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On 31st March, 1937, the finger-print collection in Auckland totalled 5,341 sets. During the year 691 sets of finger-prints were received or taken, and duly classified, searched, and filed. The photographs of 136 prisoners were taken and 816 prints were taken from the negatives ; also a large number of photographs of scenes of crimes and motor accidents were taken. The total number of photographs produced during the year was 1,916. One thousand four hundred New South Wales prisoners' photographs were received, card-indexed, and the cards filed in order of finger-print classification. The remanded-prisoner forms, with the results of the cases inserted, for 311 prisoners were dealt with and returned to the Criminal Registration Branch in Wellington. In twelve cases offenders who would not otherwise have been known as having been previously convicted were traced by their finger-prints. In three other cases finger-prints left by offenders when committing crimes were identified ; the offenders, on being interviewed, duly admitting the charges. Arms Bureau. Following on the passing of the Arms Amendment Act, 1934, which provided that no firearms could thereafter be imported into the Dominion without an import license issued by a Superintendent or Inspector of Police, an Arms Bureau was established at police headquarters for the examination and tenting of firearms and to advise Superintendents and Inspectors in respect of firearms for which applications for import licenses were received. The object of the statute was to endeavour to minimize the large number of shooting accidents. In order to do this two main lines of action are being pursued. The first of these is to exclude from the Dominion firearms of such poor quality that they are apt to cause accidents ; and in this a good deal has been done without causing serious inconvenience to the dealers in firearms. Among the 1,150 licensed dealers in the Dominion there appears to be no dissatisfaction with the operation of the Act. Several of the manufacturing firms have already effected safety improvements to their firearms at the request of the Department. The benefit of these improvements will not be immediately apparent in New Zealand, but must eventually do good. It is estimated that there are about 250,000 firearms in the Dominion, exclusive of those oil issue to Government- Forces. Among these it is inevitable that there are many which are dangerous through wear, faulty design, or poor quality, and their evil effect will be noticed, no doubt, in the number of accidents to sportsmen for many years to come. The second method of dealing with shooting accidents is one which was initiated by the Minister of Internal Affairs, and may be called the " educational system." The idea is for the Arms Bureau and other organizations to attempt to reach the children in secondary schools and to teach them the correct handling of firearms. The Minister in Charge of Police has consented to lectures being given to teachers in training colleges and to the pupils themselves in secondary schools whenever this is possible. Up to the present it has not been possible to put the scheme into operation so far as the Arms Bureau is concerned owing to the pressure of other departmental work. Accidents with firearms have been recorded during the past two years, and the statistical charts contain some features which appear to be worth special notice. There have been ninety-six accidents in 104 weeks, and in these thirty-six people have lost their lives. Of the sixty injured, some have been crippled by the loss of limbs, and one has lost both eyes. Seventy-seven of the accidents have occurred to males under the age of forty and of these, thirty-six were under twenty years of age. There are probably many other accidents of a less serious nature which have not come under the notice of the police. Of the forty-two accidents which occurred with shot-guns thirty-six were with hammer-guns — that is, guns with exposed hammers, while only six were with the hammerless type. It is considered that shot-guns of the double-barrelled hammer kind have such a bad record in relation to the number of accidents that their exclusion from importation would be justified. The much safer hammerless guns can be procured at a comparatively small increase in cost. Rifles of -22 calibre —sometimes misnamed " pea-rifles " —have been responsible for forty-four accidents. The chief offender is the simple bolt-action single-shot rifle, and many of the models which were the cause of accidents are now obsolete or are excluded from the Dominion. A reference to the statistics also shows that the firearms with which accidents have happened may be divided into two classes—those which belong to the list of arms approved for importation, and those not approved or which are unknown. It is interesting to note that more than half the accidents reported have occurred with the latter class, the figures being forty-nine and forty-five. During the past year lectures have been given to the police in Whangarei, Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Napier, Wanganui, New Plymouth, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin. The subjects covered included " The Care and Handling of Firearms," " Investigation of Shooting Cases and the Preservation of Exhibits," and " The Shooting Accident: How it occurs and how to prevent it." These lectures were also given to the police probationers at the training depot. Special reports have been prepared in the investigation of two murder and three attempted murder cases. A fair amount of .time has been devoted to experimental and research work, and ballistic data for the use of police have been recorded. Two mechanical safety appliances for firearms have been designed, and one of these has been adopted by two Belgian factories. A collection of sample firearms which may be of use in the investigation of shooting cases has been commenced, and this is being added to as opportunities occur.

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