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Underground Rooms.
In a number of districts the illegal occupation of underground rooms was dealt with during
the year. Dr. Harris comments on the fact that there are now comparatively few such rooms illegally
occupied in Islington, but that a few are occasionally discovered.

Overcrowding.
The annual reports show that the number of instances in which overcrowding was found was
much the same in 1907 as in 1906. There is reason for thinking that in recent years greater attention
has been paid by sanitary authorities to the abatement of the nuisance, and Dr. Newman states that
in Finsbury there has been an enormous reduction in overcrowding, the reduction having been effected
mainly in the years 1901-5. The improved facilities for travelling between the areas outside London
and within London, and the considerable increase of dwelling house accommodation on the borders
of London, must inevitably reduce the density of population in London, but the persistent efforts of
sanitary authorities will always be required to control overcrowding of tenements by persons who do
not attach importance to the necessity of adequate space within the dwelling in proportion to the
number of occupants. The greatest difficulty occurs in the cases where the wage earnings are but
scanty, and practically insufficient to enable payment to be made for more than the one room in
which the family are found to dwell. This is well brought out in a statement which Dr. Brown includes
in his report relating to Bermondsey.

Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.
Every medical officer of health is required under the provisions of sections 132 of the Factory
and Workshop Act, 1901, to report specifically on the administration of this Act in workshops in their
districts and a form of table has been prepared for the exhibition of those particulars which lend themselves
to statistical statement. From this table and from information contained in the annual reports
the following summary table has been prepared :-
18560
K 2