§ While we are still in the field of the Exchequer accounts, there is one change that I propose and should mention even at the risk of digressing from my main theme. In the Finance Act of 1946, the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Bishop Auckland (Mr. Dalton) created the National Land Fund. The intention was that much greater use should be made of the power of the Inland Revenue to accept land in payment of Estate Duty.
§ The right hon. Gentleman's concept was, if I may say so, an imaginative one and we have developed it by taking power, in 1953 and 1956, to accept works 979 of art in settlement of Estate Duty. But the £50 million of securities with which the Fund began have by now grown, with accumulated interest, to a value at maturity of nearly £60 million. The Fund at present has an investment income of over £1,400,000 a year. Its average expenditure since its creation has been less than £200,000 a year. In other words, its capital and its resources are out of proportion to its likely expenditure.
§ In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the Public Accounts Committee has recommended that we should return part of this large and growing balance to the Exchequer. I am proposing to reduce the Fund's capital to £10 million by cancelling some of the securities held in it. This will for a number of years suffice to meet all demands on the Fund under present policies, which we mean to continue. This will, of course, have no effect upon the Budget figures.