I don't know about 5.44, but in the later versions in General Settings you would go to the Display Options section and there is a choice for Maximum Number of Posts Displayed Per Topic (HTML) Page - this choice has a dropdown list where you can select 15, 25, 30, 35 and so on # of posts per page.

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Doug
darksaber.hispeed.com
I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.
--Darth Vader, The Empire Strikes Back