In arriving at the amount of property left by the poor I have assumed that of the £15,000,000 of savings estimated as passing at death per annum, £5,000,000 does actually come under review in the first few lines of the table on pages 52-53. The balance, £10,000,000, I have brought into the account as corresponding to the 592,294 deaths in the first line of the table on p. 59.

With these explanations the table will speak for itself, and its tale is a startling one. We see that, drawing the line between the rich and poor arbitrarily at the possession of £1,000, of the 683,000 persons who die in a year, 28,397 die rich or very rich, leaving £259,700,000, while 654,603 die poor or very poor, leaving between them only £29,500,000.

The figures over £10,000 are worth special attention:—

FORTUNES OVER £10,000 EACH (NET)

Year.Number.Value.
1904-53,912£186,600,000
1905-63,924195,700,000
1906-74,172218,200,000
1907-83,945197,200,000
1908-93,986187,100,000

Year by year, with the regularity of the seasons, about four thousand persons die leaving between them about £200,000,000 out of total estates declared to be worth about £300,000,000.

PROPERTY LEFT BY 683,000 PERSONS
Average of 1904-5 to 1908-9

Deaths.Propery Left.
POOR AND VERY POOR
Died with so little property that no affidavit was sworn (Property estimated at £10,000,000, see p. 58)592,294£10,000,000
Died Bankrupt1,670—
Died leaving less than £100 net15,956900,000
Died leaving between £100 and £500 net34,27910,000,000
Died leaving between £500 and £1,000 net10,4048,600,000
Total Poor and Very Poor654,603£29,500,000
RICH AND VERY RICH
Died under age without property7,500—
Died leaving between £1,000 net and £10,000 net16,91062,100,000
Died leaving between £10,000 net and £1,000,000 net3,980179,500,000
Died millionaires718,100,000
Total Rich and Very Rich28,397£259,700,000

Total Rich and Poor683,000£292,500,000