MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been drawn to the absence from the annual report of the Inland Revenue Commissioners for 1897–8 of two important tables relative to the death duties which were published in previous reports—namely, the table giving the classification of capital values of estates and of the net receipts of duty in respect of each category, and also the combined table showing the combined estate duty, probate duty, and inventory and account duty; whether he will consent to a Return embodying these two tables; and whether he will give directions that these tables shall in future be published with the Inland Revenue Commissioners' Report, as was done in 1896–7?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF HIE EXCHEQUER (Sir MICHAEL HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.The tables in question were omitted in accordance with the recommendations of a Committee which was appointed in 1897 to revise the Statistics of the Department. But the information contained in them will be found given more fully than in the old tables on pages 146–7 and 157 of the Report for 1897–8. There is, however, one omission—the net receipts of estate duty in each category—and this will be given as a Return, and included in the tables in future years.