§ Sir Hal MillerTo ask the Minister for the Arts if there have been any items accepted in lieu of tax or allocated since he last made an announcement on the subject to the House.
§ Mr. LuceSince my announcement on 14 FebruaryOfficial Report, column 239, I am pleased to announce that three further offers have been accepted in lieu of tax: a woodcut by Edward Munch, "Two People—the Lonely Ones" and two paintings, one by Corot entitled "Richmond pres Londres", and one by Jan van der Heyden, "The Westerkerk". The tax satisfied was £57,539, £361,500 and £2,800,000 respectively. The acceptance of the van der Heyden painting was made possible by a call on the Reserve.
No decision has yet been taken on the allocation of the Corot painting, but in accordance with the conditions on which they were offered the Munch woodcut will go to the Whitworth art gallery, Manchester and the van der Heyden painting will be allocated to the National gallery. Finally, I would like to inform the House that because of a change in the tax liabilities due on the estate concerned, the cost of the acceptance of the Kirckman harpsichord, announced on 14 February, has been reduced to £25,276.95.