§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEI wish to put a Question to the Prime Minister, of which I have given him 772 private Notice, with respect to a statement in his Budget Speech of last night, which appears not to have been properly understood. I refer to the statement with regard to the proposal as to the Legacy and the Probate Duties. Will the right hon. Gentleman kindly state How he arrives at the net result that £390,000 will be gained on the Probate Duty; also what the Probate Duty would have produced if it had been left alone, and what it will produce as altered? I would also put the same Question as to the Legacy Duty.
MR. GLADSTONEthanked the right lion. Gentleman for giving him the opportunity of answering the Question, as evidently, probably owing to his own fault, what he had said had not been correctly understood. The Probate Duty, according to the Estimate, if it had been left alone, would have produced £3,100,000 for the year. As it was, it would produce, not for the year, but for the 10 months with the two additional months, £3,613,000, or an augmentation of £513,000. The Legacy Duty, if left alone, would have produced £3,650,000. With the alteration in operation for 10 months, it was estimated it would produce for the year £3,525,000. The result was a gain on the Probate Duty of £513,000, and a loss upon Legacy Duty of £125,000, leaving a net gain of £388,000, or, in round numbers, £390,000. That, he thought, was exactly the information which was desired, and it would be understood that the date on which they expected to bring the new system into operation was the 1st June. He might have mentioned that the gain upon Probate Duty would have been much larger than he had represented; but he had taken the net gain after deducting £400,000 on account of debts, and likewise £30,000 which represented the loss upon small estates.