asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the numbers who die each year possessed of more than £1,000, £5,000, £10,000, £25,000 and £100,000, respectively, with the share of the total property accounted for by each category; and whether, on the basis of information available to him, he is able to make any estimates of the division of the whole population according to the amounts of capital which they own.

The hon. Member will find distributions of the numbers and capital values of estates liable to Estate Duty for the year 1946–47 in the 90th Report of the Commissioners of Inland Revenue. Similar information for the year 1947–48 will appear in the 91st Report which will be available shortly. Information is not now available regarding estates below £2,000, the present Estate Duty exemption limit. It would be a major undertaking to prepare estimates of the distribution of the capital of the living, nor is sufficient information at present available for the post-war period to enable satisfactory estimates to be made.