MR. HERBERT (Buckinghamshire, Wycombe)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the number of persons in England and Wales who died intestate possessed of real estate; and what was the value of the real estate which passed upon such in testacy in each of the last ten years.
(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) The records of the Estate Duty Office do not distinguish between testate and intestate estates, while on the other hand the records of the principal probate registry do not contain statistics of the value of real estate. I fear, therefore, that the information for which my hon. friend asks could only be obtained by a detailed 258 examination and collation of the records of the two departments, which would involve the expenditure of a very large amount of time and labour.