if there was any marked increase which might throw light upon the
conduct of children. From the annual reports which had been submitted by
succeeding Commissioners of Police it collated the figures of sexual
crime. The table as prepared is set out in Appendix A to this report. A
perusal of that table will show that the increase of sexual crime in the
years 1920-1953 is not any greater than might reasonably have been
expected having regard to the increase in population. In other words,
the rate has remained constant. But the great increase in the number of
indecent assaults on females (from 175 in 1952 to 311 in 1953) did call
for special investigation. At the request of the Committee, these
figures were broken down into the several districts in which the crimes
had occurred and, as a result, it appeared 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