View report page

73
given in Dr. Brown's report on the subject. Many of these families were living under conditions
of overcrowding from inability to pay for better accommodation owing to lack of employment or low
earnings. Dr. Newman notes that the population in Finsbury, a district which borders on the City, is
declining but the density per house is increasing. In the suburbs, moreover, overcrowding readily
occurs unless controlled by the sanitary authorities. Thus Dr. Caldwell Smith writes : " There has
been a decided increase in the number of cases [of overcrowding] dealt with in Tooting compared with
previous years, due to the poverty of the people residing in one or two streets in that sub-district. In
Wandsworth the overcrowding was chiefly confined to the Fairfield and Springfield wards. All these
cases were remedied after service of preliminary notice with the exception of one in Clapham, where it
was necessary to issue a summons."

Factory and Workshop Act, 1901.
Under the provisions of Section 132 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, the medical officer
of health of every district is required to report specifically on the administration of this act in workshops
and workplaces, and to send a copy of his annual report, or so much of it as deals with this subject, to
the Secretary of State.
A form of table was prepared for use of medical officers of health, and this table has since been
amended in certain particulars. The following summary table has been prepared from those tables
which are contained in the annual reports of medical officers of health.
14911
K