Much new information has become available in recent years about the assets and liabilities of financial and other institutions. In the table on pages 110 and 111 the information on holdings of British government stocks, Treasury Bills, and other forms of government debt, which together comprise the National Debt, is brought together for the years 1958 to 1961.
The table in effect extends earlier estimates of the distribution of the National Debt published, for 1939, 1956 and 1957, in the evidence to the Committee on the Working of the Monetary System (The Radcliffe Committee) and, for 1946 to 1948 and 1951, in Economic Trends The form of the estimates has, however, been changed in order to incorporate new information, and to bring them more into line with other financial statistics.
Distribution of the national debt