WE pass from the consideration of the property which is left at death in a single year to the estimation of the value of the total capital stock of the United Kingdom.
We can proceed by two different methods. We can argue from the property left by those who die in a single year to the property possessed by the living, or we can capitalize that part of the national income which is derived from property. The former method was used as long ago as the 'fifties by Porter in his "Progress of the Nation." The second method has been employed by many statisticians, notably by Sir Robert Giffen.
In the following table I have formed an estimate of the accumulated wealth of the nation at the present time, dividing it into three categories:—
(1) "National" property in the proper sense, i.e. property in the possession of the Imperial Government or Local Authorities.
(2) Land and Capital Stock within the United Kingdom owned by private individuals, and
(3) Property in foreign countries and British Possessions owned by persons in the United Kingdom.