no substantial crime wave in New Zealand such as has swept the larger countries that experienced more closely the direct impact and aftermath of war. The daily average number of prisoners in custody during 1917 was 1,109, as compared with the figure of 1,060 for 1946. The number of distinct persons received into prison during 1947 was 1,351 —that is, 138 in excess of the number of receptions in the previous year. This increase, although not so marked as elsewhere, is nonetheless in common with the experience of countries overseas. For example the last English Prison report states that in 1947 the daily average prison population was 17,300, which exceeded any figure there subsequent to 1913, and it is symptomatic of the conditions of the times. There appears to have been an increased disregard of the obligations of citizenship and an absence of self-restraint and self-control, due largely to a prevading inclination to subordinate worthwhile long-term aims to the hasty gratification of short-term desires. This may be simply a post-war condition, the world being in a state of unrest, and in the social surge our prisoners represent the flotsam and jetsam. The problem is largely one of bringing about a reorientation of attitudes. Prison officers are enjoined to strive to awaken in those committed to the Department's care a consciousness of the fact that the enjoyment of rights and liberties involves the assumption of corresponding responsibilities and obligations and a respect for the rights of others. This reformative philosophy is expressly stated in Prison Regulation 25, which reads : The great object of reclaiming the criminal should always be kept in view by all officers, and they should strive to acquire a moral influence over the prisoners . . . They should especially try to raise the prisoners' minds to a proper feeling of moral obligation. STATISTICS Receptions.—A table showing the total number of receptions and discharges at each institution is included as an annexure to this report, but for convenience of comparison the following summary shows the totals for each of the past five years :

It will be noted from the above table that the number of receptions during 1947 exceeded the total for the previous year by 242, though, as stated earlier, the increase in the number of distinct persons was only 138. It should also be noted that included

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— . 1943. 1944. 1945. 1946. 1947. Number in custody at beginning of year Number received during year Number discharged or transferred Number in prison at end of year 1,064 4,622 4,608 1,077 1,077 4,089 4,173 993 993 3,996 3,949 1,040 1,040 4,368 4,376 1,032 1,032 4,610 4,505 1,137