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The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 Title: Second Shetland Truck System Report Author: William Guthrie Release Date: January, 2003 [Etext #3611] [Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] [The actual date this file first posted = 06/13/01] Edition: 10 Language: English Project Gutenberg's Second Shetland Truck System Report, by William Guthrie ***********This file should be named truck10.txt or truck10.zip************ Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, truck11.txt VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, truck10a.txt Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. 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Money should be paid to the: "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: hart@pobox.com *END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.06/12/01*END* [Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] [Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or software or any other related product without express permission.] Second Shetland Truck System Report by William Guthrie NOTES 1. Truck - The payment of wages otherwise than in money, the system or practice of such a payment. References/Edinburgh enquiry/book/archives/size of original doc. OED. The Truck Commission Enquiry, 1872, is a major social history source the Shetland Islands in the 19th century. It followed on from an existing Truck Commission enquiry in 1871, after evidence from Shetland was heard in Edinburgh. 45,125 questions covered the rest of the country, 17,070 for Shetland. Despite this effort, little effect immediately resulted in Shetland from legislation following on the national enquiry. References George W. Hilton, The Truck System, including a History of the British Truck Acts, 1465-1960, W. Heffer and Sons, Ltd., Cambridge, 1960. Hance D. Smith, Introduction (to facsimile reprint of the Report of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the Truck System (Shetland), Sandwick, 1978. Hance D. Smith, Shetland Life and Trade, 1550-1914, John Donald Publishers Ltd., Edinburgh, 1984, ISBN 0859761037. For further queries, contact Shetland.archives@sic.shetland.gov.uk. NOTES 2. The original documents come in a double column, small print format. Since it isn't possible, or even desirable to reproduce that here, some alterations have been made. Page numbers are indicated within square brackets - [Page x]. Tables, which were in even smaller print, have also been altered somewhat where necessary. In particular, Table I-IV in the Report section have been split up for ease of use, and put after, rather than in the middle of the section referring to them. The use of italics has been indicated by means of the following . The most obvious typographical errors have been removed, but otherwise the text is untouched. However, the spelling of place names and personal names has altered a bit over the years, and the items below cover most of the obvious problems, as well as some misapprehensions and errors. Blanch- now Blance. ca'in/caain whales- alternative spellings of the same word - for Pilot Whale, usually. Clunas- now usually Cluness. Colafirth- now Collafirth. Coningsburgh- now Cunningsburgh. Cumlywick- now Cumlewick. Cunningster- now Cunnister. Dalzell- alternatively Dalziel, Dalyell, Deyell, and even Yell. Dunrosness- now Dunrossness. Edmonston/Edmonstone- now Edmondston. Eskerness- probably Eshaness. Exter, Janet- a misapprehension - actual name unknown but possibly Janet Inkster. Fetler- now Fetlar. Fiedeland- now Fethaland. Flaus/Flawes/Flaws- alternative spellings of the same name now usually Flaws. Garrioch/Garriock/Garrick- can be alternative spellings of the same name. ghive/geo/gio- gio - an inlet. Goudie/Gaudie- now Goudie. Hancliffe- probably Hangcliff. Harra- now Herra. Hildesha- now Hildasay, an island. Hillyar/Hillyard- probably Heylor. Humphray/Humphrey/Umphray- can be alternative spellings of the same name. Jameson/Jamieson- now usually Jamieson. Lasetter- now Lusetter. Lebidden- now Leabitten. Leisk/Leask- alternative spellings of the same name. Lesslie/Leslie- alternative spellings of the same name. Lingord- now Lingarth. Luija- probably Linga, an island. Malcolmson/Malcomson- now usually Malcolmson. Manaster- prob. Mangaster. Mavisgrind- now Mavis Grind. Nicholson- now usually Nicolson. North Mavine/Northmaven- now Northmavine. Rennesta- probably Ringasta. Roenessvoe- now Ronas Voe. Satter- now Setter. scatthold/scattales/scattholes- now scattald. scaups/scaaps- alternative spellings of the same word, a bed of shellfish on the sea bottom. Simbister- now Symbister. Stenness- now Stennes. Sullem/Sullam- now Sullom. Thomason/Thomson/Thompson- alternative spellings of the same name. Trosswick- now Troswick. Urrafirth- now Urafirth. Usiness- prob. Ustaness. Vinsgarth- now Veensgarth. Waterbru- now Waterbrough. West Sandwick- now Westsandwick. Angus Johnson, May, 2001. [Page 1 rpt.] REPORT. _______ TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE HENRY AUSTEN BRUCE, ONE OF HER MAJESTY'S PRINCIPAL SECRETARIES OF STATE. SIR, THE Report on the Truck System, presented to Parliament in 1871, stated that the Commissioners, Messrs. Bowen and Sellar, had received information from four witnesses with regard to Shetland, 'tending to show that the existence of Truck in an oppressive form is general in the staple trades of the islands'. The Commissioners in their Report call attention to this evidence, and add: 'Time would not allow of a local inquiry at Shetland, nor can an inquiry be adequately conducted into the Truck which is alleged to prevail there otherwise than upon the spot. No opinion accordingly is offered either as to the extent of, or the remedy for, the alleged evils; but the necessity of some investigation by Her Majesty's Government into the condition of these islands seems made out.' Having been appointed, by a warrant under your hand, dated Dec. 23, 1871, one of the Commissioners under the Truck Commission Act, 1870, in room of Mr. Bowen, I was directed to proceed to Shetland and institute an inquiry there under that Act. I inquired respecting the matters embraced under the instructions of the Act, and I have now to report as follows:- I went to Shetland at the beginning of the year, a time when the seafaring people of the country are generally at their homes, and I at once began to take evidence with regard to the system of barter or truck which prevails in various trades and industries in these islands. Evidence was taken respecting the hosiery or knitting trade, in which a very large proportion of the women of the country are engaged. Evidence was also taken with regard to the fishing trade, which in its different branches affords employment for part of the year to the whole of the male population, with few exceptions. With regard to the manner in which sales of farm stock and produce are transacted, rents are paid, and land is held in Shetland, information has also been obtained, without which it appeared to be impossible to form a correct idea of the condition of the people, and the way in which barter or truck presents itself as an inseparable element of their daily life and habits. A large amount of evidence was also pressed upon me with regard to the engagement of seamen at Lerwick for sealing and whaling voyages to Greenland and Davis Straits. Sittings for the purpose of taking evidence were held at Lerwick, Brae (Delting), Hillswick (Northmaven), Mid Yell, Balta Sound (Unst), Boddam (Dunrossness), and Scalloway, in Shetland. I visited Kirkwall, in Orkney, for the purpose of examining certain witnesses now residing there with regard to the condition of Fair Island, which was inaccessible at the time of my journey. Sittings were also held in Edinburgh for the examination of a few witnesses residing there. Public notice by printed bills was given of all meetings, and circulars were also sent to all clergymen, schoolmasters, and landed proprietors, and to all persons in the fishcuring and hosiery trades. Evidence was received from almost all who tendered it, from a large number of persons suggested or put forward by employers of labour and purchasers of hosiery goods and fish, and from many witnesses who were selected and cited. ________________________ GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF SHETLAND. The Shetland Islands are upwards of a hundred in number, varying in size from the Mainland, which is about seventy miles in length and thirty at its greatest breadth, to small rocks not even affording pasturage to sheep. The outlines of all the islands, as shown on the accompanying map are very irregular, long bays or voes indenting them so deeply that no point is more than three miles from the sea. The country is hilly, but none of the [Page 2 rpt.] hills are very lofty. Twenty-eight of the islands are inhabited; some of the smaller islands containing only two, or in some cases only one family. The population in 1861 was 31,670, viz. 18,617 females, and 13,053 males. The population in 1871 was 31,605, viz. 18,525 females, and 13,080 males. The census is taken at a time of the year when many men who are sailors in the merchant service are absent from their homes, which they visit once a year or oftener. At the last census there were 6,494 families, 5,740 inhabited houses, 220 vacant houses, and 10 houses building. The Agricultural Returns for Great Britain for 1871 state the number of occupiers of land in Shetland, from whom returns have been obtained, at 3992, occupying on an average thirteen acres each. The total acreage under all kinds of crops, bare, fallow, and grass, is given as 50,454 acres in 1870, and 50,720 in 1871, of which, in the latter year, 11,626 acres were under corn crops, 3,493 under green crops (2,909 being potatoes), 522 under clover and grasses under rotation, and 33,227 permanent pasture, meadow, or grass not broken up in rotation, exclusive of heath or mountain land. The total number of horses returned to the Statistical Department, as on 25th June 1871, was 5,354; of cattle 21,735; of sheep, 86,834; and of pigs, 5,251. _________________ SOCIAL STATE. The 'toons,' or townships, in which the peasantry of Shetland live, are generally situated along the margins of the voes, or far-stretching inland bays which intersect the country; and although in some districts they extend into the valleys running into the interior, they are almost always within a short distance from the sea. It is natural, therefore, that the Shetlander should be a fisherman or a sailor; and for two centuries it appears that he has generally combined the occupations of farming and fishing. The following description of the rural polity of Shetland, taken from Dr. Arthur Edmonstone's View of the Ancient and Present State of the Zetland Islands (2 vols. 8vo, Edin. 1809), is for the most part applicable at the present day. 'The enclosed land in Zetland is divided into what are called merks and ures. A merk, it is said, should contain 1600 square fathoms, and an ure is the eighth part of a merk; but the merks are everywhere of unequal dimensions, and scarcely two are of the same size. The oldest rentals state the number of merks to be about 13,500, and those of the present time make them no more. A considerable portion, however, of common has been enclosed and cultivated since the appearance of the first rentals, although not included in them. When a part of the common is enclosed and farmed, the enclosure is called an outset; but the outsets are never included in the numeration of merks of rental land. From these circumstances it is very difficult to ascertain the actual quantity of cultivated ground in Zetland. 'The enclosures are made, generally, in the neighbourhood of the sea, and contain from 4 to 70 merks, which are frequently the property of different heritors, and are always subdivided among several tenants. Such place is called a town or a room, and each has a particular name. 'The uncultivated ground outside of the enclosure is called the scatthold, and is used for general pasture, and to furnish turf for firing. Every tenant may rear as many sheep, cattle, or horses, on the general scatthold attached to the town in which his farm lies as he can. There is no restriction on this head, whether he rent a large or a small farm. If there be no moss in the scatthold contiguous to his farm, the tenant must pay for the privilege to cut peat in some other common, and this payment is called It seldom exceeds 3s. per annum. 'The kelp shores and the pasture islands are seldom or never let to the tenant along with the land; these the landholder retains in his own hands. In some parts of Zetland, particularly in the island of Unst, the proprietor furnishes the tenant, gratis, with a house, barn, and stable, which he also keeps in a state of repair. In other parts of the country this expense is divided between them, but the chief proportion of it always falls on the landholder. 'The quantity of land farmed by a tenant varies from 3 to 12 merks, and sometimes more; but the average number to each may be taken at 5. In a few instances regular leases are granted, and some of them for a great number of years; but these are comparatively rare. In the great majority of cases, nothing more takes place than a verbal agreement on the part of the tenant to occupy a farm under certain conditions, for one year only, at the expiration of which both he and the landholder consider themselves at perfect liberty to enter on a new engagement .... 'The rents are paid in cash and various articles of country produce, such as fish, butter, oil, etc.; and the amount of the rent varies, according as the tenant has the exclusive disposal of his labour or agrees to fish to his landholder. In the former case, the probable profits on the sale of fish and the other articles of produce are estimated, and the lands are let at their full value. In the latter case, or where the tenant fishes to the landholder, he comes under an agreement to deliver to him his fish, butter,* and oil, at a certain price, and then the lands are let at a considerably reduced rate. This system, where there is a reciprocity of profit between the landholder and the tenant, is by far the most general, and the practice is immemorial in Zetland. 'The merks are divided into different classes, such as , and merks. These are arbitrary numbers, employed to designate certain differences in the rents of the merks, according to their size and produce. Thus nine-penny merks should be more valuable than six-penny merks, and twelve-penny more so than nine-penny. But these distinctions, although rounded, no doubt, originally on real differences, are at present very inaccurate measures of the relative value of the different classes of merks; for sometimes happens that a six-penny merk is as large and productive as a twelve-penny one. . . 'The lands in the different towns generally lie, , intimately mingled together, which not only [Page 3 rpt.] creates frequent disputes, but prevents the more industrious tenants from making smaller enclosures... 'The ground is divided into what is called and . The outfield is the land which has been last brought into a state of cultivation, and in most parts the soil is mossy. It is sown generally with oats. The infield, on the contrary, has been long in a state of culture, and it produces barley, called in Zetland bear, and potatoes. The outfield is seldom well drained, although it might be easily done without any additional trouble or expense. Thus, when cutting peat for fuel, which is often done within the dyke, instead of doing this in parallel lines, leaving a considerable space between them to become a future corn-field, the people cut in every direction, disfigure the ground, and very often form reservoirs for water to accumulate in. The outfield is allowed to remain fallow for one, and sometimes two years in succession, but the infield is generally turned over every year.'** [Vol. i p. 147 sqq.] * This does not accurately describe the present mode of paying rents. The rent is always nominally a money rent, although it may be paid in account, as will afterwards be shown ** It would be out of place to make extensive quotations from this valuable work. But I refer to it as containing discussions the social state of Shetland, showing that many of the questions involved in the present inquiry required an answer seventy years ago. See also Hibbert's (Edin. 1822) The enclosed lands were formerly runrig, held by the inhabitants of the township in scattered allotments, at different places within the dyke or enclosing wall,-the allotments being made, apparently, in such a manner as to give the tenants equal shares of the different qualities of land. In late years, however, much progress is said to have been made in dividing the farms and throwing the ground of each tenant into one lot. [J.S. Houston, 9654; W. Stewart, 8992; A. Sandison, 9993.] DWELLINGS. The following description of the Shetland hut or cottage is written by Dr. Arthur Mitchell, now one of the Commissioners of Lunacy for Scotland, a very accurate and careful observer (Appendix to the Second Report of the General Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland, 1860):- 'The Shetland cottage or hut is of the rudest description. It is usually built of undressed stone, with a cement of clay or turf. Over the rafters is laid a covering of pones, divots, or flaas,* and above this again a thatch of straw, bound down with ropes of heather, weighted at the ends with stones, as a protection against the high winds which are so prevalent. Chimneys and windows are rarely to be seen. One or more holes in the roof permit the escape of the smoke, and at the same time admit light. Open doors, the thatched roof, and loose joinings everywhere, insure a certain ventilation, without which the dwellings would often be more unhealthy than many in the lanes of our large cities. To this, there is no doubt, we must attribute the comparative absence of fever, the occasional presence of which, I think, is greatly due to that violation of the plainest law of nature, the box-bed. This evil is often intensified in Shetland by having the beds arranged in tiers one above the other, in ship fashion, with the apertures of access reduced to the smallest possible size. 'Drainage is wholly unattended to, and the dunghill is invariably found at the very door. As the house is entered, the visitor first comes upon that part allotted to the cattle, which in summer are out night and day, but in winter are chiefly within doors. Their dung is frequently allowed to accumulate about them; and I was told that this part of the house is sometimes used by the family in winter as a privy. Passing through the byre, the human habitation is reached. The separation between it and the part for the cattle is ingeniously effected by an arrangement of the furniture, the bed chiefly serving for this purpose. The floor is of clay, and the fire is nearly always in the middle of it .... 'In some respects, however, the Zetland dwellings stand a favourable comparison with those of the Western Islands. There is a bareness and desolation about the misery of a Harris house that is tenfold more depressing. It is a poor house and an empty one - a decaying, mouldy shell, without the pretence of a kernel. Whereas in Zetland there is usually a certain fulness. There are bulky sea-chests, with smaller ones on the top of them; chairs, with generally an effort at an easy one; a wooden bench, a table, beds, spades, fishing-rods, baskets, and a score of other little things, which help, after all, to make it a domus. The very teapot, in Zetland always to be found at the fireside, speaks of home and woman, and reminds one of the sobriety of the people - that very important difference between them and the inhabitants of the Hebridean islands. I think the Zetlanders, too, are more intelligent, and more inclined to be industrious, and give greater evidence of the tendency to accumulate or provide. 'Instead of describing the house occupied by each patient, I have given this general account of the average Zetland dwelling, and then, in my individual reports, I have spoken of the special houses as of, above, or below the average.' *Different terms signifying varieties of sod. Since 1860, the dwellings of the people have undergone considerable improvement, especially in the more advanced districts, such as Unst; but the description given of them by Dr. Cowie,* the latest writer on Shetland and himself a Shetlander, and my own observation so far as it went, enables me to state that Dr. Mitchell's description of the average cottage of the fisherman-farmer is still substantially correct. Cottages to which the description exactly applies may be found within a mile of Lerwick. In Lerwick, the capital, the poorer dwellings are, to say the least, not better than those of the same class in other towns of its size. [D. Edmonstone, 10,683; Rev. W. Smith, 10,718; Dr. Cowie, 14,745.] *l. By Robert Cowie, M.A., M.D., Aberdeen. 1871. See p. 91. Edmonstone's , vol. ii., p. 48. , p. 138. ______________________________ THE LING FISHERY. DIFFERENT KINDS OF FISHING. It is necessary to distinguish the terms which are somewhat loosely used in speaking of the different kinds of fishing carried on in Shetland. The home or summer fishing, when that term is used in its widest sense, includes all the fishing for ling, cod, tusk, [Page 4 rpt.] and seath prosecuted in open boats, whether of six oars, or of a smaller size such as are still used for the seath fishery at Sumburgh. The 'haaf fishery' is, in the greater part of Shetland, synonymous with the home or summer fishery, being distinguished from it only where, as at Sumburgh, seath fishing is prosecuted in summer in the smaller open boats. 'Haaf' is 'the deep sea - the fishing of cod, ling, and tusk.'* This fishery is also generically known as the ling fishing, because, though, considerable quantities of tusk and cod are also caught at the haaf, ling is by far the most important part of its produce. The term 'cod fishing' is sometimes applied to what is usually called the 'Faroe fishing', which is prosecuted in large smacks in the vicinity of the Faroe Islands, and in autumn as far north as Iceland. On the west coast of the mainland, the 'cod fishing'- or 'home cod fishing' as it is called, to distinguish it from the Faroe fishing - is carried on, though now to a comparatively trifling extent, in smacks of a smaller size, at banks to the south-west of Shetland. The 'winter fishing' is prosecuted in small boats of four oars, which belong entirely to the men engaged in it, the fish being generally cured by themselves, or sold to any merchant they please for a price fixed and paid in money or goods at the time. * Edmonstone's (Edin. 1866.) FISHING TENURE FORMERLY EXISTING. The ling and tusk fishery is the oldest of the existing fishing industries of Shetland. It appears in the seventeenth century to have been in the hands of Dutch merchants and shipowners, who supplied the natives with the means of fishing; cured, or at least dried, the fish on the beaches; and carried it to Holland. It is said that the proprietors of Shetland were first induced about the beginning of the eighteenth century to take the ling fishing into their own hands, supplying their tenants with materials, and receiving the fish at a stipulated rate.* The system which grew up after this change is referred to by Dr. Adam Smith,** and appears to have been in full vigour in at least one part of Shetland but a few years ago. It is thus described by a witness, William Stewart, as it existed till 1862 in Whalsay, where he was a tenant of the late Mr. Bruce of Simbister:- '8978. What rent did you pay there?-The rent I always paid for my ground was 26s.' '8979. Did you fish for Mr. Bruce at that time?-Yes, for the late Mr. William Bruce.' '8980. And you had an account with him at the shop in Whalsay?-Yes.' '8981. How did you pay your rent?-Generally by fishing.' '8982. Was it put into your account?-Yes. The thing was carried on on a very strange system. Our land was put in to us at a low rent, and our fish were taken from us at as low a value. The prices for the fish never varied, either for the spring or summer.' '8983. Do you mean that they were the same every year?-They were. Whatever they might be in the markets, they were all the same to us.' '8984. Had you never the benefit of a rise in the market at all?- Never.' '8985. Did you not object to that?-We had just to content ourselves with it, or leave the place.' '8986. It was part of your bargain for your land, that you were to give your fish at a certain rate?-Yes; there were so much of the fish taken off for the land. That was the first of the fishing. We got 3s. 4d. a cwt. for ling, 2s. 6d. for tusk, and 20d. for cod, and so much of each kind of fish was taken off until the land was paid for; and then the prices were raised to 4s, I think, for ling, 3s. 2d. for tusk, and 2s. 6d. for cod, for all the rest of the summer fishing.' '8987. Did you get these prices for a number of years?-I think for the thirteen years that I was on the station they never varied one halfpenny for the summer fishing. The prices for the winter fishing varied a little. Sometimes we would sell the small cod as low as 2s. 6d, and at other times at 3s.' '8988. Did you sell the winter fishing for payment at the time, or did it go into the account too?-It was never put into the account at all; we just got what we required for it. It was ready payment; but it was very rarely that we got money for the winter fishing.' '8989. Did you know at the time that the prices you were paid at the latter part of the season were lower than the market price of the fish?-We knew that; but it was just the bargain.' '8990. Was that the system with all the tenants in Whalsay at that time?-With every one.' '8991. When did that system cease?-I think it ceased about a year after I came here-about 1863.' [W. Stewart, 8978; See J.S. Houston, 9727.] * Edmonstone's , vol. ii., p. 232., Brand's , etc., pp. 73, 89, 128, 136, etc. (Edin. 1701). ** , b.i.c. xi. LAND QUESTION CONNECTED WITH TRUCK QUESTION. It is impossible to separate the question of Truck in Shetland from the land question - (1.) Because Truck, in the form in which it chiefly exists, has arisen out of these old relations between landlords and tenants in the times when the landlords were the principal or the only purchasers and curers of fish; and (2.) because, to a very material extent, the relations between the fish-curer and the fishermen are still subservient and ancillary to the landlord's security for his rent.* That this is so will appear from a description of the ling fishery as it now exists. * General Observations on Shetland, by Lawrence Edmonstone M.D., in , p. 160 (Edin. 1841) TACKSMEN AND MERCHANTS. Although the proprietors may originally have had some concern with all the fishing of the year, it is in the ling fishery that they till lately occupied, and in some instances still occupy, the position of the old Dutch traders. In this position they have now, for the most part, been succeeded by merchants, who in some instances are tacksmen (or [Page 5 rpt.] 'tacksmasters,'-, principal lessees or middle-men, having sub-tenants), and in others are merely lessees of a fishing station, with its invariable appendage, a retail shop or store for goods of every kind. There is a regular season for the haaf fishing, lasting from about the 20th of May till the 12th of August. It is carried on chiefly from stations as near as possible to the haaf, where lodges or huts are erected for each boat's crew. The men return to their homes at the end of each week. At each station where the fish are landed, whether that is a temporary station,-such as Feideland, Whalsay Skerries, Stenness, Papa Stour, Spiggie, or Gloup,-or a permanent curing establishment and shop, such as Reawick, Uyea Sound, Quendale, or Hillswick,-factors are employed by the merchants to receive and weigh the fish, and enter the weight in a fish-book. These factors at the temporary stations are entrusted with a small supply of meal, lines, hooks, and other articles likely to be wanted by the fishermen, which they sell to them in the same way as the merchants themselves or their servants do at the permanent shops. [W. Irvine, p. 85.] MODE OF FISHING. The mode of fishing is similar to the long-line fishing in the North Sea, described in the Report of the Sea Fisheries Commission, 1866, App. p. 6. AGREEMENTS AND SETTLEMENTS. A boat is usually divided into six shares, each of the crew having one share; the proceeds of the fish, after deducting the price or hire of the boat and other expenses incurred on account of the crew, for which the crew is responsible as a company, being also divided into six shares. In some rare cases the shares are fewer, and one or two of the men are hired. It is an invariable rule that a boat's crew delivers all its fish taken during the summer to the same merchant. In a few cases this arises, as it formerly did almost universally, simply from the fact that the men are all tenants of a proprietor or middle-man, who makes it a condition of their holding their crofts that they shall fish for him. In others, it is the subject of an express or tacit arrangement with a particular fish-curer. When he delivers his fish, the fisherman does not receive payment for it, nor does he know what price it will bring. The arrangement or understanding is, that the price is to be at the current rate at the end of the season. The season ends, so far as the fishing is concerned, at or about August 12; but the sales are not made until September and October, when the process of curing is completed. The settlement of the price does not take place till November, December, or January; and in the case of one merchant, it appears to have been more than once delayed to a considerably later period. When a number of crews deliver their fish to the same merchant, especially if he has a number of stations at different parts of the islands, his settlements are considerably protracted. Each crew, as I have said, has got supplies at the fishing station; it has also got fishing materials, and it may have to pay the hire, or instalments of the price, of its boat. These are all debited to the crew in a ledger account, kept in the name of the skipper and crew, thus -'John Simpson & Co., Stenness.' The sums due for these items being deducted from the total amount of the boat's fishing, the balance is divided into shares, which are carried to the private accounts of the several fishermen; for in almost every case the fisherman and his family obtain, during the year, 'supplies' of goods from the shop of the fish-curer. In the great majority of cases there are no passbooks for such accounts. The private account is read over to the fisherman by the fishcurer, or by his shopkeeper, where he does not personally manage that department of his business; and the fisherman being satisfied as to its correctness, or, as it often happens, trusting to the honesty of the merchant, it is settled, any balance due to the fisherman being paid in cash, any balance against him being carried to his debit in a new account. [See below - SETTLEMENTS AND PASS-BOOKS] THE debit against the fisherman consists-(1.) Of any balance against him in the account of the previous year; (2.) Of goods of various kinds supplied from the store; (3.) Of cash advanced in the course of the year, either to himself personally, or for rent, taxes, or other payments made on his account. It may possibly occur in a bad season, that his share of a balance against the crew with which he has been fishing may increase his indebtedness; but no case of this kind has been brought under my notice. On the other hand, he is credited with the price of his fish at the current rate, and with the price of any cattle or ponies sold by him to the merchant. The smaller farm produce, such as butter and eggs, although very often sold to the same merchant, does not enter the account, having been paid in goods across the counter, rarely in cash, at the time of delivery. [See below, p. 24.] [Page 6 rpt.] TRUCK. It thus appears to be quite possible that fishermen should receive the whole of their earnings in shop goods, and I understand that the truth of the allegation that most of the men actually are so paid, and that they have no option but to take goods for their fish, at prices fixed by the merchant, was intended to be the main subject of this inquiry. COMPLAINTS BY FISHERMEN. Upon this subject the complaints of the men themselves were not loud or frequent. The only cases in which fishermen came forward voluntarily for the purpose of stating grievances, on hearing of the Commission, were those in which they are bound by their tenure to deliver their fish to the proprietor of the ground, or his tacksman. As in all these cases they are also supplied with goods from the landlord's or tacksman's shop, it was necessary to hear fully what the men had to say, even although their complaints appeared to involve a question as to the tenure of land, as well as the payment of wages. FISHING TENURES. Complaints on this subject were made by tenants on the estates of Sumburgh and Quendale, in the parish of Dunrossness, and on the island of Burra. It also appeared in the evidence of persons cited, that the obligation exists and is enforced on the estate of Lunna, in the parish of Nesting and Lunnasting; on that of Ollaberry, in Northmaven; on those of Mr. Henderson, Mrs. Budge, Messrs. Pole & Hoseason, in Yell; in the island of Whalsay, held by Messrs. Hay & Co. from Mr. Bruce of Simbister; on the Gossaburgh estate, in Yell and Northmaven, held by them from Mrs. Henderson Robertson; and in Skerries, of which Mr. Adie has a tack from Mr. Bruce. On other estates the tenants are nominally free, although it may sometimes be doubtful how far they are able to exercise any choice. SUMBURGH [Qu. 548 sqq.] The first witness who came forward to speak of the obligation to deliver the fish to the landlord was Laurence Mail, who was not summoned, and his evidence shows how naturally this grievance is connected with the system of Truck. He says:- '559. What is the complaint you wish to make?-There is one thing we complain of: that we are bound to deliver our fish, wet or green, to the landlord.' '560. That is, you have to deliver the fish as they are caught?- Yes; of course we have to take out the bowels and cut off the heads: it is the bodies of the fish we give. We think it would be much better if we had liberty to dry the fish ourselves, as we used to do formerly.' '561. To whom are you bound to give your fish?-To Mr. Bruce, our landlord.' '562. Is he a fish-curer or fish-merchant?-Yes.' '563. Is it Mr. Bruce or his son that you are speaking of?-It is young Mr. Bruce. He is the landlord or tack-master. His father is alive; but I think young Mr. Bruce has got power from his father to engage the tenants according to his own pleasure.' '564. Do you pay your rent to young Mr. Bruce?-Yes.' '565. And does he give you a receipt for it in his own name?-We settle once a year with him for our fishing, and for the store goods we have got, and rent and everything together.' '566. Do you get an account for the whole?-He generally gives us a copy of our account. Sometimes, perhaps, he does not do so; but he will give it if we ask for it ....' '568. Is that all you have got to say on the subject of your complaint?-No; I have something more. Of course, as we are bound to fish for Mr. Bruce, a man, unless he has money of his own, is shut up to deal at Mr. Bruce's shop. His credit is gone at every other place, and that binds us to take our goods from his store; and generally the goods there are sold at the highest value.' In the case of the Sumburgh tenants, who are above two hundred in number, there was a period of freedom, following a general increase of rent; but about 1862 the son of the landlord began business as a fish-merchant, and as a preparation for that obtained a lease of the southern portion of his father's estate. Intimation of the trick was made to the tenants; and it appears to have been intimated at the same time that the tenants must deliver their fish to young Mr. Bruce, the tacksman. Some of the tenants were required to sign an obligation so to deliver their fish. The merchants who had previously had stores on Mr, Bruce's property were removed. [L. Mail, 625; G. Williamson, 4961; H. Gilbertson, 4575; J. Harper, 4507; G. Leslie, 4612; R. Halcrow, 4646, 4656; L. Smith 4720; A. Tulloch, 468; T. Aitken, 4803-4835; L. Mail, 639] QUENDALE. On the neighbouring estate of Quendale, where about fifty fishermen are employed, a similar statement was made to the tenants when the present proprietor became a fish-merchant. A change upon the previous system is said to have been then made; but one witness, who has lived on the property for at least fifty years, says that during all that period he never had freedom. The proprietor says that his tenants have sat upon the ground subject to that condition for three generations, since it was purchased by his family in 1765. James Flawes, the first witness examined as to this place, says:- [Page 7 rpt.] '4913. Is your obligation a written one, or is it part of a verbal lease of your land?-When young Mr. Grierson got the fishing, he read out a statement to his tenantry at large, in the schoolroom at Quendale.' '4914. How long ago was that?-Twelve years ago. That statement which he read gave the tenantry to understand that he was to become their fish-merchant, or the man they were to deliver their fish to; and that they were all bound to give him every tail of their fish from end to end of the season, as long as they held their land under him. If they did not do that, they knew the consequences: they would be turned out.' '4915. Was that all stated to you in the schoolroom on that occasion?-Yes; it was all read off by Mr. Grierson himself.' '4916. Were you present?-Yes.' '4917. Did he state that you would be paid for your fish according to the current price at the time of settlement?-Yes; that was stated also at that time.' [James Flawes, 4911; G. Goudie, 5034; C. Eunson, 5056; L. Leslie, 5077; J. Burgess, 5099; H. Leslie, 5131; cf. C. Eunson, 5060, L. Leslie, 5087.] LUNNA. On Lunna estate, about the same time, Mr. Bell, then sheriff-substitute of the county, handed over the estate and fishing to Mr. John Robertson, sen., a merchant in Lerwick, as tacksman, the tenants being told, at a meeting at Lunna House, that they must in future fish for Mr. Robertson if they went to fish at Skerries, the principal fishing station in that part of the country. [James Hay, 5425, L. Simpson, 13,833; John Robertson, sen., 14,075; John Johnston, 9224; L. Robertson, 13,934; Robert Simpson, 13,983; A. Anderson; 9277; J. Henderson, 5512.] WHALSAY. The men in Whalsay are not under Messrs. Hay & Co. as tacksmen, but they are bound to deliver their fish to them. Particulars were given by Mr. Irvine,. who is a partner of Hay & Co., and factor for the proprietor. No complaints came from this island. It may be remarked that the farms in it are more productive than in some other parts of Shetland, and that it is but lately that the people were emancipated from a very primitive kind of tenure, already described. [W. Irvine, 3623, and see above, W. Stewart, 8978. See above, Page 4, rpt.] BURRA ISLANDS. As soon as I arrived at Lerwick, a complaint was laid before me in writing by the inhabitants of the Burra Islands, part of the trust-estate of the family of Scott of Scalloway. These islands are leased to Messrs. Hay & Co. for a tack duty nearly equal to the gross rental paid to them by the sub-tenants. The tack duty is paid by Messrs. Hay & Co. half-yearly, while they receive their sub-rents at the annual settlement. The chief inducement to Messrs. Hay to hold the lease of the island is that they may obtain the fish of the inhabitants, who are bold and successful fishermen, and are more favourably situated for the haaf fishing than any other people in Shetland. [W. Irvine, 3623.] The complaint made by the men of Burra was simply that they were not at liberty to cure their own fish and sell them in the highest market. Fourteen years ago the late Mr. William Hay told them that they must sell to him, and eight years ago a similar intimation was made on the part of the present firm, who wished the men to sign an obligation to deliver all their fish to them. The following is the statement of Walter Williamson, who was the chief spokesman of the Burra men who came to Lerwick:- '790. Why do you not do it ( cure and sell your own fish)?- Because we would be ejected from the place if we were not to deliver our fish to them.' '791. What is your reason for supposing that?-Because we have been told so.' '792. Was it on the occasion you have mentioned, eight years ago, that you were told so?-It was.' '793. Have you been told since that you would be ejected if you did not deliver your fish to Messrs. Hay & Co.?-I have never since asked anything about it, so that I had no reason to be told so.' '794. Has any person been ejected for selling fish to other merchants than Hay & Co., or for curing his own fish?-I think there have been such cases in Burra. I believe John Leask was ejected for not serving as a fisherman to Messrs. Hay & Co.' '795. How long ago was that?-I think it would be about thirteen years since, or close thereby.' [W. Williamson, 764, 776; P. Smith, 980; T. Christie, 1064; C. Sinclair, 1109; G. Goodlad, 1208.] Liberty money was exacted by Messrs. Hay from some of the Burra men some years ago, a payment of 20s., in respect of a tenant or his sons having failed to deliver fish to the lessee. [Peter Smith, 1012.] But in some cases, at least, it appears that this money was repaid. Messrs. Hay & Co. explain that- 'Some years ago, after a time of bad crops and bad fishings, when we had to give them large quantities of meal for their support, and many of them were unable to pay rents, the islands were indebted the best part of £1000. We made an attempt at that time to get the young men to fish to us and assist their parents, and I think in two cases we imposed fines of 20s.; but it had a contrary effect to what we intended, and, so far as I remember, the money was given back.' And Mr. Irvine says in his examination, 'The object of the fine was to compel the sons to assist the fathers.' The written obligation itself has not been recovered, and neither Mr. Irvine, of Hay & Co., nor other witnesses, have a very clear recollection of its contents. I am inclined to believe, however, although Mr. Irvine appears to have a different impression, that the obligation it sought to impose was wide enough in its terms to include the Faroe fishing, in which Messrs. Hay & Co. are engaged very extensively. There is some evidence that constraint or compulsion, or rather influence, such as a landlord can exercise over his tenants, has been used in Burra and elsewhere, in order to get [Page 8 rpt.] Faroe fishing-smacks well manned. But so far as Burra is concerned, that influence seems not to have been applied in late years, and it is not general elsewhere. [W. Irvine, 3623, 3754 sqq.; Peter Smith, 1041; C. Sinclair, 1135, 1143; W. Irvine, 3920, W. Williamson, 923; Peter Smith, 1012, 1057; C. Sinclair, 1118; J.L. Pole, 9370.] GOSSABURGH. The tenants on the estate of Gossaburgh, in South Yell and Northmaven, about 120 in number, are also bound to deliver their fish, both in summer and winter, to Messrs. Hay & Co., as tacksmen of the property, if they engage in the ling fishing. In the Northmaven portion of the estate (North Roe), thirty-three out of fifty-six tenants actually fished for the tacksmen last year; three fished by sufferance to other curers, two were at Faroe, and two or three were sailing south; others were employed by the lessees as curers and tradesmen, and probably a few were unfit for fishing. The average rent paid by the tenants on this part of the estate is £3, 3s. It seems that the profit of Messrs. Hay & Co. on their tack consists, as it does in the case of Burra, almost entirely in the power it gives them over the fishermen tenants. [J. Pottinger, 13,540; W. Robertson, 13, 628; W. Irvine, 3818; D. Greig, 7116-7131; W. Irvine, 3623, 3624, 3811; Andrew Ratter, 7404 sqq.] BURRAVOE. The tenants on the estate of Burravoe, in the south of Yell, belonging to Mr. Henderson, are bound to fish to their landlord. Both Mr. Henderson and his son were unable to attend the sitting at Mid Yell, in consequence of the state of their health; but I saw Mr. George Henderson at his place of business, examined his books, and obtained a full return from him. Mr. Henderson had thirty men fishing for him last year, but these were not all tenants of his own. On this estate, as on some others, it appears to be the rule, subject perhaps to exceptions, that a tenant who cannot or does not fish must quit his farm, or pay a higher rent. [R. Smith, 9121, 9123 sqq.; D. More, 9639.] SKERRIES The tenants on the Out Skerries, north-east of Whalsay, forming six boats' crews, are obliged to fish to Mr. Adie, who holds a tack of the islands from Mr. Bruce of Simbister. Mr. Adie says:- '5767. Is the rent which you pay for Skerries calculated so as to allow you a profit upon the rents of the sub-tenants?-No; I pay £110 of tack duty, and the gross rental from the tenants is only £68. I virtually pay the difference just for the station that is, station rent for the store and premises which are put up there.' '5768. Is it not also for the privilege of having these fishermen to fish for you?-I believe I could make more of these lands if I had them as grazing ground, without any fishermen there at all. There is only one of the Skerries I hold now; one of them has been sold to the Lighthouse Commissioners.' '5769. If you could make more of the island as grazing ground, why don't you turn it into that?-If I were to do so, what could I make of the men? There are fourteen families, and if I turned them adrift it would be a fearful thing.' '5770. Is it difficult for men to get land in Shetland?-It is very difficult now; there are so many requiring it, that almost every place is taken up. I have boats that go from the mainland to fish at the Skerries with the natives.' '5771. Then it is useful as a station for them?-Yes.' [T. Hutchison, 12,622; P. Henderson, 12,734; D. Anderson, 12,774; A. Humphray, 12,802.] YELL, ETC. The tenants on certain scattered properties in Yell. and the Mainland belonging to Mr. Pole, held in tack by him, or for which he is factor, are bound, if he requires them, to fish to the firm of Pole, Hoseason, & Co.; and this obligation extends to the Faroe fishing also. [W. Pole, 5936; J.L. Pole, 9369.] OLLABERRY. The tenants on the Ollaberry property in Northmaven parish are obliged to fish to a firm, of which the principal member is Mr. John Anderson, Hillswick, brother of the proprietor and tacksman of the estate. There are fifty or sixty tenants on this estate. There is some evidence that in this place the bound men or tenants get a lower price for their fish than those who are 'free.' [John Anderson, 6592; W. Blance, 6014, 6026, 6048; A. Johnson, 14,890, 14,908, 14,947.] CASE OF SEAFIELD TENANTS. I have still to mention the latest case of this exercise of the patrimonial right of disposing of a tenant's fish, which is an instructive instance of the submissive way in which the right is accepted are Shetland. The tenants on the small property of Seafield, on Reafirth or Mid Yell Voe, twenty-one or twenty-two in number, had been in use to sell their fish in summer to Laurence Williamson, a fish-curer and merchant on the opposite side of the voe. There was, however, a shop at Seafield, the tenant of which had been carrying on business not very successfully. He had resolved to leave the place, and the business premises were likely to be shut up. In this state of matters, the law-agent for the proprietor wrote the following letter to a leading man among the tenants, William Stewart:- ', 22 Nov. 1870. 'WILLIAM,-I now write, as I promised, to explain what I expect the Seafield tenants to do in regard to fishing, that you may communicate the same to them. The business premises at Seafield cannot be allowed to remain vacant, and consequently unprofitable, while it is clear they must do so unless the tenants fish to the tenant of these premises. The Seafield tenants, therefore, must fish to Mr. Thomas Williamson upon fair and reasonable terms, and I understand he is quite prepared to meet them on such terms. I believe he will, in every respect, do you justice; and so long as [Page 9 rpt.] he does so, you have no reason to complain. But should it happen that he fails to treat you fairly and honourably (of which I have no fear), you can let me know, and matters will soon be put right. You and the tenants, however, must not act towards Mr. Williamson in a selfish or hard way either, for it is quite as possible for you to do so to him as it is for him to do so to you. Both he and you all must work together heartily and agreeably; and if you do so, I have no fear, humanly speaking, that the result will be success to both.- I am, yours faithfully, W. SIEVWRIGHT 'William Stewart, Kirkabister, Seafield, Mid Yell.' [W. Stewart, 8917] Mr. Sievwright made a statement with regard to this letter, which adds nothing to what appears in it, except the fact that most of the tenants were in arrear for rent. It is stated also by Thomas Williamson (who was put into business apparently by Mr. Leask, a very extensive merchant in Lerwick), that he did not 'want any of the men to fish for him;' that 'scarcely any man could keep the premises there and carry on business in them without the privilege of having the men to fish for him.' Twelve men of the Seafield tenants, forming two boats' crews, had entered into a written agreement to fish to Laurence Williamson in 1871; but they were obliged to leave him and he says 'I slightly objected to it but of course I could not help it .... Of they had to leave me because they knew, or at least they believed, they would be differently dealt with if they did not leave.' [W. Sievwright, 15,118; T. Williamson, 9493; W. Robertson, 13,660; L. Williamson, 9003, 9005.] In short, it has been so much a habit of the Shetlander's life to fish for his landlord, that he is only now discovering that there is anything strange or anomalous in it. This man, William Stewart, to whom Mr. Sievwright wrote, had lived in Whalsay, as I have already shown, under what appears to have been a still more disadvantageous and servile tenure. He is a fair specimen of the average peasant of such a district as Yell. It is evident that men who have been brought up in such habits, and with the tradition among them of a still more subservient time in the past, are prepared not only to submit to extreme oppression on the part of their proprietors, or those to whom their proprietors hand them over, but also to become easily subjected to the influence of merchants who possess no avowed control over them. CASE OF ROBERT MOUAT AT MOUL An instance of the abuse to which the system is liable in the hands of an unscrupulous tacksman, is afforded by the case of Robert Mouat, who held, until two years ago, a tack of the estate of Mr. Bruce of Simbister, in Sandwick parish. A number of witnesses came forward to testify to the thraldom of the tenantry, and the injustice which they had suffered under his rule. The evidence against Mouat was certainly given with such freedom, I might say with such an earnestness of hatred, as was not displayed towards any merchant or tacksman who is still in the country. After making allowance for exaggeration, it is certain that the state of Coningsburgh during the seventeen years of his rule must have been very distressing. Every tenant on the ground was bound to sell to him not only his fish, but all the saleable produce of his farm. Money could not be got from him, according to one witness, either at settlement or during the season. The witness John Halcrow, who is much less vehement in his language than some others, says: '13,089. Were they bound to deal with him for shop goods?-The fishermen were. They were required to go to him with all their produce, meal, ponies, and eggs, as well as with their fish.' '13,090. But they were not bound to buy their goods from him?- No; but they had to do so, because he received all their produce, and they could not go anywhere else. They had no money.' '13,091. Would he not give them money for their produce?-Yes, for such as cattle he would. But it was very few of them who had any money to get from him.' '13,092. Why?-Because they were bound to fish for him, and he received all their fish.' '13,093. But if he received all their fish he would have to pay them money for them?-It was very hard to get it from him.' '13,094. Did he prefer to give them the price in goods?-Yes, if they would take it.' '13,095. And did they take it in goods?-Not very much.' '13,096. Why?-Because they were not very good.' '13,097. Then they would have money to get at the end of the year if they did not take very much in goods?-Yes.' '13,098. Did they get the money at the end of the year?-No. He said he did not have it to give them.' '13,099. Then they did not get their money at all?-In some cases they got it.' '13,100. But some of them did not get it?-Yes.' '13,101. And some of them did not get goods either?-Yes; they would not take his goods.' '13,102· Then did they go without either money or goods?-Yes.' '13,103. Was that often?-I have had to do it myself.' '13,104. When was that?-In 1870. He said he had no money to give me.' '13,105. Was that at settlement?-Yes. He had the tack for two years more at that time, and he gave me a receipt for the rent of 1871. Then he failed; and I had to pay my rent for 1871 over again to Mr. William Irvine.' And the witness produced documents to show that he had actually paid rent in advance to Mouat in June 1871, which, according to the law of Scotland, does not discharge the tenant; and that he had afterwards paid it to Mr. Irvine, as factor for Mr. Bruce. While it may be taken for granted that the condition of tenants under Mr. Mouat was at no time enviable, some of the statements about his conduct ought probably to be accepted as literally true only with regard to the period of struggling circumstances immediately preceding his bankruptcy. [John Leask, 1284; Gavin Colvin, 1382; M. Malcolmson, 2978; W. Manson, 3018; H. Sinclair, 5312; W. Irvine, 3948.] [Page 10 rpt.] EVICTION AND LIBERTY MONEY. In all the cases where tenants are bound to fish for the landlord, there is a firm conviction that the penalty of disobedience is eviction, or payment of 'liberty money.' 'We knew quite well,' said James Flawes (4964), a tenant on Quendale, 'from the statement which was made to us before, that, if any one transgressed the rule, the penalty would just be our forty days' warning.' And cases of threatened removal for this cause, and payment of liberty money or fines, though not common, have yet been sufficiently numerous to keep alive a wholesome apprehension, and prevent widespread disobedience. Eviction to a Shetlander is a serious matter, especially when it is for such a cause as this. A new farm is always difficult to get. 'In the south,' says one witness, 'a man can shift from town to town and get employment; but here, if he leaves his house and farm, he has no place to go to except Lerwick, and there is no room to be got there, either for love or money.' [W. Irvine, 3625, 3755; L. Smith, 4486; J. Flawes, 4956; C. Eunson, 5069; J. Johnston, 9238; J. Hutchison, 12,693; Peter Smith, 1012; M. Malcolmson, 2994; W. Manson, 3025; W. Goudie, 4274, 4385, etc.; H. Sinclair, 5320; John Johnston, 9423; T.M. Adie, 5770.] There is an impression, not perhaps always correct in a region where the excessive subdivision of land is ascribed to the desire of landlords to increase the number of their fishing tenants, that a man who is independent enough to differ from his landlord with regard to the terms of his lease is not likely to find favour in the eyes of other proprietors. A witness, speaking of another condition of his holding, says:- '801. Are you not at liberty to make your own bargain about the land, the same as any other tenant in Scotland is?-I am not aware of that.' '802. Suppose you were to object to make such a bargain, could you not leave the land and get a holding elsewhere?-It is not likely we would get a holding elsewhere.' '803. Why?-We would very likely be deprecated as not being legal subjects, and the heritors would all know that we were not convenient parties to give land to. That is one reason; and another reason is, that places are sometimes not very easily got.' '804. Do the same conditions exist on other properties in Shetland?-So far as I know, they prevail all over the country, or nearly so.' 805. You think that, if you were trying to move, you would not get free of a condition of that sort?-We might get free of it for a time, but by next year the parties to whose ground we had removed might bind us down to the same thing.' 806. But supposing all the men were united in refusing to agree to such conditions, there could be no compulsion upon them?-They have not the courage, I expect, to make such an agreement among themselves.' [Walter Williamson, 801.] THE FORTY DAYS' WARNING TOO SHORT It is proper to call attention here to the fact that in agricultural subjects held from Martinmas to Martinmas on a yearly tack, the forty days' warning to remove, which is held sufficient by the law of Scotland, is objected to, with some reason, as too short. A crofter witness makes the following statement:- '4688. Is there anything else you wish to say?-There is only forty days' warning given before Martinmas. No doubt that may be well enough for tenants town like Lerwick, who hold nothing except a room to live in, but it is very disagreeable for a tenant holding a small piece of land as we do. As soon as our crop is taken in, we must start work immediately, and prepare the land for next season. We have to make provision for manure, and collect our peats, and prepare stuff for thatching our houses, and perhaps by Martinmas we have expended from £6 worth of labour and expense on our little farms. In that case, it is a very hard thing for us to be turned out of our holdings after receiving only forty days' notice, and perhaps only getting £1 or £2 for all that labour. Now what I would suggest is, that instead of that short notice we should be entitled to receive a longer notice, perhaps six or nine months before the term, that we are to be turned out.' '4689. Do you think you would be more at liberty to dispose of your fish, and to deal at any shop you pleased, if you were entitled to that longer warning?-I don't think the warning would alter anything with regard to that; but if I knew that I was to be turned out at Martinmas, I would probably start fishing earlier, and I might have a larger price to get for them, instead of working upon my land.' '4690. But you can be punished more easily by your landlord for selling your fish to another man, when he can turn you out on forty days' warning, than if he could only do it on six or eight months' warning?-I think it would be much the same with regard to that.' '4691. You don't think that would make any difference as to the fishing?-It might make a little difference, because if I received my warning in March, and knew that I was to leave at Martinmas, if I saw that I was to have a better price for my fish from another, I would not fish to my landlord at all; but I would go to any man I would get the best price from.' [R. Halcrow, 4688.] The same view is taken by the Rev. James Fraser, who gave very valuable information, both at the sitting held at Brae, and in a subsequent letter, printed in the evidence. [R. Fraser, 8054 sqq.] STATEMENTS BY LANDHOLDERS AND TACKSMEN It is unnecessary to refer in detail to mere admissions on the part of landlords and tacksmen, that such obligations exist on the estates under their control. Such admissions were made in all the cases already referred to, as will be seen from the references on the margin. In some cases, however, arguments were stated in justification of the practice. Mr. Irvine perhaps put the case lower than any of this class of witnesses for he simply said in regard to Burra, that the tack had been held for a very long time by his firm, and that when it expired many of the people owed debts, some of which would [Page 11 rpt.] not have been recovered if the island had passed to another fish-merchant as tacksman. He assumed that here, as in other cases, the landlord in Shetland must depend on the fishing for payment of his rents. Mr. Bruce, younger, of Sumburgh thus states his views:- 'The tenants on the property in this parish managed by me are at liberty to go to sea to the Greenland or Faroe fishing, or to pursue any land occupation as they please; but if they remain at home and go to the home fishing, they are expected to deliver their fish to me, and receive for it the full market value. This is one of the conditions on which they hold their farms, and is, I consider, a beneficial rule for the fishermen. They must fish to some merchant, and as I give them as high a price as they could get from another, they are no losers, while I provide suitable curing and fishing stations, and these stations of mine are the most convenient places for them to deliver their fish .... This, I will endeavour to show, is no grievance at all, but an advantage to the fishermen.' 'In looking over the whole of Shetland, it will be found that the most prosperous districts are those under the direct management of the landlords.' 'Many of the fishermen in this country (as, indeed, many of the poorer classes everywhere) are unable, from want of thrift and care, to manage their own matters in a satisfactory manner, and require to be thought for and acted for, and generally treated like children, and are much better off under the management of a landlord who has an interest in their welfare, than they would be if in the hands of a merchant whose only object was to make a profit out of them.' 'A merchant who has no control over the fishermen, may, in some cases, wish to get them and keep them in his debt, in order to secure their custom; but the case of a landlord also a merchant is quite different. It is his interest to have a prosperous, thrifty, and independent tenantry; and he will use his utmost endeavour to keep them out of debt, and to encourage saving habits.' 'I can see no reason why the fact of a man being a landlord should prevent him from being also a merchant and fish-curer; and if so, why he should not secure a lot of good fishermen by making it one of the conditions of occupancy by his tenants, that if fishermen they shall fish to him.' 'The very fact of a landlord being a fish-curer would lead up to this, for tenants would naturally wish to stand well with their landlord, and, other conditions being equal, would prefer to give him their fish ....' 'There are, no doubt, many things in the Shetland system of trade which might be improved; but the system has been of long growth, and is so engrained in the minds of the people, that any change must be very gradual: a sudden and sweeping change to complete free-trade principles and ready-money payments would not suit the people, but would produce endless confusion, hardship, and increased pauperism.' 'Under the present system, with our small rentals and large population, our poor-rates are very high. But the landlords support a great many families which would otherwise be thrown on the rates.' 'It is no uncommon thing, where a family is deprived of its breadwinner, for the landlord to support the family till the younger members grow up, and are abler to provide for themselves, and repay the landlord's advances.' 'Abolish the present system suddenly, and I am afraid our poor-rates would become unbearable, and nothing would save the country but depopulation.' [W. Irvine, 3623, 3625, 3920, 3974, etc.; P.M. Sandison, 5211; W. Pole, 5936; J. Anderson, 6573, 6592; D. Greig, 7111, 7215; J.L. Pole, 9370; T. Williamson, 9466, 9493, 9520; W. Robertson, 10,858, 13,667; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,299; G. Irvine, 13,130; John Bruce, jun., p. 330a; A.J. Grierson, 15,061; John Robertson, sen., 14,075; W. Rivine, 3916, 3920 sqq.] And Mr. A.J. Grierson of Quendale speaks still more forcibly to the same effect. [A.J. Grierson, 15,062, 15,078.] In almost every case, however, except those of Mr. Bruce and Mr. Grierson, the condition as to fishing is spoken of by those in whose favour it is imposed, in apologetic terms. It is plain that the right to have men bound to give fish is regarded as a valuable one, since tacksmen so shrewd as Messrs. Hay & Co. are willing to pay for it a rent equal to the full amount of the sub-rents, and to manage and uphold the property besides. [D. Greig, 7110; W. Irvine, 3816, 3929.] PAYMENT OF RENTS THROUGH MERCHANTS. Although the custom of delivering fish to the landlord or his lessee, as merchant and curer, has become less common, that custom has left its traces in the arrangement by which it has been superseded. [W. Irvine, 3962.] The merchants who receive fish from the tenants have still no small concern with their rent; and it may be said that even now the final cause of the existing system of settlements and agreements with fishermen is to give security to the landlord for his rent. Mr. Gifford, factor on the largest estate in Shetland (Busta), says that there is now no understanding with the merchants who have establishments on that property that they shall be responsible for the rents of the men. 'There is not a single tenant on the Busta estate, out of the whole 480 on it, or out of the 530 with whom I have to do, that any of the merchants is liable for, even as a cautioner. That used to be the case some time before, but it has not been so for a long time.' It does not follow, however, that the merchant has nothing to do with the payment of the rent. Everywhere, without any exception, rents are paid only once a year, at on about Martinmas. It was a frequent practice, when the rent day arrived before the tenants had received their money for fish, that they should get 'lines' from the curer, the stated sums in which were placed to their credit by the landlord. The sum-total of these lines was sent with a list to the curer, who returned a cheque for the amount. A witness, [J.S. Houston, 9657.] who speaks of the practice as it existed when he collected Major Cameron's rents in Yell, says that there was an understanding between Major Cameron and Sandison Brothers, then the chief curers there, that - 'Any of Major Cameron's tenants who were what might be called reckless or careless, should not be allowed to overdraw their earnings, but that something should be left for their rent.' [Page 12 rpt.] '9661. Was Mr. Sandison a tenant of Major Cameron's in his fish-curing premises?-Yes.' '9662. Were these lines always in the same form?-Generally they were the same. I have plenty of them at home.' '9663. Are you aware of a similar practice having existed on any other estate?-I believe it has existed; but I cannot speak so positively about it on other estates. I may say that similar lines have also been given to Major Cameron and myself from another curer in North Yell, Mr. William Pole, jun., before he became a partner of the Mossbank firm.' '9664. Had he premises from Major Cameron also?-No; he had his father's premises. With regard to these lines, I may state that, although there was no understanding on the subject, Major Cameron made it a practice not to come to his tenants asking for their rents until he was pretty sure that everything was nearly cut-and-dry for him.' '9665. Do you think it is a general practice in Shetland for the landlord to fix his rent day so as to be convenient for the fishermen?-I think it is. They fix it after settlement. Mr. Walker, the first year he was factor for Major Cameron, came nearly close to his time, 11th November, but since then he has not done so.' '9666. You are not aware whether that practice of giving lines exists in Yell now?-It does exist. I myself have paid rents by orders for cattle bought from Major Cameron's tenants.' In these and similar cases the curers are not formally tacksmen, nor indeed do they formally guarantee to the proprietors the rents of the tenants who deliver their fish to them; but it may be said that there is a custom having almost the force of a legal obligation, which makes it unusual for a merchant to refuse an advance for payment of rent even to a man who is indebted to him. An extreme example of this custom as it prevailed in Unst is thus described by a very intelligent merchant, Mr. Sandison:- 'I have here a letter which I wrote in 1860, and which represents my views on that subject, and I may as well read an extract from it:-"If we don't give unlimited advances, we are told the fishermen will be taken from us. I have now been nearly twelve months in this place (that was after I came first to Uyea), and have closely watched the system pursued by proprietors and others, and certainly agree with you that it is a bad one; but I know I have no right to make any remarks or trouble you with my views on that subject, further than to state that I cannot see any good that will result from burdening the tenants with debt to the fish-curers. It has been my desire, ever since I knew anything about Shetland tenantry, to see them raised in the social scale, and made thoroughly independent both of proprietors, fish-curers, and others, and I have felt deeply interested in the -- properties, no doubt from being more in contact with them; but when the poor among them are in terror of the proprietors alike, and bound by forced advances to different fish-curers, alas for liberty! and more offered to any fish-curer who will advance more on them. This is not calculated to raise any tenant in self-respect." '10,025. You speak in that letter of "forced advances:" what were these?-What I meant by that was this: the proprietor's ground officer or agent in the island, for the time being, told the tenant that he might fish for me this year. I found that he had only £2 or £3 to get; and the ground officer told that tenant that if he did not go to me and get an advance for his rent, he would take him from me and give him to any other man who would advance the rent. That looked very like forced advances.' '10,026. That, however, was in 1860?-Yes.' '10,027. Was that a common practice in those times?-I believe that thirteen years ago truck existed ten times as much as it does now.' '10,028. But in 1860 was it a common thing for a proprietor's ground officer to threaten to remove a tenant unless he could get his rent from the fish-curer?-Yes; to threaten to remove him from the ground unless he could pay his rent, or to move him from a fish-curer who would not give him an advance for that purpose, to some other fish-curer who would do so.' '10,029. Have you known instances of fishermen who were treated in that way?-Yes. I was referring to cases of that kind when I was writing that letter. It was my own experience at the time when I was at Uyeasound as a fish-curer, trying to engage any men who came to me. Many came to me and fell into debt, because I found that many of them required more from the shop than their fishing amounted to; and then I advanced rent after rent, until I saw that I was advancing to my own ruin.' '10,030. After advancing rent in that way, have you been informed that they were to be transferred to another fish-curer unless their rent was still advanced by you?-Yes; in more cases than one.' '10,031. Were you so informed by the landlord or by his factor?- It was generally by the tenant himself, when he came seeking the money.' '10,032. Were you ever informed of it by the landlord, or any one representing him?-No.' '10,033. Had you any reason to believe the story which the fishermen told you?-Yes. I believed them, because I knew of the men being taken away sometimes.' '10,034. Was that after they had made such statements to you, and although they were in your debt?-Yes.' '10,035. Were you able in these cases to make any arrangement with the new employer to pay up their debt?-In some cases we did that, but in other cases we did not; oftener we made no arrangement ....' '10,039. Have you, within the last twelve years, met with cases of that sort, in which the proprietor endeavoured to coerce you to pay his rent?-Yes. I have had cases where the tenants came asking me for money, and I told them I could not advance them any further. They would then go away, and come back and tell me that the proprietor's agent or ground-officer had informed them that they must get their rent, and that I must pay it; and that if I did not do that, they would not be allowed to fish for me.' '10,040. Did that system continue until 1868?-No; it prevailed principally under the ground-officership of Mr. Sinclair, who acted for Mrs. Mouat, in Unst.' [C. Nicholson, 11,912-11,933; T. Tulloch, 13,008; J. Smith, 13,047-13,055; W. Robertson, 13,689; John Laurenson, 9849; M. Henderson, 9925; J. Walker, 15,984; Andrew Tulloch, 488; L. Williamson, 9065; A. Sandison, 10,024.] Mr. David Edmonstone, once a fish-merchant and tacksman, now a farmer and factor on the Buness estate in Unst, states that the want of cash payments is the reason why this arrangement with the curer is desired by the proprietor. '10,640. Is it usual for the proprietor to enter into any arrangement with the fish-curer for the payment of his rents?-We do that on the Buness estate, and I should like to explain the reason of it. The tenants have all been told that they are at perfect liberty to fish to whom they like; but after they have engaged to fish to a certain curer, we wish them to bring a guarantee from their curer or curers for the rent of the year on which they have entered, and during which they are to fish. Our reason for that-in fact the only reason-is, that the men do not get money payments, and therefore a great number of them will be [Page 13 rpt.] induced to run a heavy account at the shop, and when we collect the rents at Martinmas we would have nothing to get. If the men were paid in money, daily or weekly or fortnightly, then we would make no such arrangement, but would collect the rents directly from the men.' '10,641. Then, in fact, that arrangement is made in order to limit the credit which the fish-merchant gives to his men?-Yes; and to secure that we are to get part of that money.' '10,642. But it has the effect of limiting their credit?-Yes.' SPENCE & CO.'S LEASE Since November 1868 Mr. Sandison's present firm of Spence & Co. have been responsible as tacksmen for the rents of the fishermen tenants of Major Cameron's estate in Unst. At that time they obtained a tack of the estate for twelve years, which was formerly described by Mr. Walker*, and is in some respects peculiar. Spence & Co., as lessees of the greater part of the estate, which includes nearly half of the island, pay a fixed sum of rent (£1100), and are bound to expend, or to get the sub-tenants to expend, a certain annual sum on improvements at the sight of the proprietor. Regulations for the cultivation of the small farms are annexed to the lease, and are to form conditions of the sub-leases to be granted by Spence & Co. The effect of these regulations and of the lease is thus explained by Mr. Sandison: [Comp. J. Walker, 15,977.] * Truck Commission Evidence, qu. 44,450 sq. Appx. '10,159. Any tenants not complying with these regulations may be removed by you?-Yes; they will get their leases unless they comply with them, and we can remove them at any time ....' '10,161. How many of the tenants have adopted these regulations?-I should say that, to a greater or less extent, they have all made a fair commencement in the improvements and rotation of cropping.' '10,162. But you have absolute power to remove them if they do not comply with that?-We have. The property is absolutely let to us, and we can absolutely turn them out if they do not comply with the regulations. The lease is clear enough upon that point.' '10,163. Have you had occasion to exercise that power?-Not in any case.' '10,164. Have you threatened to do so?-Not so far as is known to me.' '10,165. There is no obligation on the tenants, under this lease, either to fish for you or to sell the produce of their farms to your firm?-No; it is long since I read the lease, but I don't think there is anything of that sort in it.' '10,166. In point of fact, is there any understanding on the part of the tenants that they are bound to do so?- No.' '10,167. You have told them that they are under no such obligation?-Yes.' '10,168. But, in point of fact, most of them do sell their fish to you?-They do.' '10,169. And, in point of fact, most of them do sell their eggs and butter to you?-I think the great bulk of them do, but I cannot tell so well about the butter and eggs. We buy fully as much now at Uyea Sound we did in any season before the company commenced.' '10,170. And a number of the tenants also run accounts for shop goods with your shops?-Yes; I think most of them do so ....' '10,174. But although this lease does not contain an express condition that the tenants are to fish for you, it gives you a power of ejecting them?-Of course it does.' '10,175. And the tenants are aware of that?-Yes.' '10,176. And of course they may feel a little more unwilling to deal with another party or to fish for him in consequence? -That may be. I don't know what their private feelings may be, but the lease gives us a stronger power than that: it reserves the peats, and what could they do without peats? We have absolute power in that respect, if we choose to put it in force, but I hope never to see that done. We can refuse them peats altogether and scattald altogether, and we can shut them up altogether, but I hope I will never live to see that day.' '10,177. In short, you can do anything you please with the tenants, except deprive any one of his holding who complies with these rules and regulations?-Yes.' '10,178. The only security he has is to comply with them?-Yes.' '10,179. As to the peats and scattalds, he has no security at all?- None.' The rental annexed to the leases contains a list of 170 tenants, paying £834, 19s. 4d., exclusive of certain farms which do not fall under the lease until the expiry of current tacks. The surplus rent paid by Spence & Co. is understood to be for the scattalds. Mr. Spence, the senior partner of the firm of Spence & Co., speaks of this liability of the curer for rent as a serious obstacle to the introduction of a system of cash payments, which he and his partners desire; but it is obvious that if payments were made in cash, no such guarantees could reasonably be asked from the curers. [J. Spence, 10,580 f.n.] The evidence of Mr. Sandison above quoted, the belief which the men themselves entertain, and the statements of Mr. Walker, the factor on the estate, show that the tenants on this property can hardly decline to fish for Spence & Co., even if there were other large merchants in Unst who could furnish them with materials and supplies, and purchase their fish. If they are not bound to sell their fish to Spence & Co., they have no opportunity and no liberty to sell them to any one else. [J. Harper, 10,404; J. Walker, 15,999.] RESTRICTION OF FISHERMEN BY LETTING OF BEACHES A limitation of the freedom of the fishermen arises in some districts where they are nominally free, from the beaches and fishing stations being let to particular curers, so that other merchants are excluded from the market; and even it would seem the fishermen are disabled, by the want of a suitable beach for drying their fish, from curing for themselves. There is not much evidence on this matter, which was brought under my notice at a late period of the inquiry by a statement made with regard to the fishermen at Spiggie and Ireland, in Dunrossness. The Act 29 Geo. II. c. 23 gives fishermen ample [Page 14 rpt.] powers to erect all apparatus and booths necessary for curing their fish on waste land within a hundred yards of high-water mark; but perhaps it could not be held as Mr. J. Harrison seems to think, to prevent a proprietor from enclosing and letting any part of his land adjacent to the sea for the purposes of a curing establishment. [R. Henderson, 12,841; A. Irvine, 13,501; R. Mullay, 15,144; John Robertson, jun., 15,159; John Harrison, 16,470; T.M. Adie, 5762; Jas. Robertson, 8466; G. Gaunson, 8863; A. Sandison, ; J. Spence, ; John Harrison, 16,470.] ____________________________________ TRUCK SYSTEM-ADVANCES AND SETTLEMENTS. The existing Truck Act (as well as the Bill now before Parliament) prohibits the payment of wages in goods in the various trades to which it applies. Even, therefore, if fishermen formed one of the classes of workmen falling under the Act, they would not be protected by it, because they do not receive wages, but are paid a price for their fish. One result of this is, that Truck, as it exists in Shetland, is without disguise or concealment. No machinery has been contrived for evading the law; and almost all the masters, and even some of the fishermen, regard the system which prevails, as wholesome, natural, and indeed inevitable. I have already explained that the price of the fish is ascertained and settled only for once in the year. But fishermen, as Adam Smith remarks, have been poor since the days of Theocritus; and in Shetland the Truck system begins when, his farm produce failing to support the family, the fisherman farmer finds it necessary to obtain from the 'merchant' supplies or advances before the time of settlement, and, it may be, a boat, fishing materials, and provisions, to enable him to prosecute his calling. In Shetland the merchant needs to use no influence or compulsion to bring the fisherman to his shop. He has no black-list, and has to enforce no penalties for 'sloping.' As the laws against Truck do not apply to him, even remotely, he scarcely ever seeks to conceal the fact that the earnings of those whom he employs are paid to a large extent, in goods, and he is even prepared with arguments in vindication of the practice. The man whose farm cannot keep his family until settlement, comes, as a matter of course, to the fish-curer's store; and even the thriving and prosperous man, who has money in the bank, 'almost invariably' has an account at the shop. In the great majority cases there is a mutual understanding, that when a merchant buys your fish, you ought in fairness to get at least a part of your goods at his shop. [Andrew Tulloch, 509; L. Mail, 568; W. Williamson, 855; P.M. Sandison, 5146; Rev. D. Miller, 5998; J. Brown, 7986, 7997; T.M. Adie, 5633; 5735; A. Tulloch, 5472, 5501; John Anderson, 6546; G. Robertson, 9311; G. Gilbertson, 9557; J. Laurenson, 9837; M. Henderson, 9830-1; J. Harper, 10,387; C. Nicolson, 11,939; A. Abernethy, 12,268; L. Garriock, p. 303a etc., 12,347, 12,356, 12,360, 12,388 sq.; T. Hutchison, 12,686; L. Henderson, 12,744; J. Halcrow, 13,090; R. Simpson, 13,980; John Robertson, jun., 15169.] 'There is a tacit understanding' says the Rev D. Miller, 'at least that they must do that; but I believe that is induced by the circumstance, that for a large portion of the year their money is in the merchants' hands, and that again affords the kind of facility for running into debt which I have spoken of.' '5999. Do you think that makes them incur larger debts than they otherwise would do?-I think so.' '6000. Can you suggest any remedy for this state of things?-The remedy I would suggest is this: that the payments be as prompt as possible and that they be cash payments. I am quite ready to state how I think the cash payments would operate. At present the fisherman's money is all in the merchant's hands; but he is requiring goods in the meantime and he has money to procure them with, and therefore he goes to the merchant and procures his goods. The merchant is under no constraint,-he can put his own price on the articles which he sells; and of course, where there is a credit system like the present, there are a large number of defaulters. These defaulters do not pay their own debts; but the merchant must live notwithstanding, and therefore the honest men have to pay for the defaulters. The merchant could not carry on his business unless that were done. He must have his losses covered; and a system of that sort tells very heavily upon the public, because the merchant must charge a large margin of profit.' The existence of such an understanding is sometimes denied, as by Mr. Pole, a merchant; but he evidently means only that there is no expressed bargain or arrangement. He adds, at the same time (speaking of the women employed at so much per ton in collecting kelp, who, like every other class of people in Shetland, have similar accounts), that they take a considerable part of their wages in goods: '5925. Is there any expectation or understanding, when these women are engaged, that they shall open an account and take their wages, or the greater part of them, in goods at your shop?-No, there is no understanding; but we have every reason to believe that they will come to us, because they cannot manage otherwise.' '5926. Are the goods which they take generally provisions or soft goods?-Chiefly provisions, but some soft goods too.' '5927. In engaging these women, do you give any preference to those who deal at your shop?-No; but they mostly all deal there.' '5928. Has each of them a ledger account in her own name with you?-Yes.' A very observant and shrewd witness, speaking of the lobster and oyster trade, in which he is engaged, says: [Page 15 rpt.] '11,817. I understood you to say that when the men come with oysters and lobsters to the shop, and were paid, they generally took away some supplies from the shop?-They generally do, but they are not asked to do it.' '11,818. Do they appear to think it a fair and proper thing that they should do so?-I think they do.' '11,819. Is that a common sort of feeling, among the men?-Yes, it is it common feeling in the country.' '11,820. In short, they apologize if they don't spend the money in the shop where they get it?-Something like that. I should not say that they apologize, but sometimes they tell me what they want the money for, and they say they have to take it away. Of course they are not asked to leave it.' '11,821. But there seems to be it kind of understanding that they are to spend part of their earnings in the shop?-The people seem to have the opinion that they ought to do that.' '11,822. And I suppose the merchant has some feeling of the same kind also?-I never ask them to spend the money in the shop; but of course we are glad to get what money we can.' '11,823. I suppose they don't require to be asked to spend some of it?-No.' [W. Harcus, 11,817.] CASH ADVANCES There is a reluctance on the part of the men to ask for an advance of cash, arising partly from the feeling I have mentioned, and partly from the habitual and natural reluctance of the merchant to give it. When cash is given, it is for a special purpose, such as the payment of rent or taxes, or the purchase of some article which the merchant himself cannot supply. [P. Peterson, 6845; J. Laurenson, 9872; W.G. Mouat, 10,249; C. Nicholson, 11,977; l. Garriock, 12,589; J. Robertson, 8484; T. Robertson, 8597, J. Harrison, 16,509.] '4973. Does Mr. Grierson advance you money in the course of the year before settlement when you ask for it?-He does.' '4974. Can you not take that money and deal with it at any other store that suits you better than Mr. Grierson's?-We do that very often.' '4975. Then how is it that you say that you have not the means of dealing where you choose?-What I mean by that is, that we don't have the chance to do it so often as we would like to do it; and we don't like to be always running to him for money for the small things we require. It is only in particular cases, when we require it pound or so to help us, that we ask it from him.' [James Flawes, 4973-5.] '8522. You say you were not bound to do it: is it common for men to feel that they are bound to do that?-Of course. If I was employed by a curer or a merchant, and had been in the habit of dealing with another before I was employed by him, I would consider it something like a duty, in a moral point of view, to put my money into his shop; and I have done so, although I have never been obligated to do it.' [P. Blanch, 8522.] In some cases the evidence shows that cash advances during the season have been absolutely refused, or that at least it is thought useless to ask for them. Thus, says Malcolm Malcolmson: '3004. Did you consider yourselves bound to take goods from Mouat's store?-We could not do anything else.' '3005. Why?-Because we had no money to purchase them with from other stores. We received no money during the fishing season.' '3006. Did you ever ask for advances of money during the fishing season?-Yes; but they were refused.' '3007. Why?-Because he just would not give it. He gave no reason, except that he could not give it.' [M. Malcolmson.] [W. Manson, 3040; J. Nicholson, 8747.] The merchant, both in Faroe fishing and ling fishing, naturally prefers to make any necessary advances in goods rather than money: .. 'They make advances, perhaps before, but as soon the men engage to go to the fishing. It may be about this time, or it may be a month previous to this, when they make the engagement to go.' '8526. And they make an advance then either in cash or in out-takes?-I don't think they will likely give much cash. They may give 8s. or 10s. in cash; but unless they know the man is to be depended upon, I don't think they will give much more. They may give £1 to a man until he has made some earning by his fishing; but unless it is a case where they know it can be paid back again by the man otherwise, they will not give it. He may pay it out of his stock, for instance, or he may have some other means.' [Peter Blanch.] It was common in the past-though now cash is given more readily, at least in Lerwick and by the leading merchants-to refuse money before settlement, while the merchant was quite willing to advance to any reasonable amount in goods. This preference is sometimes shown very unmistakeably even in settling for the winter fish. This applies to Faroe still more than to ling fishing. [W. Williamson, 821, 833; C. Sinclair, 1177; A. Tulloch, 5495; J. Anderson, 6550; J. Goodlad, 1188; J, Manson, 2962.] The truth as to cash advances is very succinctly stated by a large employer, Mr. John Anderson of Hillswick, who says: 'I think they would not get cash (before settlement) unless they were clear, or unless we had good cause to know that they were really in necessity for something.' [J. Anderson, 6546; A. Sandison, 7076; J. Robertson, 8484; T. Hutchison, 12,637.] But although witnesses do not speak of many cases of actual refusal to advance money before settlement, it is well understood that the merchant, to whom the men look for more or less liberal support in bad seasons, prefers to make advances in goods. The Shetland peasant is quick to comprehend and act upon such a feeling; and hence the understanding is almost universal that cash is asked for only within [Page 16 rpt.] very moderate limits, even by unindebted men, and the particular purpose for which it is wanted is generally specified. There are, of course, differences in the readiness with which cash is advanced by the various merchants, as the returns made to me show. Thus there is unanimous testimony to the fact, that Mr. John Bruce, jun., whose 'bondage' and prices were most loudly complained of, never refuses money advances before settlement, when asked, to the full amount of the fish at a man's credit, and, in the case of a good man, to any reasonable amount he may ask for. In some places, advances are mostly made at the settlement of the previous year, to men who have got as much money as they require. [L. Smith, 4457, 4486; H. Gilbertson, 4533; G. Leslie, 4629; R. Halcrow, 4676; A. Leslie, 4885; G. Williamson, 4905; J. Bruce, Jun., 13,322; G. Irvine, 13, 162; J.L. Pole, 9391.] The effect of the long settlements in compelling men to deal at the merchant's shop is very clear to the men themselves, although they do not appear to regard it as a great hardship, except where the goods at a particular shop are of bad quality or high price. William Goudie says: '4298. Are you under any obligation to buy your goods from Mr. Bruce's shop?-Not strictly speaking.' '4299. What do you mean by "not strictly speaking?"-In one sense we are not bound, yet in another sense we are bound. There is no rule issued out that we must purchase our goods from there; but as we fish for Mr. Bruce, and have no ready money, we can hardly expect to run accounts with those who have no profit from us. That confines many of us to purchase our goods from his shop.' .....'We cannot expect to run a heavy account with a man who has no profit from us, when we are uncertain whether we will be able to clear that account or not. Therefore, as a rule, we do not run heavy accounts for such things as meal, for instance, when our crops are a failure, with any man except Mr. Bruce.' [Wm. Goudie, 4928, 4307.] [L. Smith, 4480, 4488.] And another witness says: '4669. But if the prices are so much higher at the Boddam shop than elsewhere, why do you go there when you say you are not obliged in any way to take goods from the Boddam shop? Why do you not go to Gavin Henderson's for them?-I am obliged to go to the Boddam shop and take my goods there if I have no money in my pocket to buy them elsewhere.' '4670. Does that often happen?-Perhaps not very often with me, but it happens as a general thing among many of the men. I believe there are as many men who have to go to Mr. Bruce's store and take their goods there, in consequence of the want of money to pay for them at other places, as there are who can go and open accounts with other merchants and pay them yearly' [R. Halcrow, 4669.] MEN MUST DEAL AT CURER'S SHOP The main reason why men must deal with the fish-curer is, that most of them have neither money nor credit elsewhere. The fish-curer is secured in the fisherman's services for the fishing season, and holds his earnings in his hands for a year. He cannot lose by him, unless he voluntarily allows his 'out-takes' to exceed his earnings. But other shopkeepers have no such security; indeed they know that the man is already engaged to fish for a rival shopkeeper, and that the latter will not only pay himself for his possibly large account, but will also retain the man's rent, leaving for other creditors at best but a small balance, and not always a balance, of his earnings. Add to this that in bad seasons many fishermen depend on the merchants for larger advances than one season's fishing can repay, and it becomes apparent that the attraction to the merchant's shop is not only the possibility of present credit, but gratitude for past favours, and the certain expectation of having to ask for similar favours in future. It is quite true, as Mr. Irvine says, that 'one great drawback on a Shetland business is fishermen's bad debts, and our chief study is to limit the supplies when we know the men to be improvident; but it is quite impossible to keep men clear when the fishing proves unsuccessful.' And there is evidence that in bad seasons, such as 1868-69, merchants are expected to advance, and do advance, large amounts in meal and other necessaries, and in cash for rent. Where such advances are made, the fishermen are of course bound, sometimes by a written obligation, to fish for their creditor next season. [M. Johnson, 7909, 7921, 7928; James Brown, 7977; C. Georgeson, 12,126; James Hay, 5401; W. Irvine, 3623, p. 83b 3793; A. Sandison, 10,016; J. Hay, 10,540; A.J. Grierson, 15,089; W. Irvine, 3796.] The habit of dealing on credit at the fish-curer's store is so inveterate, that even men who have means to buy their provisions, etc., frequently begin the account for the year at the very time of settlement. Mr. Grierson says: '15,096. But do you think a man would stand permanently in arrear at settlement with you if he had money in the bank?-No; but if I settle with him in January, I believe he would go and deposit a £10 note from that year's settlement, and begin a new account with me, and get a new boat, and let it stand to his credit until next year. But he would never think of having a permanent running balance with me if he had money of his own in bank.' '15,097. Is it a general thing among the men to go and deposit some of their money in bank and begin a new account with you?- Yes, I believe they do that for a single year. They would be great fools if they did not. They keep a pass-book, if they choose, with, the shop, and they would be no better off if they were to pay for their goods in money.' [A.J. Grierson, 15,096.] [Page 17 rpt.] 'Plenty of them,' says Mr. Peter Garriock, speaking of Faroe fishers, 'are able to live on their own resources, but still they come for their supplies;'and he gives an example, which is not a solitary one. Mr. John Harrison says: ... 'The system has obtained so long, of fishermen requiring advances, or rather taking advances, that they cannot see, or do not understand, why they should take their own money in order to buy the necessary supplies before they proceed to the fishing. I have no doubt that they have also this idea, that the fish-curer takes a sufficient profit upon the goods supplied, and they consider they have a right to keep their money and not to pay for them until the end of the season.' [P. Garriock, 15,223; W.B.M. Harrison, 15,724; John Harrison, 16,511] It is of course a result of this system, that a large shop business, in many districts, can be carried on only by one who has a fish-curing establishment. In Lerwick and in Walls, in one case in Dunrossness (Gavin Henderson), and perhaps in Unst, some shops have succeeded without the aid of fishing, but always under difficulties. Fish-curers have also attempted to confirm or extend this monopoly by artificial means, such as the prohibition of rival shops,-as in Burra, Whalsay, Unst, Northmaven, Fetlar , and Yell. [T. Williamson, 9463; G. Georgeson, 12,111; A. Sandison, 10,133.] It has thus come to pass that there is almost nowhere in Shetland, out of Lerwick, a shop of any size not belonging to a fish-curer. I attempted to ascertain the views of various small shopkeepers, struggling to make a trade, with regard to their larger neighbours. Sometimes these men did not understand the disadvantage under which they are placed; or they may have had views of eventually rising by the same means which have led their competitors on to fortune; or, as there was sometimes reason to suspect, they may have been put into business by a larger merchant to sell his goods on commission, or have been otherwise indebted to him or dependent upon him. Whatever may be the cause, shopkeepers of this class are not so sensitive, or not so communicative, on this point as might be expected. One or two, however, were found independent enough, or intelligent enough, to tell how their business is hampered and confined by the local custom, which thirls the men to the shops of the fish-merchants. Mr. Georgeson, a respectable shopkeeper in the parish of Walls not engaged in fish-curing, says that men who sell their fish green are necessarily less frequent customers of his than those who cure their own fish. He thinks that the skipper generally influences his men to take their supplies from the shop of the merchant, or at least that the men are apt to be guided to do so by his example; while his neighbour, Mr. Twatt, thinks 'there is a little bribe which the skippers get for seeing that the men go to the shop.' I give this, however, merely as an opinion by a shrewd but not disinterested local observer. The force of custom, the want of ready money, and the other influences already mentioned, are quite sufficient to account for the great amount of this kind of Truck which exists in Shetland, without having recourse to the supposition that skippers or others are bribed to induce men to buy goods at the employer's shop. [G. Georgeson, 12,122; J. Twatt, 12,200; R. Henderson, 12,860.] ARGUMENTS FOR PRESENT SYSTEM I have said that some of the employers are prepared with arguments to vindicate the system of annual settlements. The favourite argument is, that it affords the men, or at least a certain class of them, protection against their own improvidence. For instance, Mr. P.M. Sandison says: '5235. Does not that system of long settlements induce people to be a little careless about their money, and improvident?-There are a certain class who, if they had money, would spend it. That class are pretty well looked after by the fish-curer; they are only allowed advances in such small proportions as enable them to get through the year, and to be as little in arrear as possible at the end. If these same parties had the money in their hands, I am certain it would not last them so long as it does in the fish-curer's hands.' '5236. That is to say, he will only allow them certain amount of supplies from the shop?-Yes, so much a week or a fortnight.' '5237. Or cash if they want it, but to a limited extent?-Yes; I should think that cash would be given to a free man.' '5238. But not to a bound fisherman?-Not unless it was for a necessary purpose-to purchase something, for instance, which the merchant cannot supply.' [P. Smith, 986; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,372; W. Irvine, 3641, 3826; J. Anderson, 6707; Rev. J. Sutherland, 7518; A. Harrison, 7664; T. Gifford, 8102-8124; D. More, 9634; A. Sandison, p.248 f.n. to 10,205, 10,483; J. Spence, 10.559.] The members of the firm which holds the lands and fishings in Unst urged strongly that only a large concern like theirs would have the interests of the men in view as well as their own, and, by possessing a monopoly and restricting the men's credit, keep them free from debt. With this view they have made war against small shops in that island. The returns show that they have not yet succeeded in keeping the men free from debt. [A. Sandison, 10,494; J. Spence, 10,559.] The sort of partnership that exists between merchant and fisherman, the latter being paid in proportion to the results of the whole year's transactions, is the chief excuse for delaying settlements. The views of the merchants on this point may be seen from the following passage in the examination of Mr. Robertson, manager for Mr. Leask, one of the chief merchants in Shetland. Mr. Robertson came forward with other [Page 18 rpt.] merchants for the purpose of denying the Report of Mr. Hamilton to the Board of Trade, and the other statements made in the previous inquiry:- ... 'Then I deny that the truck system in an open or disguised form prevails in Shetland to an extent which is unknown in any other part of the United Kingdom. I have no proof to offer in contradiction of that statement; I simply deny it, and I don't believe it.' '13,698. What is the population of Shetland?-About 30,000.' '13,699. Of these, how many do you suppose consist of fishermen and their families?-I should say that perhaps about three-fourths of them are fishermen and seamen, and their families.' '13,700. I suppose the seamen are mostly the younger members of the families?-Yes.' '13,701. Is it not the case that almost every fisherman has an account with the merchant to whom he sells his fish?-Yes; but I don't consider that to be truck at all.' '13,702. That account is settled at the end of the year, part of the value of the man's fish being taken out in supplies of goods, and the balance being paid in cash, if any balance is due?-Yes. He simply has an account, in the same way that all the retail merchants in Shetland and everywhere else have to deal with wholesale merchants, and have to pay them.' '13,703. Do you suppose Mr. Hamilton meant anything else than that by saying that the truck system prevailed in Shetland?-I am not bound to know what he meant, but I deny his statement.' '13,704. I presume he merely intended to state that a great part of the earnings of every fisherman, as well as of some other people in Shetland, were really settled by taking out goods from the employers. Do you suppose he meant anything else than that?-I am afraid he did. I am afraid he meant to convey the idea that the men got nothing but goods when they should have got money.' '13,705. Is it not the case that many of them do get nothing but goods?-That is their own fault.' '13,706. Still it may be the fact, although it is their own fault?-It may be the fact, because the men earn very little, and they require supplies of provisions and clothing; and no person would give them such supplies unless the person who employs them. But I don't think that is truck, in the common meaning of the word.' '13,707. Then the difference between you is rather a dispute about the meaning of the word "truck" than as to the actual state of matters in Shetland?-I would not even admit that. I don't think there is any room for complaint about the state of matters in Shetland, as a rule.' '13,708. I suppose you mean that the fishermen have a certain advantage by getting advances of goods? -Of course they have.' '13,709. But you do not mean to deny the fact that they do get such advances when they require them?- Of course I don't deny that; but the shipowner or curer runs a great risk in advancing goods on the security of fish which have to be caught. It is a very good thing in a good season, but in a bad season he may come rather short.' '13,710. On the other hand, he does not pay for the fish that are caught until six or seven months afterwards?-He does not realize them until then. None of the fishcurers get one penny for their fish until about the end of December, except perhaps for a very small parcel which they may send to a retail dealer in the south.' '13,711. That may be quite true; but is any employer of labour in a better position?-Yes.' '13,712. A farmer, for instance, pays his labourers weekly or fortnightly, as the case may be, and he very often does not realize his crops until many months afterwards?-That is true; but he is selling his butter and milk and cattle.' '13,713. Still it does not follow that he is paid for them at the time?-Cattle, I think, are generally paid for in cash.' '13,714. But there are other producers, such as manufacturers, who are only paid by long-dated bills, generally at three months?-Yes; but here the merchant does not get his return until the end of twelve months. The fish-merchant or curer begins to advance in the beginning of January, and he continues to advance until the end of December, without getting any money back; so that he lies out of his money for twelve months. He neither gets money from the party to whom he advances the goods, nor from the party to whom he sells his fish.' '13,715. Do you think that is the main justification for the long settlements which are made with the men?-Of course it is.' The real or imaginary necessity under which the men are placed, of dealing at the merchant's shop, is demonstrated by their taking meal and other bulky articles a distance of many miles to their own houses, although there are shops nearer home where they could be purchased of as good quality, and it would seem sometimes better and cheaper. Thus James Hay says: '5343. Do you deal at his shop for all your provisions and your purchases of cotton and other things?-I do for the principal part of what I need, but not altogether.' '5344. How far do you live from Mr. Adie's nearest shop?-About 71/2 miles; his shop is at Voe.' '5345. Do you always go there for what you want?-Yes; generally I do that, unless sometimes when I am needing some small things, I may go to another: but I am not bound to go to his shop unless I choose to go.' '5346. Then why do you go so far?-Because I generally fish to Mr. Adie, and I have the greatest part of my dealings with him. I have not been accustomed to shift very much, unless it might be an inconvenience to me, and sometimes I have gone to another shop.'. . . '5399. Are you under any obligation to go to Mr. Adie's shop for the goods you want in the course of the year?-None that I am aware of.' '5400. You have never been told it of course; but is it a great deal more convenient for you to go there than to deal at another shop?-No; it is not more convenient. I could go to a shop somewhat nearer; but still I don't think I would be any better; and as it has always been my custom to go there, I just continue to go.' '5401. Is it only because it is your custom to go, or is it because you are in the way of delivering your fish to Mr. Adie, that you go to his store?-Mr. Adie has been very obliging to me many a time, by helping me when I could not help myself, and therefore I always felt a warm heart towards him, and went to his store.' '5402. But is it the way with the fishermen here, that they go to the shop of the man that they sell their fish to?-I am not able to speak to that except for myself.' '5403. Do you not know what your neighbours do? -It depends on the circumstances that my neighbours are in. If they are indebted to the man they are fishing to, of course they will go to that man, and perhaps have very little to go to him with.' '5404. Are those neighbours of yours who are so indebted also likely to engage to fish for the same the merchant during the following season?-Yes. When a man is short of money, and has not enough with [Page 19 rpt.] which to pay his land rent, he may go to the man he is fishing to, and he will help him with what he requires; but the understanding in that case is, that he will serve him at the fishing for the rising year. That is generally the way it is done.' '5405. Do you mean that when a man gets advances at a merchant's shop, it is understood that he must fish to him in the coming year?-Yes; that is generally understood.' [James Hay, 5352 etc.; W. Green, 5860 (Voe to Sullom); W. Blance, 6057, 6118 (Voe to Ollaberry); G. Scollay, 8417; J. Robertson, 8454 (Muckle Roe to Hillswick); J. Johnston, 9552 (Voe to Burravoe); T. Robertson, 8590.] So John Twatt, a merchant, says: '12,210. Is it not the fact that men who live near you do go to Reawick for supplies, although it is much farther away?-Yes.' '12,211. And although it is inconvenient?-Yes, it is inconvenient. They could do much better by coming to my shop, which is next door to them, and they could get as good articles at the same price as they can at Reawick.' '12,212. How far is it from your place to Reawick?-I think it is about 10 or 12 miles.' '12,213. When the men go there for meal or other supplies, are these supplies brought across the country?-Sometimes they are brought by boats, and sometimes round by the rocks.' BOATS AND FISHING MATERIALS. Advances by the fish-curer to fishermen, in the form of boats and fishing materials, form a very material portion of the debits in the men's accounts. For the most part the boats used in the ling fishing belong to the men. It is generally understood that when a crew gets a new boat, it is to be paid up in three years. Sometimes a good fishing enables them to pay it the first year; more frequently the payment extends beyond the three years-generally for five fishing seasons. The price of the boat is charged against the crew, which has a company account in the merchant's books, and they are labourers jointly and severally liable for the whole. When a boat is furnished, it is always understood that the men are to continue to fish for the merchant who furnishes it until the whole price is paid; and this of course constitutes a bond over the men for three or more years, as the case may be. Sometimes hire is charged for the boat, or for the boat and lines. A new boat, ready for sea, costs £20; if supplied with new lines, the whole cost will be from £35 to £40. The men agree to pay £6 as hire for boat and lines, or £2 to £3 for the boat, for the period of the summer fishing. In Yell and other places, the merchant, for this hire, undertakes the risk of the whole. On the west coast of Shetland, the rate charged as hire and the amount of the annual instalment of the price of the boat and lines appear to be the same; and the lines, if lost, are understood, it is said, to be at the risk of the men in both cases, which is an inversion of the ordinary rule of law in location. It is generally said that little or no profit is derived by merchants from boat hires or the sale of boats. In some places, however, those who are anxious to get into business make deductions from the boat hire; in order to get men to agree to fish to depending entirely for their profit on the fish and goods sold. Hence it may be inferred, either that the hires charged are sufficient to remunerate the merchant for his outlay and risk, or that the profits made from the fish and goods sold are so large as to allow of this bonus being given. [W. Irvine, 3838; T.M. Adie, 5607; T. Tulloch, 12,960; G. Irvine, 13,272; O. Jamieson, 13,396; P.M. Sandison, 5206; T.M. Adie, 5610; W. Pole, 5881, 5890, 5953; D. Greig, 7125, 7153, 7209; L. Williamson, 9092; John Laurenson, 9856; T. Tulloch, 12,958; A. Johnson, 14,933; T.M. Adie, 5638, 5642; P. Peterson, 6808; A. Sandison, 10,133; C. Nicholson, 11,950; L. Williamson, 9092; T. Williamson, 9514.] With regard to lines and hooks, and such things as the men require for the fishing, they are bound or expected at most places to buy them from the merchant for whom they fish. [J. Robertson, 8454; P. Blanch, 8717.] Turning from the debit to the credit side of the account between the curer and the fisherman, the most important branch of the latter is the price of the fish. This is fixed in Shetland only when the annual sales of cured fish have been effected, in September or October. The understanding is that the men shall get the current price. This is not ascertained in any formal way; but as there is little difference between the prices obtained by the various curers, each calculates for himself how much he can afford to give to the crews for the green fish, and pays accordingly. There is always, of course, some knowledge, more or less vague and general, of the prices obtained and given by other curers, and there may be a consultation of some kind between the leading merchants. In some cases, curers, especially those who are in a small way, wait until the leading merchants have settled with their men, and thus avoid questions with their men. In all cases the men hear how much their neighbours have got for their green fish; and it may be supposed that there is sufficient competition for men to ensure that the highest possible sum will be given. The fishermen themselves, however, do not seem to be satisfied of this, and there is an impression among some of them that 'the current price' of green fish is fixed by arrangement among the merchants at a lower rate than they might afford. This belief has originated, or has been encouraged, by the fact that the dealers of Cunningsburgh, in Sandwick parish, have for some years paid considerably more than 'the current price.' In 1871, the usual payment to fishermen was 8s. per cwt. of wet fish, which was thus ascertained: 21/4 cwt. of wet fish are calculated to produce [Page 20 rpt.] cwt dry. The current price of dry fish was 23s. per cwt.; cost of curing is usually estimated at 2s. 6d. per cwt. dry (or by Mr. Irvine at 3s.). Thus:- Price of 21/2- cwt. wet ling, at 8s., 18s. 0d. Cost of curing, at 2s. 6d., 2s. 6d. Merchants' profit and commission, 2s. 6d., 2s. 6d. Total, 23s. or about 11 per cent.* Merchants say that the cost of curing is actually greater than 2s. 6d. per cwt., and that their profit has to cover not only the risk of bad debts and insurance, but likewise a loss upon boat hires and sales, which never remunerate. Fishermen, on the other hand, assert that curing never costs so much as 2s. 6d. per cwt.; and they appeal, in support of this, not only to their experience in curing their own fish, but to the higher rates paid by Messrs. Smith & Tulloch in Sandwick parish The reply, as regards these merchants, is that they sell to retail merchants direct, and thus save profit of the middlemen or wholesale purchasers; but there is evidently a feeling of irritation among other fishcurers, because they have broken in upon the practice of paying a uniform price throughout the islands. A similar question with regard to the cost of curing has been raised in the Faroe fishing. [L.F.U. Garriock, 12,581; W. Irvine, 3742; J.L. Pole, 9423; J. Bruce, jun., 13,332; J. Flawes, 4919; A.J. Grierson, 15,105; L. Williamson, 9085; A. Sandison, 10,154; L. Williamson, 9097; T. Williamson, 9515, 9536; L. Mail, 662; R. Halcrow, 4694; G. Blance; 5561; A. Sandison, 7062; J. Nicholson, 8721; J. Flawes, 4990; J.S. Houston, 9673; W. Irvine, 3623; W. Pole, 5882 sqq.; J.S. Houston, 9698; A. Sandison, 10,125; W. Robertson, 13, 646; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,565.] Some men complain because they do not know what they are to get for their fish and that they 'work away as if they were blind;' but it is said on in a few cases where a price has been fixed at the beginning of the season and the price that has risen, the men have grumbled, and the curer has been obliged to pay the higher current price in order to retain the future services of the men. There is not, however, sufficient evidence to justify the conclusion that Shetland fishermen would, as a body, resent a merchant's adherence to a bargain which on other occasions must turn out to be a favourable one for themselves and a losing one for him. If there is any advantage in the present system, it is, as the Rev. Mr. Fraser points out, on the side of the fisherman, who is less able than the merchant to foresee the probable course of the market, and who, if the suggested change were adopted, would have to take, in the run of cases, such a price as the merchant might judge safe for himself. [James Hay, 5375; A.J. Grierson, 15,081; P. Garriock, 15,228; J. S. Houston, 9862; A. Sandison, 10,009; Rev. J. Fraser, 8071, but see P. Blanch, 8546.] *CURERS' PROFITS. Mr. Irvine (3623) says the prices of last year leave only 40s. per ton to the curer, out of which he has to pay store rent, weighing, skippers' fees, gratuities to fishermen, and to meet loss by small and damaged fish, and of interest and risk. The total quantity of cod, ling, and hake landed from open boats and cured in Shetland in the year ending 31st December 1871, according to the returns made to the Fisheries Board, was 46,391 cwt. If we suppose that the expenses which are to be paid out of the fishcurers' 2s. per cwt. amount to 6d. per cwt., there remains a sum of £3479, 6s. 8d., as the total profit earned by thirty-seven fish-curers and fish-curing firms. If we suppose that these expenses absorb 1s. of this surplus, then the total profit amounts only to £2319, 11s. It may be observed, however that other sources of profit are open to these fish-curers. All of them have shops, in which the aggregate credit sales to fishermen amounted in the year 1871 (from settlement to settlement) to probably £14,000. A considerable amount of cash transactions, and sales of goods for butter and eggs, also take place at their counters; and many of them deal in cattle and kelp, and are engaged in the Faroe fishing. With all these sources of income, however, it is difficult to believe that no larger direct profit per cent. is earned from so complicated and hazardous a business as the ling fishing. STOCK SOLD TO MERCHANTS Next to fish, cattle sold form the largest and most common credit in the account of the fisherman farmer, although this is not, like fish, an indispensable item in the account. Cattle, ponies, sheep, and pigs, are an important part of the Shetlander's means, and they, like the rest of his saleable produce, are generally purchased by the merchant, who buys all that leaves the country, from a whale to an egg, and sells everything that the country people want, from a boll of meal or a suit of clothes to a darning-needle. The stock goes into the account, and is settled for at the yearly settlement. There is a custom throughout the country of holding public sales twice, sometimes four times in the year 'for the benefit of the tenant' as a witness puts it' but also for the benefit of the landlords and merchants. The sales are managed by the proprietor of the estate for which they are held, or by his tacksman or factor, and the prices of all the animals sold are paid, under the conditions of sale, into his hands. He has thus, just as in purchasing the fish of his tenants, an opportunity of retaining what is due to him for rent, and of making effectual his hypothec, or rather of avoiding the necessity of enforcing it at all. No cases have been alleged or proved in which advantage has been taken by proprietors or merchants of the power given them by their position, or by the indebtedness of tenants, for the purpose of getting cattle at low prices; and, indeed, the publicity of these sales to be a sufficient safeguard against such abuses. There is a practice, formerly much more widely prevalent than it is now, of marking the horns of animals with the initials of a creditor, which is supposed to hypothecate the debtor's cattle effectually as against all but the landlord's claim for rent. The practical effects appear to have been formerly injurious; , a well-informed and reliable witness says that, twenty years ago, when a merchant bought a beast from one of his debtors, he could really fix the price himself. [Page 21 rpt.] But the practice seems now to be so rare, probably because its legal inefficacy is better understood, that it need not be more particularly referred to. [J. Laurenson, 9873; T. Gifford, 8133; A. Sandison, 10,079.] There is evidence as to the sales of cattle on the Sumburgh, Busta, Gossaburgh, and Ollaberry estates, and in the islands of Unst and Yell. A man who is in debt to the landlord or merchant-tacksman is expected to offer his cow or pony which is for sale to him first. If the owner is dissatisfied with the price offered, he has an opportunity of exposing it at the next half-yearly or quarterly sale, where all the money passes through the hands of the merchant or landlord, and is settled for at the end of the year, the owner getting supplies from the shop if he requires them in the meantime. Intimation is given to all the tenants of the sale; and a man who is very deeply in debt is 'so far forced to bring his cattle and sell them.' [W. Irvine, 3772; R. Halcrow, 4673; P.M. Sandison, 5271; D. Greig, 7228; Rev. J. Sutherland, 7600; T. Gifford, 8130; J.S. Houston, 9686; J. Laurenson, 9873; G. Irvine, 13,241; J. Bruce, jun., 13,329; R. Halcrow, 4684.] An instance of a sale of wool to a merchant-tacksman by an indebted tenant, at a lower price than might have been obtained (according to the tenant's own statement), is given by Robert Simpson: '14,014. Was 111/2d. the current price for wool last autumn?-I cannot say. That was what we got for it from Mr. Sutherland.' '14,015. Did anybody else offer to buy it from you?-We did not offer it to anybody else, because we thought he had a better right to it, as he was paying the rent. There were several people asking me for it, but I would not sell it to them.' '14,016. How much did they offer you for the wool?-We never came to any particular agreement about the price, because I would not consent to sell it to them at all.' '14,017. Did they not say anything about what they would give you?-They spoke of 1s.; but I thought it better to sell it for 111/2d. wholesale than to sell it to them for 1s., even although I had had power to do it. Besides, I thought Mr. Robertson had the best right to it.' '14,018. Had Mr. Robertson told you that he expected to get your wool?-I cannot say that he had.' '14,019. Had Mr. Sutherland told you that?-If I could have paid my debt he would not have asked it.' '14,020. But did Mr. Sutherland tell you that he expected to get your wool?-Sometimes he would ask me if I would give him the wool, and that I would be better to give it to him than to sell it to another.' '14,021. Even at a halfpenny less?-Yes.' This is probably a true enough picture of the transactions in regard to cattle, which in bad times are still commonly resorted to for the purpose of reducing large debts; but of which, in the late prosperous years, little has been heard. ________________________________ THE EXTENT OF INDEBTEDNESS. ADVANCES ARE MADE UPON AN ENGAGEMENT TO FISH. The evidence taken in Shetland does not confirm the statement made before this Commission in 1871, that 'the success of a merchant in Shetland consists in being able to accumulate such an amount of bad debts about him as will thirl the whole families in his neighbourhood, and then he succeeds,' etc. So far as this exaggerated statement has any truth, it may be said to mean that a merchant often avails himself of the power given him by his past advances, and by the hope of more, to secure both the fish and the shop custom of the fishermen in his neighbourhood; while fishermen so often need accommodation from the merchants, that even those who for the time are clear do not think it prudent to break off their connection with the merchant of the place from whom they have hitherto got supplies, and by whom they expect to be assisted in future bad years. But it does not mean, and probably was not intended to mean, that merchants ever deliberately sink a part of their capital in binding fishermen to them by the uqestionable bond of hopeless debt. The truth, so far as the highest class of merchants is concerned, seems to be fairly stated by Mr. Irvine, who says, with regard to the system of paying for fish by reference to the current price, that - 'Fishermen are quite safe with this arrangement. They know the competition between curers all over the islands is so keen, that they are secure to get the highest possible price that the markets can afford. Any curer that can offer a little advantage to the fishermen over the others is certain to get more boats the following year; and this is carried so far, that men with limited capital, in their endeavours to obtain a large share of the trade by giving credit and gratuities, in one way and another leave nothing to themselves, and in the end come to grief.' [John Walker, qu. 44,319; W. Irvine, 3623, 3856 sqq.; See L. Williamson, 9092; T. Williamson, 9513.] Undoubtedly, all the merchants are in the habit of making advances to fishermen, chiefly in the form of goods, long before the fishing season begins. In such cases there is, as a matter of course, an obligation, sometimes in writing, to fish for the ensuing year; and for the purpose of more easily getting such advances, boats' crews are often formed as early as November and December. Advances of boats and lines are invariably made upon an engagement by the men who get them to deliver their fish. [Page 22 rpt.] But many of the merchants examined as witnesses agree in stating that indebtedness does not give them a hold over their men; a statement which must, however, be limited to the case of men who are hopelessly and irredeemably sunk in debt, who see no means of escape from it, or rather no means of obtaining supplies beyond the barest subsistence, but by removing to another employment. A merchant is not always desirous to retain the services of such men, because his chance of getting the old debts repaid is small, while he cannot continue to employ them without making further advances to enable them to go on with the fishing. The statements made by merchants, that indebtedness is the great drawback to their business, that indebted men are worst to deal with, and that debt gives them no control over the men, must, I think, be referred to such extreme cases only, and are not applicable to the relations between merchants and men who, not of being already hopelessly involved, require some advances in money for rent, in the form of boat and lines, or in goods for family use, after settlement and before the fishing season begins. In all such cases the debt is incurred on the express or understood condition that the man shall deliver his fish next season, and where the advance consists of boat and lines, until it is altogether paid off. To this extent it cannot be said that the debt gives the merchant no hold over the men. EFFECT OF DEBT IN BINDING THE MEN TO A MERCHANT ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN MERCHANTS ON WEST COAST NOT TO INTERFERE WITH EACH OTHER'S MEN In districts where indebtedness is general, the bond formed by debt is stronger. Merchants are there obliged to save themselves by enforcing their claims against indebted men, whom others, in more fortunate districts, would gladly get rid of. The merchants have allowed their debts to become too numerous and too large, either from a wrong system in the management of their business or from a desire to 'thirl' the west side men to them. On the coast of Northmaven and of Delting, a complete monopoly of the fish trade is possessed, not by landholders or their tacksmen or factors, but by three merchants (Messrs. Adie at Olnafirth Voe, Inkster at Brae, and Anderson at Hillswick and Ollaberry), who lease curing premises and a small portion of agricultural or pasture land from the Busta trustees. Except at North Roe, where Messrs. Hay have a station, there is no other merchant, along a coast-line extending for many miles, to whom the tenant can sell his fish; and the indebted man has not the liberty, which he seems to be able to exercise in some other districts, of entering into an engagement with another merchant, with whom he begins afresh, with clear books, and the hope of keeping clear. I do not say that it is morally wrong for the merchant to endeavour to secure payment of a debt by requiring the debtor to agree to deliver to him the produce of his fishing. But it cannot be a wholesome system which has led the merchants into giving credits, which they can only recover or secure by such means, and which induces them to enter into a formal written engagement among themselves-'not to tamper with or engage each other's fishermen, or allow our boat-skippers or men to do so, or to make advances of rent to them on their cattle, sheep, or ponies, or under any circumstances whatever, unless they produce a certificate from any of us whom they last fished for to the effect that he is clear of debt.' The formal stipulation thus undertaken is only what has been very frequently, not universally, acted upon throughout the western and northern parts of Shetland; for men changing their employment often find at settlement the debts due to their late master standing against them in the books of the new master. Sometimes in coming to a new employer the men's debts are, with their consent, transferred to his books, or they get cash to discharge them. [Wm. Adie, 8641; J. Anderson, 7775; M. Laurenson, 7354; A. Harrison, 7746; T. Gifford, 8126; J. Wood, 8371; M. Henderson, 9940; A. Sandison, 10,497; T. Tulloch, 13,001; C. Ollason, 16,019; John Robertson, sen., 14,126; L. Williamson, 9074.] The fishermen, on the other hand, for the most part admit that, so long as they are indebted to a merchant, they must continue to fish for him. Notwithstanding the statements of the merchants before referred to (see above), the truth appears to be that most of them do so continue from honesty as much as from fear of onsequences. But, so far as the practical effects of the system are concerned, it is perhaps of small importance whether supplies are given in the belief that a man's honesty and his fear of legal execution will make him continue to work them off by his labour, or in the belief that his fear of legal consequences alone will have such an effect. [G. Blance, 5554; C. Young, 5829; P. Blanch, 8575; C. Nicholson, 8694.] Some merchants do not hesitate to admit that being indebted compels, or at least induces, men to fish to the creditor; and, indeed, it is so obviously and naturally an inducement to do so, that it is impossible to avoid regarding indebtedness to the merchant and the engagement to fish for him as more than a merely accidental sequence of events. Experience, however, has been teaching the more extensive merchants, and teaching them perhaps more readily because they have less difficulty than others in getting fishermen, that free or unindebted men are the most successful fishermen; and that to act on the old Shetland maxim, 'If you once get a man into debt, you have a hold over him,' is to fill their boats with inferior or at least half-hearted men, and their books with bad debts. Thus the returns show that at two important stations of a leading firm 244 men were employed in 1867, and 260 in 1871; and that of these, 72, or less than a third, owed sums averaging only £2, 7s. 9d. at the settlement of 1867; while in 1871 only 9 owed sums averaging £l. In this and other cases, where debt is less, the supplies of goods also bear a less proportion to the money payments. [L.F.U. Garriock, 12,549; T. Tulloch, 12,998; J. Harrison, 16451; Rev. D. Miller, 5596; D. Greig, 7165.] The extent of indebtedness thus differs in the different districts. It is difficult to say whether this difference is caused by accidental circumstances, or by the degrees of firmness with which the various merchants act on the principle of restricting advances and supplies when a man is getting behind. In bad years still more after a succession of lean fishings and harvests restriction is of course universal, and all the inhabitants of an island or a parish may be getting weekly doles of meal at the merchant's shop. At Grutness store, a day is fixed for the families who are 'on allowance' to come for their meal. The proportion of men in a state of indebtedness, and the amount of their debts, will be best seen from the tables afterwards given. There are, however, many general statements on this subject which I shall briefly refer to. In considering these and the tables, it must be kept in view that, in spite of some bad fishings and harvests in late years, the people are generally in a more thriving condition than they were ten or fifteen years ago. They have shared in the general prosperity of the empire. The Rev. Mr. Miller, who says that the majority of the fishermen at Mossbank are further in debt than they can hope to pay in one year, believes that they were once worse, and that eight or ten years ago hardly a fisherman was not in debt. The Rev. J. Fraser of Sullom believes that a great number of the men are very seldom clear, and that permanent indebtedness prevails to a much larger extent than is good for the community. It must be admitted that the sums due by the men are much smaller in Shetland than the sums which, it is said, are often due by fishermen in Wick, where the boats and nets advanced to the men are comparatively expensive. In a few cases, debts of £40 have been contracted; but that seems to be a rare and indeed is considered a hopeless amount. The returns show that the average debt of chronic debtors, so far as it can be ascertained, is very much less. Mr. Anderson states it to be £12. 4s. in 1871 at Hillswick, having been £14, 2s. in 1868. The witnesses are numerous-so numerous that it is not necessary to note their names-who say that they have been in debt at settlement for many years, or that the balance is generally against them. [T. Hutchison, 12,640; L. Robertson, 13,966; G. Irvine, 13,178; Rev. D. Miller, 5989; Rev. J. Fraser, 8019; A. Harrison, 7446; J. Anderson, 7770, 7835; A. Humphray, 12,822; J. Anderson, 7834.] It is almost superfluous to point out the connection between the system of accounts at the shops and the general indebtedness of the peasantry; but it may be interesting to refer to the evidence of Magnus Johnston, now a small shopkeeper, and formerly skipper of a Faroe smack. He says: '... I think it would be better for the people to have no accounts at all.' '7932. Do you mean that it would be better for their own sakes?- Yes. '7933. What would be the advantage to them?-For my own part, if I had no money, but if I had credit, I might go to a shop and take out more goods than perhaps I ought to do, without regard to whether I would be able to pay them or not; whereas if a man did not have that liberty, but went into a shop with only a few pence in his pocket, he might make it spin out better, or more to his own advantage. '7934. Do you think he might get his meal cheaper by going to another shop and paying for it in cash?-He might, or he might take better care of his money, and manage to spin it out more.' '7935. I suppose a merchant like yourself, if you were giving long credit in that way, would require little more profit on your goods?-Of course.' '7936. But you can afford to sell cheaper because you are paid in cash?-Yes; and I think it would be better for the public in general if all payments were made in cash.' [M. Johnson, 7931.] Again, Mr. James Hay, formerly a merchant in Unst, but never concerned in fishcuring, says: '... My own conviction is, that if a ready-money system was once in operation, and had a fair start, it would work better than the present system.' '10,528. But how are you prepared to give it a start?-I think that if the men were paid their money monthly or fortnightly, that would make them feel their independence better. Perhaps they would husband their means better; and if there were those among them who were careless about it, they would be taught a lesson when the year was done, which would serve as a warning for them in time to come. There might, however, be a difficulty in beginning such a system. I can remember, and others present will remember it too, two or three years of bad fishing, followed by a year of blight, when the man who wrought most anxiously and was honest-hearted could not meet the demands upon him. At such times, if there was no qualification or mitigation of the ready-money system, perhaps the men might get into difficulty.' '10,529. But do you not think that with that system of fortnightly payments a respectable fisherman and tenant would get credit just as easily as he gets it now?-I believe he would.' '10,530. From a greater number of persons, and on advantageous terms?-I think he would.' '10,531. Do you think there would be more places open to respectable fishermen, at which they could get credit if it was absolutely required in a bad season?-Yes.' '10,532. I suppose in a bad season now no merchant would give credit to the fishermen unless he was secure of their services for next season?-I should suppose so.' '10,533. Therefore the fishermen, as a rule, are shut up to the one shop?-Yes, it comes to that.' '10,534. Where fishermen were paid monthly or fortnightly, and you knew a man to be a respectable man, would you, as a merchant, have any hesitation in a bad season in giving him credit for the support of his family?-I would have no hesitation in doing that at all, and I have done it. ....' '10,537. But do you think you would be more likely to obtain repayment if there was an open system, and the whole country was not monopolized by one or two great firms?-I think so; because if the men were paid their money I think they would feel more independent, and they would, so to say, eke out that money in the most economical way, and thus be better off.' '10,538. Probably, also, they would not be encouraged to run so very much in debt with any merchant as they are at present?-I think they would not. If the system were altered, and cash payments introduced, I think the men would feel that they could not ask credit to such a large extent as they do now, except in cases of urgent necessity.' [J. Hay, 10,527; See also J. Anderson, 6537, Dr. R. Cowie, 14,731.] SETTLEMENTS AND PASS-BOOKS The accounts between merchants and fishermen are settled in a sufficiently loose manner. In many cases no pass-book is kept. Sometimes it has been refused by the shopkeeper on account of the trouble; sometimes it is the fisherman who could not be 'fashed' with it; sometimes it has been used for a time and given up because of the customer's irregularity in bringing it. There is undoubtedly much carelessness among the men with regard to their accounts. They get what they want without much trouble. The merchant or landlord helps them through bad times; and they do not always minutely scrutinize the items charged against them. They have a considerable, and probably not misplaced, confidence in the honesty of the shopkeeper, so far as the quantities of their 'out-takes' are concerned. Some men indeed keep private notes of their out-takes, which they compare with the shop ledger when read over to them; but most trust to their memory to check their accounts, and sometimes they are in a hurry to get home, and the ceremony of reading over the account is omitted altogether. The shopkeeper of course does not insist on doing so: in some places, indeed, it is read over only if expressly asked. William Blance, who fishes to the firm of T.M. Adie, is a specimen of the more careless class of men: '... There are somethings which you have got which are not put in here?-Yes; I have gone to the shop when I did not have my book, and I have got what I asked.' '6086. What goods you got in that way when you did not have your pass-book were all put down in Mr. Adie's book, and you remembered about them when you came to settle?-Sometimes, and sometimes not.' '6087. If you did not remember them, did you trust to the honesty of the shopkeepers?-Yes.' '6088. Is your account read over to you at settling time?-Yes, if I ask it to be done.' '6089. Do you generally ask it?-Sometimes I do not, if I am in a hurry to get home.' '6090. Then you have perfect confidence in their honesty?-I always think it would do more harm to them than to me if they were not honest ....' '6119. Do you get your meal at Voe?-Yes; most that we use comes from there.' '6120. I see it is not entered in your pass-book?-No; because the meal has generally been sent in my absence, and I carry the book about with me.' '6121. How is it sent?-I have got some of it sent from Aberdeen to Ollaberry direct.' '6122. How much of it was there of it at a time?-I don't remember ....' '6127. What did you pay for that meal?-I cannot say.' '6128. Is it settled for yet?-My account is squared up.' '6130. Do you know what you paid for it before?-I don't remember.' '6131. When was your account squared up?-Fourteen days ago.' '6132. It was not squared up in your pass-book then?- No, I had it with me; but I wanted to get home soon, and I did not ask Mr. Adie to look over the pass-book.' '6133. You saw there was a balance against you then?-Yes.' '6134. Did you not ask the price of the meal you had got?-No.' '6135. Did you not hear it mentioned?-No.' [J. Hay, 5370; L. Mail, 690; J. Leask, 1348; G. Colvin, 1340; W. Irvine, 3668, 3778; W. Goudie, 4333; G. Goudie, 5402; P.M. Sandison, 5169; G. Blance, 5574; P. Peterson, 6790; T. Robertson, 8619; G. Garriock, 8828; J.L. Pole, 9359; J. Laurenson, 9827; G. Tulloch, 11,441; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,295; G. Irvine, 13,176, 13,267; W. Robertson, 13,791; R. Simpson, 13,990; Wm. Blance, 6085, 6119.] The effect of the prevailing indebtedness plainly is to make the men careless about prices: '8698. What is the price of meal at Mossbank just now?-I cannot say rightly.' '8699. When did you know last? Have you made your settlement this year?-Yes.' '8700. Don't you know what you were charged for meal then?- No.' '8701. Do you ask the price of your meal as you buy it?- Sometimes; but we must take it, whatever it is, because we have no money to purchase it with elsewhere.' '8702. Whose fault is that?-I don't know.' '8703. Is it the merchant's fault?-I cannot say that it is.' [C. Nicholson, 8698.] THE RETURNS AND TABLES. It was for the purpose of ascertaining the area and degree of debt, as well as the degree to which truck prevails in the various districts of Shetland, that a series of questions was sent, some time after the inquiry had been opened, to most of the fish-merchants in Shetland. The answers to these questions must have cost in the larger establishments a good deal of time and trouble, which I am bound to say was in most cases ungrudgingly bestowed. The returns for the home fishing of 1867 (Table I.) are furnished by merchants, who, according to the returns made to the Fishery Board, produced more than four-fifths of the whole cure from that fishery in that year. They show that out of 1913 fishermen in their employment, 596 were indebted at the settlement of 1866, and 1832 at that of 1867, showing an average debt of £6, 11s. per man in 1866, and £6, 13s. 8d. per man in 1867. In the same year the total sum due to their fishermen by the eighteen curers making returns was £19,362, 17s. 23/4d., and the total amount received by the men from the curers was £21,456, 5s. 10d., which resulted, according to the 10th column, in an increase of the debt by £1,631, 9s. 8d. The goods supplied in account by these curers to fishermen in 1867 amounted to £10,860, 1s. 41/2d., rather more than a fourth being charged to the crews for fishing expenses. Thus rather more than one half of the total payments were made in goods. The returns for 1871 (Table II.) were made by the same merchants, with the exception of two who had not settled for that year, and represent, according to the Fishery Board returns, nearly three fourths of the total cure of the year. Out of 1615 fishermen, 644 were indebted in a total amount of £5,026, 19s. 13/4d., or an average sum per man of £7, 13s. 33/4d. at the settlement of 1870; and 614 were indebted in a total amount of £4,437, 1s. 21/2d., or an average sum per man of £7, 4s. 61/4d. at the settlement of 1871. The total amount due to their fishermen by these fifteen curers was £20,759, 17s, 33/4d., and the total amount which the men got from them was £20,579, 14s. 13/4d. The debt was reduced by £589, 18s. 111/4d. The goods supplied in account were £8,927, 2s. 10d., £2,574, 12s. 51/2d. being for fishing expenses. Thus, in this prosperous year, considerably less than a half of the whole earnings of the fishermen were received in goods. In 1867 about three fourths, in 1871 about a half, of the cash paid was paid before settlement. Table III., for the Faroe fishing of 1867, applies to 509 men out of 699 who were engaged in that fishery in smacks belonging to Shetland curers. The average debt of 219 debtors in 1866 was £4, 13s. 2d., and of 125 debtors in 1867, £4, 11s. 31/2d. The total amount credited to the men was £6,764, 16s. 6d., and £6,723, 18s. 31/2d. was paid to them, of which £3,120, 14s. 9d., or less than half, was paid in goods. In 1871 (Table IV.) the returns apply to 605 men out of 816 engaged in Shetland smacks in that year. Of these, 53 debtors in 1870 owed on the average £3, 8s. 93/4d each, and in 1871, 240 debtors owed £4, 6s. 91/4d. each. They had got altogether £8,177, 2s. 1d., or about £770 more than was due to them; and of that sum, £4, 146, 16s. 2d., or one half, was paid in truck. Tables V. and VI. are Tables I. and II. in a different form, showing more clearly the total debits and credits of the men. They also show how accurately, upon the whole, the returns have been made up. Certain discrepancies are shown by the figures in the column entitled 'Amount indebted in excess of statement.' These may be accounted for in various ways;-where the discrepancy is small, by trivial errors in making the returns; where it is greater, by the omission from the returns of transactions of a less usual character, sales of cloth, which were not supposed to be within the questions asked; and in the two cases where the difference is largest, it may be conjectured that the large amount of debt may have been reduced by drafts upon secret bank accounts or hoards, on sons at sea, or on the earnings of the female members of the debtors' families. These Tables show that from one third to one half of the fishermen are in debt to the curers each year at the time of settlement, after their fishing has been credited to them. It is not less true, as shown by the evidence, that during the rest of the year nearly the whole of them are in debt to the curers, because the goods and advances are debited to them as they get them, while the credit for fish only comes at the end of the year. TABLE I.--HOME FISHING--SEASON 1867. [Page 25] 1. No. of Fishermen employed 2. Amount of Goods debited to Fishermen 3. Cash advanced before Settlement 5. Gross Sum credited to Men for Fish 6. Gross Sum credited to them for Stock, etc. 7. Cash due to Fishermen at Settlement 8. Cash paid to them at Settlement. 9.1. No. of Fishermen indebted at Settlement of 1866 9.2. Total Debts. 10.1 No. of Fishermen indebted at Settlement of 1866 10.2. Total Debts. 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 A 191 £1114 17 11 £625 1 0 *B 79 576 18 9 79 19 11 C 48 349 18 81/4 118 12 31/2 D 46 164 8 2 54 10 7 *E 244 765 10 1 280 13 6 *F, 180 1006 5 1 537 6 5 G, 23 95 0 0 35 18 0 *H, 95 248 2 1 153 11 8 J, 52 428 14 111/2 120 0 91/2 K, 28 124 15 10 15 0 0 *L, 30 76 16 51/4 0 0 0 *M, 122 881 0 31/2 190 5 6 *N 189 480 7 11 617 1 5 O, 58 288 12 9 172 3 4 *P, 209 788 16 21/2 946 9 1‡ †Q, 31 149 5 91/2 79 15 6 R, 70 354 5 1 128 18 9 †S, 122 160 0 8 221 2 5 †T, 96 563 8 7 153 6 7 1913 £8617 5 31/2 £4529 16 9 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 A £367 1 5 £2594 2 81/2 £738 6 101/2 *B 88 10 9 769 18 01/2 31 0 93/4 C 51 15 0 338 14 1/4 92 4 9 D 69 16 9 292 8 1 43 4 4 *e 465 10 0 2233 10 10 0 0 0 *F, 126 0 0 863 10 10 213 13 0 G, 0 0 0§ 208 10 2 0 0 0 *H, 39 8 10 866 0 2 304 14 0 J, 162 13 3 415 8 101/2 114 12 81/2 K, 19 0 0 286 6 0 0 0 0 *L, 45 0 0 164 1 8 0 0 0 *M, 292 3 6 878 17 1 366 11 61/2 *N 331 1 4 1763 12 61/2 100 13 10 O, 0 0 0 650 4 1 0 0 0 *P, 0 0 0§ 2063 18 01/2 284 0 01/2 †Q, 12 9 7 174 5 11 50 4 91/2 R, 55 14 6 520 7 0 32 7 10 †S, 56 13 5 1054 6 111/2 0 0 0 †T, 59 17 9 861 11 8 91 8 0 £2242 16 1 £16,999 14 81/4 £2463 2 61/4 7 7 7 8 8 8 9.1 A £1077 1 11 £1444 7 1 114 *B 163 5 03/4 248 7 31/4 31 C 32 4 21/2 30 10 21/2 17 D 85 3 31/2 85 3 31/2 11 *e 834 6 3 834 6 3 25 *F, 0 0 0 0 0 0±¶ 118 G, 106 17 0 106 17 0 6 *H, 342 7 1 342 7 1 27 J, 34 11 41/2 28 10 0 29 K, 133 9 91/2 159 17 10 6 *L, 87 5 23/4 87 5 23/4 6 *M, 265 18 01/2 294 17 11/2 67 *N 484 4 11/2 479 8 1 22 O, 216 14 81/2 216 14 81/2 22 *P, 693 0 5 693 0 5 15 †Q, 21 17 9 21 17 9 6 R, 125 3 8 125 3 8 32 †S, 616 5 61/2 616 5 61/2 7 †T, 256 9 2 251 9 2 35 £5576 4 71/2 £6066 7 81/2 596 9.2 9.2 9.2 10.1 10.2 10.2 10.2 A £1160 8 8 143 £1379 5 7 *B 101 9 1/4 50 294 8 93/4 C 27 17 41/2 35 150 17 101/2 D 29 1 0 18 67 7 41/2 *e 59 11 9 72 172 1 9 *F, 783 0 0 141 948 18 3 G, 45 19 4 9 87 19 7 *H, 159 2 2 21 137 11 11 J, 220 11 7 38 401 12 31/2 K, 13 0 41/2 8 26 8 01/2 *L, 25 7 51/4 7 26 14 63/4 *M, 538 3 31/2 76 737 0 7 *N 74 18 0 27 122 15 81/2 O, 195 11 11 19 197 16 7 *P, 70 7 8 41 150 16 31/2 †Q, 9 16 4 16 48 14 31/2 R, 101 17 5 50 213 4 7 †S, 20 16 5 9 24 10 2 †T, 292 2 7 52 372 7 9 £3929 2 4 832 £5560 12 0 *See Note (*) on table II., Home Fishing, 1871. † This includes the Herring fishing. ‡ Includes $540, 9s. of Rents paid. § Included in No. 2. ± Although a few would have cash to get, yet the supplies to the whole exceeded their earnings by about £536, 7s. 8d. TABLE II.--HOME FISHING--SEASON 1871. [Page 26] 1. No. of Fishermen employed 2. Amount of Goods debited to Fishermen. 3. Cash advanced before Settlement. 4. Fishing Expenses charged to the Men. 5. Gross Sum credited to them for Fish. 6. Gross Sum credited to them for Stock, etc. 7. Cash due to them at Settlement. 8. Cash paid to them at Settlement 9.1 No. of Fishermen indebted at Settlement of 1870 9.2 Total Debts 10.1. No. of Fishermen indebted at Settlement of 1871 10.2. Total Debts 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 A 182 £911 19 5 £809 16 8 *B 79 406 8 1/4 137 15 41/2 *C 46 308 16 1 103 19 61/2 D 100 411 15 8 249 18 0 *E 260 634 0 6 251 0 4 *F, 144 735 2 2 640 3 1 G, 23 60 0 0 40 17 0 *H, 103 260 12 4 182 16 1 J, 60 279 11 61/2 110 17 101/2 K, 12 65 11 111/2 23 0 0 Q 142 479 17 4 371 11 5 *M, 147 1136 17 61/2 276 8 0 O, 36 108 6 5 55 0 6 *N 185 345 6 91/2 560 11 01/2 S 66 107 14 8 110 14 11/2 *L 30 100 9 11 1615 £6352 10 41/4 £3924 9 01/2 *†U, 150 1125 3 1 £658 5 21/2 *†T, 126 1042 10 11 356 2 6 *†P, 281 788 1 21/2 1048 19 111/2 2202 £9308 5 63/4 £5987 16 81/2 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 A £274 10 1 £3101 14 3 £859 6 2 *B 73 18 0 1090 6 1 14 10 91/2 *C 49 10 6 578 0 21/2 115 2 83/4 D 178 9 21/2 999 3 9 33 3 61/2 *E 540 10 11 3436 16 7 *F, 99 0 0 1330 1 7 335 12 0 G, ‡ 310 4 0 *H, 163 18 9 1151 11 4 197 3 11 J, 161 14 111/2 623 4 8 60 8 6 K, 6 0 0 102 19 6 Q 123 8 5 1124 10 5 35 11 6 *M, 459 12 31/2 1800 7 21/2 385 19 11/2 O, 337 15 3 *N 324 17 41/2 1780 3 4 79 9 11 S 73 1 111/2 625 6 3 *L 46 0 0 251 4 81/2 £2574 12 51/2 £18,643 9 11/2 £2116 8 21/4 *†U, £50 4 8 £1651 11 11/2 £417 16 6 *†T, 67 4 0 1880 10 11 183 6 5 *†P, 2729 8 71/2 412 1 21/2 £2692 1 11/2 £24,904 19 91/2 £3129 12 33/4 7 7 7 8 8 8 9.1 A £1555 13 6 £1842 8 4 105 *B 463 1 11/2 519 16 61/2 27 *C 160 9 31/2 176 0 8 30 D 252 16 6 252 16 6 34 *E 1983 8 2 1983 8 2 17 *F, 235 8 4 235 8 4 136 G, 174 8 8 174 8 8 10 *H, 376 14 8 376 14 8 25 J, 90 5 6 74 5 21/2 44 K, 15 16 11/2 5 Q 299 9 10 299 9 10 46 *M, 890 7 51/2 501 16 41/2 82 O, 219 13 7 219 13 7 13 *N 586 13 111/2 571 9 111/2 31 S 333 15 41/2 333 15 41/2 32 *L 150 14 91/4 150 14 91/4 7 £7773 0 83/4 £7728 3 11/4 644 *†U, £276 6 4 £245 6 4 *†T, 710 16 8 874 16 6 82 *†P, 1305 10 71/2 1305 10 71/2 48 £10,065 14 41/4 £10,153 16 63/4 774 9.2 9.2 9.2 10.1 10.2 10.2 10.2 A £961 16 2 133 £839 10 0 *B 120 1 23/4 35 164 15 9 *C 141 19 01/4 22 94 16 93/4 D 92 12 101/2 48 153 4 111/2 *E 36 17 2 9 9 0 6 *F, 1433 12 11 99 1215 4 4 G, 56 13 0 5 23 10 0 *H, 244 0 1 25 232 18 8 J, 524 3 101/2 37 452 9 11 K, 18 1 7 6 19 10 2 Q 146 4 11 68 260 10 0 *M, 858 7 51/2 65 657 17 21/2 O, 163 15 10 11 140 6 0 *N 125 9 3 23 88 3 2 S 52 11 101/2 21 48 6 11/2 *L 50 11 103/4 7 36 17 71/4 £5026 19 13/4 614 £4437 1 21/2 *†U, £561 16 4 606 18 11/2 *†T, 433 18 9 68 710 5 10 *†P, 274 0 10 44 275 2 91/2 £6296 15 03/4 726 £6037 7 111/2 *In the Returns made by those marked (*), rents payable by men to them are included in the cash payments, except those of H. † The Returns by U, T., and P are for the year 1870. ‡ This in included in No. 2. NOTES BY P. TO HIS ANSWERS 1870. --281. This includes 84 men engaged by me for the herring fishing, which on only begins on the 12th August. These men fish to other curers at the ling-fishing during the summer, and only] come to me for the herring fishing. They get no goods from me, nor cash advances, but receive the gross value of their fish in one payment when the fishing is over. .--£788, 1s. 21/2d. This represents the gross amount of the store accounts charged, and includes (the answer to question No. 4) all fishing expenses, and in some cases may included small advances in cash. .--£1048, 19s. 111/2d. This answer includes rent paid for the men, and should be-- Cash advanced ....... £481 11 7 Rents paid, ............. 567 8 41/2 £1048 19 111/2 --£2729, 8s. 71/2d. This sum includes £432 due for herrings to the 84 men mentioned in note on answer No. 1. --£412, 1s. 21/2d. This includes the sum of £21, 5s. 61/2d. received from fishermen at settlement. --All sums to the fishermen were at settlement. .--This includes £432 paid to the 84 men mentioned in note on answer No. 1 for herrings. TABLE III.--FAROE FISHING--SEASON 1867. [Page 27] 1. No. of Fishermen employed 2. Amount of Goods debited to Fishermen. 3. Cash advanced before Settlement. 4. Fishing Expenses charged to the Men. 5. Gross Sum credited to Men for Fish. 6. Gross Sum credited to them for Stock, etc. 7. Cash due to Fishermen at Settlement. 8. Cash paid to them at Settlement. 9.1. No. of Fishermen indebted at Settlement of 1866. 9.2. Total Debts 10.1. No. of Fishermen indebted at Settlement of 1867. 10.2. Total Debts 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 A, 47 £234 15 5.5 £141 6 0 B, 71 323 3 6.5 221 9 61/2 C, 41 221 11 0 196 18 11 D, 91 839 15 9.5 451 13 9 E, 11 20 10 9.5 13 15 0 F, 148 481 18 1.5 432 6 12 G, 31 122 0 3 80 8 2 H, 69 362 3 4 229 19 2 509 £2605 18 31/2 £1767 17 6 †J 28 163 10 11 51 7 2 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 A, £46 17 9 £656 5 9 £0 0 0 B, 32 16 6.5 901 14 91/2 0 0 0 C, 42 5 7 457 16 0 98 11 8 D, 0 0 0* 1696 1 1 0 0 0 E, 16 12 7 98 5 91/2 2 18 9 F, 331 14 6 1667 8 4 44 12 7 G, 14 13 6 312 5 11 0 0 0 H, 29 16 0 828 15 10 0 0 0 £514 16 51/2 £6618 13 6 £146 3 0 †J £14 14 11 171 0 0 42 6 9 7 7 7 8 8 8 9.1 A, £183 15 01/2 £183 15 01/2 20 B, 294 11 11/2 294 11 11/2 31 C, 88 7 6 89 7 6 17 D, 478 4 11 478 4 11 55 E, 50 19 21/2 50 19 21/2 1 F, 443 11 9 373 9 01/2 34 G, 99 8 31/2 99 8 31/2 3 H, 265 10 11 265 10 11 58 £1904 8 9 £1835 6 01/2 219 †J 0 19 1 0 19 1 25 9.2 9.2 9.2 10.1 10.2 10.2 10.2 A, £81 5 81/2 8 £31 14 2 B, 164 1 101/2 23 134 7 10 C, 60 12 11 15 54 8 3 D, 307 0 4 22 141 16 01/2 E, 0 16 2 1 1 9 6 F, 164 0 2 26 133 13 91/2 G, 10 7 7 9 14 6 10 H, 232 1 4 21 58 13 7 £1020 6 1 125 £570 10 0 †J 86 5 5 28 137 7 41/2 *Under this head no fishing expenses were charged against the men's accounts. The only fishing expenses were bait, and curing of fish, which were deducted from the gross amount before division, as agreed upon. † This Return in for 1866. In 1866 there was a remarkably 'lean' Fishing. TABLE IV.--FAROE FISHING--SEASON 1871. [Page 28] 1. No. of Fishermen employed 2. Amount of Goods debited to Fishermen. 3. Cash advanced before Settlement. 4. Fishing Expenses charged to the Men. 5. Gross Sum credited to Men for Fish. 6. Gross Sum credited to them for Stock, etc. 7. Cash paid to them at Settlement. 8. Cash paid to them at Settlement. 9.1. Total Debts 9.2. No. of Fishermen indebted at Settlement of 1870. 10.1. Total Debts 10.2. No. of Fishermen indebted at Settlement of 1871. 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 F, 139 £563 5 6 £618 6 11 A, 51 205 0 81/2 123 12 6 C, 57 358 2 2 284 11 2 D, 85 774 13 2 467 1 9 H, 125 775 14 11 216 5 1 J, 13 85 10 3 24 19 6 E, 23 104 18 91/2 94 14 10 G, 47 266 18 1 111 17 10 †B, 65 249 19 3 203 18 21/2 605 £3384 2 10 £2145 7 91/2 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 F, £556 0 4 £2093 2 9 £32 6 0 A, 26 4 31/2 331 5 1 0 0 0 C, 51 3 6 150 4 6 647 0 2 D, 0 0 0 1810 12 7 0 0 0 H, 45 19 1 942 0 0 0 0 0 J, 9 12 0 39 17 1 4 9 71/2 E, 14 2 1 204 6 31/4 33 0 3 G, 28 18 10 545 10 3 0 0 0 †B, 30 13 21/2 572 6 4 ... ... ... £762 13 4 £6689 4 101/4 £716 16 1/2 7 7 7 8 8 8 9.1 F, £473 16 2 £375 12 3 21 A, 69 19 6 69 19 6 2 C, 168 14 21/2 172 10 61/2 13 D, 589 9 10 589 9 10 7 H, 253 1 2 253 1 2 4 J, 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 E, 49 1 10 48 17 111/2 2 G, 166 19 41/2 165 5 9 0 †B, 210 1 11/2 210 1 11/2 1 £1981 3 21/2 £1984 18 11/2 53 9.2 9.2 9.2 10.1 10.2 10.2 10.2 F, £83 1 11 31 £174 19 9* A, 0 11 6 26 94 3 51/2 C, 59 2 7 28 128 5 3 D, 19 2 91/2 19 35 0 10 H, 10 4 0 65 349 0 3 J, 1 19 0 13 72 0 61/2 E, 5 5 111/2 10 33 11 53/4 G, 0 0 0 14 29 3 111/2 †B, 2 18 6 34 125 3 111/2 £182 6 3 240 £1041 9 53/4 * Of this sum, £174, 19s, 9d., there was due by 13 men, the crew of one unsuccessful vessel, £105, 14s. 4d. The fishery of 1871 was comparatively a failure, and left many of the men in debt; while the previous year was very good, and the men were nearly all clear. † Excluding the crew of one smack, the crew of which had not been settled with. TABLE V.--HOME FISHING--SEASON 1867. [Page 29] No. of Fishermen in Debt at Settlement of 1866, and Amount of Debts. 1.1. No. 1.2. Amount. 2. Fishing Expenses Charged to the Men. 3. Goods charged to the Men. CASH. 4.1. Advanced to the Men before Settlement 4.2. Paid to them at Settlement. 5. Total Debits to Fishermen. Gross Sums credited to the Men. 6.1. For Fish. 6.2. For Stock. 7. Total Credits to Fishermen. No. of Fishermen in Debt at Settlement of 1867, and Amount Indebted. 8.1. No. 8.2. Amount. 8.3. Amount as per Statement. 8.4. Amount indebted in excess of Statement 9. No. of men engaged during the Year. 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 2 2 2 A, 114 £1160 8 8 £367 1 5 B, 31 101 9 01/4 88 10 9 C, 17 27 17 4.5 51 15 0 D, 11 29 1 0 69 16 9 E, 25 59 11 9 465 10 0 F, 118 783 0 0 126 0 0 G, 6 45 19 4 H, 27 159 2 2 39 8 10 I, 29 £220 11 7 162 13 3 K, 6 £13 0 41/2 19 0 0 L, 6 25 7 51/4 45 0 0 M, 67 538 3 31/2 292 3 6 N, 22 74 18 0 331 1 4 O, 22 195 11 11 P, 15 70 7 8 Q, 6 9 16 4 12 9 7 R, 32 101 17 5 55 14 6 S, 7 20 16 5 56 13 5 T, 35 292 2 7 59 17 9 596 £3939 2 4 £2242 16 1 3 3 3 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.2 4.2 4.2 A, £1114 17 11 625 1 0 1444 7 1 B, 576 18 9 79 19 11 248 7 31/4 C, 339 18 81/4 118 12 31/2 30 10 21/2 D, 164 8 2 54 10 7 85 3 31/2 E, 765 10 1 280 13 6 834 6 3 F, 1006 5 1 537 6 5 G, 95 0 0 35 18 8 106 17 0 H, 248 2 1 153 11 8 342 7 1 I, 428 14 111/2 120 0 91/2 28 10 0 K, 124 15 10 15 0 0 159 17 10 L, 76 16 51/4 87 5 23/4 M, 881 0 31/2 190 5 6 294 17 11/2 N, 480 7 11 617 1 5 479 8 1 O, 288 12 9 172 3 4 216 14 81/2 P, 788 16 21/2 946 9 1 693 0 5 Q, 149 5 91/2 79 15 6 21 17 9 R, 354 5 1 128 18 9 125 3 8 S, 160 0 8 221 2 5 616 5 61/2 T, 563 8 7 153 6 7 351 9 2 £8617 5 31/2 £4529 16 9 £6066 7 81/2 5 5 5 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.2 6.2 6.2 A, £4711 16 1 £2594 2 81/2 £738 6 101/2 B, 1095 5 81/2 769 18 01/2 31 0 93/4 C, 578 13 63/4 338 14 01/4 92 4 9 D, 402 19 91/2 292 8 1 43 4 4 E, 2405 11 7 2233 10 10 F, 2452 11 6 863 10 10 213 13 0 G, 283 14 4 208 10 2 H, 942 11 10 866 0 2 304 14 0 I, 960 10 7 415 8 101/2 114 12 81/2 K, 331 14 01/2 286 6 0 L, 234 9 11/4 164 1 8 M, 2196 9 81/2 878 17 1 366 11 61/2 N, 1982 16 9 1763 12 61/2 100 13 10 O, 873 2 81/2 650 4 1 P, 2498 13 41/2 2063 18 01/2 284 0 01/2 Q, 273 4 111/2 174 5 11 50 4 91/2 R, 765 19 5 520 7 0 32 7 10 S, 1074 18 51/2 1054 6 111/2 T, 1320 4 8 861 11 8 91 8 0 £25385 8 2 £16999 14 81/4 £2463 2 61/4 7 7 7 8.1 8.2 8.2 8.2 A, £3332 9 7 143 £1379 6 6 B, 800 18 101/4 50 294 6 101/4 C, 430 18 91/4 35 147 14 91/2 D, 335 12 5 18 67 7 41/2 E, 2233 10 10 72 172 0 0 F, 1077 3 10 141 1375 7 8 G, 208 10 2 9 75 4 2 H, 1170 14 2 21 <228 2 4> I, 530 1 7 38 430 9 0 K, 286 6 0 8 45 8 01/2 L, 164 1 8 7 70 7 51/4 M, 1245 8 71/2 76 951 1 1 N, 1864 6 41/2 27 118 10 41/2 O, 650 4 1 19 222 18 71/2 P, 2347 18 1 41 150 15 31/2 Q, 224 10 81/2 16 48 14 3 R, 552 14 10 50 213 4 7 S, 1054 6 111/2 9 20 11 6 T, 952 19 8 52 367 5 0 £19462 18 21/2 832 £5922 10 111/2 8.3 8.3 8.3 8.4 8.4 8.4 9 A, £1379 5 7 £0 0 11 191 B, 294 8 93/4 <0 1 111/2> 79 C, 150 17 101/2 <3 3 1> 48 D, 67 7 41/2 46 E, 172 1 9 <0 1 0> 244 F, 948 18 3 426 9 5 180 G, 87 19 7 <12 15 5> 23 H, 137 11 11 <365 14 3> 95 I, 401 12 31/2 28 16 81/2 52 K, 26 8 01/2 19 0 0 28 L, 26 14 63/4 43 12 101/2 30 M, 737 0 7 214 0 6 122 N, 122 15 81/2 <4 5 4> 189 O, 197 16 7 25 2 01/2 58 P, 150 16 31/2 <0 1 0> 209 Q, 48 14 31/2 <0 0 01/2> 31 R, 213 4 7 70 S, 24 10 2 <3 18 8> 122 T, 372 7 9 <5 2 9> 96 £5560 12 0 361 18 111/2 1913 *Where the amount is less than the Statement, the figures are noted in italics, and effect is given to these sums in the addition. TABLE VI.--HOME FISHING--SEASON 1871. [Page 30] No. of Fishermen in Debt at Settlement of 1870, and Amount of Debts. 1.1. No. 1.2. Amount. 2. Fishing Expenses Charged to the Men. 3. Goods charged to the Men. CASH. 4.1. Advanced to the Men before Settlement. 4.2. Paid to them at Settlement. 5. Total Debits to Fishermen. Gross Sums credited to the Men. 6.1. For Fish. 6.2. For Stock. 7. Total Credits to Fishermen. No. of Fishermen in Debt at Settlement of 1871, and Amount Indebted. 8.1. No. 8.2. Amount to Balance. 8.3. Amount as per Statement. 8.4. Amount indebted in excess of Statement 9. No. of men engaged during the Year. 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.2 2 2 2 A, 105 £961 16 2 £274 10 1 B, 27 120 1 23/4 73 18 0 C, 30 141 19 01/4 49 10 6 D, 34 92 12 101/2 178 9 21/2 E, 17 36 17 2 540 10 11 F, 136 1433 12 11 99 0 0 G, 10 56 13 0 H, 25 244 0 1 163 18 9 I, 44 524 3 101/2 161 14 12 K, 5 18 1 7 6 0 0 R, 46 146 4 11 123 8 5 M, 82 858 7 51/2 459 12 31/2 O, 13 163 15 10 N, 31 125 9 3 324 17 41/2 S, 32 52 11 101/2 73 1 12 L, 7 50 11 103/4 46 0 0 644 £5026 19 13/4 £2574 12 51/2 U, £561 16 4 £50 4 8 T, 82 433 18 9 67 4 0 P, 48 274 0 10 774 £6296 15 03/4 £2692 1 11/2 3 3 3 4.1 4.1 4.1 4.2 4.2 4.2 A, £911 19 5 £809 16 8 £1842 8 4 B, 406 8 01/4 137 15 41/2 519 16 61/2 C, 308 16 1 103 19 61/2 176 0 8 D, 411 15 8 249 18 0 252 16 6 E, 634 0 6 251 0 4 1983 8 2 F, 735 2 2 640 3 1 235 8 4 G, 60 0 0 40 17 0 174 8 8 H, 260 12 4 182 16 1 376 14 8 I, 279 11 61/2 110 17 101/2 74 5 21/2 K, 65 11 111/2 23 0 0 15 16 11/2 R, 479 17 4 371 11 5 299 9 10 M, 1136 17 61/2 276 8 0 501 16 41/2 O, 108 6 5 55 0 6 219 13 7 N, 345 6 91/2 560 11 01/2 571 9 111/2 S, 107 14 8 110 14 11/2 333 15 41/2 L, 100 9 11 150 14 91/4 £6352 10 41/4 £3924 9 01/2 £7728 3 11/4 U, £1125 3 1 £658 5 21/2 £245 6 4 T, 1042 10 11 356 2 6 874 16 6 P, 788 1 21/2 1048 19 111/2 1305 10 71/2 £9308 5 63/4 £5987 16 81/2 £10153 16 63/4 5 5 5 6.1 6.1 6.1 6.2 6.2 6.2 A, £4800 10 8 £3101 14 3 £859 6 2 B, 1257 19 2 £1090 6 1 14 10 91/2 C, £780 5 93/4 578 0 21/2 115 2 83/4 D, 1185 12 3 999 3 9 33 3 61/2 E, 3445 17 1 3436 16 7 F, 3143 6 6 1330 1 7 335 12 0 G, 331 18 8 310 4 0 H, 1228 1 11 1151 11 4 197 3 11 I, 1150 13 51/2 623 4 8 60 8 6 K, 128 9 8 102 19 6 R, 1420 11 11 1124 10 5 35 11 6 M, 3233 1 8 1800 7 21/2 385 19 11/2 O, 546 16 4 337 15 3 N, 1927 14 5 1780 3 4 79 9 11 S, 677 18 0 625 6 3 L, 347 16 7 251 4 81/2 £25606 14 13/4 £18643 9 11/2 £2116 8 21/4 U, £2640 15 71/2 £1651 11 11/2 £417 16 6 T, 2774 12 8 1880 10 11 183 6 5 P, 3416 12 71/2 2729 8 71/2 412 1 21/2 £34438 15 01/4 £24904 19 91/2 £3129 12 33/4 7 7 7 8.1 8.2 8.2 8.2 A, £3961 0 5 133 £839 10 3 B, 1104 16 101/2 £35 153 2 £4 C, 693 2 111/4 22 87 2 101/2 D, 1032 7 31/2 48 153 4 111/2 E, 3436 16 7 9 9 0 6 F, 1665 13 7 99 1477 12 11 G, 310 4 0 5 21 14 8 H, 1348 15 3 25 <120 13 4> I, 683 13 2 37 467 0 31/2 K, 102 19 6 6 25 10 2 R, 1160 1 11 68 260 10 0 M, 2186 6 4 65 1046 15 4 O, 337 15 3 11 209 1 1 N, 1859 13 3 23 68 1 2 S, 625 6 3 21 52 11 9 L, 251 4 81/2 17 96 11 101/2 £20759 17 33/4 624 £4846 16 91/2 U, £2069 7 71/2 £571 8 0 T, 2063 17 4 68 710 15 4 P, 3141 9 10 44 275 2 91/2 £28034 12 11/4 736 £6404 2 11 8.3 8.3 8.3 8.4 8.4 8.4 9 A, £839 10 0 £0 0 3 217 B, 164 15 £9 <11 13 51/2> 79 C, 94 16 93/4 <7 13 111/4> 46 D, 153 4 111/2 100 E, 9 0 6 260 F, 1215 4 4 262 8 7 144 G, 23 10 0 <1 15 4> 23 H, 232 18 8 <353 12 0> 103 I, 452 9 11 14 10 41/2 60 K, 19 10 2 6 0 0 12 R, 260 10 0 142 M, 657 17 21/2 388 18 11/2 147 O, 140 6 0 68 15 1 36 N, 88 3 2 <20 2 0> 185 S, 48 6 11/2 4 5 71/2 66 L, 36 17 71/4 59 14 31/4 30 £4437 1 21/2 £409 15 £7 1650 U, £606 18 11/2 <35 10 11/2> 150 T, 710 5 10 0 9 6 126 P, 275 2 91/2 281 £6029 7 111/2 £374 14 111/2 2207 *Where the amount is less than the Statement, the figures are noted in italics, and effect is given to these sums in the addition. _______________________________ [Page 31] PRICES AT THE SHOPS OF FISH-CURERS. Of an inquiry regarding the existence and effects of Truck, the quality and prices of the goods furnished by the employer in lieu of money forms a necessary part. In Lerwick, as might be expected, competition, and the greater facility of communication with other places, have kept the prices of the necessaries of life at a moderate figure. No complaints were made as to prices there, and it was thought unnecessary to make a minute investigation. Evidence was taken, however, for the purpose of comparing the prices of meal and flour as sold in Lerwick with those charged at the fish-curers' shops in the country districts. It is a fact of some significance, that few persons above the condition of peasants purchase supplies for family use from the shops in Shetland. Provisions and groceries, as well as clothing are to a large extent imported by private individuals from Aberdeen, Leith, and Edinburgh. The Rev. Mr. Sutherland says that he gets his goods twice a year from the south, and does not deal with any local shop, unless he happens to be out of a particular article; and that, so far as he knows, it is common for clergymen and others in the same position to get their supplies from the south: '7570. Why is that done?-I cannot afford to buy articles here; they are too dear for me. My stipend would not afford to pay for them.' '7571. Do you know if the same reason operates in the case of your fellow clergymen?-I don't know; but they have often spoken about it. In the first place, I hold the goods to be, as might be expected, inferior in quality to the goods I would like. I don't blame the merchants for not having goods of better quality, because their customers perhaps would not be in the way of buying them; but I could not afford to buy from the merchants here, in consequence of the tremendous percentage which they charge upon their goods.' [C. Robertson, 15,017; J. Robertson, sen., 14,072.] Statements to the same effect are made by the Rev. D. Miller, United Presbyterian minister at Mossbank, and the Rev. W. Smith, minister of Unst. [6001; 10,714.] Many witnesses complained that prices are higher at the 'shops' than at Lerwick. Thus the leading witness from Dunrossness said that oatmeal at Mr. Bruce's shop at Grutness was 4s. a boll (140 lbs.), or 8s. per sack or quarter, above its price in Lerwick. [L. Mail, 568.] GRUTNESS The prices charged here are much too high; and this arises not merely from the want of the check of competition, as regards the men thirled to the shop by want of money to deal elsewhere, but also from the very peculiar way in which the prices are fixed. This may possibly be explained by the fact that neither Mr. Bruce nor his shopkeeper have been properly trained to the business of the shop, which has been taken up as an appendage of the fish trade. Gilbert Irvine, the shopkeeper, was unable to give any very clear explanation of the way in which the price of meal at Grutness is fixed, and why the men never knew the price of it until the settlement. [G. Irvine, 13,173.] But Mr. Bruce says: '13,306. In what way do you fix the average price of meal for the year?--We take what other people are charging in Lerwick and elsewhere; and after considering the quality of the meal, and our extra expense upon it, we charge what we think it can reasonably bring, without any regard to the cost price of it.' '13,307. Do you not take the cost price into consideration at all?- Of course it is an element, but not the principal element, in fixing the price.' This loose method of proceeding may account for the complaints of the price made by all the men, who were quite satisfied with the quality. No man deals at the store at Grutness who can possibly get money to buy his goods elsewhere, and Mr. Bruce himself speaks of the shop as a necessity for the fishing, and not a source of profit in itself. The price of meal was ascertained by William Goudie to be at least 3s. per boll above, the price elsewhere. There is also at Grutness an ambiguity about weight -pecks being sold by 'lispund weight,' 4 to 32 lbs., instead of boll weight, 4 to 35 lbs. = quarter boll. The price of oatmeal for the whole of 1870 was 22s. at Grutness, which was the highest price it attained in Lerwick for a very short time after the breaking out of the French war. During by far the greater part of the year, it varied at Lerwick from 17s. 3d. to 19s. It is instructive to compare the price at Grutness with a note of the prices charged by Mr. Gavin Henderson at Scousbrough, three miles distant, where no fishermen are bound to the shopkeeper or engaged by him. This note (p. 319 of Evidence) brings out an average of 18s. 3d. per boll on all Mr. Henderson's sales for that year. Comparison of Mr. Henderson's note of prices for that year with Mr. Charles Robertson's (p. 378), shows that a merchant carrying on business twenty miles from Lerwick can sell his meal as cheaply as merchants there are in the practice of doing. Mr. Bruce's own invoices show that his meal for the season 1870 was purchased at an average price of 16s. 8d. per boll, and that out of the whole supply of 171 bolls, all but 25 bolls was bought at 16s. 3d. and under. The freight from Aberdeen to Grutness he states to be 1s. 5d. per boll. Thus 16s. 8d. +1s. 5d. = 18s. 1d., leaving 3s. 11d. for profit and risk, or about 22 per cent. But Mr. Bruce explains that, as his shop is not conducted on purely commercial principles, but as an auxiliary to the fishing, this is all required to cover expenses of management. It is nevertheless very expensive for the retail purchasers. 2 lb. lines at Grutness are sold for 2s. 2d.; at Mr. Henderson's, for 2s. Tea, of which Shetlanders consume a large quantity, and of which they are said to be good judges, is said by one witness to be from 4d. to 8d. dearer per lb. at Boddam, where there is a shop of Mr. Bruce's, than at Lerwick or Gavin Henderson's, a shop in the neighbourhood; cotton to be 2d. a yard dearer, and tobacco 1d. or 2d. a quarter lb. The evidence of Mr. Charles Fleming shows that some cotton stuffs, pieces of which were obtained at the shop at Grutness, and which were said by Mr. Irvine to be sold at 41/2d., 8d., and 1s. a yard respectively, were worth in retail very much less than these prices. [J. Bruce, jun., H. Mailand, 4858; W. Goudie, 4317; G. Irvine, 13, 259; J. Brown, 5300; H. Gilbertson, 4551; C. Robertson, 15,040; J. Robertson, sen., 14,587; T. Aitken, 4833; G. Irvine, 13,224; J. Bruce, jun., 13, 319; G. Irvine, 13,291; R. Henderson, 12,877; R. Halcrow, 4663; C. Fleming, 17,042; G. Irvine, 13,200.] QUENDALE The general import of the evidence as to Mr. Grierson's shop at Quendale is that the prices are not so high as at Grutness, but higher (2s. or 3s per boll for meal than those at Gavin Henderson's at Scousborough and even than those at Messrs. Hay & Co.'s at Dunrossness. Here the prices of fishing lines are-2 lb., 2s. 3d.; 21/2 lb., 2s. 6d; 13/4 lb., 2s.; 11/2 lb., 1s. 9d. At Gavin Henderson's, 2 lb., 2s.; 21/4lb., 2s. 3d. [J. Flawes, 4978; C. Eunson, 5067; G. Goudie, 13,392; R. Henderson, 12,877.] MOSSBANK The difference between prices at Mossbank and Lerwick has been not less than 4s. or 4s. 6d. per boll, although Mr. Pole (5962) says that in general the difference is from 1s. 6d. to 2s. per boll. The difference between Mossbank prices for meal and the shop of Magnus Johnston at Tofts, a mile distant, is said by Johnston to be a penny a peck, or 1s. 5d. per boll. At the shop of the same firm at Greenbank, in North Yell, the price of meal was 5s. 8d. per lispund (32 lbs.) in the summer of 1871- about 24s. 6d. per boll, while in Lerwick it ranged at 21s. 6d. Similar differences exist there as regards other articles, such as tea and sugar. [J. Henderson, 5514; J. Nicholson, 8738; M. Johnston, 7897; J.L. Pole, 9396, J. Nicholson, 8736.] HAY & CO.'S SHOPS From Burra, Whalsay, and the other establishments of Messrs. Hay & Co., no complaints as to prices were made. Some of their stations are so near Lerwick that they must sell as low as possible, in order to secure the custom of the men. It is said that at Fetlar, one of their most remote stations, the goods are as cheap and good as at Lerwick. The books kept at Fetlar show sales of meal in July last at 23s., in August at 22s. 8d., and in September at 21s.; while in these months the prices in Lerwick were-July, 21s. 6d.; August, 21s.; September, 21s. In Fetlar, Messrs. Hay & Co. have the only large shop. At North Roe (Hay & Co.), the most remote shop on the mainland, the price of meal per boll, at the beginning of the fishing season of 1871, was only 6d. or 1s. higher than at Lerwick at the same date, according as the purchase spoken to by a witness was made in April or May. It seems to be a fair conclusion from the evidence that this firm does not, as a rule, charge high prices. No complaint has been made with respect to quality. [W. Irvine, 3715; Catherine Petrie, 1458; G. Gaunson, 8887; J. Garriock, 8766; A. Ratter, 7400; C. Robertson, 15,040; T. Aitken, 4836.] VOE The establishment of Mr. Adie at Voe (Olnafirth) is one of the largest in Shetland. No specimens were obtained from it for examination; but the oral evidence as to the provisions sold there may be briefly referred to. Mr. Adie himself admits that the cost of carriage necessarily enhances prices at Voe, and that meal is therefore generally 2s. per boll dearer than at Lerwick. A witness who lately went to live there, however, paid 1s. 5d. per peck for meal which he would have got in Lerwick for 1s. 2d., or five months ago for 1s. 3d. This is a difference not of 2s., but of 4s. per boll; and although the witness Gilbert Scollay impressed me unfavourably by the manner of his evidence, there is much to corroborate his statement with regard to his dealings with the shop at Voe. He says that - 'Ultimately I wrote to the meal dealers in the south, and I found that there was a difference of 10s. on the sack of meal; that, upon 12 sacks, would have been a saving of £6 alone.' [T.M. Adie, 5699; R. Mouat, 4240; C. Robertson, 15,040.] Of course 2s. 6d., or in winter, according to Mr. Adie, 5s. per sack, must be deducted from this difference for freight. Again, on April 21, 1868, meal being 26s. 6d. per boll see or 1s. 7d. per peck, was sold at Voe at 1s. 9d. per peck. [See G. Scollay, 14,975; C. Robertson, 15,040.] R. MOUAT'S SHOP The worst accounts are given of the meal kept at the shop of Robert Mouat, Sandwick, formerly referred to. Henry Sinclair says that 'the greater part of it was fit for nothing but the pigs.' What he called his second flour, says another witness, 'was of such a quality that it could not be eaten by human beings;' but,' he adds, 'it had to be eaten for the support of life while it existed.' [5330; M. Malcolmson, 3013, 3014; W. Manson, 3039; T. Williamson, 9470; J. Robertson, jun., 15,186.] BURRAVOE Gilbert Robertson, a boatskipper and an elder of the kirk, gets his supplies in Lerwick, because he found flour to be 2s. per sack, and meal 3s. or 4s. a sack, cheaper than Burravoe, a place to which there has for some years been steam communication from Lerwick twice a week. [9320] UNST In Unst a witness got meal from Spence & Co., at the date of the sitting there, at 1s. 5d. per peck, or as nearly as possible 24s. 11/2d. per boll, allowing 1/2d. a peck for loss in weighing; the price in Lerwick being 19s. 6d. per boll, or 131/2d. a peck. During almost the whole of the previous year the same price was charged there, though it was sometimes 1s. 4d.; and 1s. 4d. was the price of the same meal at Isbister's adjacent shop. The books kept at Balta Sound show that meal was being sold at 5s. 8d. and 5s, 9d. per lispund, or above 24s. per boll, in October 1871, while the price in Lerwick in that month was 19s. 6d. per boll. An opinion is expressed by the registrar of the parish Unst, that the 2s. 6d. tea he gets in Lerwick is 'much about the same as the 3s. tea which he gets from Spence & Co. at Balta Sound. But a favourable report upon Spence & Co.'s 3s. tea sold to me is afterwards referred to. [Janet Robertson, 9812; C, Robertson, 15,042; J. Laurenson, 9843, 9905; W. G. Mouat, 10,254; C. Robertson, 15,040; P. Johnson, 10,227.] SKERRIES At Skerries, where Mr. Adie has the shop, and is tacksman of the islands, meal is said to be charged 7s. a sack higher than it is in Lerwick; and an instance is given in which 6s. a sack was paid for it, while it could have been had from any merchant in Lerwick for 50s. or 51s. In January of the present year the price was 1s, 4d. per peck, or 23s. per per boll, at Skerries, being 19s. 6d., or 1s. 11/2d. per peck, at Lerwick. A similar difference existed in spring 1871. All articles at Skerries are stated to be over-priced, such as soap, soda, and sugar, which can be got much cheaper even at Whalsay, where Hay & Co. have a shop. On soda the overcharge is said to be 50 per cent. [T. Hutchison, 12,658; J. Robertson, sen., 14,569; P. Henderson, 12,756; D. Anderson, 12,795; A. Humphrey, 12,826; T. Hutchison, 12,685.] VIDLIN Although Mr. Robertson carries on an extensive trade in meal at Lerwick, and there sells at town prices, his shopkeeper at Vidlin, in Lunnasting, charges about the ordinary prices of the country shops. A pass-book produced by a witness shows meal charged at 22s. 8d. and 22s. in September 1870, when the Lerwick price was 19s. The difference, however, does not appear to be so great here as at some other places. Thus in February 1870 meal was 1s. 11/2 d. per peck, being 1s. per peck at Lerwick. In June 1871 overhead flour was sold at Voe at 1s. 3d. per peck; the price at Lerwick being 16s. 6d. per boll, or 1s. per peck, or for the finer quality of overhead flour, about 1s. 11/2 d. per peck. [L. Simpson, 13,884; G. Scollay, 15,013; C. Robertson, 15,032; G. Scollay, 15,010; 15,012; C. Robertson, 15,037, 15,043.] YELL, OLLABERRY, ETC Prices charged by some other merchants may be mentioned at random. Laurence Williamson, Mid Yell, sold meal in August 1871 at 3s. per 1/2 lispund, or about 25s. per boll, the Lerwick price being then 21s. At Ollaberry shop (Anderson & Co.) 21/4 lines are charged 2s. 3d. cash, and 2s. 6d. if marked down, while they are got by a witness direct from Glasgow 'for 1s. 11d., including freight and everything.' In 1871 men fishing for William Jack Williamson at Ulsta, South Yell, paid 1s. 3d. for flour, while there was as good at Messrs. Hay's at Feideland, a remote fishing station, for 1s. 1d. Paraffin oil in Unst was retailed in January at the rate of 2s. 6d. per gallon, being purchased at 1s. 5d. [L. Williamson, 9068; A. Johnson, 14,933, G. Gilbertson, 9583.] These are but a few instances of the statements of witnesses with regard to the prices and qualities of goods. They appear to show that the truck system of Shetland resembles the truck of the English and Scotch mining and manufacturing districts in enhancing the prices of goods to the purchasers. This is the natural result of a system in which the purchaser has no option as to the dealer to whom he goes for necessary supplies; but it must also be remembered that in retail trade in rural districts custom has a powerful effect in fixing prices, and that even if truck did not exist, prices in so remote a region would be somewhat above the level of Aberdeen or Wick. I conclude this part of the subject by referring to the evidence of Mr. James Lewis, an extensive and experienced merchant in Edinburgh, as to the price and quality of certain samples of goods submitted to him. The goods were purchased at the shops of Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co., Mossbank, by a person employed by me, and that of Mr. Morgan Laurenson, Lochend, Northmaven, by Charlotte Johnson, for her own use; and at Messrs. Spence & Co.'s shop at Uyea Sound, by myself. [A.T. Jamieson, 7945; C. Johnson, 15,811.] MOSSBANK The four articles first spoken to by Mr. Lewis were got at Mossbank. The meal was of very inferior quality, not saleable in the Canongate of Edinburgh; and though bought at 1s. 5d. a peck = £1, 4s. 6d. per boll, is valued at 20s. This corresponds exactly with the Shetland evidence as to value. Tea bought at 2s. 10d. is valued at 2s. 4d. as the retail price in Edinburgh, which gives 211/2 per cent. to cover carriage, risk, and profit. A tea bought at Mossbank at 2s. 4d. is of the same value as the 2s. 10d. tea, though somewhat different 'in style.' Sugar obtained at Mossbank at 6d. per lb. is worth 41/2d. in retail in Canongate, so that the merchant in Shetland takes 33 per cent. to cover carriage and profit. [J. Lewis, 16,816.] UYEASOUND. Tea bought at 2s. 8d. is valued at 2s. 6d. here; and Mr. Lewis thinks 2s. 10d. would be a fair value for it in Shetland, being a good tea, and carrying, according to the practice of the trade, a larger profit. Sugar bought at 5d. is valued at 41/2d. LOCHEND. Tea, for which the witness paid 4s. 4d., is valued at 3s., and though by far the best of the teas examined, was much over-priced. Loaf-sugar at 10d. should have cost only 6d., and would be too dear at 8d. even in Shetland. Flour bought at 2d. per lb. is not fit for use, and is not flour at all in the opinion of the reporter. Rice at 31/2d. per lb. is fairish; would sell at 21/2d. in Canongate, and might fairly be sold at 3d. in Shetland. Soap bought at 6d. per lb. was worth 4d., so far as Mr. Lewis could judge of it in a dry state. Tobacco sold at Grutness at 4d. per oz., and another sample sold at Gavin Henderson's, Dunrossness, at 4d. per oz., are both valued at 4s. per lb., or 3d. per oz. Throughout the islands the prices charged to the men in account are the same, with few exceptions, as those charged to the purchaser for cash. Mr. Adie gives a discount where the amount purchased is worth discounting, but he also usually gives a discount of 5 per cent. upon his men's accounts. In Unst a lower price seems to be charged where cash is paid. [W. Irvine, 3625; A. Tulloch, 5446; J.L. Pole, 9440, 9448; W. Robertson, 11,111, 13,635; W.B.M. Harrison, 15,726; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,295; T.M. Adie, 5636; J. Harper, 10,393; T. Anderson, 10,507.] __________________________________ SPLITTERS, BEACH-BOYS, AND WOMEN. WAGES SETTLED IN GOODS The fishermen hitherto spoken of are not strictly labourers receiving wages, but may be regarded as vendors of wet fish to the fish-merchant, or less properly as partners with him. But to persons employed in curing fish, wages are paid, and are often paid in goods to their full amount. In the payment of these persons, especially the women and boys, undisguised truck exists to an extent not exceeded in any of the trades in which the system has been carried to the highest perfection; but the important distinction is to be observed, that little or no compulsion or influence is required to make the work-people take the goods. WEEKLY PAYMENTS, CURING BY CONTRACT In some of the curing establishments at Lerwick the pays are as frequent as it is reasonably possible to make them. The people are paid every week; but in nine cases out of ten a large part of their weekly wages is anticipated in supplies at the employer's shop. This of course involves an amount of time and trouble, and a risk of bad debts, which no merchant would incur, except for a large profit, and which indeed led Messrs. Harrison & Sons to refuse altogether to give 'out-takes' to work-people of this class. The wages are, however, paid at Lerwick, and some of the people spend their money at the shops of the firm, which adjoin the pay-office. At Scalloway, where Messrs. Garriock & Co. have no shop, they employ persons at daily wages, which are paid weekly, or within the fortnight. But the habit of running accounts is so inveterate in Shetlanders that 'often what they have to get on the Saturday night is forestalled in the shops.' In contracts for curing, which are sometimes made, Messrs. Garriock & Co. have no dealings with the work-people employed by the contractors, but make such advances as are necessary to them in money. It is not always so where curing is ostensibly done by contract. Thus, in Unst, many of the work-people employed by a contractor at Westing have accounts in the shop-books of Spence & Co. at Uyea Sound; settlements being effected, and sometimes advances made, by the merchants themselves on the authority of lines given by the contractor, stating the amount of the beach fee. The balance due is ascertained in the merchant's books, after deducting the amount due by the contractor for his own supplies at the shop. [W.B.M. Harrison, 15,772; J. Manson, 2941; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,445, 12,443; A. Sandison, 10,108; P. Smith, 10,344.] BEACH FEES These are the cases in which exceptional circumstances are found in dealings between merchants and persons employed at the beaches. Throughout Shetland the most common arrangement is to pay splitters and beach-boys or women by a beach fee, which varies from £8 or £10 for the season to an experienced head curer, to 30s. to a beach-boy in his first year. Sometimes extra hands are paid weekly wages as day-workers. But even in these cases advances are generally made in goods; and sometimes, as at Mossbank and Greenbank, the account runs 'three, four, five, or six weeks or perhaps the whole season.' In a passage already quoted from the evidence of an extensive employer, it is made very clear that these people, in whatever way they are paid, are 'expected' to come to the employer for supplies. [W. Pole, 5917; p. 14, see above.] The operation of truck in this department is shown in the examination of Mr. Robertson, manager for Mr. Leask, who employs 80 persons regularly, and others occasionally, in his curing establishments near Lerwick. Mr. Robertson afterwards produced a 'time-book' for the people employed at Sound Beach, near Lerwick, 13,607. ....'to show the proportion of money and of goods received by each. [Produces book.]' '13,608. That is a time-book for the work-people employed in 1871 at Sound Beach, which is about a mile from Lerwick?-Yes. It shows the amount of cash paid, the balance, of course, being the amount of their accounts for the week.' '13,609. The first name is M'Gowan Gray?-He is the superintendent.' '13,610. The entry in his case is, Cash 2s., time 6, wages 10s.: what does that mean?-He has 10s. a week of wages, six days a week, and 2s. is the cash he has to get.' '13,611. The entry in the inner column is made at pay-day, showing the amount of cash he has to get?-Yes.' '13,612. How is the amount of cash ascertained?-We have a ledger account with each individual, which is settled every week, but perhaps it may not be balanced. We do not generally balance until the end of the year, but we square accounts before.' '13,613. Is the account squared to ascertain the amount of cash payable?-Yes, the amount of cash due to the individual.' '13,618. Are the balances entered here always paid in cash?- Always.' '13,619. Are they never allowed to lie?-Not with the work-people.' '13,620. Is the week ending 2d Sept. 1871, of which this- [showing]-is the account, a fair average of week throughout the season?-I think it will be about a fair average.' '13,621. It shows £5, 17s. 5d. as the total amount of wages earned; and of that, £3, 19s. 7d. was paid in cash at the end of the week, the rest having been taken out in the course of the week in goods?-Yes, principally in provisions.' '13,622. I see that in one case it had been altogether taken out in goods, and there was no cash due?-Yes; but in others you will find that there has been nothing taken out, and that the whole was paid in cash.' '13,623. I see that in six cases cash has been paid in full out of twenty-seven people employed?-Yes.' '13,624. I fancy that in that week rather more has been paid in cash than the average, because in the following week £2, 9s. 2d. was due, and £1, 1s. 6d was paid in cash. In another week £4, 12s. 2d. was payable, and £1, 11s. 10d. was paid in cash. In another week £4, 6s. 9d. was payable, and £1,4s. 5d was paid in cash, there being twenty-five persons employed in that week. Then, in the last week which appears in the book, £3, 14s. 7d. was payable, and £1, 2s. 7d. was paid in cash, there being twenty-five persons employed then also?-Yes; people of course require the same amount of provisions whether they earn much or little, the amount of their balance in cash being less where the work has been less.' [W. Robertson, 11,248.] The story from other places is much the same. Thus, at Scalloway, where Messrs. Hay & Co. have a curing establishment, their manager's evidence is:- '11,430. Is payment made to them in the shop at the counter?- Yes. Their advances are entered against them in the book, and then their wages are placed to their credit; and if they have anything to get, it is given to them.' '11,431. Is there a separate ledger account for each of these parties?-Yes; every one has an account, and when he gets advances these are put to that account.' '11,432. Can you say that any money ever passes at any settlement with these beach people?-Sometimes there has been a little, but not a great deal.' [G. Tulloch, 11,430.] The beach fee, which is the usual mode of payment to beach-boys, is almost always anticipated to a large extent, and the advances of goods sometimes begin as soon as the boy is engaged in the winter-, from three to six months before the work is begun. An example of the practice is presented in the evidence of James Garrioch, shopkeeper at Fetlar for Messrs. Hay & Co.; from an analysis of which it appears that of £16, 6s. payable as beach fees to nine boys, less than £7 was paid in cash, chiefly at settlement; and of £13, 5s. due to two men employed as curers, only £3 was paid in money. An examination of the books of Spence & Co. leaves the impression that most of the men and boys employed by them in curing at Balta Sound and Haroldswick take goods to an amount exceeding their beach fees. [W. Goudie, 4401; J. Flaws, 5011; T.M. Adie, 5754; T. Thomason, 6241; J. Anderson, 6602; T. Hutchison, 12,608; J. Robertson, sen.,14,086; J. Garrioch, 8791; W.G. Mouat, 10,277.] At Quendale, Sumburgh, and other places, where the tenants are bound to deliver their fish to the landlord, it is one of the conditions of their holding that 'they have to supply boys when they have them suitable for the purpose.' [G. Jamieson, 13,361; A. J.Grierson, J. Bruce jun., G. Irvine, W. Goudie, 4369; J. Burgess, 5106.] FAROE FISHING. The cod fishing in smacks, chiefly on the banks near the Faroe Islands, has become an important branch of commerce in Shetland, In 1871 it employed 63 smacks, whose total tonnage was 2809 tons. They carried 816 men.' The produce of the fishing 1871, an unsuccessful year, was 370,597 fish, weighing 14,337 cwt. dry. In addition to these vessels belonging to Shetland owners, five curers in Shetland purchased at a fixed price the fish of 21 English smacks (tonnage, 680; men, 210), being 200,042 fish, weighing 5097 cwt. dry. The whole cure from the Shetland Faroe fishing was thus 19,434 cwt. In 1867 the Shetland smacks, 61 in number, weighing 2326 tons, and carrying 699 men, brought home 399,148 fish, or 14,031 cwt. In that year 24 English smacks (tonnage, 960; men, 222) sold to curers in Shetland 175,125 fish, or 6280 cwt.; making the total cure in Shetland in that year 21,301 cwt. In the Faroe fishery the smacks always belong to the curer or merchant. A written contract is made with the men, generally in December. They agree to join the vessel on a day fixed, or to be fixed, in March, and to prosecute the fishing until the middle of August, on the coasts of Faroe, or other places in the North Sea, exerting themselves to make a successful fishing. If any person fails in the performance of his duty, his fee is to be reduced. The owners become bound to cure the fish, which the men split and salt on board as soon as caught. The owners sell the fish, when cured, for the benefit of all concerned. From the proceeds are deducted the expense of curing and of bait, together with a commission of five per cent. in some cases, for management and sale, allowances to master and mate, and score money, 6d. or 9d. per score of sizeable fish, to be divided among the crew according to the number caught by each man. The net proceeds after these deductions are equally divided between the owners and the crew, the crew accepting their half in full of wages and provisions, except 1 lb. of biscuit provided by the owners. The share to be taken by each man, whether a full share or a half share, 2-3, 7-12 share, or whatever it may be, is written opposite the signature of each man. The men are bound, if the master or owners see fit, to leave Faroe for Iceland before the 30th August 'to endeavour for a late voyage' to go and fish for wages and victuals on a scale annexed to the agreement. These stipulations, with some others for the protection of the vessel, are usually in the agreement; but one owner uses a much shorter form, which will be found in the Evidence. [L.F.U. Garriock, 12,414; T.M.Adie, 5726; J. Walker, 15,941, 15,957; W. Pole, 5956; W. Robertson, 13,603.] The vessel is fitted out ready for sea by the owners; salt and curing materials are put on board at the joint expense; but the men provide themselves with lines and hooks, and all provisions except bread. These they always buy at the owner's shop, and they are entered in their private accounts. It is unnecessary to analyze the evidence as to the custom of dealing with the merchant-owner for provisions, etc. for the family, which is exactly similar to the custom already described as prevailing among the ling fishermen. Some of that evidence has already been noticed, and the chief passages are noted on the margin. Some of the evidence led me to think that the proportion of out-takes to earnings is less in the Faroe fishing than the ling fishing, and this theory was confirmed by several obvious considerations. The men are often young men without families or with small families, and they sometimes live at such distances from the merchant's shop as to make it inconvenient to resort thither constantly. Moreover, in years of average success, the earnings of the Faroe fishing are larger than those of the ling fishing, and the men therefore are generally more independent. It follows from the nature of the employment, that they are also upon the whole a more active and energetic class of men than those exclusively engaged in the ling fishery. [C. Sinclair, 1157; J. Johnston, 12,232; W.B.M. Harrison, 15,720; P. Garriock, 15,212; M. Johnston, 7868; J. Pottinger, 13,592; W. Blance, 6099; P. Blance, 8521, (supra p. 15) W. Pole, 5956.] It appears, notwithstanding, both from the statements of witnesses and the returns, that a very considerable proportion, not less than in the ling fishery, of the earnings of Faroe fishermen is paid in 'out-takes.' Mr. Lewis Garriock, one of the leading merchants, says: 'The fishermen's proportion is paid to each of them in cash, under deduction of any provisions and articles of clothing for themselves, and provisions, etc., supplied to their families during the season, so far as they have supplied themselves from us; but they are under no obligation to take such advance from us, and can, if they choose, buy their articles from any shopkeeper, either for cash (which many of them have spare) or on credit. A few of the men can do without advances, having spare money; but the fishing could not be carried on if we were not to supply them, especially as regards the lads in their first and second year.' 'In years when the fishing is not remunerative advances merchants making these lose heavily in bad debts.' 'I have gone carefully over the accounts with the crews of two smacks, and produce an abstract of the men's accounts, which shows that, as respects one of them in 1870, we accounted to them for £427,19s. 2d., of which they had from us for lines, hooks, and provisions on board, £71, 7s. 9d.; clothing, and supplies of meal, etc., to their families, £114, 14s. 5d.; and in cash, £239, 17s. The other crew, in 1870, had, in lines, hooks, and provisions, £81, 7s. 11d.; goods, £129, 0s. 8d.; and in cash, £374, 13s. 6d. The same crew, in 1871, in lines, provisions, etc., £63, 3s. 4d.; goods, £67, 7s.; cash, £198, 9s. 7d. Looking at the last two years, as regards our fishermen in smacks, it appears they have had considerably more than half their gross shares paid them in cash .' 'We would, as merchants, greatly prefer a cash system, payment being made upon the fish being delivered, the same as we do to English smacks fishing-for us at a contract price-and we derive about one-third of our cure from this source. But I believe were such a mode attempted, it would lead to fixed wages, and would end in loss to both men and owners and a great falling off in this branch of the fishery.' I have already mentioned that some attempts have been made to hold tenants or their sons bound to engage in their landlords' or tacksmen's smacks for this fishing; but it rather appears that these attempts have not always been successful. [See pp. 7, 15] The men have not come forward to complain of this. The only grievance which some of them have stated is, that they do not see the bills of sale, and that they are therefore not satisfied that they are fairly treated in settling. [M. Johnston, 7868; P. Blance, 8531; J. Pottinger, 13, 658.] HOME COD FISHERY. This fishery is carried on chiefly by Garriock & Co., Reawick, who used to have ten or twelve, but last year had only five smacks engaged in it, with crews of nine hands. The fishing season is from 1st May to 15th August.* The men are engaged on shares, and are settled with in the same way as those on board the Faroe smacks. There is this difference, that the owners do not provide bread or coals, and the men get seven-twelfths of the earnings. The men come home every week. A copy of a settlement with the crew of one of these vessels, produced by Mr. Garriock, shows that four-fifths of the whole earnings were paid in cash, the rest being taken in goods. * , 31,851, 31,974. by A. Anderson, p. 22 (London 1834. Pp. 32). [L.F.U. Garriock, 14,468; J. Johnston, 12,236; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,474.] KELP The manufacture of kelp from sea-weed is still prosecuted to a large extent on the coasts of Shetland. The tang or sea-weed is gathered and burnt by women, from May till August. In most cases the fish-merchant of the district has a tack or lease of the kelp-shores from the landlord, for payment of a royalty of about 15s. per ton. The women are employed by him, or without any previous arrangement gather the kelp and burn it,- of course with the understanding that they must deliver it to him. They invariably have accounts at his shop for provisions, tea, and dry goods. The merchants themselves state that these accounts generally exhaust the whole summer's earnings. The accounts are generally settled in winter,-sometimes, as in Unst, when the kelp is delivered; and it is not alleged that the women have any difficulty in getting money, if any is due to them, at settlement. There are in most districts two prices for kelp, or more properly two rates of wages for gathering and burning kelp,-at present, 4s. per cwt. if paid in cash, 4s. 6d. if paid in goods; and it is usually paid in goods. In one or two places I found only one price, 4s.; and at Greenbank, in North Yell, Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co. pay 3s. 6d. in cash, and 4s. in goods. In Unst, from 120 to 130 women were employed and at Lunna 60. [P.M. Sandison, 5262; H. Williamson, 6337; Mrs Hughson, 6360; E. Peterson; 6466; J. Anderson, 6632; D. Greig; J. Brown, 7986; J. Garriock, 8839.] EGGS, BUTTER, ETC. Every shopkeeper in the country districts buys eggs and butter. The wife of the small farmer has the management of this department of rural economy. She takes the eggs and butter to the shop, and seldom thinks of getting money for them. They are commonly paid for in goods, which are handed over at the time; but it does not appear that money would be refused if asked for. I found no instance of transactions of this kind being entered in an account. [E. Peterson, 6484; W. Stewart, 8967; A. Sandison, 10,169; G. Tulloch, 11,437; W. Harcus, 11,853; G. Georgeson, 12,038, 12,047; A. Abernethy, 12,254; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,295; R. Henderson, 12,929; T. Tulloch, 13,015; R. Simpson, 14,022.] HOME-SPUN CLOTH. In some districts the people make a grey woollen cloth, which they dispose of to the merchants or shopkeepers. Mr. Anderson, Hillswick, states that most of his dealings in this cloth are settled for at the time in cash or goods. Another witness testifies to the difficulty of getting money, and his being obliged to take goods; and it appears that formerly there was one price in goods and another in cash. There is little evidence about this industry, which is now confined to particular districts. It shows that those who are free prefer to settle in cash or goods, as they choose, at the time of delivery; but that where the maker or her husband is indebted, it enters the account, and the merchant gives such amount of cash or goods as he judges fit. The wool is sometimes provided by the merchants at a price fixed and marked in account, and the cloth is paid for at the current price when returned, the cost of the wool being deducted. The people never think of selling the manufactured goods to another merchant. It may be a question whether the colourable sale of the materials to the workwoman saves transactions of this kind, in the making of woollen cloth, from the operation of the existing Truck Act. [Mrs. C. Johnston, 8163, 8124.] HERRING FISHERY. The herring fishery is prosecuted in Shetland to a very limited extent, and in late years has not been fortunate. It has been said that this want of success is because the men of Shetland do not go to the herring fishing till late in the year, when the shoals have passed them. In 1833 the herring fishing in Shetland is stated to have employed 500 boats and 2500 men; and the total number of barrels cured to have been 10,000 in 1830, 20,000 in 1831, 28,000 in 1832, and 36,000 in 1833.* It is carried on in August and September by some of the men who have been engaged in the ling fishery during the earlier part of the season. The men are paid at a fixed rate per cran, as at Wick, the men buying from the curer nets, which are put into their accounts. A witness stated that it took him, or rather his crew, between eight and nine years to pay off the price of his nets, 'because they had lean fishings.' The price of the herrings is credited to the men at the annual settlement. *Mr. Anderson's pamphlet on the 'Herring and White Fisheries in the Shetland Islands,' gives an account of the herring fishing as it existed in 1834, showing that it was prosecuted then, as it is now, under the same circumstances as to truck and tenure as have been detailed with regard to the ling fishery. [T. Robertson, 8605; W. Williamson, 10,337.] Mr. J. Robertson, sen., describes his recent experience in the herring fishery in the north-west of the Mainland. He arranged with some of the men who fished ling for him in summer that they should fish herring also for him, instead of Mr. Adie, for whom they had in previous years gone to the herring fishing. It was part of the arrangement that he should 'clear them off with Mr. Adie,' by paying their debts in accounts with him. It thus cost Mr. Robertson £300 in cash advances, which, he says, 'account for the large amount of debt shown to be due in 1870' by his fishermen. These men get half the fish for their labour, and the other half goes to the credit of the boat and nets supplied by the merchant. The price of the herring is the same as that paid by Messrs. Hay & Co. [J. Robertson, sen., 14,108; 14,126.] It would seem that the large sum required for nets is apt, as at Wick, to lay upon the fisherman an amount of debt which he is ill able to bear. [C. Sinclair, 1135.] PAYMENTS TO PAUPERS. In the last Report of the Board of Supervision of the Poor, there is a 'Special Report by the General Superintendent of the Northern District (Mr. Peterkin) as to the Administration of the Poor-Law in Shetland.' The concluding part of this Report describes fully and correctly the facts as to shop dealings with paupers; and as it was communicated to me before I went to Shetland, I did not consider it necessary to spend much time in making further inquiries in regard to a subject already so carefully investigated. In one of the parishes, where the poor-law is practically administered, as Mr. Peterkin says, by these merchants and fish-curers, the inspector of poor was examined; and his evidence shows, I think, that the recent action of the Board of Supervision in this matter has been as effective as could be expected in a country where it is difficult or impossible to find either members of boards or inspectors altogether free from interest in 'shops.' An example of the state of things described by Mr. Peterkin is afforded by the evidence of Gilbert Scollay, who is employed by the parishes of Delting and Lunnasting to keep paupers. He is indebted to Mr. Adie, chairman of the Parochial Board of Delting; he signed an order entitling Mr. Adie to draw all the money payable to him by the parish for the support of a lunatic in his charge; and he got part of his supplies from Mr. Adie's shop, and part from Mr. Robertson's shop at Vidlin, in Lunnasting, in consequence of his having in his keeping another pauper from that parish. [Appendix, p. 65; J. Bruce, 7638, L.F.U. Garriock, 12,503; G. Jamieson, 15,407, 15,418, 15,468; G. Scollay, 8387, 8389, 8418, 8419, 8427; Poor-Law Directory for 1871.] FAIR ISLAND. This island is situated half way between Orkney and Shetland, being about twenty-five miles distant from each. It is about two miles in length, and one in breadth. The population in 1861 was 380; but, after a season of great scarcity, about 100 of the people emigrated to America. Emigration has taken place also at other times. Thus-'Six families left Fair Island and came to Kirkwall in 1869. We all left because meal was so dear, and wages were so low. They all left of their own accord.' I was informed by Mr. Balfour, of Balfour and Trenaby, that a colony of Fair Island people form a fishing village in Stronsay, in Orkney, where they have now been for two generations. At all times emigration must have been necessary to prevent intolerable overcrowding in so small an area. and yet the whole circumstances of the island show that this remedy is resorted to with great reluctance. At present the island is inhabited by about 40 families, or 226 persons. [T. Wilson, p. 425; J. Bruce, jun. p. 330; T. Wilson, 16,656.] The island is the property of Mr. John Bruce, jun., of Sumburgh. Before 1864 it belonged to Mr. Stewart of Brough, a proprietor in Orkney, and was held in tack by merchants of Orkney, who bought the people's fish and sold them provisions and goods. It was impossible in winter to visit the island, or to get any witnesses brought out of it. But as the truck system was generally said to be practised there to an excessive degree, I received evidence from various persons acquainted with the island, viz.: Mr. Bruce, the proprietor; his factor; persons who had visited the island in his employment; and from two of its former inhabitants now living at Kirkwall, who left it about two years ago. The people are obliged to sell their fish (seath or coal-fish) to Mr. Bruce. They get a lower price than that paid in Shetland. Mr. Bruce says: 'As I have to keep a store there for the convenience of the islanders, I discourage them from trading with any one else, as the only chance to make my store pay is to get the whole or the greater part of their custom.' 'Though there is a rule that the islanders shall not trade with others, I have never enforced this rule where I believed the parties visiting the island did not attempt to buy fish-in fact, in many cases I have given liberty to parties to trade with the islanders; and the only case in which I have enforced the rule, is in the case of a man from Orkney who, I had evidence to prove, stole my fish from the station at night, and shipped it on board of his vessel.' 'I have no poor-rates and no paupers in Fair Isle, and I have never evicted a tenant. If a widow or other poor person can't pay their rents, they sit rent free, and get help from their friends; and my manager has orders to see that no one starves.' And again: '13,326. With regard to Fair Isle, is there a standing prohibition against other traders dealing with the inhabitants there?-To a certain extent there is. I don't object to people trading there, if they confine themselves to hosiery and eggs, and that sort of thing; but what I am afraid of is, that persons may go there and buy fish.' '13,327. The inhabitants there are under an obligation, as a condition of their tenure, to fish for you?-Yes.' '13,328. As the landlord, do you place a restriction upon the sale of their cattle also?-Yes, there is a rule to that effect, but it is a very lax one.' '13,329. Is it not virtually the result of the obligation to fish or to sell cattle to the proprietor alone, that the proprietor has the power of fixing the price, and that the tenant has no option at all with regard to that in either case?-That is not the result. Even although the proprietor buys the cattle, and prevents any one else from competing with him, still he respects public opinion so far that he gives the full value for the animal.' '13,330. Then public opinion is the only check upon the proprietor, and of course his own sense of right?-That is his only check.'' It is obvious that rules such as these must be injurious, unless they are worked not only with a sincere desire for the true welfare of the people, but with diligent care and sound judgment. There is no reason to doubt that Mr. Bruce desires to be both kind and just to his people; but it is plain that at Fair Island, as at Sumburgh, his system has not proved advantageous to the people who are placed so entirely at his mercy. The people complain that they get a lower price for the fish than is paid in Shetland, and that excessively high prices are charged for the goods sold to them at the shop. They also complain that wages allowed for work to the proprietor are too low, and that they were prevented by him from working at better wages to one Williamson, who bought a ship wrecked on the island in 1868, and who employed men to work at the wreck. The settlements are annual, though sometimes a year has been passed; and they do not take place till June, when all accounts are settled up to let May. No money is asked for or paid until settlement. The restrictions of the islanders to the master's store is strict, and indeed avowed; and there is some difficulty and risk in dealing with the strangers who occasionally come to the island to trade. One of these, James Rendall of Westray, Orkney, has come into collision with Mr. Bruce's people; the people of the house in which he lodged were forbidden to allow his business to be carried on there, and he was driven to erect a stage below high-water mark and sell his goods there. Once at least, when Mr. Bruce and his factor were on the island, he carried on his traffic by night. The prohibition is directed, according to Mr. Bruce, only against the sale to strangers of cattle and fish; but the people have so little money, that that may be held as nearly equivalent to a prohibition to buy goods from them. [H. Smith, 4747; T. Wilson, 16,656; L. Wilson, 16,659; G. Irvine, 13,238; J. Smith, 13,058.] The price paid for fish by Mr. Bruce is generally 10s. a ton less than he gives at Grutness. The prices of goods are considerably higher than even the prices at Grutness. Thus two witnesses say that meal, before they left the island in 1869, was never lower than 30s. per boll, while they had bought it from Rendall at 26s. and 24s., and from Williamson, when he was working at the wreck of the 'Lessing,' 3s. or 4s. cheaper than at the shop. It could then be got at Kirkwall at 23s. or 24s. Rendall sold sugar at 6d., while the same quality was 7d. at the shop; and tea at 9d. and 10d., while it was 11d. and 1s. 1d. at the shop, and once 1s. 3d. On a rare occasion Mr. Bruce had loaf-sugar at the shop, which was 1s 2d. or 1s. 3d. per lb. Soap, invoiced to Mr. Bruce at 28s. per cwt., was sold at Fair Island at 6d. per lb., exactly double the wholesale price. [H. Gilbertson, 4734; T. Wilson, 16,656; L. Wilson, 16,659; G. Irvine, 13,234, 13,235.] FOULA. CENSUS. This island is situated eighteen miles from the nearest point on the west side of the Mainland. It is three miles long, and two miles broad. Its hills or precipices are very lofty, the highest point being 1369 feet above the sea. In 1861, the population was 233. The people are said to be a superior race to those of Fair Island. It is the property of R.T.C. Scott, Esq. of Melby. The fishing and the shop are entirely in the hands of Messrs. Garriock & Co., who are factors for the proprietor. No other shop is allowed, and no other traders have tempted for some time to trade with the people at the island. I did not hear, directly or indirectly, that any complaints are made by the people with regard to the business arrangements of Mr. Garriock. It is said, indeed, that the people are trucked; but current rumour in Shetland, even among the opponents of truck, does not allege that any gross abuses exist in the island. The island is difficult of access, and the only evidence with regard to it is that of Mr. Garriock himself. '12,880. Would you continue to supply them if you did not have the bulk of their dealings?-No, we would not keep a shop there if we did not have the bulk of their dealings; it would not be worth our while. I may explain that, a few years ago, some of the youngmen wished to cure their own fish, and go out with them to the Mainland. There was a little discussion amongst them about it, and we put it to them whether they would wish to have that liberty or not; and in order to ascertain their views, we sent in a paper to the schoolmaster, and asked him to circulate it among the men. [The witness put in a document in the following terms, signed in the affirmative by 65 men:- . '"Garriock & Co., who have for the last fourteen years kept a curing establishment on the island of Foula, and found the undivided produce small enough to pay for the trouble and risk of it, while furnishing the necessaries of life, fishing material, etc., at ordinary rates, would, now that some parties have shown an inclination and even begun to cure their own fish, wish to ascertain the views of the people as to whether they desire G. & Co. to continue their establishment as before; or would they prefer each to cure as it suits him, and provide his necessaries as he can? Whilst there is always the most perfect freedom to all to fish, labour and sell their produce in what appears to them the best market, the isolated position of the island appears to require that one system be followed by all." ' '"The heads of families and other fishermen will therefore please indicate their views by subscribing below, adding yes if the former system be preferred; or no, if otherwise.-1867."] '12,381. Were there any negatives to the paper?-No. It created great alarm amongst the people, because they were afraid they would be left to their own resources.' '12,382. In consequence of that you continued to supply the islanders?-Yes, we went on as before ....' '12,386. Since you sent in that paper, has any attempt been made by the inhabitants of Foula to cure their fish themselves?-No; we found it needless to have sent in that paper, because they had given it up themselves, as it had not been paying them.' '12,387. But that paper had the effect of making it quite clear to the inhabitants of Foula that they must either give their fish to you green, or you would remove your shop?-We would either have their whole trade or none of it. It is a great risk to send vessels and boats there, and part of their trade would not pay, I may say that we supply goods there at the same price as we do at our shop at Reawick.' NORTHERN WHALE AND SEAL FISHING. The owners of Vessels engaged in this trade, and belonging to Hull, Dundee, and Peterhead, find it convenient to engage large numbers of their crew at Lerwick, where they call in their voyages northwards in February or March and in May. For this purpose agents at Lerwick are employed, who receive a commission of 21/2 per cent. on the wages of the men. None of these agents are, I believe, licensed by the Board of Trade, under sec. 146 of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854; but no prosecution for penalties for supplying seamen, under sec. 147 of the Statute, has been directed against any of them, or against the masters of the ships for which they act. The men are paid by monthly wages at a low rate, and by sums of 'striking-money,' 'fish money,' 'oil money,' and 'bone money,' which vary according to the success of the voyage. The whole earnings are payable when the men are discharged, except a second payment of oil-money-a small balance left over until the oil has been boiled, and its exact due amount ascertained. It was stated by witnesses examined before Mr. Sellar in 1871,* and by Mr. Hamilton in a Report to the Board of Trade partly printed in the former Report,** that the chief profit of these agents, who are also shopkeepers, 'arises from what they can make out of the earnings of the men;' that the agents are interested in finding employment for the men who are in their debt, the inference being that they procure engagements for them in preference to others; that, for security of the agent's advances, allotment notes are made out in his favour; that even men who have means to pay for their outfit are obliged to deal at the agents' shops, that they may have their assistance in getting an engagement; and that settlements of wages, which ought by law to be made at the Custom-house within three days of the ship's return, are often delayed for months, in order that the accounts at the agents' shops may be increased. *First Report, Min. of Ev., qu. 44,217 ** Report, p. xcix. AGENTS' EVIDENCE IN CONTRADICTION OF FORMER REPORT Most of the agents engaged in this business came forward to contradict the statements of the former witnesses, and of Mr. Hamilton's official Report; and they evinced much indignation, especially with regard to the latter. Upon their own evidence, however, the state of matters in times not very long past is not inaccurately described by Mr. Hamilton. It is true, indeed, that his Report, as printed, does not notice that the Board of Trade, acting through Mr. Gatherer, Collector of Customs and Superintendent of the Mercantile Marine Office at Lerwick, had, shortly before he wrote, taken measures to secure that the men should be paid their wages according to law, in cash, in presence of the Superintendent; but the efforts of the authorities do not appear to have been quite successful at the time when the Report was written. Although even now some improvements are required, the men's dealings with the agents have evidently decreased during the last few years. [L.F.U. Garriock, 12,543.] The understanding that men shall get their supplies where they get their employment is so universal in Shetland, that it is not surprising that it should have extended to the men employed in the whaling ships; and although Mr. Hamilton's description may be coloured by his personal acquaintance with a few extreme cases, a knowledge of the system prevailing in the local fisheries certainly raises the strongest presumption in favour of its substantial accuracy. [A. Sandison, 7088; A. Moffat, 16,352; A. Goodlad, 16,399; P. Halcrow, 15,549; W. Robertson, 16,581.] The substance of the evidence on this subject may be stated in a few sentences:- The debts of the seamen to the agents are often considerable in bad years, and the agents often lose a great deal by bad debts. The amount of the accounts after successful voyages may be seen from the abstracts given in by Messrs. Hay & Co. and Mr. Tulloch. Mr. Tulloch and Mr. Tait agree in saying that the men's average out-takes still amount to about one-fifth of their earnings; and Mr. Robertson estimates them at one-fourth. In the case of the 'Camperdown,' in 1865, under the old system, the men's earnings for both the seal and whale fishery amounted to £1537, 10s. 3d.; the amount of cash paid was £1120, 12s. 3d.; leaving £416, 18s. for goods sold. This case was selected by the witness. The accounts in the agent's ledger are settled when the men come to Lerwick for the purpose, many within a month or two after the men are landed, but in other cases, where the men live at a distance, not for several months. No doubt the men are in some measure to be blamed for this; but there can be no doubt that they would attend for payment at the proper time if the agents and shipmaster seriously insisted on their doing so. Before 1867 the men received the balance of wages due to them at the agent's office, the whole of the payments in cash and supplies of goods made in the course of the year to themselves or their families having been deducted. The account was balanced by payment of the sum remaining due after these deductions. Since 1867 the account in the agent's books is still in the same form, and is balanced exactly in the same way; but the seaman goes through the form of receiving at the Mercantile Marine Office the whole sum due to him, under deduction only of the advances, etc., allowed by the Merchant Shipping Act. His account is read over and made ready for settlement before he goes to the Mercantile Marine Office; and after he has got the lawful sum of money there, he returns to the agent's office, and either hands back what he owes for goods or cash advanced over and above the legitimate deductions already made, or he hands over the whole money he has got at the Custom-house to the agent, that he may pay himself, and settle the account in the regular Shetland fashion. The accounts due for former years to other agents are sometimes deducted from the balance due; and with this view, it was formerly the practice, not yet quite obsolete, that lists of indebted men should be handed from one agent to another, and that their old accounts should be found standing against them in the books of their new agent. Down to 1870 accounts were still 'squared' at the Custom-house in some cases, the agent handing over there only the exact sum due to the men. [W. Robertson, 10,938, 10,048; J. Gatherer, 15,895; A. Munro, 16,193; W. Robertson, 16,631; W. Robertson, 11,130, 11,213; J. Leisk, 14,632; A. Goodlad, 16,419; A. Munro, 16,161; G. Williamson, 9624; W. Robertson, 11,029; W.B. Tulloch, 14,382; W. Garriock, 16,800; W.Robertson, 10,974, 11,031; W.B. Tulloch, 14,420, A. Munro, 16,182.] It is explained to the men, when they first come to the agent's office and have their ledger account adjusted, that the 'account of wages' settled at the Mercantile Marine Office does not include the agent's account of supplies, and that he has to pay that afterwards; or he is told at the Custom-house to go down and pay his money back. It is still quite understood that the agent having the first claim on the man's wages in honour, if not in law, he has to go down at once to pay the amount of his account; and instances of failure in this respect are hardly known. [W. Robertson, 11,022, 11,212; G.R. Tait, 14,529.] The outfit and some of the family supplies are almost always taken from the agent's shop; but many of the men live so far from Lerwick, that the distance forbids them to deal with him to a large extent. The circumstances of the men are generally so much better than those of ordinary ling fishermen, that they are not compelled to get credit to the same extent, or perhaps can get it near home, since the enforcement of the law in 1867 gave some security that the earnings of the year's voyages would not be forestalled. The outfit is still almost invariably got from the agent; and Mr. Robertson, whose special mission was to deny everything in the former evidence and in the Report by Mr. Hamilton, could not point to any case where it had been got elsewhere. Young hands in their first voyage must get their outfit from the agent; and as in their case the outfit is generally very expensive, the number of young hands engaged since 1867 has decreased, the agents being unwilling to give an outfit or credit, which one season's wages are often insufficient to pay. [W. Robertson, 10,973; A.B. Jamieson, 14,318, 14, 321; J. Leisk, 14,637, 14,680; W. Robertson, 10,940, 10,954; W.B. Tulloch, 14,448; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,509; W. Robertson, 16,593; P. Moodie, 14,675.] Notwithstanding the enforcement of the law as to payment of wages, the old custom of dealing with the agent who gets the engagement is still not without force; and some men say that it is still so strong as to deprive them of credit elsewhere, because they are expected not only by the agent, but by other tradesmen, to be running an account at his shop. [A. Moffat, 16,352; A. Goodlad, 16,399.] Allotment notes have not come into general use at Lerwick; and when they are drawn up, they are sometimes taken in the name of the agent, or some one in his employment. Many families in either case are supplied with goods as they want them, or, if they live in Lerwick, with a weekly allowance of meal, the only difference being that the sums in allotment notes need not undergo the process of being handed over at the Mercantile Marine Office. The money obtained on advance notes is often paid back at once to the agent for outfit or supplies, or rather the advance note is left with the agent, in security of the goods supplied. It is stated by Mr. Robertson (10,968) that the first month's advance is paid in cash. and that the men may spend it where they like. But since leaving Shetland I have received a very detailed statement by a seaman, that he was this year refused such payment unless he took two-thirds in goods. That statement, however, is not an oath, and therefore does not form part of the evidence. Of course an advance note is not strictly due until after the man has joined the ship; but the practice is as Mr. Robertson states in his evidence. Only one case is spoken to in which an agent refused or hesitated to give cash for a balance due to a seaman. But in older times it was usual to 'shove off' the men, giving 10s. or £1 at a time, and refusing to settle with them. [A. Blanch, 9144; G. Williamson, 9608; A.B. Jamieson, 14,311, W. Robertson, 11,180; A. Goodlad, 16,358; P. Halcrow, 15,552; W. Laurenson, 15,601.] It is in evidence that many men believe that the agents, who have unquestionably a voice in regard to the selection of the men, procure berths in the first place for those who are indebted to them for outfit and supplies. Of course they have, as they admit, a strong interest to do so; and it is said that masters have complained of inferior men being put upon them for this reason. But no very distinct evidence as to this could be obtained. Two cases are referred to in which agents declined to procure engagements for men, or tried to prevent their being engaged. In one of these the offence was having drawn the money due for the sealing voyage, instead of letting it remain until after the whaling voyage. [W.R. Tulloch, 14,490; W. Robertson, 16,572; W. Garriock, 16,280; T. Gifford, 15,552; W. Robertson, 10,959; G.R. Tait, 14,558; F. Gifford, 15,499; W.R. Tulloch, 14,483.] While, therefore, Mr. Hamilton's Report must be received with some qualification in regard to one or two points as to which he could not have full information, and while it must be granted that a cursory perusal of it leaves a stronger impression of the abuses it exposes than a more critical study of its language justifies, its general correctness with regard to a recent time has not been disproved but confirmed by the attacks to which it has been subjected. Indeed, nothing could more clearly demonstrate the truth of the general conclusions to which it leads, than the fact's, (1) that Messrs. Hay & Co., Mr. Tait, and Messrs. Laurenson & Tulloch, three out of the four agents at Lerwick, have within the last two years retired from the business, all stating that the commission of 21/2 per cent. is insufficient to remunerate them for the trouble of engaging and settling with the men; and (2) that all the agents concur, by refusing credits, in excluding from engagements the 'green hands,' from whom the chief part of their profits was formerly derived. It is not surprising that these respectable merchants, whose error consisted in carrying on business on a system deeply rooted in the country, and which in more than one case had descended to them from their fathers and grandfathers, should have felt deeply the interference of new laws, the expediency of which they were naturally unable to see. But, in noticing the effect of these laws, imperfectly as they have hitherto been observed, it is impossible to avoid asking whether some analogous regulations might not effectually extirpate the truck system in the other fishing industries in Shetland. HOSIERY AND SHETLAND In the Evidence, the word hosiery is used improperly to include the large class of woollen articles knitted by the Shetland women. The fineness of the wool of the Shetland sheep probably gave a very early impulse to this industry. It is recorded that in the seventeenth century a great fair for the sale of hosiery, properly so called, was held each year, on the occasion of the visit of the Dutch fishing fleet to Bressay Sound. The Rev. Mr. Brand says: 'The Hollanders also repair to these isles in June, as hath been said, for their herring fishing; but they cannot be said so properly to trade with the countrey as to fish upon their coasts, and they use to bring all sorts of provisions necessary with them, save some fresh victuals, as sheep, lambs, hens, etc., which they buy on shore. Stockins also are brought by the countrey people from all quarters to Lerwick, and sold to these fishers; for sometimes many thousands of them will be ashore at one time, and ordinary it is with them to buy stockins to themselves; and some likewise do so to their wives and children, which is very beneficial to the inhabitants, for so money is brought into the country there is a vent for the wooll, and the poor are employed. Stockins also are brought from Orkney, and sold there, whereby some gain accrues to the retailers, who wait the coming of the Dutch fleet for a market.' [Brand's , p. 132.] The 'Truck system' was even then in operation, for Mr. Brand says: 'These (Hamburg and Bremen)merchants seek nothing better in exchange for their commodities than to truck with the countrey for their fishes, which when the fishers engage to, the merchants will give them either money or ware, which they please.'-p. 131. The finer articles, now known as Shetland shawls, veils, etc., were not manufactured till a much more recent date. Dr. Edmonstone speaks of stockings as if they were the only product of the Shetland knitter's industry; * and stockings and gloves are the only articles of woollen manufacture specified as made in Shetland by the writers of the Statistical Account in 1841 [Stat. Acc. 16, 47]. Originally the trade was entirely carried on by persons knitting the wool grown by their own flocks, or procured from their neighbours; and they bartered the articles so made to merchants in Lerwick or elsewhere for goods of every kind. Transactions of this kind, which are still common, do not fall within the provisions of the existing Truck Acts, which apply only to the payment of wages, and not to sales. Mr. Arthur Laurenson, the head of the oldest house in this business, says: * , vol ii p. 1 (Edinr. 1809) 'It is only within the last twenty or thirty years that the women have been employed, so to speak, by the merchants. It was about 1840 or 1841 that the making of shawls began to get very common here; and about 1845 or 1846 there was a very great demand for them. After that the veil knitting commenced, about 1848 or 1849, and from 1852 to 1856 there was a very great trade done in veils.' KNITTING PAID IN GOODS Although payment in goods, or in account, of work done with the merchants' wool may be held to be an offence under the existing law, the custom of barter has so long existed in Shetland, and is so thoroughly interwoven with the habits of the people, that the question has never been raised in the local courts, and it does not even appear to have occurred to merchants that they might be held to infringe the law. In regard to both branches of the trade, the sale or barter of the knitted articles, and the employment of women to knit them, evidence has been freely given by the merchants themselves. In both branches of the trade, it is the custom and understanding of the country, from Unst to Dunrossness, that payment shall be made in goods. Formerly money payment was never thought of. Of late, however, the custom of giving a portion of the payment in cash has, according to Mr. Laurenson and other merchants, been increasing. But this alleged increase is, I think, so slight as to be hardly worth mentioning, except in regard to the very highest class of articles. These the merchants are anxious to get, and the women who knit them have learned to demand payment of the whole or a portion of the price in money. There are few knitters, however, of this class, and some of them sell their work out of Shetland. An effort was made by some merchants to show that money had, in some cases, been paid for hosiery; but the few cases in which sums of any amount were so paid, and the smallness of the payments (3d., 6d., and 1s.) which, in all but one or two exceptional cases, appear in the women's accounts, only prove how strictly the rule is observed that all hosiery transactions are to be settled in goods. The cases are too numerous to be specified in which women say that they never get money, because it is a thing the merchants never give, and that they never ask for it; or that they asked for it once, and being refused, did not apply again. I give a single example. Margaret Williamson says: '8314. Do you always get goods for your knitting?-Yes; I get goods, because I can get nothing else.' '8315. Do you want to get money?-I hardly ever ask for money. I asked for a penny the last time out of 35s., and they refused to give it to me. I bought all that I could buy out of the work I had taken in, and when it came to the last penny I asked for it, but they would not give it. That was at Mr. Linklater's.' '8316. What did he say he would give it in: sweeties?-No; they would not keep any sweeties for fear of having to give them.' '8317. What did they give you?-They gave me the penny at length, but they said we must take goods.' [A. Laurenson, 2136, 2168; R. Sinclair, 2399; C. Brown, 17,026; J. Anderson, 6645; R. Sinclair, 2440; W. Johnstone, 2836; J.J. Bruce, 3384; R. Sinclair, 2436; A. Eunson, 3422; C. Winwick, 15; E. Robertson, 238; A. Simpson, 313; B. Johnstone, 379; Janet Irvine, 87; M. Clunas, 3459; C. Williamson, 165; Jemima Tait, 354; E. Paterson, 6460; M. Hughson, 6347.] Knitters who sell their goods to the shopkeepers have not always an account in their books; perhaps, indeed, it may be said that, in a majority of cases in Lerwick, they have not. It is different in the country. But as it may often happen that a woman who brings a fine shawl or a lot of veils for sale does not want the whole value in goods at the time, or cannot make up her mind as to the particular article she will take, a balance of the price often stands over. The merchant will not give cash, unless it has been so specially agreed beforehand, for he would thereby lose the expected profit on his goods sold; and the knitter never thinks of offering to pay a discount for money. The balance is therefore (where the knitter has not an account) marked down in some corner of the day-book, or a line or voucher is given. The latter device has been adopted to a large extent in some shops. The most perfect, and perhaps the most extensive system of lines, is that in use in the shop of Messrs. R. Sinclair & Co. at Lerwick. This firm does not wish, they say, to give out lines, but would prefer that the women should take out the value at once. They have, however, been obliged to give lines; and they keep a line-book as a check, which was produced at the examination of Mr. R. Sinclair. This he stated to be the second book of the same kind which he had used since he perfected the system. It is a register of all the lines issued at the shop, and begins at the top of the first page, thus: LINE-BOOK 'Line-Book, March 1871. B.H. 6 £0 2 6 £0 2 6 17 0 3 3 0 3 3 45 0 11 0 0 11 0' And so on. M. Sanderson, 7297; R. Sinclair, 2592; J. Sinclair, 3251; R. Linklater, 2695.] For several pages at the beginning of the book the numbers are not consecutive; and it was explained that the unpaid notes in a previous book had been copied into this book, book, in order to avoid having to refer to two books in the course of business. The notation employed consists of the letters of the alphabet, with a number up to 100. When the single letters were exhausted, that is, when 2600 lines were issued, the lines were marked AA 1, AA 2, and so on, up to 100; and then AB 1, AB 2, up to 100, and so on till the latest entry, which was on January 4, 1872, DA 90. Each of the tickets (which are in this form-'CY 92-Credit bearer value in goods for 18s. R. Sinclair & Co., J.J.B. 22/12/72') is marked with the same letters and number the corresponding entry in this book. When it is returned, goods are given for its amount, or for part of it,-the payment in the latter case being sometimes marked on the line which is retained by the knitter. When the whole amount is paid the line is marked in the line-book 'Paid,' and the date of settlement is generally added, thus: 'B.H. 93 Paid 18/11/71 W.B. £0 1 6 £0 1 6 98 Paid 23/11/71 0 15 0 0 15 0' The majority of the lines now standing in the early pages of this book are still unpaid. Thus, on page 1, out of 29 lines from BAH 6 to BL 34 (199 lines issued within the same period having presumably been paid before this new register was begun), only 3 are remarked as paid. So, on the second page, out of 30 lines, from BL 36 to BO 24, only 4 are marked paid; and on page 3, from BO 40 to BR 57, only 3 are marked as paid. Taking as a specimen the 74 lines issued on the first four days of December 1871, the average amount of the sums for which they are granted is 5s. 6d. the actual amounts varying from 31s. 6d. to 1s. Out of these 74, 21 lines, amounting in all to £8, 6s. 2d (and averaging 7s. 1020/21d), were paid at 4th January. It does not appear whether the extinction of the lines is always effected by taking goods to the full amount of the line, or whether part of a line is not, on the occasion of a purchase of goods, transferred to a new line, which might very readily be done. Although Mr. Sinclair has the largest transactions in lines, they are resorted to when required by most of the merchants who buy hosiery or fancy goods. [J. Anderson, 6709; L. Moncrieff, 11,497.] A few other merchants employ the same system of lines and a line-book on a smaller scale; and they, too, ascribe the practice to their solicitude for the convenience of the knitters. The merchants of course have the benefit of getting their hosiery, to some extent, on credit; they have the use of the money without interest so long as it remains in their hands; and when they pay, they pay in goods on which they have a large profit. [T. Nicholson, 35; M. Laurenson, 7299.] SALE OR BARTER OF LINES It is natural to suppose that documents of this kind should come to be used as a sort of currency, in a district where money is so scarce as Shetland. This custom is not so wide-spread as might have been expected; but that lines are frequently transferred by the original holder, is clearly enough proved. The merchants who issue them are chary of admitting that such transfers are made, and some even seem to think it necessary to take precautions against such a proceeding. That the practice exists appears from the evidence of Mr. Sinclair's chief shopman, who admits that he has heard a 'vague report' that the lines have been exchanged; and when asked to explain the entry 'To lines' occurring in accounts in the journal or work-book, says: '... Sometimes the party that the account belongs to will have to pay another party so much, and she gives us instructions to mark a line for a certain amount in the book, and then give her that line to give to the other party, who comes back with it and gets the amount in goods.' '3383. Then the line is granted to your knitters for the purpose of paying their debt to another?-Yes.' '3384. Is that frequently done?-Not very often. It has happened occasionally.' [J.J. Bruce, 3355; R. Sinclair, 2581, 2591, 3617.] The evidence of the knitters themselves proves that the practice of selling or exchanging these lines is quite usual and well-known among the more necessitous of them, those who have no means of living but knitting. One respectable merchant in Lerwick gave up the practice of issuing lines, on account of the trouble and annoyance occasioned by this practice. [E. Robertson, 248; M. Hutchison, 1592; E. Moodie, 1879; W. Johnstone, 2880; J. Henderson, 11,637, 2897; W. Johnston, 2875.] WORK-BOOKS FOR KNITTERS EMPLOYED BY MERCHANTS The accounts of women who knit with the merchant's wool are kept in a 'work-book.' Settlements are made from time to time, more frequently than in the case of fishermen's accounts; and the women, though they seldom have a balance in their favour, are seldom allowed to take a larger amount in goods than is owing to them for work. I examined a number of work-books, and among others that of R. Sinclair & Co., which may be taken as a specimen. Each knitter has an account current with the firm, the debit side of which contains the amount of the goods and worsted furnished, the credit side the amount of articles of hosiery returned, and the sum allowed for each. The book seems to be well enough kept, and each account bears to be balanced from time to time. No signature is attached to the balance. The entries of tea are numerous, frequently more than one parcel being given in one day. Those of cash paid are very rare; in many accounts there are none. To Catharine M'Courtenay, who has numerous dealings, amounting to above £5 in eleven months, there are three payments of cash, of 31/2d. and 3d. each, on December 1st, 9th, and 19th, 1871. Mr. Sinclair pointed out the case of Marion Sinclair and sisters (who are tenants of his own at a rent of 17s. 6d. a quarter, which is entered on the debit side of the account), as one in which cash had been paid. The amount of the account from January 16, 1871, when there is a balance against her of £1, 5s. 41/2d. is nearly £10 and the amount of cash paid is 9s. 9d., of which 1s. 3d. is entered 'Cash for dressing. On the other hand, looking through the book, I found one payment of 10s. in cash to Mrs. Irvine, Scalloway, and of 5s. to another, while one woman from Troswick is credited with a payment of 5s. in cash. Other payments in cash, on one side or the other, occur, but they are rare and of small amount. [A. Laurenson, 2216; R. Sinclair, 2378, 2462; R. Anderson, 3069.] PASS-BOOKS Sometimes, but not in the majority of cases, knitters have pass-books. The neglect to have them is no doubt due to the same reluctance to undertake unnecessary trouble on the one side, and carelessness or trustfulness on the other side, which make pass-books so rare among fishermen. [R. Sinclair, 2383, 2455; B. Johnston, 385; Janet Exter, 4099; E. Robertson, 232; see above p. 24. (fishermen).; Mrs. Nicholson, 3504; M. Jamieson, 14,045.] The tone in which the knitters themselves speak of the custom of the trade varies considerably. In general, they declare their decided preference for payment in cash; and many came forward voluntarily to complain of the present custom. Some have felt it for years back to be a grievance, and have been in the habit of complaining of it to those from whom they could look for sympathy or assistance; while all try to sell their productions for money rather than goods, if they can get as high a nominal price. They manage to sell many articles to strangers who visit the country in summer, to ladies who have made a practice of getting them sold to friends from charitable motives, and to women in Lerwick who act as agents for merchants in the south. [C. Winwick, 53; J. Irvine, 82; M. Hutchison, 1564; M. Clunas.] It is stated that there are two prices for knitted articles, a price in goods and a cash price; but the impression among many of the people is, that it is better to take the high price in goods than the lower price in money This is described by Mr Sinclair: '2609. Have you ever stated to the knitters, who were coming to sell to you, that they had better take ready money and take less of it?-I have. It would save us a very great deal of bother if they would do so.' '2610. What have they said to that proposal?- They have never entered heartily into it. There was a case I may refer to, not of women employed to knit for us, but of women from whom we bought shawls over the counter, which corroborates what I have already said on that subject. I cannot now recall the names of the parties, but I would know their faces at once.' '2611. Were they women from Dunrossness?-Yes. Three girls came into my shop, each of them having a shawl to sell, worth £1. At that time the noise had come up about cash payments, and I said to them, "Now, what would you take for these in money? I am not saying that I will give you money, but what would you take for them in money?" One of them said, "I ken you will just be going to give us money." I said "Why? Don't you think the goods you get cost us money?" She said, "I ken that fine. I will give my 20s. shawl for 18s. 6d." I said, "I could not give her 18s. 6d. for it, and asked her if she would take 17s." She said, "No," and that it would be most unconscionable to take 3s. off the price of a shawl. I said, "I don't think it, because when I sell the shawl again, I can only get 20s. for it, and then there is a discount of 5 per cent. taken off." '2612. I suppose that bit of trading came to nothing: they did not take money?-No; they did not take money; but another one said, "I would not sell my shawl for 18s. 6d. or 19s. either, for I see a plaid in your shop that I want for my shawl; and what good would it do me to sell you the shawl for 17s., and then take 3s. out of my pocket to pay you in addition, when you are willing to give me the plaid in exchange for the shawl?" That was her answer to me.' [A. Laurenson, 2168; R. Sinclair, 2397; R. Linklater, 2726; H. Linklater, 2920 (contra).] Mr. Morgan Laurenson says: '7306. In that case, is a lower price given in cash than would have been given in goods?-Yes, because in ordinary transactions I have a profit only on the goods sold. I may state, however, that the women are unwilling to take cash. I remember that on one occasion, when I was changing from one place of business to another, I had no goods, and I offered the knitters cash for their hosiery, at such a price as would give me a reasonable profit, but they objected to take it. For instance, in the case of gentlemen's undershirts, the usual price given may be from 4s. to 4s. 6d. I have offered to give them in the one case 3s. 8d., and in the other 4s. in cash, but they have invariably refused. They would rather leave it, and get such goods as they wanted, than take a lower price in cash; and that has got to be the rule. They are very fond of getting the highest nominal value; and I can show from my books that, as a rule, I give the full price for each article which we charge in selling them, and have only a profit on the goods we give in exchange.' Some knitters say that the price is low enough, even if it were paid in cash, and conclude, perhaps illogically, that they are therefore better to take the goods. [Joan Ogilvy, 9752; M. Jamieson, 14,052.] SALE OF GOODS GOT FOR KNITTING With many women money is a necessity for payment of rent, purchase of provisions, and other purposes. Cotton goods, tea, and shoes, which are almost the only things they can get for their knitting, are not enough to keep life in them. Those who depend entirely on their own labour have therefore to find some other means of providing themselves with these necessaries; and it is chiefly by them that the complaints of the present system are made. Some work out-of-doors for part of the year, in fish-curing or farm-work. In many cases they have sold the goods obtained at the shop, or bartered them with neighbours, for potatoes or meal. This practice cannot be described as universal, because the greater number of knitters live with parents, or have some supplementary occupation by which they get money. But still the practice is proved to have been so common that the ignorance which many witnesses profess with regard to its existence is surprising. Tea especially is a sort of currency with which knitters obtain supplies of provisions. Even if there were not direct testimony to this effect, it would be a fair inference from the large quantities of tea which the pass-books and merchants' books show that they get. Thus, in one account, more than a half of the total amount consists of 1/4lb. packages of tea. [J. Irvine, 120; B. Johnston, 401; M. Clunas, 3466; R. Henderson, 1295; M. Jamieson, 14,053; Dr Cowie, 14,709; J. Coutts, 15,336; R. Irvine, 15,748; M. Quin, 16,657; C. Sutherland, 16,660; C. Borthwick, 1627; 1645; Mrs. Nicholson, 3516; Mary Coutts, 11,601, Agnes Tait, 11,758; E. Russell, 11,583; E. Moncrieff, 11,474; Janet Exter, 4112; C. Nicholson, 11,997; M. Tulloch, 1487; Jane Sandison, 4151; A. Johnstone, 4226; R. Sinclair, 2436; J. Anderson, 6696; C. Greig, 11,559; M. Jamieson, 14,058; I. Henderson, 11,656, 11,663. Cotton and drapery goods are also sold or exchanged by knitters in order to get provisions or wool, and sometimes at a considerable loss. Thus Isabella Henderson says she had to give goods which cost 6s. 6d. for 5s. worth of meal. Women at Scalloway stated that they had frequently hawked the goods given them for knitting through the country for meal and potatoes. Mary Coutts says: '11,601. How do you get your provisions, such as meal and potatoes?-We give tea to the farmers, and get meal and potatoes for it. We have sometimes to go to the west side, to Walls and Sandness, for that. Our aunt, Elizabeth Coutts, has done that for us. She has not been to Walls and Sandness for the last two years, but she went regularly before. It was only for our own house, not for other people, that she took the tea there and got the meal and potatoes in exchange.' '11,602. During the last two years how have you got your meal and provisions?-We have knitted for Mr. Moncrieff last year.' '11,603. And therefore you did not need to barter your tea?-No.' '11,604. Did you get the full price for your tea from the armers?-I suppose we did sometimes, but I could not say. They did not weigh out the meal and potatoes which they gave in exchange; they merely gave a little for the tea which my aunt gave them. I have known her go as far as Papa Stour, twenty-four miles away, to make these exchanges. That was where most of her friends were.' '11,605. Have you often had to barter your goods for less than they were worth?-Sometimes, if there had been 21/2 yards of cotton lying and a peck of meal came in, we would give it for the meal. The cotton would be worth 6d. a yard, or 15d.; and the meal would be worth 1s. I remember doing that about three years ago; but we frequently sold the goods for less than they had cost us in Lerwick.' MERCHANT'S PROFIT ON HOSIERY One of the peculiarities of the hosiery trade, as described in the evidence of the merchants, is that they have no profit on the hosiery and fancy articles, which they invoice to merchants in the south at prices either the same as the prices paid for them in goods, or so little higher as only to cover the risk and loss upon damaged articles and job lots. They say that the only exception to this is in the case of fine fancy work, which is often bought for cash, and in selling which they can readily obtain a sufficient profit. There is a good deal of evidence about this which rather tends to show that although dealers in Shetland invoice their goods to trade purchasers in London, Edinburgh, and elsewhere, at such prices as are, upon the whole of their sales, sufficient to keep them free from loss and allow a profit, yet that profit is very small, being at most a small commission for the trouble of getting the goods disposed of; and that they have a much less, but still considerable, trade with private purchasers, in which they realize considerable profit. The inquiry into traders' profits was not prosecuted in a more searching way, by examining themselves and their knitters at length upon invoices and specimens of goods, because the sufficiently intrusive inquiry which was made, and which stands in various parts of the printed evidence, seemed clearly enough to show that the truth as to this collateral question is as I have stated it. [A. Laurenson, 2199, 2264; R. Sinclair, 2525, 3246, etc.; R. Linklater, 2728; J. Tulloch, 2795, etc.; W. Johnston, 2844; T. Nicholson, 3584; M. Laurenson, 7517.] MERCHANTS PRICES FOR GOODS But while the merchants assert that they have no direct profit upon their sales of knitted goods, or at least none but the smallest, they do not deny that, in order to repay themselves for the trouble and risk involved in the two transactions upon which this profit is realized, they charge considerably more for their tea and drapery goods than the ordinary retail price in other districts. In other words, although there is nominally no profit upon the knitted goods, there is a double profit, or a very large profit, on the drapery goods, tea, etc., bartered for it. If, therefore, we calculate what the price of these goods should be at the ordinary retail rate, and deduct the surplus from the nominal price of the knitted articles, we find that the usual percentage of profit is obtained on the latter as well as on the tea and drapery. TWO PRICES FOR GOODS In some places, indeed, there are two prices for goods, according as they are paid for with hosiery or with money; and formerly this was the custom in Lerwick. Mr. R. Sinclair says: '2574. Then I understand you to say that in every bargain with a knitter, and generally with a seller, of a shawl, the understanding is that they are to take the price in goods?-Yes; that has been so time out of mind. I remember a time, about forty years ago, when it was different, and when there were two prices on the goods which they sold.' '2575. There were two prices then-one for cash, and the other for goods?-Yes; perhaps from 20 to 30 per cent. of difference. I remember hearing that question discussed at my father's fire when I was a mere youth. I have been told, although I do not know it myself, because I was not in the trade then, that a woman may have bought a piece of goods for 16d., when a party paying cash for it only paid 1s. The more intelligent of the natives thought that was an iniquitous thing; but then it was always known and done avowedly, and the people yielded to it. They said it was not possible for them to take barter, and sell their goods at the same rate, because there was so much risk and outlay. That reason never appeared satisfactory to me; and it was not until I came behind the scenes, as it were, that I saw the reason for it was that the value given for Shetland goods was far beyond what it really was worth in the market. Its real value in the market was about the same amount less than what was charged as an addition upon the goods. What I mean is, that, supposing a woman came in with a pair of stockings, the real market price of which was 2s., but for which she wished 2s. 6d., the merchant, in order to secure a sale for his goods, would give her goods in exchange of the nominal value of 2s. 6d., but he would put 3d. a yard on the price of the goods which he gave in exchange. That explains how it is that a person knowing the value of the articles, seeing the purchase which the woman might have made, and hearing the price of it, might have said that they were about 25 per cent. too high, whereas in reality they were not so. She had merely been getting value for her goods, although she did not know it; and it would not have made any difference, although it had been as many pounds higher, while the relative proportions were kept up between the value of the two articles.' '2576. Is that done now?-Not that I know of.' A discount for cash is still given there by some (or all?) of the merchants; but it has not been shown, nor I think alleged, with regard to Lerwick, that the principal merchants now avowedly sell their goods at different prices for cash and for hosiery. There are, however, passages in their evidence which create a strong impression that the custom described by Mr. Sinclair as a thing of the past is not yet entirely obsolete, even in the capital. Thus Mr. Sinclair himself has now two drapery shops in Lerwick, in one of which no hosiery is bought at all, all the dealings being for cash. He admits that in some things, calicoes, there is 'a very small shade of difference' between the prices there and in his other shop, which is his principal one. Mr. Johnstone's reason for ceasing to issue lines was simply that people used to come to his shop and bargain for articles as for cash, and end by presenting one of his 'lines' in payment, which would not have been felt as a grievance if the principle of having only one price were rigidly adhered to. The evidence as to the general prices at the shops which take in knitted articles also leads to the conclusion that, although articles are nominally for sale at one price, a purchaser for cash often succeeds in getting a reduction if she is a shrewd bargainer. The shopkeeper classifies some articles as 'money articles,' which is a convenient reason for not giving them in exchange for hosiery; and the impression seemed to exist in the minds of some keen purchasers examined as witnesses, that goods are sometimes rather rapidly transferred into that category, when it is unexpectedly discovered, after the negotiations have reached a certain point, that the intention is to pay for them otherwise than in cash. [T. Nicholson, 3586; R. Sinclair, 3229; W. Johnstone, 2280; Mrs. Nicholson, 3510; L. Leslie, 5093.] In the rural districts, the custom of selling goods at two prices, according as the payment is in money, or in knitted articles or yarn, still prevails. By Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co., it has been given up quite lately. [P. Blanch, 8578; G. Scollay, 8639; J. S. Houston, 9715; Rev. J. Fraser, 8039.] There is no doubt that the general prices of tea and drapery goods are higher where hosiery is dealt in. It may be that a cash purchaser gets a reduction occasionally, or always if it is asked for. But there is a general concurrence of testimony to the effect that goods got by knitters at the hosiery shops are dearer than at other shops in Shetland. Various merchants admit that a higher profit is charged, in consequence of the custom of paying in hosiery. Two respectable shopkeepers in the country say that the goods which knitters have bartered at their shops for provisions were said to have been got at higher nominal prices than those charged for the same things by them. And various witnesses state, as the result of their experience, that prices at hosiery shops are higher than at others, and that they would get more goods for cash at the ready-money shops than for the same nominal amount in hosiery, where that is rather bought. Mrs. Nicholson, a very intelligent witness, says: '3509. Are there drapery shops now in Lerwick that do not deal in hosiery?-Yes.' '3510. And is it the case that you can purchase the same goods at those shops at a lower price than you can at shops where the hosiery business is carried on?-Yes; I know that from experience, because I have the money in my hand, and I can go and purchase them cheaper elsewhere than I can do at some of these shops. I don't say at them all; but I know there are some of the drapery shops in Lerwick where they could be got cheaper. I will give a case of that. Last summer I had to buy a woollen shirt, and I went into a shop and saw a piece that I thought would do. The merchant brought it down and said it was 1s. 8d. a yard. Another merchant had charged me 1s. 6d. for something of the same kind, and I told this merchant that the thing was too dear. He said, "I will give it to you for 1s. 6d. a yard;" and I said, "Well, I will give you 4s. 6d. for 31/4 yards of it;" and he gave it me. A day or two afterwards a woman came into my house and saw the goods, and said, "That is the same as I have bought; what did you pay for that?" I said I had paid money,-because it is an understanding that some shops can give it for less with money than with hosiery. I told her I paid 4s. 6d. for 31/4 yards; and she then told me that she had paid 2s. of hosiery for a yard of it-6s. for 3, or 6s. 6d. for 31/4 yards-just the quantity required.' '3511. Have you any objection to give me the name of the woman and the names of the shops?-I could give the names, but I would prefer to do so privately. The stuff I bought is still in existence, and also what she bought, and they could be compared, to show that they are of the same quality. I did not do that with any intention of finding out the difference in prices; it just occurred accidentally, and I only give it as an instance, to prove that if we could get money for our hosiery goods it would be far better for us." [A. Laurenson, 2206, 2245; W. Johnston, 2869; Contra-R. Sinclair, 2523 sq.; C. Nicholson, 12,004; R. Henderson, 12,916; A. Johnstone, 4215; J. Halcrow, 4174 sqq.] The evidence of Mr. Morgan Laurenson, quoted above, may be referred to. Mr. Laurenson says he gets no profit on hosiery, except the profit on the goods he gets in exchange. What the amount of that profit is, has been shown in dealing of prices. [above p. 35] SHETLAND YARN The trade in the raw material of the knitting trade presents some features of interest. Some women stated that they could not get worsted from the merchants in exchange for their work-wool and worsted being called by them 'money articles.' Further inquiry showed that this was uniformly true only with regard to the true Shetland yarn, which the shopkeepers can with great difficulty get in sufficient quantity for their own purposes and for which, even if they could keep it for sale, the people would give only the price for which they can get it from their neighbours, the same price at which the shopkeepers have bought it. Even when sold for money, it is given as a favour, or, at least, the transaction is out of the usual course. But even the Yorkshire or Scotch yarn cannot always be got from the shops in exchange for knitted work. Of course, both kinds are given out to knitters working on the employment of the merchant. Shetland yarn and wool may be bought occasionally in small quantities at the shops of grocers and provision-dealers, who have got it from country people in exchange for meal and goods. [J. Irvine, 115; C. Williamson, 152; C. Petrie, 1423, 1430; B. Johnston, 449; A. Laurenson, 2288; R. Sinclair, 2465; R. Anderson, 3179; W. Johnston, 2897; J. Tulloch, 2781; R. Linklater, 2752, 2765; A. Laurenson, 2304; Mrs Nicholson, 3530.] The merchants, who give out both kinds of worsted to be knitted for them, generally purchase only articles made of real Shetland wool. [C. Greig, 11,551.] SPINNING. In the country, the knitters or the older women in their families commonly spin their own wool; or if, as in Lerwick and Scalloway is generally the case, they have not sheep, they spin wool bought from neighbours or at the shops just mentioned, and knit the yarn so manufactured. For instance, a witness says that she barters tea or a parcel of goods for a small quantity of wool, which she spins herself, having no money to buy worsted-money article-or to put the wool to the spinner because that would require money too; or at times she may get a little wool in exchange for a days work, 'but it is not often we can get that.' [C. Greig, 11,532, 11,547; E. Russell, 11,572; M. Coutts, 11,617; Joan Fordyce, 16,049; P.M. Sandison, 5192; M. Jamieson, 14,053; G.C. Petrie, 1425.] Exceedingly high prices are sometimes given for the finest qualities of Shetland worsted. It is sold by the cut, which is nominally 100 threads. The weight of the worsted is of course less in proportion to the fineness of its quality, and 7d. per cut being where the price of the finest quality, which is rare, the price per lb. reaches £4, or even £7. Ordinary yarn for fancy work is 3d. to 4d. per cut, or 24s. to 40s. per lb. [A. Sandison, 10,186.] GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. As I have not had the advantage of considering, in conjunction with a colleague, the questions suggested by the facts now detailed, I do not make definite and detailed recommendations. These are indeed questions of policy, which it is for a Government rather than a Commissioner to decide. But the duty committed to me will not be discharged without an attempt to show what is the general result of the inquiry, what are the questions presenting themselves, and how these questions are viewed by some of the witnesses who have intimate personal concern with them. MODES IN WHICH WAGES ARE PAID The system of barter which has been described does not extend to any trades or handicrafts in which wages are paid to the workmen or workwomen, with three exceptions, viz.: (1) the knitters who knit the merchants' yarn; (2) the persons employed in curing fish, boatbuilding, and some miscellaneous employments connected for the most part with fishing; and (3) the kelp-gatherers. The days' wages also of fishermen occasionally employed by proprietors or merchants in agricultural work are sometimes carried into their accounts. If it be assumed that legislation for the prevention of truck is expedient, there can be little difficulty in applying to these three classes any Act of Parliament that may be passed for that end. And on the same assumption, there is as much reason for protecting the persons engaged in these trades from being compelled, by their own misfortune, weakness, or improvidence, to take payment of their wages, or part of them, in goods, as for giving such protection to workmen in other parts of the empire. APPLICATION OF STATUTES It has already been mentioned that one branch of the knitting of Shetland goods probably falls under the existing Truck Act, 1 and 2 Will. iv. c. 37. It rather seems, however, that such knitting will not be one of the trades to which the bill now before Parliament applies. It seems also doubtful whether the application clause of the bill will extend, as it now stands, to all the branches of fish-curing, or to the manufacture of kelp. See 33 and 34 Vict. c. 62, sch. 2; 34 and 35 Vict. c. 4. BARTER OF EGGS ETC. It will hardly be contended that in the system of bartering eggs or butter for goods, which prevails in Shetland, delivery being made on both sides at the time when the bargain is made, and the transaction being thus finished at once,-there are evils similar to those which legislation against truck is intended to remedy, or at least that the law ought to prevent buyers and sellers in such cases from making any contracts they please. This custom, which was or is not uncommon in other remote rural districts, will probably disappear of itself as the islands are brought into more frequent and intimate relations with the rest of the world. BARTER OF KNITTED ARTICLES The same might be said with regard to the barter of knitted articles for tea and drapery, where the knitter is in no sense employed or engaged to manufacture the raw material provided by the merchant. Here, however, the element of credit or accounting is often introduced; and it is a question whether, so far as it is so, this handicraft ought not to be ruled by the same considerations as the fishing trade. The evils arising from long accounts in this trade and in fishing seem to point to the necessity of extending to these cases the prohibition of set-off contained in §5 of the existing Act and in §10 of the Bill now before Parliament. Another uggestion is, that a short prescription for such accounts should be introduced-say a prescription of three months, running from the date of the earliest item in the account, and accompanied by a provision that no acknowledgment shall bar prescription unless it be contained in a holograph or probative writing. CASES IN WHICH LABOUR IS PAID BY A SHARE OF THE PROFITS In the ling fishing the fisherman may be regarded, if we speak technically, as a vendor to the merchant. Practically he is a partner, for the price of his wet fish is in proportion to the proceeds of the merchant's sales of the cured fish. In the Faroe fishing the fisherman is more distinctly and formally a partner, for the agreement signed by the merchant and the crew entitles him to a share of one-half of the net proceeds of the fishing. The question to be answered is, whether the principle of the Truck Acts extends to these two occupations, so as to justify the State in laying down such rules as shall prevent the fisherman in either case from taking part of his earnings, although they are not wages, otherwise than in current coin; and if that be so, what practical difficulties stand in the way of applying the principle. It is difficult to read the evidence without arriving at the conclusion, that if it is right to protect the skilled artisans of Sheffield and Birmingham, and the highly paid miners of Lanarkshire and South Wales, from receiving their wages in goods, it is also right to require the fish-curer of Shetland to give money instead of goods to his fishermen. By whatever name we may call the earnings of the latter, there is not such a difference in the positions of the two classes as to justify us in applying to them different rules of law. Both are labouring men; for the Shetlander's possession of a small allotment of third-rate land does not elevate above the condition of a peasant. If we apply to the Shetlander the legal distinctions which occur in the existing law, he differs but little from some of the protected crafts in England. He engages to fish the curer, and to give him the produce of his labour at the current price, just as a collier contracts to put out coal at a certain rate per ton. If the law is to protect from truck the man who agrees to be paid not directly for his labour, but for the result of his labour, the Shetland ling fisher may be held to fall within that principle. There is, indeed, this distinction, that his remuneration depends on the price eventually obtained for the produce of his labour, so that he takes the risk of the market. The amount of his earnings is affected both by his success in catching fish and by the fluctuations of the market. The collier, on the other hand, works for wages fixed at a certain rate, and the only element of uncertainty is the quantity of his out-put. The fisherman certainly works upon the co-operative principle at present; and in considering any legislative change, it may be desirable to avoid interfering with this principle of the present system, and unintentionally leading to the substitution of fixed wages. ARGUMENTS AGAINST LEGISLATIVE INTERFERENCE TO ENFORCE SHORT PAYMENTS It is maintained on various grounds that the provisions suggested for the prevention of truck in other trades cannot be advantageously applied to fishing. Most of the merchants are averse to short pays, and I cannot say that the fishermen themselves are in general desirous to have them introduced. I endeavoured to ascertain from the witnesses examined whether there is any insuperable obstacle to the introduction of ready-money payments for fish. The objections may be reduced, to two classes:- SHORT PAYMENTS 'IMPRACTICABLE'. 1. That payment of the fish on delivery would be 'impracticable;' which is explained to mean, (1) that it would necessitate the employment of more highly paid factors at the stations, and the conveyance of considerable sums of money for distances of many miles, there being no banks in Shetland except at Lerwick; and (2) that the settlement with the men would take up a long time and detain them from the prosecution of the fishing, which, during the summer months, requires incessant activity. On the other hand, it may be said that every cargo of fish is now received at the station by a factor employed by the curer, who weighs the fish and enters the weight of each kind in his fish-book. If the price of the fish were fixed, there could be no difficulty in ascertaining the money share of each man in a particular haul, or in the catch of a week or a fortnight, as is done in Fife and in some of the Wick fisheries; and the factor might either pay it in cash or give an order, which the fisherman or one of his family could cash at the merchant's counting-house. If the price were left to be fixed at the end of the season, the law might require payment of a proportion of the estimated price, as it does now in the case of the Northern whale fishery. The argument, that the settlement would take up an intolerable time, and prevent crews from getting to sea in favourable weather, is sometimes fortified by the assertion that the people of Shetland are singularly defective in arithmetic. Even if we assume this statement to be correct, there is so little intricacy in a calculation of the price of 18 cwt. of fish at 6s. 6d. per cwt., and dividing the sum among five or six men, that a very low arithmetical faculty would not be severely taxed in checking it. There is little doubt that in stating this objection, which scarcely deserves refutation, the simple settlement at landing a cargo of fish, or at paying cash for a week's fishing, is confounded with the very different kind of settlement to which the witnesses are accustomed at present, and in which all the transactions of a year in fish, cattle, meal, tea, clothing, soap, fishing lines, and a hundred other things, have to be gone over in detail, and checked generally, on one side at least, from memory. SHORT PAYS 'NOT ADVANTAGEOUS TO FISHERMEN' 2. It is maintained that a system of short payments in cash would not be advantageous to the fishermen, because, in the first place, their improvident habits would lead them to spend their receipts at once, so that at the end of the year they would have nothing left with which to pay their rents, and no means of living in the spring, when the meal from their crofts is exhausted; and, in the second place, because it is inconsistent with their being paid according to the price actually realized for the fish, which is commonly higher than the 'beach price' during the season, or the market price at the time when agreements for the summer fishing are made. The first of these reasons is felt and stated by some of the fishermen themselves. But are Shetland fishermen more improvident than other people similarly situated would be? Under the present system of credit transactions, indeed, it would be strange if a part of them were not careless and extravagant, and it would not be strange if a great majority were hopelessly improvident and insolvent. No man is more likely to waste his means than he who never knows how much he has to spend; and this general truth is not likely to fail in its application to men following a precarious calling in which there are great runs of luck, and who have been brought up from their earliest years to expect their employers to supply their pressing wants in times of adversity. But the objectors themselves assert, and there is no reason to doubt, that a very considerable proportion of the people have saved money in spite of the influences under which they live, and have, for their rank in life, large deposits in the banks. If many of them are careless and improvident, that is a reason, not for continuing, but for altering a system which is admirably conceived for promoting extravagance and recklessness about money. If some Shetlanders are improvident, it is the system which has made them so; and if it be a fact that so many have saved money, it proves that under a better system the people of Shetland would compare favourably with those of any other district in frugality and foresight. If the fisherman had his money in his hand, it is not likely that he would forget rent day and the time of short supplies which he has often to pass through in spring. [R. Halcrow, 4700; R. Malcolmson, 4781; P.M. Sandison, 5227; G. Gilbertson, 9578; J. Hay, 5375; P. Blanch, 8565; C. Young, 5815, 5918.] It is said that in bad years, when the crops or the fishing, or both, have failed, the population would starve in winter and spring if the merchants were not to make advances of meal and provisions; and that they could not do this, but for the security afforded by having the men engaged to fish to them for a price to be settled only at a distant day. Even if supplies of food are not required, men may be unable to go to the fishing for want of boats, lines, and hooks, which they have to get from the curer, and which, it is contended, may properly form a first charge against the proceeds of the enterprise. Fishing is always most productive when the men are paid by shares, not by wages; and it is not desirable to introduce any change which would necessitate the payment of the men by wages. [W. Irvine, 3896; T. Gifford, 8150; H. Hughson, 9599; W. Irvine, 3834; A. Sandison, 10,007; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,605.] It may be replied, that however true this may be, it just presents one of those cases in which the weaker party is likely to be led into a disadvantageous bargain, and in which, upon recognised principles, the law may interfere for his protection, by regulating the bargain so made, or by teaching him how to escape from the position of disadvantage. The transition to a new state of things might in bad seasons be attended with some difficulties and hardships, especially to those who are now indebted. Thus Mr. A. Sandison, in recommending a system of monthly payments, says, 'I think it would pauperize a number of the fishermen, because there are a great number of them in debt, and in the transition from the one system to the other they would require to pay up their debts, so far as their means would go' (Q. 10,015).* One cannot avoid observing that this class of objectors to cash payments exaggerate both the inability of the people to provide against the evil future, and the value of the 'merchants' as a source of credit in bad times. It is impossible to judge of the energy that would be exerted under the stimulus of necessity by a population which has always had landlords, tacksmen, and merchants to depend on in adversity. Those who urge that the men could not live, or at least could not go to fish, unless the merchants were there to supply their wants, forget that, while the existing system presents one ready source of credit to fishermen, it closes up all others. The fish-merchants, by getting delivery of their debtors' fish, have such a security for their accounts, that other shopkeepers do not now venture to furnish any but the smallest quantity of goods to the average fisherman on credit. But if there was some certainty that the fish-merchant had not a contra account against the fisherman, at least equal to the price of his fish, other merchants would not have the same reason, in cases of necessity, for refusing to give some credit to deserving men. This is shown by the fact-certainly an exceptional one-that a most successful business has been established in Dunrossness by Mr. Gavin Henderson, in a district where the tenants are strictly bound, and that he has been in the habit of giving credit to considerable amounts to fishermen bound to other merchants. And other cases of credit sales by others than the fish-merchant are recorded. The extension of credit dealings with smaller shopkeepers is, however, strongly deprecated by Mr. Spence and Mr. Sandison, partners of the firm of Spence & Co. It is enough to remark, that such credits would be subject to the ordinary rules of the law; and that if they were found to be injurious, it would for the Legislature to consider whether the rule of the Arrestment of Wages (Scotland) Act 1871, or a short prescription, should not be extended to them. *'10,016. Do you think the fishermen under that new system would not be able to get credit to a certain extent?-I don't see how some of them could. For instance, take the year 1869. In 1868 the fishings were almost a failure. Our total catch in Unst and Yell amounted to £1607, which could not average much over £4, 10s. to each fisherman. That year we imported meal and flour to the amount of £1824, cost price per invoice; we paid in cash for rents to Major Cameron, Mr. Edmonstone, Lord Zetland, and others, £1600; and we expended on fishing-boats and fish-curing materials £780,-being a gross amount of outlay of £4223 against the fishing, the return for which, as said, was only £1607.' [R. Henderson, 12,855; M. Laurenson, 7342; D. Edmonstone, 10,658; J. Thomson, 11,711; L. Moncrieff, 11,518; G. Georgeson, 12,032, 12,118; J. Twatt, 12,186; J. Spence, 10,559; A. Sandison, p. 248, f.n. 10, 494.] It may be contended that a law which would restrict the freedom of fishermen to contract for payment in proportion to the profits realized on their fish, would be inexpedient; but it is not impossible to frame an enactment which, leaving them this power, should require payment, weekly or monthly, of such a proportion of their earnings as would obviate the necessity of living on credit. OPINION OF MR SANDISON IN FAVOUR OF SHORT PAYMENTS It is satisfactory to find one of the most enterprising and intelligent merchants in Shetland stating a strong opinion in favour of a system of monthly payments for fish. Mr. Sandison's evidence on this subject, with which the other members of his firm agree is as follows:- '10,006. Do you think it would be possible to introduce any system by which the settlement should not be made at such long intervals?-I have considered the matter seriously since the Truck Commission was first spoken about, and I have come to the settled conviction that it would be very much better for the curer to pay monthly in cash.' '10,007. Would that payment be according to the quantity of fish delivered, or by way of wages, or partially both?-There are two reasons why I think wages would not do. In the first place, the fishermen would not like to take wages, because if they make a good fishing they would not get so much as they do now; and, in the second place, I am sorry to say that with the greater part of them, if they got wages they would not fish half so much.' '10,008. Then what system would you suggest?-I think the right system is just to fix a price at the beginning of the year of so much per cwt. for green fish, and pay it monthly or fortnightly in cash as may be agreed upon.' '10,009. Do you think it likely from your experience that the fishermen would agree to that?-Two years ago in North Yell, when I settled with the fishermen there, I urged the men to take cash payments, because we had no store there, and it was an inconvenience for us to send goods. We had to employ a man and pay him, which cost us something. But I found that they all declined my proposal. In the same year, 1870, I tried to engage our fishermen in the south of Unst and in Yell at a fixed price, and I did so. Every fisherman who went out in the south end of Unst and Yell that year was engaged at 7s. per cwt. I made that bargain in December in writing; but when settling time came we could afford to pay them 7s. 3d., and I did so, according to the previous practice. I might have pocketed £30 by that transaction; but if I had done so, the fishermen would have thought I had treated them dishonestly.' '10,010. Were they going to grumble?-I have no doubt some of them would have grumbled if they had not got the additional price. I would not say that all of them would have grumbled, because there are some of our fishermen who are very intelligent and very reasonable men, and who would have understood the thing, and said that a bargain was a bargain.' GENERAL INQUIRIES AS TO FISHERIES IN OTHER PLACES I have thus endeavoured to state some of the general considerations on both sides of the question as to the possibility and expediency of introducing, by direct or indirect legislative action, a system of cash payments into the Shetland fisheries. In such an investigation it is natural to ask how fishing undertakings are conducted elsewhere, and whether indebtedness and truck are necessary elements in the condition of all fishermen. In the hope of obtaining an answer to this question, which might either suggest a remedy for the case of Shetland, or might show how far local and exceptional legislation is admissible, I made some very general inquiry as to the state of fishermen elsewhere in regard to the mode of paying their earnings. For this purpose some personal and informal inquiries were made in Orkney and Wick; and at Edinburgh two of the employees of Mr. Methuen, the most extensive fish-curer in Scotland, who has stations on almost all parts of the coast, were examined. The prima facie conclusion derived from such inquiries is, that where fishermen are not within easy reach of a fresh market, they are apt to be largely in debt to the fish-curers. In Orkney, the social state of which formerly closely resembled Shetland as it now is, a great change has been effected by the improvement of agriculture. The tenants have to a large extent abandoned fishing, finding sufficient employment and adequate support in cultivating their farms. In Orkney the fish-curers have in general no shops. I was not able to ascertain whether there is any practice of guarantees, such as is said to exist at Wick and Stornoway. [G.S. Sutherland, 16,661 sqq.; D. Davidson, 16,920 sqq.] COMBINATION OF FISHING AND FARMING Orkney is referred to as showing the beneficial effect of separating the occupation of fishing from that of farming. It is not, however, certain that the immediate separation of fishing and farming in Shetland is either possible or desirable. It is held by some of the chief opponents of truck in Shetland that the land will be most profitably managed under a system of sheep farming, and that the fisheries also will be most productive if the fishermen are not dependent for a material part of their subsistence upon their crofts, but are stimulated by necessity to go to sea during the greater part of the year. The 'improvements' which have been begun with the view of effecting this separation on the Garth and Annsbrae estates, have given rise to much of the indignation which the introduction the of sheep farming and depopulation has been wont to excite in similar cases. Nothing but actual experiment, however, will prove whether cod and ling fishery can be prosecuted successfully from the coasts of Shetland in winter. The fishermen here do not, like those of Wick, described in the paper of Mr. M'Lennan, fish all the year round in modes adapted to the varying seasons. Almost their only profitable fishing is in the summer months; and it seems to be certain that the haaf fishing could not be successfully prosecuted in winter with the present open boats. These, buoyant and wonderfully safe and handy as they are, afford no shelter, and cannot in stormy winter weather keep the sea for any length of time. When a storm comes on the Shetland fisherman makes for land, although it is in approaching it that he meets with the dangerous tideways in which the shipwrecks of his comrades have usually taken place. In winter and spring these storms are so frequent and so sudden, that it is impossible for open boats to pursue the haaf fishing successfully. It is disputed whether larger vessels, such as the smacks employed in the Faroe fishing, or those of the Grimsby and Yarmouth men, could carry on the long-line fishing in the deep water and rocky bottom of the Shetland haul, and the best authorities say that they could not, because on that fishing ground the lines cannot be taken in by the boats while sailing. It does not, however, appear whether recent attempts have been made on a sufficiently large scale to justify a decision in the negative; and it is satisfactory to know that a company has been formed for the express purpose of extending the season of the ling fishing, and carrying it on without the ordinary connection with a shop. [Appx. p. 61; C. Williamson, 10,841; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,478, etc.; C. Williamson, 10,839, 10,794; J. Walker, 15,941, 15,952.] INQUIRIES AT WICK At Wick many of the resident fishermen are nothing but fishermen; but some who fish from Wick in summer have small farms along the coast, and many of the hired men who are required for the herring fishing come from Highland districts, where they combine agricultural and seafaring occupations during the rest of the year. The paper by Mr. M'Lennan of Wick affords interesting information with regard to the Wick fisheries. It shows, by the experience of the haddock fishing and the winter cod fishing, that payment to crews fishing on shares, or 'on deal' as it is there called, may easily be made each Saturday night; by that of the winter herring fishing that payment may be made at landing the fish, and by that of the Lewis herring fishery, how a settlement in a very extensive fishing with complicated arrangements is made immediately at the close of the fishing season. [Mr M'Lennan, Appendix II; D. Davidson, G.S. Sutherland, 16,806, 16,750.] At Wick the herring fishing alone is directly affected by the indebtedness of the fishermen, and in it alone is the settlement delayed for two months after the close of the season. The amount of indebtedness existing among the fishermen, and its effects upon the bargains which they make, is remarkable. In Shetland, as has been seen, one-third, and in some districts a much less proportion, of the fishermen is indebted to the curers. There, £20 or £30 is a very large debt for a fisherman to owe, and such debts make no disadvantageous distinction between the debtors and other fishermen in regard to the price paid for the fish. At Wick, on the contrary, the expense of boats and nets is so great, that debts of £200 and upwards are not uncommon; and all who owe above a certain amount are obliged to fish for 20 per cent., or according to another witness 1s. per cran, less than free men get. These statements agree with the information I received personally from a large fish-curer at Wick. Mr. M'Lennan says that 'there is no such thing as truck; and payment, when payment is owing, is made in cash.' But it appears both from his paper and from the evidence of Mr. Sutherland, that at Wick, and in the Hebrides and West Highlands, the men cannot prosecute the fishing without supplies being advanced to them. Except, however, as regards boats and fishing materials, these advances are not made directly by the curers, who do not keep provision shops but by the local shopkeepers upon 'lines' or guarantees by the curers. 'It is tolerable certain,' says Mr. M'Lennan, 'that the curer receives an abatement or discount from the merchants' prices of meal, goods, ropes, nets, or other things which the fishermen procure on his guarantee.' Nothing, indeed, can be more probable; but no inquiry being made into transactions between curers and fishermen out of Shetland, except for the purposes of suggestion and comparison, I am not able to say whether such a system of disguised truck does in fact prevail. [G.S. Sutherland, 16,805.] It seems to be fairly deducible from this evidence, that cash payments for fish are not impracticable and inexpedient, as some witnesses have said. The condition of fishermen in Wick and the West Highlands shows further that Shetland is not, as has sometimes been thought, a peculiar and exceptional country. Elsewhere also fishermen have crofts, are poor, and in debt; require advances for boats, fishing implements, and provisions; and obtain them from or through the curers to whom they sell their fish. The evidence given before the Select Committee on the Irish Sea Fisheries Bill of 1867 shows that the condition of many fishermen on the Irish coast is worse in regard to indebtedness than that of any in Shetland. The question may then be asked, whether a partial and local remedy should be applied to Shetland, while nothing is done for the fishermen of other districts; and whether it is expedient to pass an Act of Parliament for the protection of a particular trade in a single county, unless it be fully ascertained that its circumstances are materially different from those of the same trade in the rest of the empire. It is for Her Majesty's Government to decide whether it can introduce a measure for the repression of truck, and the regulation of agreements between fishermen and their employers, without having information as to the nature of the present relations between these parties throughout the empire. There is a good deal to lead to the conclusion, if any general conclusion may be formed from a local and partial investigation, that fishermen and fish-curers may fairly be subjected to regulations analogous to those which the Merchant Shipping Act lays down for the engagement of seamen. It is also a point worthy of consideration, whether the prohibition of set-off should not be extended to all dealings between fishermen and fish-merchants, with this exception, that the curer or merchant should be at liberty to retain one third of each week's or month's earnings for payment of any boats or lines supplied to the fishermen by him or on his guarantee. The carelessness or incompetence of fishermen in regard to pass-books and accounts, suggests also the propriety of a limitation of action upon such accounts to three months, with a provision that no acknowledgments shall bar prescription unless holograph, or signed before witnesses. LAND QUESTION. I have not thought myself at liberty to enter upon the land question in Shetland as substantive part of the inquiry; but it is plain that the prevalence of truck is due in no small degree to the habit of dependence, or submission, which the faulty relations between landlords and tenants have fostered. Here, too, however, it may perhaps be said that legislation ought not to be of a local and exceptional character. I may at least be permitted to hope that, in any reform of the land tenancy laws of Scotland, the case of Shetland will not be forgotten. The introduction of a class of peasant proprietors seems impossible, except by some measure resembling the 44th clause of the Irish Land Act, 1870; while the sudden expulsion of the present population, and the substitution of sheep, would probably be destructive to the fishing industries as they now subsist. But the present insecurity of tenure is not consistent either with the permanent interests of the land (in which the country still more than the landlord is concerned), or with the formation or maintenance of a race of independent and intelligent citizens. Probably a law of landlord and tenant, passed with no arrière pensee as to maintaining the authority of the landlord, but with the honest intention of reconciling the rights and interests with the independence of both parties to the contract, would not permit the landlord to evict without cause upon forty days' warning. It may even be maintained that in the present state of agricultural science, no tenure for so short a period as one year ought to be permitted. Farmers of the larger class, however, are or ought to be able to protect themselves in their bargains with landlords; and as this Report has nothing to do with such tenant farmers, they may be left out of the question. But in the case of small fishermen farmers, it is worthy of consideration whether a warning of at least one year, excepting cases of insolvency or specified kinds of misconduct, ought not to be required before eviction from any agricultural holding below a certain rental; and whether in such holdings tenants should not have some summary means of recovering from the landlord or succeeding tenant any extraordinary expenditure they make upon their land or houses. . (Signed) W. GUTHRIE. EDINBURGH, 15, 1872 APPENDIX to COMMISSION ON THE TRUCK SYSTEM (SHETLAND). I. LEASES AND RULES FOR TENANTS. I. CONDITIONS OF SET of all LANDS forming parts of the ESTATE of QUENDALE, in the Parishes of DUNROSSNESS, AITHSTING AND SANDSTING, TINGWALL, WHITENESS AND WEISDALE, and LERWICK, in SHETLAND. 1. The proprietor reserves--(1.) All mines and minerals, limestone and stone quarries, marl and clay, in his lands, with full power to work the same. (2.) All shell-fish, and especially mussels and mussel scawps, and all shell-sand on the shores of his lands, with sole and exclusive power to take and use the same. (3.) All game and rabbits on his lands, and sole right to take and kill the same, with full power to enter on and use his lands for that purpose. (4.) All lochs and burns, with power to drain the lochs, and divert the course of the burns, the proprietor making compensation for damage by any of his said operations; and the tenant being entitled to take and use, for his own purposes only, the limestone, stone quarries, marl and clay in the lands occupied by him, and the shell-fish, mussels, and shell-sand on the shores thereof, subject always to such rules and restrictions as the proprietor may establish or prescribe in regard to any or all of these matters. 2. The proprietor reserves the heritors' share of all ca'ing whales killed or stranded on the shores of his lands; and every tenant, on behalf of himself, and all in family with him, acknowledges the proprietor's right to one-third of such whales. 3. The landlord reserves to himself all tang and other sea-weed, growing and drift, with power to enter upon all his lands, and use the same for the purpose of manufacturing the same, without making any compensation to the tenants therefor; but the tenants shall be entitled to take such tang and sea-weed as they may require for manure. 4. The proprietor reserves full power -- (l.) To redivide his enclosed lands, to the effect of placing the lands of each tenant in one or more portions, and in a different place or places from where they may have previously lain. (2.) To regulate and control the use of the town mails, grass, and arable lands, by placing restrictions on the tenants in the keeping of swine, geese, or otherwise. (3.) To enclose or otherwise withdraw from the scattalds such portions, not exceeding one-fourth of each scattald, to be judged of as at the date of each tack, as he may deem proper. (4.) To regulate the amount of sheep and horse stock to be kept by each tenant on the scattald, so that each tenant shall have an amount of pasturage proportionate to his rent. (5.) To limit the number of swine and geese to be kept by each tenant on the scattald, and, if he sees fit, to prohibit the tenants from turning loose or keeping swine or geese on the scattalds altogether, and, where allowing of such stocks, to place the keeping of them under such regulations as he deems proper. 5. The proprietor reserves all trout fish in the lochs and burns on his lands, and sole right to fish therefor; and every tenant shall be held specially to consent, and shall be expressly bound and obliged, alike as regards himself and all in family with him, to abstain from fishing for trout (fresh-water or sea-trout alike) in all fresh-water lochs, waters, and burns, and also in all burn-mouths into which the sea-water may flow, and in all voes, inlets, or bays, though consisting wholly or partially of salt or sea-water, into which any fresh-water lochs or burns flow, and bounded wholly or partially by lands belonging to the Busta estate; and shall in no way take, or attempt to take (by rod, net, cruive, or hoovie, or in any other way), any trout fish therein, unless with the express leave of the proprietor; and when such leave extends to fishing by net, then with a net of the size of mesh, used in the manner, and at the time, and to the extent, expressly allowed and prescribed by him. 6. All tenants shall be bound, if required, to pay, over and above their stipulated rents, their proportion of all public and parochial burdens which the law has laid, or may lay, directly upon tenants, any custom to the contrary notwithstanding. 7. No office house must, hereafter, be erected on the side or end of a dwelling-house, without the written permission of the proprietor; and no tenant shall be entitled to remove from out the dwelling-house or offices possessed by him at the expiry of his lease, any roof, window, door, loft, stair, or other plenishing of a like fixed nature, even though furnished and put in by himself, unless his tack specially confers upon him such power; but the incoming tenant shall be bound to pay the outgoing tenant the value of the roofs, windows, and doors of the office-houses, if such roofs, doors, and windows were paid for by him at entry, or furnished by him during his lease. 8. Every tenant shall be bound, throughout the whole currency of his tack, to maintain good and sufficient dykes of every sort, including yard dykes, and to maintain sufficient and convenient grinds in his dykes at all places usual and needful, and to have all dykes in thorough and sufficient repair, and all grinds sufficient and properly hung, at the latest on or before the first day of April, and to keep up said dykes and grinds until the first day of November in each year. 9. That in the event of any tenant not keeping dykes and grinds in sufficient order, the proprietor shall be entitled to enter upon the lands, and to repair the same, and to charge the tenant 10 per cent. on the sums expended by him in said repairs; and the amount shall be held as conclusively ascertained and fixed by a certificate thereof, under the hands of the factor on the estate of Quendale for the time. 10. Every tenant shall be bound to cultivate his lands in a proper and husbandlike manner, with reference to the best practice of husbandry in the district, and to consume upon his lands the whole straw, hay, and fodder grown thereon, and not to sell or remove any thereof, or any manure made upon the said lands from off the same, even during the last year of his lease; the incoming tenant being, however, bound to pay the outgoing tenant the value of the straw, hay, fodder, or manure left by him on the lands. 11. In all cases, where arable lands are situated on a slope or declivity, and are laboured by spade, the tenant shall, when labouring, delve the riggs lengthwise, or along the side of the rigg, each feal or fur extending from the top to the bottom of the rigg, and the delving to begin one season at the right side, and the next season at the left side of the rigg; and, in situations where it is necessary to delve down hill, the tenant shall remove the first or lower feal or fur at the bottom of each rigg, and along the whole breadth thereof, and shall, when the rigg is completely delved, carry the said removed feel or fur to the top, and deposit it in the last fur or hollow at the top formed by the turning down of the topmost feel or fur, so as much as possible to prevent the removal, to the foot of the rigg, of earth from the higher ground. 12. No tenant shall be entitled to bring upon the lands possessed by him (enclosed or scattald), or to allow to remain thereon, any stock that does not belong to himself, or any halvers stock, or stock that belongs wholly or partially to others, even though such owners or co-owners be members of his own family, without the express leave in writing of the proprietor; but tenants shall be entitled to take for hire cattle to feed on their enclosed lands during summer, or any tenants of parks or islands to take for hire cattle to feed during the year round. 13. No tenant shall, on any pretext, keep or allow to be kept on his enclosed lands or scattald, any swine, unless the same shall be properly ringed; and it shall be the duty of all persons finding unringed swine on lands belonging to the estate, immediately to inform the factor or ground officers, or, the persons so finding unringed swine, may lay hold of them, forthwith informing the factor or ground officers of the circumstance; and no tenant shall be entitled to cut truck or take earth, whether for the purpose of manure, or any other purpose whatever, or to cut peats, feal, or divot, or to cast pones, or ryve flaws, or ryve or strike, or cut thack or heather, or to cut, pull, or to take floss, or rushes, at any places or times, or in any way or manner, except at the places, and at the times, and in the way and manner, that shall be allowed by the proprietor; and, until special places, times, ways, and manners shall be pointed out and prescribed, tenants shall only do these acts at the places and times proper and usual, and in the way and manner least calculated to exhaust the supply and injure the pasture or other subject; and especially in cutting truck and taking earth, no tenant shall be entitled to do it where the soil is thin and the ground high or sloping, nor to scrape mould on such ground, but only to cut truck and take earth from places where the soil is deep, or where, from being in a hollow, it will speedily again accumulate and sward over; and, in cutting peats, tenants shall on all occasions open the banks in a straight line, and in the line of the watercourse, and make proper drains from the lower end of the banks, in order to prevent the accumulation of stagnant water, and shall carefully preserve the surface feal, and as soon as the peats are cut, smooth the surface of the bottom of the banks, and replace properly the surface feals with the grass side uppermost. 14. No tenant shall be entitled to keep more than two dogs, and which dogs shall be harmless, and properly trained not to follow sheep, except when sent after them by their masters; and every tenant shall be responsible for all damage done by any vicious dogs kept by him, and shall be bound to part with any dogs judged by the proprietor to be vicious, on a requisition by him to that effect. 15. No tenant shall be entitled to sell or retail, or allow to be sold or retailed on his lands, any spirituous or malt liquor, tobacco, snuff, or tea, nor to carry on, nor allow to be carried on upon his lands, any fish-curing business of any kind, without the consent of the proprietor; with power, however, to the tenant, if a fisherman, to cure the fish caught by himself; and that either separately or in conjunction with other fishermen. 16. No tenant shall receive into his house nor allow to harbour on his lands, any useless or disabled persons, not members of his own family, or any idle or disorderly or disreputable person or persons whatever, or any married persons (except himself), though relations, without the leave of the proprietor; and every tenant shall be bound to maintain all members of his family, who, from infirmity, age, or otherwise, may be incapable of supporting themselves, so as to prevent their becoming a burden on the Parochial Board. 17. Every tenant shall be bound to maintain good neighbourhood; to abstain from all encroachments on his neighbours, either by allowing his cattle improperly to stray on their grounds or otherwise, and to that end to keep his cattle properly tethered within the limits of his own grass, ley, or stubble ground, from the 1st day of April to the 1st day of November in each year; and to maintain in all respects a character and conduct becoming an industrious and Christian man, and to enforce such a line of conduct on all living in family with him. 18. Every tenant shall be bound to bring up and educate his children properly, according to his means and opportunities, by using every endeavour to allow of their attendance at schools where sound religious and secular knowledge may be acquired; and, by precept and example, otherwise training them up to be pious, industrious, and good members of society. 19. It is expressly declared, that all powers conferred on the proprietor by these conditions shall be capable of being effectually exercised and carried into effect by, and at the instance of, the duly appointed factor on the estate of Quendale, and by the sub-factors and ground officers under them. II. RULES FOR THE BETTER MANAGEMENT OF THE SUMBURGH ESTATE. Any tenant on the estate can apply for a copy of these regulations; and on his obtaining said copy, duly dated and signed by himself and the landlord, these rules shall form a binding agreement between himself and the landlord, and shall have all the force of a lease. Each holding shall be valued by the landlord, and the nature of the holding and value declared on the back of the copy of these rules, handed to the tenant thereof; and the rent shall not afterwards be raised to that tenant for the term of fifty years, except as herein provided. As, in time past, money has gradually but surely decreased in value, and land has gradually increased in value in the same or a greater proportion, it shall be in the option of the landlord, at the end of ten years from the signing of this agreement, to make such addition to the rent paid by the tenant as he shall see fit and reasonable, according to the times; but said addition shall, under no circumstances, exceed twenty per cent., or one-fifth of the rent formerly paid, and so on, at the end of every ten years. The tenant shall be at liberty to make such improvements on the property in his occupation as shall be sanctioned by the landlord; and such improvements, when executed, shall be inspected by the landlord, and shall be described in a minute appended to this agreement; and said minute shall declare the value of said improvements, and the number of years it is considered the tenant ought to occupy said holding, in order to obtain repayment for said improvements; and should the tenant leave his holding before the expiry of said number of years, he shall be entitled to receive from the landlord compensation for the unexhausted part of his improvements, as under:-- Dividing the declared value of the improvement by the number of years of occupancy required to repay the outlay, the tenant shall receive one part for every such unexpired year; thus: suppose the improvement cost twenty pounds, and the number of years required to repay the outlay were twenty years,-- if the tenant left after five years, he would be entitled to fifteen pounds; if after ten years, to ten pounds; if after fifteen years, to five pounds; and so on. No tenant shall have a right to claim compensation for improvements which have not been approved of by the landlord, by a signed minute, appended to this agreement. Should any tenant fail to execute such improvements as the landlord shall consider necessary, then the landlord shall be entitled to enter on said holding, and execute said improvements himself; and shall charge the tenant, in addition to his rent, such interest on said improvements as he shall see fit,--said interest not to exceed ten per cent., or two shillings in the pound, on the total cost. Should any tenant desire improvements which he is unable to execute without assistance, he may apply to the landlord, and obtain from him such assistance as he may require; the landlord charging interest on such outlay made by him, as above provided, and the tenant being entitled to compensation, as above provided, on his part of the outlay. All houses, buildings, fences, and drains, as well as any improvement made, as above, must be kept up by the tenant during his occupancy, and in good tenantable repair; and the fact of any tenant allowing such improved property to deteriorate, shall debar him from claiming compensation for it. After any farm shall have been enclosed, the tenant shall be bound to adhere to a rotation of crops, or course of cropping,-- the ordinary five-course shift of or , or other rotation, to be approved of by the landlord. No tenant shall cut up the grass lands for truck, feals, or divots, either within the town dykes or in the scattald, except on such spots as may be pointed out by the ground officer. Peats are only to be cut where pointed out by the ground officer: the banks to be opened in straight lines, the moss cut to the channel, and the feals laid down, carefully, with the grass side up. No tenant shall allow his swine to go at large. No tenant shall sublet any part of his holding, or shall take in a second family to live with him or on his farm, without permission from the landlord. The landlord reserves to himself all minerals, game, shooting, and trout fishing on the estate; and shall be at liberty, at all times, to enter on any holding, to search for and work minerals and quarries, to lay off and make roads, and to alter the marches of any farm in such a manner as he shall see fit. But should such action of his lessen the value of any farm, he will make a proportionate reduction of rent. The tenant shall be bound to observe all the rules generally in force on the property for the time being. . III. ARTICLES, REGULATIONS, AND CONDITIONS OF LEASE, which are to have the same effect as if engrossed at length in the Leases agreed betwixt the PROPRIETOR of the Estates of GARTH and ANNSBRAE, on the one part, and the Tenants of said Lands, on the other part. 1. . -- The lease shall be for ten years from Martinmas. The rent shall be due and payable at the term of Martinmas every year. 2. . -- Such local or other taxes as shall be levied upon tenants shall be duly paid by them when due, or if advanced by the proprietor, shall be settled for along with the rent. 3. -- The tenant is bound not to sublet or assign in whole or in part, directly or indirectly, without the permission in writing of the proprietor or his factor. Without similar permission, only one family shall occupy the subject let. The head of the family is responsible for the conduct of all the members of same. The tack is to go to the lawful heirs-male of the tenant, according to seniority in the first instance, and failing heirs-male, to the heirs-female by the same rules, without division. But the tenant is allowed, notwithstanding, by a written deed or letter under his hand, to select any one of his children in preference to another to succeed him in the lease, who will be recognised and received as tenant, upon due intimation being given in writing, provided that the lease descends to the individual named free and unencumbered. 4. -- The tenants are bound to maintain, keep, and leave at the end of their lease in good tenantable condition the houses, and all permanent improvements handed over, or that may be added during the lease. 5. -- In consequence of the land being unenclosed, and in need of draining and other permanent improvements, the tenants are bound to annually expend upon their farms, in such manner as may be pointed out by the proprietor or his factor, improvements equal in value to the amount of the annual rent. During the first five years of the lease the proprietor will allow annually an amount equal to one half of such permanent improvements as may have been executed in a satisfactory manner (said amount in no case to exceed one half of the amount of rent). During the last five years of the lease, the tenants are bound to pay in addition to the annual rent a further rent-charge, at the rate of seven per cent. per annum upon the total sum or sums allowed for improvements during the first five years of the lease. 6. --The practice of continuing to labour without any regular rotation, and to exhaust the soil by over-cropping, being extremely prejudicial both to the interests of the proprietor and tenants, it is stipulated that every tenant shall follow a five-shift rotation of crops in the order after prescribed, viz.:--one-fifth of the farm under summer fallow, or green crop properly cleaned and dunged; two-fifths to be under corn crops, but not immediately following each other in the, same division; and two-fifths in first and second years grass. During the first three years, as it may be impossible to follow the rotation, the tenants are bound to follow such orders of cropping as may be pointed out by the proprietor or his factor. 7. -- To insure the improving the lands, no tenant shall be at liberty to sell or otherwise dispose of any straw, turnips, hay, or dung produce upon his farm. All that class of produce must be consumed on the farm, unless with the written permission of the proprietor or his factor. 8. -- In compensation for the tenants leaving their lands in a more improved condition, and for being prevented from disposing of certain portions of their crops, the tenants are to be paid for the grass seeds sown with the way-going crop, as also for their straw, hay, and turnips left at the end of their lease, and for all dung made during the last six months of said lease, all at the value as appraised by two arbiters mutually chosen. 9. -- To insure improvement upon stock, no tenant is allowed to keep any bull, stallion, ram, or boar, except such as has been approved of, and permitted in writing by the proprietor or his factor. 10. -- To prevent the destruction of, or annoyance to, the stock upon the scattalds, no tenant will allowed to keep a dog or dogs. 11. -- The proprietor reserves to himself the right of searching for, opening, and working mines and minerals, on paying such surface damage only as may be ascertained and fixed by two arbiters mutually chosen. The proprietor also reserves the shootings, and the salmon and trout fishings. 12. -- The proprietor further reserves to himself all the peat-mosses, sea-weed, and shell-sand, with power to regulate and divide them as circumstances may render necessary. All tenants are bound in future to cast such peats as may be allotted, in a regular manner, and to lay down the turf in neat and regular order, without potting, and to the satisfaction of any one duly appointed by the proprietor. The drift, seaweed, and shell-sand to be used as manure, will be divided amongst the tenants, according to the quantity of land held by each. All other sea-weed, rights of foreshore, share of whales, etc., are expressly reserved by the proprietor. 13. noust,< etc.> -- All privileges of grazing upon scattalds, removing ' truck,' etc., is reserved by the proprietor. No tenant is allowed any privilege outside the boundary of his farm, with the single exception of the boats nousts as presently enjoyed. 14. -- The tenants are bound to accede to all local regulations which are or may be established for the more orderly management of the property, and the general interests of all concerned. 15. -- It is expressly stipulated, that when any act of bankruptcy upon the part of the tenant takes place, that his lease shall terminate and revert back to the proprietor at the first term after such act of bankruptcy; but to remove all grounds to complain of injustice, whatever rise of rent is actually obtained from the farm in a bona fide manner, when let anew, shall be accounted for annually when received during the balance of the lease to the creditor or trustee, or an equivalent paid in one sum for all the years of the lease unexpired. 16. -- The proprietor reserves to himself the right to grant feus off any farm, upon allowing such deduction of rent only as may be determined by two valuators mutually chosen. 17. -- All tenants are bound to conform to the foregoing articles, regulations, and conditions of lease, under the penalty of forfeiture of all the benefits of their lease, and immediate loss of their farms. 18. --A printed copy of these conditions and regulations, signed by the proprietor or his factor, before witnesses, shall be delivered to each person who is accepted as a tenant, and the tenant's name, designation of farm, amount of rent, etc. entered in a minute-book specially kept for such purpose; and the tenant may at any time afterwards claim a regular lease upon stamped paper, to be extended at his own expense. 19. -- Every tenant shall be bound to remove from the houses and lands at the expiry of the lease, without notice of removal or other legal warning, and shall be liable to double the previous year's rent for every year that he or she may remain in possession after the termination of the tack. IV. CIRCULAR sent to TENANTS on Major CAMERON'S Estate in Unst, by the Tacksmen, Messrs. SPENCE & CO. As there has been, for some time past, many vague reports throughout the island regarding the change of system in the management of the tenantry, consequent on the withdrawal from them of the scattalds, which of late have been looked upon as more valuable than formerly, with other changes in the mode of farming, etc., We therefore deem it right to make it generally known to the tenants on the Garth and Annsbrae estates in Unst, that, knowing the change was certain, and believing it would be severely felt at first, if not gradually and judiciously introduced; we have, hoping to modify to a certain extent coming changes, obtained a lease of these estates; and, with the view at the commencement, and throughout, if possible, of retaining the scattalds in connection with the arable lands and outsets, have taken the scattalds at a fixed and separate rent. The scattalds, on this footing, if viewed as a business speculation, could be enclosed, as has been done here and elsewhere, and let out to strangers, or occupied by ourselves. Such a course, however, we consider would be hard on the present tenants, and therefore, in the meantime, purpose to forego all pecuniary advantage which might, by keeping the scattalds, arise to ourselves, and give such over to the general advantage of tenants, on condition of receiving for all animals pasturing thereon a fixed rate per head, to be determined yearly. With this view, and in order to disturb existing arrangements as little as possible this year, we shall begin with fixing a charge of 1s. 6d. per head on byre cattle, 3s. 6d. per head on all horse stock over one year old, with 9d. per head for sheep, payable at Martinmas 1868. These rates will be doubled for stock to tenants on any other property found pasturing on the scattalds rented by us; and before these neutral tenants will be allowed to pasture stock on our scattalds, they must pay in advance, and obtain a licence for such number as they wish to pasture on the grounds. Thus the benefit of the scattalds will be secured to those who pay for them. Measures will be adopted to protect the tenants and ourselves from all unlawful trespass. As regards the 'rules and regulations' in force on the Garth and Annsbrae estates, copies of which have been given to the tenants in Unst, we have obtained such modifications of these, as, we believe, will be found satisfactory, easily wrought, and we fondly hope for the good of all concerned in the end. These modified rules, however, will not come into operation this year; tenants will have time to consider them; and, when introduced, we believe generally, they will see the advantage accruing to themselves. We do not expect that the idle and thriftless will admire them, but it may help them to discover that 'Idleness is the parent of want, while the hand of the diligent maketh rich.' From these remarks we hope it will be seen that our desire is to help and benefit the tenants, and, as far as we can, raise them, socially and morally. With a strict regard to equity, confining ourselves entirely to this affair and business, on strictly fair and just principles, we shall persevere and hope, under the blessing of Providence, that all will result well to proprietors, tenants, and ourselves. In carrying this work forward, we ask the tenants' help and assistance; we will study never to present ourselves in a false light, and we shall at all times claim honest and fair dealings on the tenants' part; doubledealing, deceit, and dishonesty will be punished; the idle-inclined and the spendthrift will meet with encouragement only as they abandon those habits. The careful, honest, active man will receive all help and encouragement in our power. Our desire is to benefit all under our care, and we will do so, unless the tenants themselves prevent it. JOHN SPENCE. WILLIAM G. MOUAT. JOHN THOMSON. 1867. ALEXANDER SANDISON. V. EXCERPTS from LEASE between Major T.M. CAMERON of Annsbrae and Messrs. SPENCE & CO. The subjects set are all and whole the town and farms of Norwick, Balliasta, and others, together with the outsets thereon, as more particularly specified in the rental annexed, and subscribed by the contracting parties as relative hereto, together also with the scattalds, dwelling-houses, piers, booths, beaches, and all parts, pertinents, and privileges of the said lands not hereby expressly reserved, and not inconsistent with the working of the lands under the rules of good management, all lying in the parish and island of Unst and county of Shetland, with entry to the said lands and others (excepting as to the following farms and subjects held on lease by the respective tenants, viz.: Crossbister, held by Edward Ramsay; Balliasta, held by Charles Gray and James Manson; the grass parks of Gardie, held by Alexander Sandison; house and one merk in Himron, held by Alexander Harper; the mill Westing, now vacant; Saredale, held by John Nisbit; Muness, held by James Thomson; Collaster, held by James Smith; and Uyeasound, held by Donald Johnson) at the term of Martinmas, in the year eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, and from thenceforth to be peaceably occupied and possessed by the said lessees for the space of twelve years, say until the term of Martinmas in the year eighteen hundred and eighty; and with respect to the said subjects already let by the proprietor, with entry at the termination of the respective tacks thereof, and from thenceforth the whole of said subjects to be peaceably possessed by the said lessees till the said term of Martinmas, eighteen hundred and eighty; but declaring that, notwithstanding the term of entry to these subjects is postponed on account of their being already let, it is provided and declared that the lessees under this tack shall draw the rents payable in respect thereof from and after the term of Martinmas, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight; together also with the right to the said lessees of manufacturing kelp from seaweed grown upon or gathered from the shores of the said lands, together also with the right of collecting drift-weed be used as manure, and the right of cutting turf or 'pones,' but that only for the purpose of keeping in repair the roofs of the houses hereby let, and only in parts of the subjects where the same would be least injurious to the lands; and in the event of any difference of opinion arising as to this, the same to be determined by the arbiter hereinafter appointed; together also with the right of cutting peats in the manner after mentioned in the rules for subtenants; reserving to the proprietor all mines and minerals, with liberty to search for, etc. And in respect the lessees are taken bound, as after-mentioned, to expend yearly for five years certain sums on the improvement of the property hereby let, the one half of which is to be repaid to them by the proprietors in the manner afterwards stated: And whereas they contemplate getting their half of these improvements executed by their sub-tenants under certain stipulations in the sub-leases after mentioned, the condition of which sub-leases are new in Shetland, and a number of the tenants may decline to enter into them, thus leaving vacant farms, and entailing on the lessees themselves the half of the expense of carrying out the improvements upon these farms; it is hereby provided and declared, and the said Thomas Mouat Cameron, for himself and his foresaids, their heirs and successors, binds and obliges him and them, that should such a number of the said farms remain vacant as to entail of annual outlay an annual amount altogether exceeding one hundred pounds sterling, he and they shall be bound to advance any excess of that sum, making an annual rent-charge upon the lessees of 10 per cent. on their half of said advance (as, for example, should improvements to the value of only six hundred pounds per annum be effected by means of the sub-tenants, leaving three hundred to be expended by the lessees, the proprietors would, in such case, advance the agreed-upon four hundred and fifty pounds at six pounds fourteen shillings per cent. per annum, and of the one hundred and fifty pounds expended by the lessees, the excess of one hundred pounds -- namely, fifty pounds -- at a rentcharge of ten per cent. per annum): And where as some of the houses on the property hereby let are not in good repair, the said Thomas Mouat Cameron binds and obliges himself, and his and their foresaids, to put the same in good tenantable order and condition within two years from the commencement of this lease ..... And it is hereby provided and declared that this lease is granted, and the same is hereby accepted, under the restrictions and reservations, and subject to the following conditions, viz.: , That the said lessees and their foresaids shall annually, during the first five years of this lease, and that before the first day of September in each year, expend, either by themselves or by their sub-tenants, under rule 5 of the rules and regulations for sub-leases, afterwards referred to, and annexed hereto, upon permanent improvements upon the subjects hereby let, in such a way as may be pointed out by the proprietors or their factor (the laying off and subdividing the ground to be improved to be at the expense of the proprietor), the sum of nine hundred pounds sterling per annum; it being provided and declared that the first annual expenditure, or as much thereof as the lessees may require, shall be made on fencing, subject always, however, to the aforesaid sanction of the said proprietors or their factor; the one half of said sum, viz. four hundred and fifty pounds sterling per annum, for five years, shall be repaid to the said lessees by the proprietors, through some drainage or land improvement company, at the term of Martinmas yearly, provided always that the said improvements shall have been executed by the said lessees before the previous said first day of September in each year, and shall, previous to said payment, have been inspected and passed by the Government inspector, and shall have in every respect been executed in the way pointed out by the proprietors or their factor; or, in the event of their having failed to point out the improvements required at least ten months before the said first September, then it shall be sufficient if the lessees have executed them in the way they deem best; upon which advances the lessees shall pay halfyearly, at the terms of Whitsunday and Martinmas, during the continuance of this lease, the whole of the rent-charge payable in respect of said advance by such drainage or other company, at such rate as the said company may charge upon a twenty-five years' loan, but not to exceed six pounds fourteen shillings per cent. per annum; and the lessees shall also pay the poor-rates and road-money, if any, exigible from the landlord in respect of said rent-charge; and it is also provided and declared that, in the event of the said lessees failing regularly to pay the said rent-charge and the said annual rent, and allowing the same to remain unpaid for more than ten days after the terms at which the said payments thereof respectively become due in any year, then, and in that event, it shall be in the option of the proprietors, or their foresaids, to put an end to and terminate this lease, and the same shall become null and void. ................................................ : That the lessees 'shall labour, cultivate, and manure such parts of the subjects hereby let as are brought or to be brought under cultivation, according to the rules of good husbandry, and shall follow a six course shift or rotation, and leave the same in that state, but with reference to rule 6 of the rules with sub-tenant annexed hereto. . That the lessees are bound to offer to the present tenants sub-leases of such portion of the lands hereby let as may be laid off to accompany their houses, and may, during the first six years of the lease, sublet to others any farms so laid off, and which the present tenants may refuse to take and during the remaining six years any sub-tenancy becoming vacant can only be sublet with the consent, in writing, of the proprietors or their agent; but such sub-leases can only be entered into on observing the conditions rules, and regulations for that purpose annexed, and subscribed by the contracting parties as relative hereto, to which special reference is made, and which shall be held to be as binding on both parties as if the same were incorporated herein. . That the lessees shall be bound to leave upon the subjects hereby let a flock of Cheviot or black-faced ewes average quality, and not less in number than six hundred of equal proportion one, two, three, and four years of age, and shall be bound to hand the same over to the proprietors at the end of this lease, at the valuation of two persons to be mutually and specially chosen for the purpose. . That the lessees shall arrange that only one family shall be in the occupation of each holding at the expiry of this lease, and for at least one year prior thereto. , It is hereby stipulated and agreed on by the lessors and lessees that this lease may be added to, altered, or modified, by simple letters exchanged between or modifications be found necessary in order to work out its different provisions and the lease being of a nature new and untried in Shetland, that it shall be interpreted as favourably as possible for the lessees, consistent with already expressed intentions of the two parties. RULES AND REGULATIONS to be entered into between the LESSEES under the foregoing Lease and their SUB-TENANTS referred to, and subscribed by the parties with special reference to said Lease. 1. No sub-lease shall extend beyond the term of Martinmas eighteen hundred and eighty. 2. Such local or other taxes as shall be levied upon tenants shall be duly paid by the sub-tenants according to the amount of their rents, or if advanced by the lessees shall be repaid to them by the sub-tenants. 3. Only one family shall be allowed to occupy each holding. 4. The sub-tenants shall be bound to maintain, keep, and leave at the end of their sub-leases in good tenantable condition, the houses and all permanent improvements handed over or that may be added during the existence of the sub lease. 5. The sub-tenants shall be bound to expend annually upon their respective holdings, in such manner as may be pointed out by the proprietor, or his factor improvements equal in value to the amount of the annual rent. During the first five years of the sub-lease, the lessees will allow annually an amount equal to one half of such permanent improvements as may have been executed in a satisfactory manner (said amount in no case to exceed one half of the amount of rent), and the sub-tenants shall be bound to pay at the rate of seven per cent. per annum on all advances so made during the period of endurance of their sub-leases. 6. Every sub-tenant shall be bound to follow a six-shift rotation of crops, according to the rules of good husbandry. During the first three years, as it may be impossible to follow the rotation, the sub-tenants are bound to follow such orders of cropping as may be pointed out by the proprietors or their factor and the lessees. 7. No sub-tenant shall be at liberty to sell or otherwise dispose of any straw, turnips, hay, or dung produced on his farm except to neighbours, tenants on the property. All that class of produce must be consumed on the farm, unless with the written permission of the proprietors which will be given to any tenant agreeing to expend the full value of any such produce sold upon the purchase of oilcake or special manure to be consumed on the farm during the same season. 8. In compensation for the sub-tenants leaving their lands in a more improved condition, and for being prevented from disposing of certain portions of their crops, the sub-tenants shall be paid by the proprietor of the lands, through the lessees for the grass seeds sown with way-going crop, as also for their corn and straw, hay and turnips, or other produce left at the end of their sub-leases, and for all dung made during the last six months of said sub-lease, all at the value as the same shall be determined by two valuators to be mutually chosen for the purpose. 9. No sub-tenant shall be allowed to keep any bull, stallion, ram, or boar, unless such as permitted by the lessees. 10. The lessees shall reserve from the sub-leases, for behoof of the proprietor, the right of searching for and working mines and minerals, and the right of salmon and trout fishings and shootings. 11. The lessees shall also reserve all the peat-mosses, shell-sand, and sea-weed, and shall regulate and divide them among their sub-tenants as circumstances shall render necessary; the lessees shall also bind the sub-tenants to 'cast', such peats as may be allotted in a regular manner, and to relay the turf in neat and regular order, with the grass side uppermost. The drift sea-weed and shell-sand to be used as manure will be divided by the lessees among their sub-tenants according to the quantity of land held by each. 12. No sub-tenant shall have an right to strike theek, cut turf, except as hereinbefore provided for repairing roofs of houses, or floss, remove earth, or in any way deteriorate or injure the lands hereby let, without the consent of the proprietors or their agent or factor. 13. The sub-tenant shall be bound to accede to all local regulations which may be made by lessees, with consent of the proprietors, for the more orderly management of the property and the general interests of all concerned. 14. When any act of bankruptcy shall take place upon the part of any sub-tenants, it shall be stipulated that this lease shall terminate and revert back to the lessees at the first term after such act of bankruptcy. 15. The lessees shall be bound to reserve from the sub-leases the right to the proprietor to grant feus off any farm, upon his allowing such deduction of rent to the lessees, and through them to the sub-tenant, as may be determined by two valuators mutually chosen for the purpose, and upon his finding security, to the satisfaction of the lessees, that the said feus shall not be used in any form what ever for purposes of business during the existence of their lease. 16. A clause shall be inserted in the sub-leases binding the tenants to remove from the houses and lands at the expiry of their respective sub-leases without notice of removal or other legal warning. 17. Lastly, a clause shall be inserted in the sub-leases binding the sub-tenants to conform to the foregoing regulations and conditions, under the penalty of forfeiture thereof. II.--THE FISHERIES AND FISHING TRADE OF WICK. (Communicated by Malcolm M'Lennan, Esq., procurator-Fiscal, Wick.) White-fishing is but a secondary enterprise at Wick. In the end of September, annually, a number of boats engage in fishing for haddocks, and prosecute this fishing till November. This year fifteen boats engaged in this work, each manned by eight men. The best boats of the herring fishing fleet are employed, and for the use of the boat one-ninth part of the proceeds of the fishing is paid to the boatowner. In local phraseology, the boat is said to be held by the crew 'on deal,' and the consideration paid for it is 'the boat's deal.' The average winnings of these boats for the seven weeks or two months of the haddock-fishing are reckoned at £100, divisible into nine shares, eight for the crew and one for the boat's deal. The men hire the boat, and provide each his own lines and bait. Before commencing this fishing the fishermen generally agree with a fish-curer, who binds himself to take all the haddocks which they catch at a fixed price. This year the rate was 8s. per cwt. The price is paid in cash each Saturday night of the season. In the end of November or beginning of December the fishermen enter into engagements for the cod and ling fishing, then about to commence. This fishing is prosecuted from December till March, both months included. This year about 30 boats are engaged in it. The system pursued is much as in the haddock-fishing. Good boats are hired by the crews 'on deal,' and the crews supply their own lines and bait; and having arranged with a fish-curer, deliver their fish to him as they catch them. The contract is, however, varied to some extent. The men bargain for 'a bounty ' which is paid to them in cash at the time of forming the bargain. This year it ranged from £8 to £12, and the bounty is at once divided by the crew. The fish are sold not by weight, but at a fixed price for each fish of a certain standard of length, which this year was fourteen pence for each fish of sixteen inches. All smaller fish are rejected by the curers, and are sold by the fishermen in the local markets. The curers pay cash each Saturday night for fish delivered to them in course of the preceding week. Simultaneously with the cod and ling fishing what is known as 'the winter herring-fishing' is prosecuted. Indeed, the cod and ling fishing is, in a large measure, dependent on this fishing for herrings -- fresh herrings being found to be the best bait for cod and ling. The value of the herrings landed at Wick in course of December, January, and February in some years has touched £5000, but generally is very much less. The herrings are sold to the highest bidder on the arrival of the boats at the harbour, and paid for in cash on the instant, there being no such contract concerning them as in the case of white fish. By the time the cod and ling fishing ceases in March the fishermen begin preparations for the herring-fishing on the west coast Lewis and the Hebrides which commences about the middle of May. For this fishing much the same up of five or six joint-adventurers, each supplying his share of nets; or, if a less number of partners embark in it they hire one or more fishermen to complete the crew and of course, have each a larger share of the profits. Generally they take with them in their boats their supplies of meal, groceries, and biscuit, etc. In the west-coast fishing, so far as boats from Caithness engage in it, the fishermen engage themselves to deliver all their fish to a curer at an agreed on price per cran, which price is paid in cash at the end of the fishing, about 1st July. In the majority of cases the men get an advance of cash from the curers when fitting out their boats, to the amount of £4 or £5 per man. Such sums, of course, are deducted from the price of the herrings in the final settlement. The Caithness herring-fishing next follows, commencing about 18th July, and lasting till 6th or 10th September. Hitherto the whole course of the dealings between the fishermen and fish-curers noticed in this statement has been unexceptionable, being simply the delivery of fish by the former at agreed on rates of price, paid by the latter, the curers, in cash at short periods. In the great Caithness herring-fishing a change of system occurs, which appears to be mainly owing to the heavy cost of the boats and material employed, and the heavy sums disbursed by each boat for labour and maintenance in each season. A new fishing-boat of the best class costs from £120 to £140, including sails and rigging complete. A drift of 35 nets (and the drift often consists of a greater number), at 10s. per net, is value for £120. A boat well kept is reckoned to stand fourteen years. The drift of nets is said to require renewal every eight years. The ordinary case is, that one fisherman is either really or nominally owner of the boat and drift with which he engages in this fishing. At least a fisherman actually undertakes the whole enterprise of the season's fishing with the boat of which he has possession with all the liabilities attending it. This is, however, subject to variation, as sometimes two men, and sometimes but less frequently three men, are the real or nominal owners of a boat and take the risks of it . Assuming that a man starts with a new boat and drift free of debt, not only must he have a capital of about £250 invested in these, but he must be prepared to undertake further the following charges of the season:-- 1 Wages of four hired men (generally strangers from the Highlands or Islands) and a boy, ...... £ 30 0 0 2. Their lodgings, ..... 3 0 0 3. Their allowance of meal, .... 4 0 0 4. Cost of barking nets, .... 3 0 0 5. Cartage and drying-green for nets,. . 3 0 0 6. Harbour dues, ..... 1 0 0 44 0 0 But taking into account that accidentally many nets are lost or destroyed in each year, and that the fishing is prosecuted in boats, and with nets more or less worn, and that thus there is need of considerable annual repair and replacement, it will be seen that in the ordinary case the expense of a fishing season is largely greater than in the case of an adventure, with a new boat and drift. Thus the expense, as above, ..... £ 44 0 0 Replacing 4 nets, ..... 14 0 0 Repairing drift, ..... 2 0 0 Repairing and tarring boat, barking ropes, sails, etc. , ...... 2 0 0 To which falls to be added, to meet the annual deterioration of the boat 10 0 0 £72 0 0 It follows that the fisherman can have no advantage from the Caithness herring-fishing unless his boat clears a sum of £ 72, or thereabout, in which case the surplus over that amount will constitute his profit. But if the fisherman has borrowed the money invested in the boat and nets, it is apparent that his annual burden is increased by the sum of interest which he must pay for it. And this leads to reference to a local custom of some importance. If the fisherman has borrowed the money to purchase his boat and nets, or if, as is usually the case, he receives them from a fish-curer to whom he thus becomes debtor for their value, he does so on the condition -- very natural in the circumstances -- that he shall deliver all his fish to the creditor as long as he remains in debt. In such a case the price of the herrings is not fixed by contract, but is 'the general terms' of price conceded by fish-curers to fishermen in their debt; and these terms are generally about 20 per cent. below the price paid by the curers to men free of debt, and able to bargain beforehand concerning it. This is so while interest is charged on the amount of the debt, or while the fisherman is charged with 'boat's deal' as he usually is, when the debt is not wiped off within the second year. For the years 1860-70, the average annual take of herrings was only 86 crans. The average price is not stated in any tabular form, but it certainly did not amount to £1 per cran under 'the general terms' system. Thus, assuming that that portion of the herring fleet held by fishermen in debt fished its fair average of these eleven years, it will be seen that the total sum realized but barely sufficed to meet the necessary outlays of the season, and to pay interest on the capital involved This average, however, represents the mean of success and failure. In every year a few boats fish largely in excess of the average, and a still larger number fall more or less short of it. The latter lose money, if they have money to lose. They who have none fall into debt, or into deeper debt. It is said that fully two-thirds of the fishermen are in debt, and pursue this extensive enterprise burdened with all the disadvantages of debt. Their debts range from all kinds of figures up to £300. Still there is no such thing as truck; and payment, when payment is owing, is made in cash. In the case of men free of debt, the price, being fixed, is at once paid at the close of the fishing, or soon thereafter. In the case of men in debt, circumstances make the settlement more complicated. At the outset of his career the fisherman is desirous of standing as little as possible in debt to his curer. One or two unsuccessful seasons or seasons of but partial success quickly change his view and he becomes eager to lay as much of the burden of the fishing as possible on the fishcurer. Thus, when he wants nets, he calls on the curer to guarantee payment to the seller of nets. He gets tar, and cutch, and ropes in the same way. The curer guarantees payment of the wages, meal, and other supplies of the crew; and of the cartage of the nets, and the rent of their drying ground. All these are, of course, debited in the fisherman's account. Generally the curer pays off all those claims that require instant settlement at the close of the fishing season. If things have gone fairly well, he may make the man a payment in cash at the same time; but the final settlement of the year is postponed till Martinmas, when, if cash is owing, it is paid. If no balance accrues to the fisherman, his account is handed to him; and if he is a crofter, or a reliable man the curer advances to him £12 or £20, to pay his rent and tide him over the hard times in winter. Sometimes the curer assists his fishermen debtors by supplies of meal for their families in winter, the meal being procured by the curer's orders to millers or meal dealers. It is tolerably certain that the curer receives an abatement or discount from the merchant's prices of the meal, goods, ropes, nets, or other things which the fishermen procure on his guarantee. But sometimes the guarantee is an open one, with which the fisherman goes to any merchant he chooses making the best bargain he can. Thus the basis of the system in this, the herring-fishing, is also mainly one of cash payments. On the first relation of it, too, it seems a system conducted in very liberal ways, inasmuch as the fish-curers are prompt to supply the capital, or the boat and materials equivalent to the capital, needed by the fisherman, and to pay him promptly the whole profits. But this, a thing unusual in ordinary commercial dealings, lays the system open to suspicion; and it is, in fact, highly objectionable, and replete with hard and injurious consequences to the fishermen. Take an ordinary case. A fisherman has made a lucky fishing with an old boat, and finds himself at the end of the year clear of debt, or near to that fortunate condition. He has for years used the old boat, as he knows, at a serious disadvantage, for the old boat and defective gearing are insufficient to carry the fisherman twenty or more miles from shore nightly, and at such distances the shoals of herrings often are. His curer will give him a boat one year old, and he takes it, agreeing to pay for it what it originally cost the curer. If the old boat is worth anything, the curer will take it in part payment. But thus the fisherman at once becomes debtor in a £100 or thereby, and bound to fish on 'general terms.' He has probably been so bound all his fishing career. In the same way, a fish-curer will readily trust a boat to a smart young fisherman wishing to start on his own account. Of course, the curer takes care that he has power by writing to seize the boat again, if necessary for his security. It is commonly calculated that few men fish over 100 crans of herrings oftener than in one season out of five and all the chances are that our fisherman will do little to reduce his debt for some years to come. If the price is not paid by a lucky fishing in the first year, but runs unpaid to a second or third, the curer generally charges the man with deal for the boat, £10 or £14 as may be, and this year after year; so that, when at last the price is paid, and the fisherman gets free, the boat has actually cost him £150 or more. This, however, only occurs with fish-curers who are of a lower class than the most respectable. The leading men in the trade generally credit the sums paid as deal in the final settlement of the boat's price. The probabilities are that the fisherman will increase the debt year after year, for some years. Then the curer takes from him a sale-note of the boat and of his drift. The boat is beached, so as to preserve the curer's right to it. The nets are sent to his store. The generosity of the original transaction disappears. It is, of course, understood that the boat and nets may be redeemed; but in many cases interest is added to the debt year after year, the deal is always charged for the boat, and the fisherman loses about 20 per cent. of his earnings by the 'general terms.' The sense of failure operates injuriously on the man, perhaps makes him negligent. He finds the curer disinclined to increase the debt by an additional advance of money just when money is most necessary to him for subsistence, and things go on from bad to worse. At last his year of luck comes round. He fishes 100 or 120 crans, perhaps 200 crans. His debt is reduced so as to be fairly less than the value of the boat and drift. Then he may go on for another course of the same risk and indebtedness. But not unfrequently the curer at this juncture closes the transaction by retaining and appropriating the boat and drift, and dismissing the man. The appropriation is made not seldom without any valuation of the property, and the man is dismissed without discharge or balancing of the debt. The disadvantages of this system to the fishermen are apparent, and are really very great. , Responsibility for the whole expenses of the fishing is cast upon them, while really the boats and nets are the fishcurer's. , They are charged with the maintenance of these boats and nets, in effect to keep the curer's capital put into their hands as near to its original value as possible. , They pay interest in some cases, and not seldom an arbitrary profit on part of the capital in form of boat's deal. , They receive 20 per cent. less for their fish than free fishermen do. The disadvantages of the fishermen are the advantages of the fish-curers. But these advantages are not wholly unmixed. The fish-curer has not only in the majority of cases to find the boats and nets, but to disburse all the charges of the fishing where the proceeds of the catch are insufficient to do it, and 'to keep on' the fishermen by advances for their food and rents. Thus the aggregate of the debts is a continual strain on the curer's capital, and payment is as uncertain as the chances of fishermen individually getting extraordinary hauls of fish. There is still further the risk of the debtor dying, in which event the debt is wholly lost beyond the value of the boat and nets. On the death of a fish-curer recently, his books were found to contain about £16,000 of debts due to him by fishermen, and these for the most part valueless. Still, if the system were not advantageous to the curers, it is plain that they would not conduct their trade in so questionable a method. The fisherman's profits in good years are swallowed up by the charges and drawbacks of bad and indifferent years, unless happily there be for him a succession of good years. But, considering how little the average value of the fishing exceeds the actual outlays of the year, it is not surprising that this great fishing should be carried on under a mass of debt, spread over fully two-thirds of the fleet. It is unquestionably a national misfortune that any great enterprise like the Caithness herring-fishing should be conducted under such serious disadvantages, and with such unfortunate results to the large and adventurous class of men who labour in it. These results are mainly owing to the great error of the fishermen in accepting the use of capital on terms unreasonably to their own disadvantage, standing debtor for the whole charges of the fishing, and submitting to the large deduction of 20 per cent. on the value of their fish. But they do it with their eyes open; and it is of contract, partly expressed and partly understood, and regulated by local custom. If it were desirable to regulate the arrangements of the trade by Act of Parliament, and if it were provided (1) that no person could advance money or money's worth to a fisherman, with the view of engaging in or equipping him for the fishing, without thereby constituting himself a partner of the fisherman, to the extent of such advance, proportionately to the value of the boat, drift of nets, etc. possessed by the fisherman and used in the fishing, and becoming liable as such partner for a proportional share of the charges of the fisherman's adventure, and (2) that the custom of fixing the price 'by general terms' be abolished; the trade would, it is thought, soon revert to legitimate methods of dealing. The real capitalist would share the risks and generally engross them; while the labour and zeal of the individual fisherman, who may have only his labour and zeal to give, would find their value in wages or other remuneration. But it is not to be denied that any such legislation would be extremely arbitrary and indefensible in principle. It should here be stated that what the fishermen earn in white-fishing, and in the winter and Lewis herring-fishing, is always paid in cash, irrespective of the debt resting owing in respect of the Caithness herring-fishing. The individual debtor of the herring-fishing is lost in the five, six, or eight joint-adventurers who man the boats in the fishings first mentioned. The men who hire themselves as boatmen for the herring-fishing season bargain for wages to be paid in cash at the end of the season. These wages vary from £4 to £8, according to the skill or strength of the boatman. Besides the money wages, these men have lodgings and cooking of their food supplied to them, and each receives a stone of meal weekly. The money wage is payable at the close of the fishing, and is always paid in cash. The number of men so employed is about 4000 at Wick alone. These men make their engagements with the boatmasters, who, as already stated, are ostensibly owners of the boats. They used to experience much hardship by the failure of the boatmasters to pay them in bad years. To enforce payment was difficult, for the fish-curers were invariably found to be the owners of the boats and nets, the sole possessions of the boatmasters. This has come to be remedied to a great extent by the men refusing to engage without receiving a guarantee for payment by the curer. With regard to coopers, they are engaged for terms longer or shorter, to make barrels at current wages or rates, and payments are fortnightly and always in cash. The women employed in gutting and curing the herring are engaged for the season. They are paid 6d. per barrel, and 1s. 3d. a day for repacking and filling up the barrels. 1500 of them may be employed. The payments are made in cash at the end of the season. Thus it will be seen that the whole business of the Caithness fishings is based on cash payments; and if it were not for the specialties of the herring-fishing, the whole would be sound and equitable. These specialties operate so extensive an injury, that they well merit the attention of the Legislature. It remains to be noticed that the inducements to engage in the herring-fishing under all the disadvantages set forth are very great. It has all the precarious and enticing character of a lottery. Every year a few lucky men fish large hauls, exceeding £200 in value in the brief fishing season. As a rule, fishermen marry young; and how can the young fisherman so easily procure the means or chance of livelihood as by accepting the boat and nets which the curer so readily offers? But, apart from any such special prompting, our fishermen, essentially venturous, all too eagerly incur the debt and risk a life of indebtedness for the chance of winning the comparative comfort to which a few, a very few, of their class attain. I know of no class requiring protection from their own recklessness in these contracts more than do the fishermen of Caithness. III.-- EXTRACTS FROM LETTER FROM REV. MR. ARTHUR, UYEA SOUND, UNST. UYEA SOUND, 1. 1872. I have yours of the 26th Jan. '72, making inquiries about the price and quality of provisions, etc. in the Fair Isle. When I arrived there in summer '70, my furniture and provisions I had brought with me from Edinburgh had not arrived, through the gross misconduct of Mr. Bruce's skipper; so I had no alternative but to get provisions from his store, the only shop in the island. Tea, equal to 2s. or 2s. 2d. a pound in Glasgow, which I had tried from curiosity, was sold to me for 4s.; sugar (East India brown) worth 31/2d. a pound, cost 7d.; soap, the same; coarse biscuit (the only bread), 4d. a pound. All these articles were, I conceived, about 100 per cent. above the ordinary selling price, or profits, in other places. I afterwards bought other articles, but I forget the price, and could not tell the profits. Meal is the great demand of the island, besides tea, tobacco, etc. I heard great complaints of the price of the meal, but I needed none. They said the bere-meal cost about 20s. a boll, but they did not know the precise price till settling day, once a year or two years. Then they had to pay whatever Mr. Bruce chose to name, after it was all eaten. He kept off the price from that of their fish; and there too, they had to take whatever he named. I found from an Orkney newspaper that bere-meal was selling there at 13s. a boll. As the meal was bought with their own money, and the price of their own fish of last year, I suppose a penny letter could order 100 bolls, shipped at Aberdeen or Kirkwall; the price of carriage to Lerwick would be, say 6d. a boll; then conveyed to Fair Isle in Mr. Bruce's own vessel, with a reasonable freight would clear about one thousand per cent. on the actual outlay or he would pocket £30 for a penny letter. The people 'were restricted (as you say you have been informed) to buy from any one else, both by word and writing, and by the fact that they had nothing to pay it with till July last from 1869-1871. Mr. Bruce tried to establish a complete monopoly, but he did not altogether succeed. Others came and undersold him vastly, though even they were VERY DEAR, and would not sell above high- water mark. Every time any one came to the island to sell tea, sugar, coffee, soap, etc., it was reported that any one buying from such would get their warning to leave the island--the grand and only punishment known there. Of course, they all bought more or less secretly or openly and none were turned away I was at first astounded to find they did not believe a word I said, and I soon learned not to believe a word they said. I don't mean all were liars alike, but only a stranger can't tell whom to trust. One seller came three times to the island that summer(1870) and took away a good deal of money and goods each time. I bought bread, sugar, fowls, etc, for Mr Bruce's laws did not apply to me Good sugar 6d. a pound, would have cost 5d. and 51/2d. in Glasgow. Soap equally cheap, I was told. Bread 2d. above Kirkwall price, a 4 lb. loaf 8d. instead of 6d. at Kirkwall. This man and his boat's crew of two or three men remained six days on one occasion in good weather selling and collecting accounts, and took away cattle, etc. It was in regard to him that the notice was stuck up in the store window by Mr Bruce that he advised his tenants not to deal with strangers, nor to receive them into their houses. As to the fish, the people complained that they got 9d. a cwt. less than those at Sumburgh for the same fish; their prices varying from 2s. 6d. to 3s., about 25 per cent. below the same article twenty-four miles distant, so that £75 would pay as much fish there as £100 at Sumburgh. If the Sumburgh fishermen complain you may guess what the islanders will do if they dare speak out. I am told the Unst fishermen have got this year 8s. a cwt. for cod and ling -- the cod-fish of Fair Isle are bought at half-price. When I was there for my furniture in July last I asked for curiosity, what they got for their fish as Mr. Bruce was there settling. They said 2s. 9d. and 3s. that would be 5s 6d. and 6s. for cod. Now 6s. is to 8s. as £75 is to £100. If the fish are not paid till a year or two after they are delivered, the only capital required is the outlay for salt; and I should think £20 of salt should serve £200 of clear profit on the fish -- equal to 1000 per cent. on the outlay as You may think their plots of ground are let cheap with a view to profit on the fish. The reverse is the fact. The price of land there is nearly double that of the lots I have priced in Sutherlandshire and the rest of Shetland The land is the source of the people's and . They say Mr. Bruce has doubled the rents since he got the island, four or five years ago and the tacksmen had overtaxed them before he got it. Many have left the island since then, on the plea of oppression voluntarily submitting to the only punishment they have to fear. ......................................... I received letters in October dated July, and none after till I came for them in March, although the people were fishing every month in the year, and we could speak the mail steamer going north twice in three trips. Going south, she is generally under night or very early in the morning. I have gone to the mail and spoken to the captain in October, November and December, and my letters and papers on board were carried fifty miles past me, to be obtained when anybody coming to the island chose to ask them; and thus I might obtain them in a few months, OR NEVER. And so of letters the island. Now, a few pounds could establish a post-office in the island and the mail steamer could deliver a bag forty or fifty times in the year when going north; indeed always, unless she passed in a fog, or in the dark, or in a storm from a south or south-east wind. In a north wind, the harbour is perfectly calm, and the island shelters the steamer. IV.--EXTRACT FROM LETTER BY WM. MOUAT, ESQ. OF GARTH, ADVOCATE, TO MACCULLOCH, AUTHOR OF 'THE HIGHLANDS AND WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND' (DISCOVERED AMONGST THE GARTH PAPERS IN MARCH 1872). <2d November> 1820. . . . With regard to the points in question, I think, if I can make myself understood, I should be able to satisfy you; but our mode of holding, or rather of describing property, is so different from anything practised either in England or Scotland, that I suspect it will be necessary to take a very elementary view before I can be sure of succeeding. In the first place, then, there are no , or anything analogous to them, either in the person of Lord Dundas or of any other person. The reason why you have heard his Lordship spoken of as so universal a proprietor in the commons is, that although his is only a third or fourth rate property, it is so much scattered, that there are few commons (scattales or scattholes) in the country in which he has not something to say, . The Crown is the universal superior, and all the land is freehold. It is true that Lord Dundas lately possessed over all the country, and does still possess over some few estates, the right to the Crown rents. These were the feu-duties exigible from the feued lands, and a payment called scatt, exigible both from Udal and feued land; but this was simply a right to collect the payments, and did not infer any right of superiority. Etymologically, scatt certainly seems to have some connection with , but practically it has none whatever, so far as the receiver is concerned, and is as to him simply a feu-duty. The opinion of the country, however, is so far in favour of the etymological view, that it is generally conceived that all towns ( townships) paying scatt have right to a share of the commons, while those who do not have none; but this point has never been settled by any judicial authority. In the second place, you are mistaken in supposing that tenants pay no rent for the scattholds. Every township its own scatthold, the boundaries of which are, or ought to be, known. I say 'ought to be,' because I believe in many instances a knowledge of the marches has been lost. Any scatthold, therefore, is common merely as respects the township to which it belongs; and it is the exclusive property of the owners of that township, or, more strictly speaking, forms a part of the township itself. Each township consists of a certain number of merks. The following history of the origin of this term (which is our universal denomination of land, both in letting it to tenants and in conveying it from one proprietor to another) may help to explain its nature. It seems, then, to have arisen in the times when rents were fixed by public authority, each township being valued, , at so many merks of money as it was considered worth. The share of each landlord was then naturally said to consist of so many merks, because the rent was in fact his whole interest, the farmer being, according to the old Danish law, the real proprietor, and the landlord only a sort of lord of the manor. The term, by a very easy change, came, with the changes of laws, to apply to that portion of land which had originally paid a money merk of rent, but did not, and does not to this day, denote any particular spot or measurement, but merely such proportion of the whole township as had been equivalent to one money merk of rent, when the whole was valued at a given number. This hypothesis, for I acknowledge it is little more, at least gives a result corresponding precisely to our present idea of a merk of land, and also accounts for the great variety of contents which we find in merk, since, to be equal in value, they must have been of very different extent in different situations. The number of merks in each town is known from old records and traditions, or, practically, from the sum of all the proprietors. Thus, if in the town of M. 40 merks belong to A., 30 to B., and 20 to C., then is M. a town of 40 + 30 + 20 = 90 merks. It is of no consequence here whether M. contains five acres or five hundred, 40-90ths of the whole belong to A., and 30-90ths to B., etc. And, on the other hand, the number of merks might be double, triple, or in any other proportion, without at all altering the extent or state of the property, except that the interest of each proprietor would be expressed by proportionally higher figures. A. would have 80-180ths, B. 60-180ths, and so forth. In these circumstances, if a landlord lets to a tenant any given number of merks, it is just giving him a fractional share, of which the total number of merks in the town is the denominators, and the number let the numerator. A tenant taking ten merks in the above supposed town of M., would just have right to 10-90ths of the corn land, 10-90ths of the meadow land, 10-90ths of the stinted pasture within the dyke, and 10-90ths of the unstinted pasture, or 'scatthold,' without the dyke. But the rent is charged at so much per merk -- , the tenant does pay rent for the scatthold, Q.E.D.!! I do not, however, allege that the rent thus paid is anything like what it might easily be under a better system. That the rents were anciently fixed by public authority, is, I believe, an established fact, and there is reason to believe that the practice continued long after the transference of this country from Norway to Scotland, when, of course, it ceased to be law. This practice, and the long period for which both rents and improvements were stationary, had produced so strong an impression upon our habits of thinking on this subject, that, at so late a period as to be distinctly within my own recollection, landlords, in general, had no clear practical confidence in their own right to demand a direct rise of rent, and, under this feeling, resorted, in many instances, to indirect methods of doing that which they had a right to have done openly and avowedly. The sight of this sort of thing, without an understanding of the circumstances and habits of thinking which lie to it, gave superficial observers an idea that much oppression and injustice was exercised towards the tenantry, and produced much of that obloquy (some of which may possibly have fallen in your way) which has been thrown upon the Shetland landholders. This idea has now, however, completely vanished, and many Shetland proprietors have let their lands at a raised money rent, without reserving any further claim upon the tenants: and if all have not done so, it arises from other causes, and not from any feeling of the kind described above, or from any inclination to take undue advantages. As to your question why the scattholds remain undivided, the general backwardness of improvement, and want of agricultural skill and capital, are the immediate causes. The present tenantry are so ignorant of the means of turning these commons to any proper account, that the fee-simple of most of them would, under the present management, hardly pay a common land-measurer for surveying them, far less could they bear any litigation. There are, however, many considerable scattholds at present the exclusive property of one or a few persons. Improved management has begun, and will probably take root, first in such situations, and afterwards, when its advantages are seen, and a sufficient number of people trained to practise it has arisen, it will spread over those lands where the difficulty and expense of divisions have to be previously incurred. Your alternative of levying a rent of so much per head of beasts pasturing, would not answer, because, as I have already endeavoured to explain, the tenants, in paying a rent per merk, pay for their scattholds as well as for their other ]and. Your other suggestion, however, numerically limiting the stock according to the rent, or, which is the same thing, according to the moths, would be highly beneficial both to tenants and landlords. If you ask, Why then is it not carried into effect? I can only answer that we have not long turned our attention the way of agricultural improvement, and have only begun to discover that what is difficult is not always impossible. V. -- EXCERPT FROM REPORT OF MR. PETERKIN, GENERAL INSPECTOR OF BOARD SUPERVISION OF THE POOR IN SCOTLAND. .--The Board are aware of the constantly recurring reference I have had to make for many years to the tendency of Inspectors and members of Parochial Boards, here and there, over the whole of Scotland, to traffic with paupers, by furnishing them with goods of all kinds, and with lodgings, and intercepting the parochial allowances in payment thereof. On this subject there has, since the institution of the Board, been a constant struggle; for here and there, all over Scotland, in the large towns as well as in rural and remote parishes, the practice prevailed, and was occasionally discovered-- generally by accident. The Board long ago expressed decided opinions on the impropriety of the practice. Now in Shetland, it so happens that almost the only persons who are practically the administrators of the Poor Law are more or less directly or indirectly interested in the local trade -- in the fish-curing, or in the shops, or in the stores of one kind or another. In one parish the Poor Law is practically administered by these merchants and fish-curers, and to their shops the paupers must of necessity go to make their purchases. In two other parishes nearly the same thing occurs. There is probably no parish in Shetland, where, to a greater or less extent, this is not the case; and to find there persons capable of transacting business, and of acting as members of Boards or Inspectors of Poor, who are not, in some way or other, directly or indirectly interested in a shop, or connected with a shopkeeper, is perhaps impossible. Where the line is to be drawn, when all interest in the business of the shop will cease, is beyond my powers of discovery. Even among the more recent appointments of Inspectors we have one who is personally unobjectionable, having no shop; but his mother keeps "" of the district. Another was a shopkeeper; and on his appointment as Inspector he gave up his shop and goods, and with them, of course, it was to be supposed all interest in the business; but he made them all over to his niece, ! And the third, having ceased to keep a shop, acts as agent for his brother and his partners, who have shops and stores and curing stations; but at present he sells nothing. These three men seem to me in themselves to be really as competent as can be for their duties, and are, I believe, as good and efficient men as can be found in their respective parishes. In another parish we have as an Inspector the paid shopman or servant of the firm who has "." In another parish the chairman of the Board has "," and his brother has "." In short, everything in Shetland gravitates towards "." To it the child takes a dozen eggs in a morning, and obtains for the family breakfast what is called a ";" to it the young woman takes her knitted hosiery, and in exchange will receive either tea or some article or material of dress; to it the pauper takes the pass-book, or pay-ticket of the parish, and on that guarantee will get the "," or the ";' and he who supplies the goods over the counter is almost certain to be a member of the Board, or a near relative of one who is, or of the Inspector, -- he may even be the chairman of the Board himself. 'I do not pretend to be able to offer any suggestions to remedy such a state of matters, but too rely state the facts as they have come under my observation. I have, however, no doubt that the poors' rates in Shetland are, to a great extent, but the natural results of such parochial arrangements as I have referred to.' VI.--NOTES OF PRICES PAID BY JAMES METHUEN, LEITH, FOR (CURED) SALT FISH, FREE ON BOARD AT LERWICK, FROM 1853 TO 1871. Year Ling Cod Tusk Saith 1853 £20, 10s. £18 £20. 10s. £10. 10s. 1854-5 .... .... .... .... 1856 .... £15 .... £11, 10s. to £12 1857 £21 to £22 £18 to £17 £19, 5s. £12, 10s. 1858 £21, 10s. £16, 10s. .... £12 1859 £20 to £22 £15, 10s. .... £10 to £11 1860 £19 to £21 £17. 15s £20 £13 1861 £18 to £17, 10s. £17, 10s. £18 £12 to £13 1862 £17 to £18 £15 to £16 £17 £8, 10s. 1863 £18 to £20, 10s. £18 £20 £9 1864 £18 to £21 £17 to £19 £21, 5s. £12 1865 £23 to £24 £21 to £22 £23 £15 1866 £23 to £25, 10s. £19 to £23 £24 £13, 10s. 1867 £17 to £18 £16 £17 £7 1868 £18 to £19 £16 .... .... 1869 £20 to £20, 10s. £17 £18, 10s. £11 1870 £21, 10s. to £22 £18 £20 .... 1871 £22, 10s. to £24 £20 .... £13, 10s. Priced per ton VII.--ABSTRACTS OF SETTLEMENTS PRODUCED BY MR. GARRIOCK. 1. ABSTRACT of SETTLEMENT with FAROE FISHERMEN by GARRIOCK & CO. Vessel Earning Paid in Lines, Clothes, Cash Hooks Meal, etc., and Stores for Self and used on Family Board 'Mizpah' 1870. £585 2 1 £374 13 6 £81 7 11 £129 0 8 'Mizpah' 1871. £328 19 11 £198 9 7 £63 3 4 £67 7 0 'Sylvia' 1870. £427 19 2 £239 17 0 £71 7 9 £16 4 5 2. ABSTRACT OF SETTLEMENT with CREWS of FISHERMEN at DALE and WALLS -- Season 1871. Name of Crew Gross Earning Lines, Nets, Salt, Meal, and Goods Amount paid in Cash <6-oared boats> James Twatt and crew £66 8 6 £16 4 4 £50 4 2 John Jeromson and crew 88 16 111/2 18 4 4 70 12 71/2 Wm. Jameson and crew 74 11 11 36 12 11 37 19 0 Fraser Henry and crew 100 0 41/2 20 1 61/2 79 18 10 Thomas Laurenson and crew 100 2 7 27 14 6 72 8 1 Jacob Christie and crew 96 6 6 15 2 71/2 81 3 101/2 36 men Total £526 6 10 £134 0 3 £392 6 7 <4-oared boats> Scott Williamson and crew £21 2 11/2 £9 8 91/2 £11 13 4 Chas. Williamson and crew 33 2 11/2 19 16 81/2 13 5 6 William Smith and crew 21 17 7 10 2 31/2 11 15 31/2 Jas. Tait and crew 34 3 41/2 7 19 21/2 26 4 2 Geo. Georgeson and crew 16 0 7 .... 16 0 7 Thomas Moffat and crew 18 15 41/2 4 14 81/2 14 0 8 Magnus Thomson and crew* Thos. Thomson and crew* Mat. Thomson and crew* 158 11 0 42 18 9 115 12 3 34 men Total £829 19 1 £229 0 81/2 £600 18 41/2 * 4 boats with 3 men each = 12 men AVERAGE. Earning Goods, etc. Cash 36 men in six-oared boats, each £14 12 5 £3 14 5 £10 17 11 34 men in four-oared boats, each £8 18 7 £2 15 103/4 £6 2 81/4 Minutes of Evidence taken before the Commission on the Truck System (Shetland) Lerwick: Monday, January 1, 1872. Mr Guthrie, Commissioner. .-I have come here, as a Commissioner appointed under the Truck Act of 1870, to inquire into the system of Truck, and to report upon that and upon the operation of all Acts or provisions of Acts prohibiting the truck system; and I have power under the Act, as it says, 'to investigate all offences against such Acts which have occurred within the period of two years immediately preceding the passing of this Act (that was, in 1870), and to make such report on the subject of the truck system, and of the existing laws in relation thereto, as they (the Commissioners) shall deem proper and useful'. I wish all that are here, and all that are interested in the subject of this inquiry, to remember that the object for which I am sent here is simply to find out the truth, and the whole truth, about the way in which the system of truck, or, if it is not properly called the system of truck, the system of paying wages and the price of productions,-which is said to prevail in Shetland, operates; and I trust and believe that I shall receive from all of you every assistance in ascertaining the truth with regard to that matter. I wish every person in Shetland, and every person interested in the matter, to bear in mind, first of all, that I come here with no formed opinion as to the operation of that system, either on the one side or on the other. I come here to find out the truth; and I believe that, so far as Shetland is concerned, the Government which has sent me here is in exactly the same position, and has not formed any opinion. It is simply anxious to find out what is the truth about the system which is alleged to prevail here; and I trust, as I have already said, that I shall receive every assistance from everybody in prosecuting that inquiry. I have to thank some gentlemen, to whom I have already made application for information, for the courteous way in which they have responded to my application. The interests of some of them may be supposed to be affected by the inquiry, but I hope that they and all of you will come forward frankly and tell me what you know about the matter. It is right, however, to mention, that the Act of Parliament under which I am sent here, furnishes me with special and very stringent powers with regard to the obtaining of information. In particular, I am empowered, among other things, to examine witnesses upon oath; to compel them to answer such questions, as may be put to them; to compel the production of documents; to order the inspection of any real or personal property; and a summons requiring the attendance of a witness must be obeyed just in the same way as if it were issued by any of Her Majesty's superior courts. I hope and trust, however, that it will be unnecessary to exercise any of these powers. I think the people of Shetland have sufficient intelligence and good sense to make the enforcement of these powers quite unnecessary. I rely upon their good sense and courtesy to allow the truth to be ascertained, without any difficulty or any resistance or attempt at concealment. I may mention-although perhaps in this country it is less necessary-that the Act of Parliament gives me power, when any person examined as a witness makes a full and true disclosure touching all matters with respect to which he is examined, to give him a certificate stating that he has made such a full and true disclosure; and that certificate has the effect of protecting him against any civil or criminal procedure which might be taken against him in consequence of anything that he speaks to. Further, I have to express a hope that no person who is interested in the system that is said to prevail here will in any way attempt to interfere with this inquiry by intimidating any witness who is to be called before me, or exercising any undue or improper influence upon him. If any instance of such intimidation or improper influence takes place, I hope the party on whom it is attempted to be exercised will at once make the circumstance known to me, whether that intimidation is exercised by a threat of dismissal from employment or a refusal of work, or in whatever other way it may be done. All these things would be a serious violation of the law, and would be visited with severe punishment. I shall be ready to receive any information that any person may wish to give on the subject of the inquiry; and if any one wishes to give evidence or to suggest any point for inquiry, I have to ask that they will give that information privately, as the inquiry itself, so far as the taking down of evidence is concerned, must, by the terms of the Act, be held in public. Lerwick, January 1, 1872. CATHERINE WINWICK, examined 1. You live in Lerwick?-Yes. 2. You are in the habit of knitting for Mr. Linklater?-Yes. 3. For any one else?-No. 4. Do you supply your own wool?-No. 5. Where do you get it?-I knit Mr. Linklater's own worsted. 6. Do you get a supply of it at his shop?-Yes. [Page 2] 7. Do you pay for it when you get it?-No; he pays me for the knitting. 8. Are you paid in money?-Some in money and some in goods. 9. What is your system of dealing? When you go with anything you have knitted to Mr. Linklater's shop, do you put a price upon it?-No; he gives what he thinks right. 10. He puts the price upon it?-Yes. 11. Does he pay you that price usually in money?-Part in money and part in goods. He does not pay all in money. 12. Do you keep a pass-book with him?-No. 13. Do you get all the money you want?-I always get what money I ask for; but I never ask for all in money. I have asked for a few shillings in money, and I have always got it. 14. Why did you not ask for the whole in money?-Because he was not in the habit of giving all money for his knitting. 15. Do you mean that you knew if you had asked for it you would not have got it?-I don't think I would have got it all in money; I never asked him for it all, but I always got what I asked for. If I asked him for a few shillings of money, he always gave it to me. 16. Is a settlement always made when you bring your work back?-Sometimes it is, and sometimes not perhaps sometimes I have something in his hands to get, and perhaps sometimes I am due him a little. 17. Due him for what?-For anything. Perhaps he might give me something sometimes when I did not have it to get, if I asked him for it. 18. Did you ever wish to buy your goods at any other place?-No; I could not buy my goods at any other place. 19. Were you always content with what you got?-Yes; I was always content. 20. Then if you wanted money, it would be for some other purpose, such as paying rent?-Yes. 21. Or for provisions?-Yes. 22. And you always got what you wanted for these purposes?- Yes. When I asked for a few shillings of money for knitting, I always got it. 23. Do you live by yourself?-Yes. 24. And not in family with any others?-No. 25. Do you make all your living by knitting?-Yes. 26. You have no other means of getting money to pay your rent?- No. 27. You pay rent for a room?-Yes. 28. And you have always got enough from the employer to whom you sell your work to pay your room rent and your food?-Yes. It had to be enough, for I could not get anything else. 29. Do you mean by that, that you would have liked to have had more money to spend upon food?-Yes. 30. But you could only get goods?-Yes. 31. How much do you earn by knitting in a week or in a month?-I suppose perhaps about 10s. in a month. I would knit a shawl in a month, and the merchant would allow me that sum for knitting it. 32. Would it take you a month to knit a shawl, working at nothing else?-Yes. Of course I would not be always at it. People cannot sit and knit continually; but it would take a month to make it, working in an ordinary way. 33. When you take that shawl to the shop, price of say 10s. is put upon it, how much of that do you got in money, and how much in goods?-I have knitted a shawl for 10s, and I have got 5s. in money on it from Mr. Linklater. 34. Is that the usual proportion of money you get?-No, not always. Sometimes I don't get so much as that. 35. Did you ever ask for more?-No; I think never asked for any more on one shawl. 36. Supposing you were going with a shawl of that value what goods would you get? Take the last time you went, for instance: what did you get?-Cottons, or such things as I would be requiring. The last time I was there I bought nine yards of cotton at 81/2d. a yard. 37. Was that to make a dress with?-No; it was white cotton. 38. Did you ask for that?-Yes. 39. Did you want it for any particular purpose?-Yes; I wanted it. 40. What else did you get?-That is all I remember getting at that time. 41. Did you get the rest in money?-Yes. 42. Have you any reason to complain of the quality of the goods you get?-No, I have not. 43. Would you wish to go to any other shop if you got money?-I have no reason to leave Mr. Linklater, for he has always given me money as well as I could have got it from any other merchant, I believe. 44. What arrangement do you make about the supplying of the wool?-We make no arrangement. 45. Then you are supplied with the wool; and the 10s. is the price not of the shawl, but of your work upon it?-Yes. 46. Is that the usual way in which the knitting trade is carried on by the women in Shetland?-Yes. 47. Do they generally get the wool supplied to them that way?-I believe they do. At least it is the way with some of them. They won't want it. 48. They don't buy the wool themselves?-They are not able to buy the wool. 49. Have you worked for other merchants than Mr. Linklater?- No; only for him. I have knitted a few things for a lady, but I never knitted to any other merchant than Mr. Linklater. 50. Then you don't know how the other merchants deal with the women who knit for them?-No; I cannot say anything about that. 51. Would you prefer to sell your goods to a private lady, or to a stranger counting to Shetland, rather than have to take them to a merchant?-If I could get all money for them, I would prefer that. 52. Supposing there was a merchant here who paid for goods altogether in money, would you prefer to take your hosiery to him?-Yes; if I could get all money, I would prefer that. 53. Is there no such person?-No; there is no such person here as that. A lady may buy a thing or two at a time, and give money for them, but that could not be a general thing. 54. How do you know that you cannot got money from the merchants? Is it because you have attempted to get it, or simply because you have a sort of understanding to that effect?-The merchants don't allow all money for the knitting. 55. Have they told you that?-Yes. 56. Who has told you?-Just the whole of them. None of them pay wholly in money for anything. 57. But who has told you that? I think you said you had never been refused?-I never was refused a few shillings on anything by Mr. Linklater. When I took home work to him and asked him for a few shillings of money, I always got it. 58. But you would rather have it all in money?-Yes. 59. And you cannot get it?-No. 60. How do you know that?-They won't give it to us. If we buy worsted ourselves, and knit the work, and take it to them, they won't give any money at all. 61. Have you tried that?-Yes. 62. You have knitted a shawl with your own worsted, and gone to them to sell it; and they would not allow money on it?-Yes. 63. Has Mr. Linklater done that?-Yes. 64. Did he refuse to give you money for that shawl?-Yes. 65. But he would pay for the shawl in goods?-Yes, if I would sell it. 66. When did that happen?-I could not just remember the time; but it has been often. 67. You did that yourself?-Yes, I have done that myself; and I have got shawls from friends to sell, and have gone out with them, and the merchants would not give money on them. 68. Is there anything else you want to say?-No. [Page 3] Lerwick, January 1, 1872, JANET IRVINE, examined. 69. Do you live in Lerwick?-Yes. 70. Your mother is a widow?-Yes. 71. Do you support yourself by knitting?-Yes; and partly by working outside at the fish. 72. What have you to do with the fish?-I help to cure them in the fish-curing establishment. 73. For whom do you knit?-Sometimes for myself, and sometimes for Miss Mary Hutchison. 74. Is she a dealer in hosiery?-Yes; she knits shawls herself, and sends them south. 75. Is she an agent?-Yes. 76. For whom?-I think she is agent for Mr. White, in Edinburgh. 77. Do you sometimes work for others?-No; not very often. I sometimes work for myself when I have any time. I knit a veil or a necktie, but in the summer 1 have not much time for that. 78. Do you knit these things for the purpose of selling them?- Yes. 79. Do you sometimes sell to the merchants in Lerwick?-Yes. 80. To whom?-To any one who is buying anything. 81. Do you generally get money for your shawls?-No; I got money from Miss Hutchison when I ask for it. 82. Do you get the price all in money from her?-When I want it all in money, I get it all in money, and when I want any other thing, she gives it to me. 83. Do you generally ask for it all in money from her?-Yes; I generally ask for it in money, because that is the only way we have to get it. 84. Does she deal in goods?-No. She generally brings home a little tea. 85. Does she only deal in tea?-In nothing else, so far as I know. 86. Then you sometimes get payment from her in tea?-Yes. When I ask it, I get it; but when I ask money, I get money. 87. When you sell to the merchants in Lerwick, do you get payment in money?-No; I never asked it, because I know they would not give it to us, as it is not the custom. They do not give it here. 88. Do you get part of it in money?-No; I get no money. 89. You have to take it all in goods?-Yes. 90. Do you prefer to get it in goods or in money?-I would like to get money if I could; but I can't get it. 91. And Miss Hutchison is not always ready to buy, from you?- No; she does not buy anything but her own. She brings home worsted, or buys worsted here, and I get it from her to knit. 92. What you sell to the merchants you knit with your own worsted?-Yes. 93. Where do you buy your worsted?-From the shops. 94. Which shops?-I used to buy from Mr. Brown, but he is not alive now; and I buy from Mr. Sinclair. 95. Do you pay ready-money for your worsted when you buy it?- Yes. 96. Do you not get worsted from the shops to knit into articles for the merchants?-No. 97. You sell to the shops only when Miss Hutchison has not got work for you?-Yes. It is only when I have it of my own that I sell to the shops. 98. Have you asked for money instead of goods at any of the shops?-No; I never asked for it. 99. Your sister also works in the same way?-Yes; she knits, but she does not work outside. She is not here to-day. 100. When was the last time you took anything of your own knitting to a shop to sell? Was it long ago?-No; it is not long,- perhaps about two or three weeks ago. 101. What was it?-A necktie. 102. Where did you take it?-I took it to Mr. Sinclair's. I could not get it sold that night, because he was not in, and the servants could not take it in his absence. I took it home with me. 103. What did you do with it?-The woman who dressed it sold it for me at Mr. Sinclair's. She generally dresses things, and sometimes sells them for me. 104. What is dressing?-Getting them sorted for sale. After being knitted, they are washed and dressed and starched. 105. Do you give the woman who dresses the articles a commission to sell them?-Yes; she sells them for me. 106. Why is that?-Because she is generally in the way of doing it. She can do it better than I can. 107. Do you mean that she can make a better bargain?-She dresses goods for the merchants, and sometimes she sells them too. She sold that article for me. 108. Who is the woman?-Mrs. William Arcus; she lives at the Docks. 109. What was the price put upon that necktie which she sold?- Eighteenpence. 110. What did you get for it?-I just got anything I required. 111. What did you require at that time?-I got a little tea, and the rest in cotton. 112. Did you want the tea?-Yes. 113. Have you sometimes asked the merchants for goods which they would not give you?-No. 114. When you go to a merchant to sell a shawl, can you get any kind of goods you want?-I don't sell any shawls, because I don't have any of my own. I have not had any of my own for a long time. 115. But when you go to sell any of the goods you have knitted, can you get anything you want?-I cannot get money, but I can get anything else, except worsted. They won't give it. 116. Will they not give you worsted for your knitted goods?-No. They won't give it for the hosiery. They want money for the worsted. 117. Do they give any reason for that?-I don't know. They say it is a money article. 118. Does that mean ready-money?-Yes. 119. It is cotton or tea you generally get?-Yes; or any other small thing except money. We can get anything except it. 120. You work at other things; so that I suppose you have money from your wages in the fish-curing establishment for the purpose of paying your rent, and things that you must pay in money?-Yes. 121. You get your wages there in money?-Yes; I get money for that. 122. You work for Mr. Leask?-Yes. 123. He does not keep a store of any kind?-No; he has no store, but he keeps a shop. 124. Have you to take goods for your wages there?-No; I can either get money or goods, whichever I want. 125. But what do you do in point of fact? Do you take money or do you take goods from Mr. Leask's shop?-I take money. 126. Always?-Not always. I take other things too, because they keep everything there that is required. 127. You have no complaint to make about that?-No. 128. You are quite content to go to Mr. Leask's shop for what you want?-Yes. 129. When you buy things there, you pay your money across the counter?-Yes. 130. You have got that money from the pay-clerk previously?- Yes. 131. Where is that money paid to you?-In the shop. 132. In which shop?-In Mr. Leask's shop. We get it in the office, and we pay it in the shop. He has two shops there. 133. Is the office at the Docks?-No; it is in the town. 134. Are you expected to go to Mr. Leask's shop when you get your wages?-No; we can go anywhere we like. 135. How long in the year do you work for Mr. Leask?- Sometimes, when the vessels get fish early, we begin soon. We begin in the spring. 136. Will you work there for six months?-Some [Page 4] times longer. We sometimes begin in spring, and work until after Martinmas. 137. During all that time you won't do much knitting?-No. 138. But you get your wages every week?-Yes. 139. How much do you get?-1s. a day. 140. And that is paid weekly on Saturdays at the office?-Yes. 141. Do you take that money home?-Yes; what I don't pay away. 142. You perhaps want something on the Saturday, and go into the shop for it?-Yes; what I want I go into the shop for. 143. How much of it do you generally take home after making your purchases?-I cannot say. 144. As a general thing, do you spend the half of it in the shop?- Yes; I spend the half of it. 145. Every week?-No; sometimes it is more, and sometimes less. 146. Have you ever been told that you ought to go to the shop?- No. 147. Or that you are expected to go there?-No. 148. Would you still be employed there in the same way although you went and bought your goods elsewhere?-They don't bid any of their people buy out of the shop. They just please themselves. Mr. Leask just gives the money, and he does not care where you buy from. Lerwick, January 1, 1872, Mrs. CHRISTINA WILLIAMSON, examined. 149. You are a widow, and live in the Widows' Asylum in Lerwick?-Yes. 150. Are you in the habit of knitting goods for sale?-Yes. 151. Do you knit for any particular merchant?-No; I knit for myself. 152. Do you buy your own wool?-Yes; I generally get wool, and get a woman to spin it for me. 153. Who is that woman?-Mrs. Irvine, Burn's Close. 154. Is that the mother of the last witness?-Yes. 155. Do you buy the wool from a farmer?-Yes. 156. And then you knit it for yourself, and take the shawls and sell them?-Yes. 157. Do you do that upon an order, or just upon chance?-Just upon chance. 158. Who do you generally sell to?-I have some unsold just now. The last one is unsold. 159. How long have you had it?-I have had that one lying for a twelvemonth. 160. Why don't you sell it?-Because I can't get money for it. 161. Who have you asked to buy it?-I have asked none lately. 162. Who have you asked at all?-I have asked no one in the town. 163. Why do you know you would not get money?-Because it is not the custom to give it, and therefore did not ask it. 164. Have you ever asked money for your shawls?-Yes; often. 165. From whom have you asked money?-I have asked it from the whole of the merchants in the town, but they are not used to giving money. 166. Who are the merchants in the town?-Mr. Sinclair and Mr. Tulloch, and Mr. Laurenson. 167. Are these all you remember?-Yes. 168. Have you sold any shawls to any of these gentlemen lately?- Yes; I sold one to Mr. Laurenson about three months ago. 169. What was the price put upon it?-30s. 170. Was that what you call fine knitting?-Yes. 171. How were you paid for it?-I got goods for it. 172. Did you get no money at all?-No. 173. Did you ask to get some of it in money?-No; I did not ask that. 174. Did you want to get the goods?-Yes; because the goods suited. 175. What goods did you get?-I got bread. 176. Does Mr. Laurenson sell bread in his shop?-Yes. 177. Was there an account run for that?-Yes. 178. What else did you?-Just all kinds of things I was using. 179. Was it all provisions that you got?-No; there was light and plenty of things. 180. Any clothes?-No clothes. 181. Was there any account due before you sold that shawl?-No. 182. Did you get all these goods away with you at the time?-No; I just ran an account for them. 183. Have you got a pass-book?-I have got one, but I don't have it with me. 184. Was that pass-book going on with Laurenson before you sold him the shawl?-No; it just commenced when I sold the shawl. 185. Does that account still continue?-Yes. 186. Do you remember how much it comes to now?-No; I don't remember exactly. 187. Do you live in the Widows' Asylum?-Yes. 188. Are you not provided for there?-No. 189. You have to get your own food?-Yes. 190. You got what you wanted on that occasion from Mr. Laurenson?-Yes. 191. Have you sold anything to him since then?-No. 192. Have you sold anything to any one else?-No. 193. Did you not knit a shawl for' Mr. Tulloch about a month ago?-Yes. 194. You did not sell it to him?-No; I did not sell it. 195. Did he supply the wool in that case?-Yes. 196. Was that because you had not wool of your own?-Yes. 197. What did he charge for the wool?-He just gave me £1 for knitting the shawl. 198. He supplied the wool, and agreed to pay you for knitting the shawl?-Yes. 199. Were you paid that £1?-Yes. 200. In money?-No. 201. Did you ask for money?-No. 202. Are you sure you did not ask for it in money?-Yes; I am sure of that. 203. Did you get any part of it in money?-No. 204. What did you get?-Just any clothes that I was needing. 205. When you went into the shop with the shawl, what passed between you?-I said, 'Here is your shawl Mr. Tulloch.' He asked me what I was wanting. 206. Did you say you wanted money?-No. 207. What did you say?-That I was wanting some goods. 208. Did you mention the goods you wanted?-Yes. 209. What were they?-I believe I took 6 yards of white cotton at 6d. a yard; I also took 41/4 yards of cloth at 4s. 2d. a yard, with which to make waterproof clothing. I got some small things with the balance but I don't remember what they were. 210. But the shawl was to be £1; the cotton came to 3s., and the waterproof cloth to 17s. 81/2d., so that you were rather in Mr. Tulloch's debt: was that left standing till the next time?-Yes. 211. Then you are to knit him something more?-Yes. 212. You have another order just now?-Yes. 213. Are you working at it?-I have not begun to it just yet. 214. Have you anything else to sell just now?-Yes. 215. Is it something you have knitted with your own wool?-Yes; but I have sent it south. 216. Is that because you expect to get money there?-Yes; I have sent it to an old neighbour woman of mine who is now in Thurso. 217. Is she a person who makes a practice of dealing in such things?-No; she is just an acquaintance of mine. 218. Is there anything else you wish to say?-No. [Page 5] Lerwick, January 1, 1872, ELIZABETH ROBERTSON, examined. 219. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes. 220. Do you live alone?-I live with my aged stepmother. 221. Who do you work for?-For the last six years I have knitted for myself, but before that I used to knit for the merchants in general. I knitted for the late Mr. Laurenson, and Mr. G. Harrison, and Mr. Tulloch, and Mr. Linklater,-in short, for almost all the merchants. 222. But that was six years ago?-Yes. 223. When you knitted for the merchants, was the wool supplied to you by them?-Yes. 224. Did you pay for it when you got it out, or when you were paid for your work upon it?-I was just paid for my work. 225. How much would you be able to make in a week at that sort of work?-I could not exactly say how much. I was in delicate health; but in some weeks I might have earned 1s. 6d. a day, and in some weeks perhaps less. 226. Was that the only thing you were working at?-Yes. The only sort of knitting I had was veils and shawls. 227. But was knitting the only thing you were employed at that time?-That was the only thing I was ever employed at in my life. 228. Then, on an average, you earned from 5s. to 6s. a week?- Yes; or from 4s. to 5s. 229. How often were you paid?-Just when I asked for any sort of goods that were in the shop. 230. Would you go once a week or once a fortnight to the shop for payment?-Yes; perhaps I would. I just went as I was done with the work which they required. 231. Did you get a book?-No. I never kept a book. 232. How did you know how much was due to you?-I just depended on the truth of the gentlemen's statements when they added up my accounts. 233. They kept an account in a book?-Yes. 234. Was that the same with all the dealers?-Yes; all that I dealt with before the last six years. 235. Did these merchants supply you with all kinds of goods?- Only with soft goods, and tea and sugar. 236. What did you do for your provisions, such as meal and bread?-I had often to buy such things as I could get, and sell them again at half the price to anybody in the row who would take them from me. 237. Were these the goods you got from the merchants?-Yes. 238. Could you not get anything from them you wanted, except what you have mentioned?-Sometimes I would get a sixpence and sometimes a shilling, but just occasionally. 239. Was that given you as a favour?-Yes, and because they knew I really needed it. It was a mere favour. 240. Were you supporting your stepmother at that time?-No; not at that time. I had only myself to support. 241. But you had no other means of support than your knitting?- No other means at all. 242. Did you ask for money at that time?-Yes; I always asked for money, because I required it so much. 243. Was it generally on a Saturday that you were with?-I did not make any particular settlement; it was just any time that I went. 244. When you got a settlement and took home some of these soft goods, did you go to your neighbours, or to the baker's or provision dealer's shop, and ask for what you wanted in the way of food?-No; but any neighbours that knew me would take from me some of the goods I had, and perhaps give them to a country friend of theirs, and get the money for them. 245. During the last six years you have got into the way of knitting with your own wool?-Yes. 246. Where do you buy your wool, or how do you get it?-There is a lady in the town-a dressmaker and milliner-who deals very largely in hosiery. 247. What is her name?-Miss Robertson. She takes goods from me on lines which I get for my shawls and she gives me wool and cash to favour me, because she knows I have no other way of getting money. 248. What do you mean by taking goods on lines-When I sell a shawl to any hosiery merchant in the town, I get any sort of goods that are in the shop, except wool to knit with; but if I don't want the goods at the time, then the gentleman will give me a line to the amount I have to get. 249. Is that an I O U?-That used to be on them. I think there are other two letters now; but they mean all the same thing. 250. Have you any of these lines?-I have one home. I shall bring it. If I go back to the shop with the line, or send anybody back with it, the merchant's servants will serve the party who brings it with the amount. 251. They will give you full value for it?-Yes, to the full value of the lines. 252. Then Miss Robertson takes these I O U's from you, and gives you worsted for them?-Yes. 253. That worsted you knit into shawls, and these shawls you sell to the merchants, getting from them I O U's?-Yes. 254. Are you any better off under this system than you were before?-Yes. She brings home the wools, and shows me the invoice for them, and I get the wools at what she pays for them. That is much cheaper than I can purchase them for in Lerwick. 255. But you did not buy the wool under the old way of working: you got the wool supplied to you, and were paid for your work?- Yes. 256. Do you think you make more money under the present system?-Yes. 257. When you get these I O U's, you spend only part of them in purchasing worsted?-I get no worsted on them except what I get from Miss Robertson. 258. But you spend only part of them in paying Miss Robertson for worsted?-Yes; and I get part money from her for them, because they serve her just the same as money would do, in getting articles from the merchants. She favours me in that way, and enables me to support my stepmother and myself, and pay rent and taxation. 259. Do you hand all your I O U's to Miss Robertson?-No; only what I can spare. 260. You sometimes take one of them yourself to the merchant from whom you got it, and you get goods from him for it?-Yes. 261. You have more money passing through your hands now than you had formerly?-Yes. I am able now to pay my rent. 262. How did you pay your rent formerly?-I did not require it then so much. My father was alive then. 263. But you have now to pay rent?-Yes; and to support my stepmother partly. 264. Have you within the last six years asked for money instead of these lines?-Yes; I have asked almost daily for money, and I get a little. 265. When did you ask last for money?-On Saturday. 266. Who did you ask?-Mr. Sinclair. 267. What did he say?-He gave me what I asked. 268. How much was that?-I just asked 1s. 269. Did you present one of his lines?-No; I sold him a shawl, and bought goods, and got a line for the rest, and 1s. of cash. 270. How much was it altogether?-I got 10s. 6d. for the shawl. 271. And you got 1s. in cash, and 9s. 6d. in goods or in line?- Yes. 272. Did you ask for more money than that?-Not on Saturday. 273. You got all the money you wanted then?-Yes. 274. How much did you the time before?-I got 2s. 6d. then. 275. From whom?-From Mr. Sinclair. 276. How much were you selling at that time?-15s. worth, I think. 277. Was that a fortnight's work?-It was more than that; it would be about three weeks'. [Page 6] 278. How much money did you ask that time?-I asked for 5s. 279. What was said?-There was no more money at hand at the counter at that time, and I got 2s. 6d. 280. What did you get for the 12s. 6d.?-It was some other little things I was purchasing. I don't remember what they were. 281. You did not get a line at that time?-No. 282. The things you got you really wanted?-Yes. 283. Suppose you had got 15s. in cash, would you have purchased your goods there?-Yes. Whatever wearing goods I required, I would not have purchased them anywhere else. I am quite satisfied with Mr. Sinclair's goods; but I am always needing money so much that I have always to ask it. 284. Does this system of not getting money, or being paid in goods, make you buy more dress or clothing than you would otherwise care for?-Yes; I would not need one half the clothes I get, if I could get money. 285. That is to say, you would prefer to take the money, and spend it upon food?-Yes. 286. Or lay it by?-I should not think much of laying it by, if I could only get enough to serve the present time. 287. Have you handed the I O U's to anybody else than Miss Robertson?-Yes; to lots of people. 288. For money?-Yes; for money, and for peats or fuel for the winter. My acquaintances will sometimes take a line from me to oblige me, because I have no money to give them. 289. Name one of them?-John Ridling, Burn's Lane, is one of them. 290. What would he do with it?-Mrs. Ridling would send it to the shop and purchase anything she wanted. 291. Have you known these lines passing through more hands than one before coming to the shop?-Yes; they would do that. 292. For instance, if Mrs. Ridling wanted money instead of goods at the shop, might she pass the line to somebody who would give her money for it?-No, not that I know of. 293. You said you had known the lines passing from hand to hand before going back to the shop?-Yes; sometimes they do that. 294. That is to say, if you handed a line to a person for money, that person might sell it again for money to another neighbour?-I do not know of selling the lines for money; but they might pass from one person to another in a quiet way. 295. For goods?-Yes; but not for money, so far as I know. 296. For fish?-Yes; I have got that on lines. 297. And bread?-Yes. 298. And then the party from whom the fish or bread was got would hand the line to the merchant?-Yes; and get what things suited them. 299. Is that it common thing in Lerwick?-No, it is not common; but it is the case with me. 300. Have you known any one else who has passed her lines in that way?-Yes; I have heard of some people who have taken lines from others. I know that Miss Hutchison has taken lines from people, and given them money for them. [The witness produced a line, in the following terms: 'C. W. 20.-Cr. Bearer value in goods for thirteen shillings stg. 13s. To hat, 3s. R. SINCLAIR & Co. . W.T.M. Lerwick, 5. 12. 71.'] I think the letters 'C.W.' are a private mark. It used to be I O U. The entry, 'To hat, 3s.' is an article I have got since, and there is therefore a balance of 10s. left on the line. 301. Have you any particular reason for preferring these lines to the old way of getting goods?-Yes; sometimes I can get the lines turned into cash. 302. You can turn them into money more readily?-Yes; through Miss Robertson taking them from me. 303. Are there many such lines given to people at shops?-Yes. 304. Do most of the people prefer the lines to being paid in goods?-Sometimes they don't perhaps require the articles at the time; but when they require them, they go with the lines and get them. Lerwick, January 1, 1872, Mrs. ANDRINA SIMPSON, examined. 305. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes. 306. For whom do you knit?-For myself. 307. Have you always done so?-I have always done so for a good many years back. 308. Where do you purchase your wool?-I purchase it just from any person, and I spin it for myself. 309. Do you purchase it from farmers?-Yes. 310. To whom do you sell your work?-To any the merchants who will take it. I generally sold it to Mr. Spence when he was in the town, and to his sister Miss Spence since he went away. 311. Does she still deal in hosiery?-Yes. 312. How are you paid?-Generally just by goods. 313. Do you ask for money?-For the last shawl I sold I asked 2s. in money. She did not appear very willing to give it; but I got 2s. on it, and the rest in goods. 314. What was the value of the shawl?-It was 12s. 315. Did you not ask for more than 2s. upon it?-No. I did not ask for any more, because she did not wish to give any more. 316. You did not ask for the whole price of the shawl in money?- No. 317. Did you want it all in money?-I would have liked it all in money. 318. Why? What would you have done with the money if you had had it?-There is many a thing that can be done with money. 319. But had you any particular reason for wanting the money instead of the goods? Did you not want the goods?-I could have been doing at that time without the articles that I got; but I just had to take them, because I could get no more than 2s. in money on the shawl. 320. Is that the usual practice in your dealings with the merchants?-Not always. Sometimes I have seen me getting a few shillings more from her; and at other times, if she did not have a particular order for the articles, she seemed not to be willing to give any, money at all. 321. How do you square your accounts when you get goods in that way? For instance, when you sold that 12s. shawl and got the 2s. in money, did you also get so many yards of cloth?-Yes; of print. 322. At how much?-At 7d. per yard. I also got some wincey. 323. Did that balance the account exactly?-Yes. 324. You got what made exactly the 10s. worth?-Yes. 325. Do you generally take just so much cloth as makes up the value of the shawl?-Yes; generally. 326. Do you do anything else in the way of working for your living than by knitting these articles?-Yes. I am married. 327. Then knitting is an extra sort of thing with you?-Yes. 328. Have you tried any of the other shops in the town to see if they would give you money for your hosiery?-No, none for a good while back; but it is not very much that I can do at it, on account of the house-work. My husband is a shoemaker. 329. Have you ever got lines for your shawls?-No: I generally settle up for the whole in goods at the time when I sell the shawls. 330. Is that all you want to say?-Yes. [Page 7] Lerwick, January 1, 1872, Mrs. JEMIMA BROWN or TAIT, examined. 331. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes. 332. Do you live with your parents?-Yes. 333. What is your father?-A shoemaker. 334. And you knit for your own benefit?-Yes. 335. For whom do you knit-For Mr. Robert Linklater. 336. What kind of goods do you knit?-Generally veils. 337. How much do you make in a week?-Sometimes 3s., and sometimes not so much, just according as the merchant buys the articles we make. 338. Is it his worsted you work?-Yes. 339. And he pays you so much for the work you put upon it?- Yes. 340. What is the value of the work you put upon the veil?-The last veils I made I got 9d. apiece for them. 341. Does what you get for them depend upon the size of the veils?-A good deal. These were the largest veils of all. 342. Then you will sometimes make four or five of them in a week?-I just made three of these. They were large ones. 343. How often do you get settled with for your work?-We have a pass-book, and the merchant lets it go on until he thinks we have got goods up to the value we have knitted for. He then makes up the book. [Produces pass-book in name of Harriet Brown, and another in name of Amelia Brown.] These are my sisters. One book served for the whole of us. 344. Did any one tell you to come here and bring those books?- No; I just heard what was to be done, and I came of my own accord. 345. These books contain the goods which you have purchased from Mr. Linklater?-Yes. 346. The last one begins on April 16; 1870, and is added up in January 1871. The amount at your credit is £5, 5s. 2d.: what does that mean?-It means, that we have knitted articles to that amount, and we have also got goods of that value. That was a square balance. The articles we have knitted bringing out that sum, are entered in a separate account at the end of the same book. 347. Is that account the same as appears in Mr. Linklater's books?-Yes. 348. It is-April 16, By balance at account, 10s. 111/2d.; May 5, twenty veils at 1s., £1: are these entered at the time you hand them back?-Yes; I took twenty veils to Mr. Linklater at that time. 349. The next entry is-September 6, twenty veils at 1s., £1. I thought you said you got 9d. for the largest veils you made?-Yes, for the largest size; but the veils I took in then were finer work, and the price for them was 1s. each. 350. Then-December 29, twenty veils at 1s, £1; March 30, two shawls at 3s. 6d, 7s.; August 19, nine veils at 1s., 9s.; same date, one shawl, 3s. 6d.-in all, £5, 10s. 51/2d. There is deducted £5, 5s. 2d., leaving a balance in your favour of. 5s. 31/2d.; and then the account begins again, and is continued down till December 26?- Yes. 351. Do you live with your father?-Yes. 352. Therefore you don't want much money for your own purposes?-We can never get any money. We would be very glad to get it if we could. 353. Have you asked money for your shawls instead of goods?- Yes. 354. What answer was made to your request?-That he never gave any money, and that he could not give it. 355. Was it not because you had this account, standing against you that he refused to give you any money?-No. The merchants don't give money to anybody, unless it be just to favourites. 356. At August 19 there was 5s. 31/2d. at your credit: did you not ask for that in money?-No; I did not ask for money then, but I had asked for it before. 357. I see that on August 19, when you were settling up, and when there was 5s. 31/2d. due to you, you took a hat and feathers, some velvet, and a jacket. You got a great deal more then than was due to you-Yes; because we had a number of veils knitting for the merchant at the time, and they all go into the account for the goods we get. 358. You say you did not ask for money at that time: did you not want it?-We always want it; but we never got it when we did ask for it; and it is no use always asking for it. 359. When did you ask for it last?-Some time in 1871. 360. I see there are no goods entered in your book as having been received by you from Mr. Linklater between January 1871 and October 1871: had you stopped working for him during that time?-I was in the south then. 361. But your sister was here?-Yes; but she was not knitting any. She was very sickly. 362. Is there anything else you want to say?-No. 363. Your sister Amelia is here to make the same statement that you have now made?-Yes. Lerwick, January 1, 1872, BARBARA JOHNSTON, examined. 364. You have come from the parish of Sandwick?-Yes. 365. How far is that from Lerwick?-About thirteen miles. 366. Who do you live with there?-I live with my mother, Mrs. Johnston. My father is dead. 367. How many of a family are there of you?-I have two brothers and a sister in the south and there is a sister at home besides myself. 368. You do some work in knitting?-Yes. 369. For whom do you work?-For Mr. Robert Linklater. 370. Do you always work for him?-Yes. I work for nobody else. 371. Have you a pass-book?-No. 372. How long have you worked for Mr. Linklater?-For some years. I cannot say the number exactly. 373. Do you get wool from him, or do you supply it yourself?-I get the worsted from him, and I am paid by him for my work. 374. What kind of wages do you get?-I get 10s. for making a big shawl. 375. That is not the finest quality of knitting?-No; it is about the coarsest. 376. Is it always shawls that you work at?-No; sometimes I make veils. 377. When you take your work back to Mr. Linklater, are you paid for it in money or in goods?-In goods. 378. Do you sometimes ask for money?-Yes. 379. What has he said to you when you asked for money?-He says he never gives it, and that he won't give it to me. I got 2s. from him today; but that is all I ever got, except, I think, one sixpence before. I also got the offer of a pass-book to-day. I had never been offered one before. 380. Was it after you had seen me this forenoon that you got the 2s. and the offer of the pass-book?-Yes. 381. When you get your worsted, is there a bargain made between the merchant and you about the payment you are to receive for the work?-No. I have just an idea what I think the thing will come to; and then, when I come back with it, he gives me what he likes. 382. You don't make any bargain beforehand?-No. 383. But you might do so if liked?-He won't do it. I have asked him, but he said he would see the thing when I came back with it. 384. I suppose, he wants to see the quality of the work before he pays for it?-Yes. [Page 8] 385. Did you take the pass-book that was offered you today?-No. 386. Why?-I had no particular I reason for not taking it. 387. Did you not want it?-I thought I would not mind it to-day, as I had never had one before. 388. Do you remember the last time before to-day when you went to Mr. Linklater with some of your work?-Yes. 389. How much was due to you at that time?-I think he was due me about £1. 390. That would be for more than one shawl?-Yes; it was for some veils about four months ago. I have made two shawls for him since, and some veils. 391. But the last time you went with your work, how much was due you?-I think there would be about £1. 392. Did you ask for money then?-Yes. 393. Who did you ask it from?-Mr. Linklater. 394. Was it from Mr. Linklater himself, or one of his people?-It was either from Mr. Linklater or from Mr. Anderson; I don't remember which. 395. What was said to you?-He just said that he would not give it, as he never gave any. 396. What goods did you get?-Some stuff for a dress, and some tea and cotton. 397. Had you made up your mind before you went there as to what you wanted to buy?-Yes. 398. And you got what you wanted?-I had to take what he had. I had no other chance. 399. Did you want these goods at that time?-If I had got the money, I would not have bought them at that time. 400. What would you have done with the money?-I would have bought grocery things-things that he did not have. 401. How do you get provisions when you want them?-My mother has a farm, and I work with her. 402. You sometimes work out-of-doors?-Yes. 403. How do you pay your rent for the farm?-My mother sometimes sells an animal, and pays the rent with the price. 404. To whom does she sell these animals?-To any one she can get to buy them. I don't know any one particularly to whom she sells them. 405. Whose ground are you on?-Mr. Bruce of Sand Lodge. 406. Is there any one in your family who goes to the fishing?-No; my brothers are all in the south. 407. Do you sometimes exchange for provisions the goods you get from Mr. Linklater for your hosiery?-No; I always get provisions home with me without changing them. 408. How is that? Have you some money?-Yes. It is by the farm that we have it. 409. Have you ever had occasion to exchange your goods for provisions?-No. 410. Do you know whether that is a common practice in your district?-I don't know. 411. Have you ever received a line instead of goods?-No. 412. Have you ever asked for a line?-No. 413. You say that to-day you took a shawl to Mr. Linklater, which he had ordered, and that you got from him along with goods?- Yes. 414. What was the value put upon the shawl?-10s.; but I had had a shawl in with him before and some veils since I was in the town last. 415. Had these been paid for?-No. 416. Then what was the whole sum due to you day?-I think it was £1, 2s. 6d. 417. Why did you not get your money or goods the last time you went in?-I sent the articles in then; I did not come myself. 418. So that there was no opportunity of settling with you before today?-No. 419. How much money did you ask for to-day?-I asked for 2s., and I got it. 420. Did you not want more?-I did not ask more and I don't think I would have got more if I had asked it. That was the reason why I did not ask it; because Mr. Linklater does not make it his practice give money. 421. Then when you go in any day to the merchant, you just say, 'Here is your shawl,' and you ask how much you are to get for it?-Yes. 422. What is his answer?-He just mentions whatever he likes to give. 423. But he gives you a fair value for the work, does he?-Yes; sometimes. 424. Do you think he puts too low a value on your work?-Yes; I often think that. 425. Do you think there is anything very unreasonable in the value he puts upon it?-Yes; sometimes I do. 426. How long does it take you to make a 10s. shawl-I would make one of them in a month if I was not doing much else. 427. Would it take you so long as a month?-Yes. 428. When you take in the shawl, you say the merchant puts his value upon it: do you ask him for a little more than he says, or are you satisfied with the value he puts on it?-If it is reasonable-like, I say nothing about it. 429. He does not hand you the money?-No. 430. What takes place then?-He asks me what I want in goods. If I ask for money, he says no. 431. Does he give any reason for refusing you money?-He says he never gives it, and he won't give it to me. 432. Is that the only reason that has ever been assigned to you for not giving you money?-Yes. There was one of them in the shop that said that to-day, and Mr. Linklater himself came in and gave me 2s. 433. Then you were refused money to-day by the shopman?-Yes. 434. He wanted you to take the whole amount in goods?-Yes. 435. He did so, because that was the practice?-Yes; and Mr. Linklater himself gave the 2s., and he also offered me a pass-book. 436. Who was the shopman who did that?-I think Robert Anderson is his name. 437. Did you say anything to Mr. Linklater when he came in?-I just asked him for the money. 438. You applied to him for the money when the shopman had refused it?-Yes. 439. And Mr. Linklater gave it to you without any hesitation?- Yes. 440. The 2s. was all that you asked?-Yes. I thought I would not get any money, because I had been denied it before. 441. Did you take the pass-book that was offered to you?-No; I did not think of taking it to-day. 442. Were you thinking of not dealing with Mr. Linklater any more?-No; I have got another shawl from him to make. 443. Did you get the worsted for it to-day?-Yes. 444. Does Mr. Linklater take a note of the quantity of worsted he gives out to you?-Yes; he weighs it. 445. He knows how much it will take to make a shawl, and he weighs the shawl when it is brought back?-Yes. 446. Have you ever bought worsted for your own knitting?-No; I could not get it bought, because I was not in the way of earning money. 447. Have you tried to buy it?-I could not try without the money. He would not give worsted for nothing. 448. And you had no money to pay for it?-No; I could not have it. 449. But when you were taking back your work to him, have you never asked to take part of the value of it in worsted?-I have; and I have been refused. 450. When did you do that?-It is long ago now; but I have done it. 451. What did he say when he refused you the worsted?-That it was a money article and he could not give it without the money. 452. Was it Mr. Linklater or Mr. Anderson who, said so?-I cannot remember now, it is so long ago. 453. Has that happened with you more than once?[Page 9]-I only remember asking it once. I never did it again, when I got a denial the first time. 454. Your sister also knits, and many of your acquaintances?- Yes. I would like to speak on my sister's behalf as well as my own. She is not here, but she wants to say the same thing that I have done. 455. She wants to make the same complaint?-Yes. She is not well, and is unable to come in. Lerwick, January 1, 1872, ANDREW TULLOCH, examined. 456. You are a fisherman at Cunningsburgh?-Yes. 457. Have you got a piece of ground there?-Yes. 458. You are a tenant of whom?-Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh. 459. Who do you fish for?-Thomas Tulloch at present. 460. Is he a relation of yours?-No. 461. Where is his place?-At Lebidden, close by Sand Lodge. There are some houses there. 462. Do you live there?-No; I live at Cunningsburgh. 463. Is Mr. Thomas Tulloch a tacks-master under Mr. Bruce. 464. What is he?-He is just a merchant carrying on business there, and he has stepped into the fishing. He sold goods before he began to it. 465. Does he keep a shop at Lebidden?-Yes, for the fishermen; and to sell to other people as well. 466. You engage to fish to him: is that for the summer fishing?- Yes, chiefly; or for the whole season, if we can follow it up. 467. Do you go to the Faroe fishing for him?-No; only to the ling fishing, in the six-oared boats. 468. What have you come here to say?-Chiefly, that we should like to have our freedom. We have freedom at present; but we are afraid of young Mr. Bruce taking the tack of the tenants into his own hands. He got a lease of the tenants from his father last season. 469. What did he get a lease of?-Of his father's premises at Cunningsburgh. 470. Then he got a lease of the whole lands of Cunningsburgh?- Yes, from his father. That was his statement the last time we settled with him. 471. What did he say then?-He said he was prepared to settle with the tenants, because he had got a lease from his father of the lands. 472. But you say you have your freedom?-Yes, at present; but we are doubtful if we can keep it, because young Mr. Bruce has taken the tenants at the place where he is living himself-at Dunrossness. He took the tenants there some three or four years ago, and he has built a house; and both we and the merchant are doubtful that he may take us into his own hand too. We rather think we might be worse off if we were taken back. 473. What do you mean by being taken back?-I mean, if the tenants were taken into his own hands again. 474. Have you any objection to the arrangement you have just now with Mr. Thomas Tulloch?-We cannot complain of it, further than that we don't know the price we are to get until we settle. We never had any chance of knowing that from any merchant we ever dealt with. 475. When do you arrange to go out to fish?-About the beginning of May. In some years it may be a month or a fortnight earlier, just as the weather is. 476. At that time do you make a bargain with Mr. Tulloch about the fishing, to fish for him, during the whole season?-Yes. We have so much confidence in him that we do not make any written agreement; it is all done by word of mouth. 477. To whom do the boats belong that you go out in?-The boat I go in is our own. It belongs to the crew. 478. How many of you are there?-Five men and a boy. 479. How long have you had your boat?-We have had our present boat for about seven or eight years. She was a second-hand boat, about five years old, when we got her. 480. You bought her yourselves?-Yes. 481. Is the price all paid up now?-Yes; it was paid a few years ago. 482. Then Mr. Tulloch makes his arrangement with you to go to fish about the 1st of May?-Yes. 483. What is the bargain? Is it that you are to fish for him during the whole season?-No; only till Lammas that is, the end of July; and after that we stick to the herring fishing. 484. But when you are at the ling fishing you give him all your fish?-Yes; the whole. Every time we come ashore we deliver them to his factor. 485. That is for the purpose of being cured?-Yes. 486. He takes an account of them as he receives them?-Yes. 487. And the only complaint you have against Mr. Tulloch is, that you don't get settled until when?-We get settled generally at settlement time but we don't know our price until we come to settle. 488. When is the settlement made?-We are not quite settled yet for last year; but when we are called on by our landlord to pay our rent, Mr. Tulloch has no objection to give us money for that. 489. Who do you pay your rent to?-To Mr. Bruce; he is the proprietor. 490. Then your complaint is, that you don't know the price of your fish until January?-Yes. 491. Would you rather contract with Mr. Tulloch to supply all your fish at so much per cwt.?-Yes. 492. But you cannot get that bargain made?-Some of the men seem very reluctant to agree to it. A few of them have said that they would leave and go to another merchant before they would have that. 493. Does Mr. Tulloch keep a store?-Yes; he has a store, and he supplies all the fishermen. 494. What does he supply them with?-Just with material. He also keeps meal; and they take it from him, more or less, as their families require it. He keeps other things besides, such as lines, hooks, and tar for the boats. 495. Are these things which you get from the store marked down in pass-books of your own, or in the books of the store?-We can have a book for ourselves if we like. I did not bring mine with me. 496. Does the storekeeper mark the things in your pass-book as you get them?-Yes. 497. Are the quantities of fish also marked into that pass-book as they are delivered?-No; they are entered into another book which the factor keeps, and we keep the accounts in a book for ourselves. 498. You mark them down for yourselves in another book?-Yes. 499. Is that the general practice among the fishermen in your locality?-It is; and then we compare the quantities with the factor before we go up to settle. 500. Then each fisherman has two books-a passbook for his dealings with the store, and a book of his own in which he marks down the quantities of fish delivered?-Yes. 501. When you came to settle, do you generally get a large balance paid to you in cash?-Every year is not alike. If it has been a bad fishing season, and if the crops are light, then perhaps the accounts will not square. But there have been two or three good seasons lately. 502. When the accounts do not square, you mean that, you may be in debt to the fish-merchant?-Yes; £2 or so. 503. And he allows that to over, and to be paid next year?-Yes. 504. But you have no serious complaint to make about that system?-No; we cannot complain about the regulations in Shetland. 505. Could you make a better bargain with anybody else?-I don't think we could-in Shetland. [Page 10] 506. Is that your fault, or the fault of the fish-merchant?-I think, for my own part, I would stick into any place where I could get the best bargain. We have been fishing for some years to some of the merchants who would give 3d. or 6d. per cwt. more for the fish than we could get in Lerwick, and therefore we have stuck by them. 507. Suppose another merchant were at hand at Cunningsburgh, would you be quite at liberty to sell your fish to him?-Yes. 508. Is there any such merchant there within reach of you?-There is another merchant close by, named James Smith. Part of the men on the beach I belong to fish for him, and part to Thomas Tulloch. 509. Are there any other stores than Mr. Tulloch's at Cunningsburgh or in the neighbourhood?-There are some small shops that we could get small groceries from, but I do not do much with them. 510. Suppose you were to agree at the beginning of the season to sell your fish to another than Mr. Tulloch, would you have any difficulty in getting credit at his store for your supplies?-He would not like that very well. 511. Would you not get your supplies there?-No, not unless the man who asked them was one he was well acquainted with. 512. Would you be able to get them anywhere else?-I don't know. I don't think I would try to get them, unless at the place I was sending my fish to. 513. But if you had not the money yourself, would you get credit for your supplies during the summer from any other shopkeeper, either in Lerwick or Cunningsburgh?-Yes. All the fish-merchants we deal with in Lerwick I can get a little credit from up to the present day. 514. And in that way you are not bound over to Mr. Tulloch in any way?-No. We can leave him this season if we have a mind. 515. You were to say something about the herring fishing: I thought there was not much herring fishing here?-There will be nothing at all this season in Shetland. We generally fished to Messrs. Hay & Co. when we were in it. 516. Have you any complaint to make about it?-Much the same as about the ling fishing The don't like to give a stated price. 517. Where do you deliver the fish when you go to the herring fishing?-There is a small ghioe* close by our own place at Cunningsburgh. Hay & Co. send down a cooper there, and they have a booth for their stores close by. 518. What is the bargain you make with them about that?-They generally wish us to go to the fishing, and they will pay us accordingly. 519. What do you do about a boat?-We use the same boat as we have in the ling fishing. 520. Then your only complaint about the herring fishery is, that you don't know the price until settling time?-Yes. But there has been no herring fishery on the island at all this season, to speak of. 521. Do you require advances of money at all during the season?- We are often in want of a few shillings. 522. How do you get that?-The man we are dealing with just now (Mr. Tulloch) has never said no, so far as what we asked was reasonable. I got an advance of £2 from him last season to buy a cow. We were out of milk that season, and he did not refuse me the money when I asked it. 523. Do you get advances from Messrs. Hay also when you need it?-1 don't think they are so very frank about that, and I don't like to ask it; but they will give us any small thing we need from their shops. * -A deep ravine which admits the sea.-. 524. Do they supply you with goods also?-Yes. 525. Where is their store from which you get the goods?-There is their shop in town. 526. Do you come to Lerwick for them?-Yes. 527. Do you run an account there?-Sometimes we do, and sometimes not; but we have not much to do with Messrs. Hay on that footing. 528. You said that your reason for coming here and offering to give evidence to-day was, that you were afraid of young Mr. Bruce taking the fishing into his own hands?-Yes; that is the thing we find to be most oppressive, if it was coming to be the case. 529. Is it the general opinion in the country that he has undertaken to manage the fishings on his father's estates?-He addressed himself so in the note he gave us. He called himself general merchant and fish-curer. 530. Did he give you intimation of that one year at rent time?- Yes; that was last year. 531. But he has not yet taken the management of the fishing at Cunningsburgh?-No. 532. Has he fishing establishments elsewhere?-He has-at Dunrossness. He has taken all the tenants there into his own hands. The property, I daresay, is twice as large as Cunningsburgh. 533. Do you know from your own knowledge whether the tenants there are obliged to fish for him?-Yes; they are fishing to himself. 534. Have they no choice but to fish for him?-I don't think it. As far as my knowledge goes, they have not. 535. Are you acquainted with any of the fishermen there?-I know a little about them, from passing them on the road. 536. Have they ever complained to you about the state of matters at Dunrossness?-I cannot say much about that, except that they think they would have been fully better with their freedom. 537. Have they not got their freedom?-They cannot have their freedom when they are fishing to him. 538. But they may fish to him of their own free will?-They might; but I think he has gripped them so that they cannot have their freedom. 539. That, however, is only your own supposition?-I think it is true. It is so true that both the merchant and us are afraid that he will grip us too. Lerwick, January 1, 1872, SIMON LAURENSON, examined. 540. You are a fisherman at Cunningsburgh?-Yes. 541. Do you fish for Mr. Tulloch?-No; I fish for James Smith. 542. You have heard the evidence of the previous witness, Andrew Tulloch?-Yes. 543. Is the statement you wish to make very much the same as his?-Very much the same. We want to know, as British subjects, whether, if we pay our rent annually, we are entitled to our freedom. 544. You mean, whether you are to be allowed to fish to any person you choose?-Yes; to fish to any person, or to work at any kind of work for which we have a mind. 545. Have you been told by young Mr. Bruce, or any one else on his behalf, that you are not to have your freedom?-No. We only got a hint of it from the fish-merchant. 546. And your alarm has been excited by what you have heard from the people at Dunrossness?-Yes. 547. Do you know what Mr. Bruce's system is with the tenants under him there?-I cannot say exactly, except that they are not well satisfied with it. At least I know that some of them are not satisfied. . [Page 11] Lerwick: Tuesday, January 2, 1872. LAURENCE MAIL, examined. 548. You are a fisherman at Scatness, in Dunrossness?-I am. 549. Are you a tenant of land?-Yes. 550. Under whom?-Under Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh. 551. How much rent do you pay?-For the present year I pay between £10 and £11 of rent. 552. Have you more land this year than usual?-Yes; I have more than I used to have. 553. Do you fish in the home fishing?-Yes. 554. Do you fish in the Faroe fishing?-No; I don't go to it. 555. How long have you been at Dunrossness?-Ever since I was a child. 556. Have you always been in the same house?-Yes; except for about two and a half years. 557. What is your age?-I am thirty-eight years old. 558. You have come here today to make some statement about the system of fishing?-Yes. 559. What is the complaint you wish to make?-There is one thing we complain of: that we are bound to deliver our fish, wet or green, to the landlord. 560. That is, you have to deliver the fish as they are caught?-Yes; of course we have to take out the bowels and cut off the heads: it is the bodies of the fish we give. We think it would be much better if we had liberty to dry the fish ourselves, as we used to do formerly. 561. To whom are you bound to give your fish?-To Mr. Bruce, our landlord. 562. Is he a fish-curer or fish-merchant?-Yes. 563. Is it Mr. Bruce or his son that you are speaking of?-It is young Mr. Bruce. He is the landlord or tack-master. His father is alive; but I think young Mr. Bruce has got power from his father to manage the tenants according to his own pleasure. 564. Do you pay your rent to young Mr. Bruce?-Yes. 565. And does he give you a receipt for it in his own name?-We settle once a year with him for our fishing, and for the store goods we have got, and rent and everything together. 566. Do you get an account for the whole?-He generally gives us a copy of our account. Sometimes, perhaps, he does not do so; but he will give it if we ask for it. 567. Have you got a copy of your account for any year with you?- I have not got one here, but I will send one. 568. Is that all you have got to say on the subject of your complaint?-No; I have something more. Of course, as we are bound to fish for Mr. Bruce, a man, unless he has money of his own, is shut up to deal at Mr. Bruce's shop. His credit is gone at every other place, and that binds us to take our goods from his store; and generally the goods there are sold at the highest value. Meal, particularly, has for some years been 4s. a boll above what it was in Lerwick; and very often, when we ask the price of goods at the time we get them, they do not know the price which they are to charge us, and we never learn what the price is until we come to settle. 569. Is there any other store in the neighbourhood from which you could purchase at a cheaper rate?-There are some other stores in the parish that we could purchase from. 570. Where is the store situated that you are speaking of?-It is situated not very far from us-perhaps about a mile or more from Scatness. 571. Is that the most populous part of Dunrossness parish?-No; Scatness is at the very land's end, near Sumburgh point. 572. Are there many fishermen there?-There are good many. There is a population down that way of nearly 500, most of whom are fishermen; and out of the whole lot of them there was not a man who would come here and represent their case except myself. Every man among them was frightened he would get his warning if he came forward. 573. How do you know that?-They said so themselves. 574. Was there any meeting on the subject?-Yes; there was a meeting held last Friday night. 575. What were the names of the men who said they were afraid to come?-There was one Sinclair Cheyne: he said that perhaps they might get their warning; and I think Robert Malcolmson also signified something of the same kind. However, I know it was the general feeling among the whole lot of them. 576. Was there any particular ground stated for that apprehension?-I don't know. Of course every one suspected that if the landlord heard that they were coming forward with any case against him, he would warn them out. That was the general suspicion. 577. Has the landlord or his factor ever told you that a man not dealing at the store, or refusing to deliver his fish to him (the landlord), would be turned out of his farm?-The landlord never told me exactly that if I did not fish for him I would be turned out, but I have seen an evidence of that in the case of a neighbour. 578. What was the name of that neighbour?-James Harper. His son dried a few hundredweight of fish for himself and gave them to Mr. Bruce, and on that account his father was warned. 579. Do you say that the father was warned although the son gave the fish to Mr. Bruce?-Yes, he gave then to him dried; and because he did not give them to him wet, his father was warned. 580. When was that?-I think it was seven or eight years ago; and, if I am not mistaken, the father had to pay 30s. so that he might sit still. 581. But he did sit still?-Yes; he is there yet. 582. Do you know anything about the case of a James Brown?- Yes; it was reported, I believe, to Mr. Bruce that Brown had given some fish to some other merchant, and directly his house was put up for let. 583. In what way was it put up for let? Was it advertised?-Yes; it was advertised at the store, as it was a public place. 584. Did you see the notice?-No; I did not see it, but I was informed that some notice was put up. The thing was found out to be false, and Brown got leave to stay where he was. 585. How long ago was that?-I could not exactly say, but I think it was somewhere about eight or ten years ago. 586. Have you known of any person being warned off the ground for not dealing at the store?-No; there is no compulsion about that. We have liberty to deal at any place we like; but when our credit is cut off the way I have mentioned, there is no use in having that liberty. 587. You say your credit is cut off because you are compelled to fish for the landlord?-Yes. 588. Therefore that is virtually compulsion to deal at the store: is that what you mean to say?-Yes; of course it comes to that. Suppose we have liberty to deal at any place we like, still if a man does not have money his credit is cut off with any other merchant, so that he must deal at the landlord's store. 589. When you deliver your fish, do you get any money that you want?-Yes. Mr. Bruce always gave me money when I wanted it, if he had money of mine in his hands; indeed he always gave me what money I asked, whether I had any to get or not. I always found him very generous in that way. 590. Therefore, whenever you wanted money for your fish you got it, even although it was a long time before settling day?-Yes; Mr. Bruce will give money at any time throughout the whole season, especially to men that he knows have it to get. [Page 12] 591. You have no complaint to make about that?-No. 592. The fishing, I understand, begins in April?-Yes. 593. And when does it end?-About September. 594. Suppose you wanted to draw all the money, or about all the money, that was due to you in August or September, is it likely that you would get it?-If I did not have very much to get, perhaps I might get it all, or perhaps more; but if I did have much to get, I don't think he would be inclined to give it all. 595. If you wanted anything, and could not get the money, would you be obliged to take the goods out of his store?-Of course if I could not get money from him, and was requiring the goods, I had no other chance than taking them from the store. 596. If you wanted a supply of provisions or clothing, you would have to get them there?-Yes. 597. Do you get both provisions and clothes at the store?-There is not much clothing there. 598. Where do you get the rest of your clothing?-At any place where we can get it cheapest when we can have a few shillings in hand. 599. Where are the other stores in that district?-There is a man, Mr. Gavin Henderson, who has a store about four or five miles from us; and I believe he generally sells things at as cheap a rate as they can be got in the country. 600. Have you dealt at his store?-Yes; occasionally. 601. Do you find the goods that you get from Henderson to be cheaper than those in Mr. Bruce's store?-Yes; they are cheaper than we can get them at any other place. 602. Give me an instance of that: have you bought meal at both places?-No, I have not bought meal from there. 603. What have you bought at Henderson's store?-I have sometimes bought leather for making boots and shoes. 604. Do you not buy your shoes ready-made?-No. 605. You buy your leather, and get somebody to make them?- Yes. 606. What is the difference in the price of the leather at the two places?-We generally think that we can get it a few shillings cheaper at Henderson's store than we can get it elsewhere. 607. Do you mean that the leather for a pair of boots is a few shillings cheaper at Henderson's store than at Mr. Bruce's?-Yes. 608. Is there any other article you can specify on which there is a difference of price?-I don't know shout anything else in particular. 609. Where do you get your bread?-We buy all our meal, and bake it for ourselves. 610. You spoke about the meal being 4s. a boll cheaper at Lerwick than at Mr. Bruce's: do you know that because you have bought it there yourself?-No; but I have asked what the price of the meal was in Lerwick-sometimes when I was there, and sometimes from people that I could rely upon. Of course we did not know what the price of Mr. Bruce's meal was until we came to settle. 611. But you found out at settling time that Mr. Bruce had charged you 4s. more per boll than meal was selling for at the same time in Lerwick?-Yes. 612. Are you quite sure of that?-Yes. 613. Is the quality of meal from the store good?-Generally it is; 614. You have no fault to find with the quality?-I have no complaint against it or against the quality of any of the goods sold there; they are generally good. 615. What is the price of a boll of meal at Mr. Bruce's store just now?-I cannot say. There is not much meal bought at the store about this time. Most of us have small farms of our own from which we get meal. 616. Then it is generally in summer that you buy meal from Mr. Bruce's store?-Yes. 617. What was the price of meal during last summer?-I cannot say, because I had none from them last summer, except the fourth of a boll. 618. What was the price of that?-I won't know the price of it until settling time. I don't think any man dealing there knows the price of his meal until that time. 619. Is the only compulsion upon you to fish for Mr. Bruce, that you are afraid of being turned out of your holdings?-Of course. 620. If you did not fish for him, or if you sold your fish to another, would you have to pay liberty money?-I don't think there is anything of that kind done with us. 621. You have no written leases?-No. We got the offer of a lease last year. But it would have made us worse than we are, because Mr. Bruce would give a lease for fifty years; but he had it in his power every ten years to raise the rent, so that it would have been double at the end of the fifty years. 622. But you had it in your power to refuse that?-Of course; and we did refuse it. 623. But you had it in your power to refuse at the end of the ten years, as well as at first, to pay the increased rent?-No. That was the condition he offered to give us the lease upon. Besides, he was to have it in his power to cause any man who took a lease to make such improvements as he thought proper; and if he did not make the improvements then Mr. Bruce was to make them himself, and charge the men a certain interest. 624. Was the lease which he offered you in writing?-No, it was in print. I will send a copy of it. 625. You say there is no liberty money paid in your district now?-No. My father paid 50s. of liberty money at one time; but the rents have been raised, so that the liberty money is included in the rent now. 626. How long ago was that?-I think it is about ten years since the rent was raised. 627. Have you any other reason than you have stated for supposing that you will be turned out of your ground if you fished for another than Mr. Bruce?-It is a general belief that we would be turned out. 628. But I want to know the ground of that belief. How long is it since Mr. Bruce took up the business?-Eleven years. 629. Was there at that time any intimation made to you or to the other tenants that you were expected to hand your fish over to him?-There was a letter from old Mr. Bruce sent round to all his tenants. One letter served for them all. If I am not mistaken, the officer went round among them with it. 630. Did he show you the letter?-He read the letter; and in it Mr. Bruce stated that he gave his tenants over into the hands of his son. His son became his tack-master. 631. That letter was not delivered to you?-No; I don't think it was. 632. Was there not a copy of it sent to each tenant?-I don't think there was. It is eleven years ago; and I don't remember any of the particulars that were in it. 633. Do you mean to say that that letter was the beginning of the understanding which now exists about fishing?-Certainly it was. 634. What did it say about that matter?-I really cannot say now what was in the letter. 635. Did it intimate that he had handed over the Dunrossness tenants to his son?-Yes; I think that was the purport of the thing. 636. Did it say anything about the fishing?-It was understood that he handed over the fishing. At that time there were different merchants in Lerwick who were receiving fish from the tenants, and they had all to remove their goods from that district. 637. Had they stores?-Yes, they had stores and goods for supplying the fishermen; and they had all to remove except Messrs. Hay & Co. 638. Were these merchants warned out?-I cannot say. 639. I suppose they paid rent to Mr. Bruce for these stores?-Yes; at least for liberty to have the stores there. [Page 13] 640. Who were these merchants?-Hay & Co. were put out of the store that Mr. Bruce now occupies. 641. But they have a store at Dunrossness yet?-Yes, they have a store there. 642. How far is it from you?-I think about a quarter of an hour's walk. 643. Is it nearer your place than Gavin Henderson's store?-Yes. 644. Is Hay & Company's store on Mr. Bruce's property?-Yes; but they have a lease of it, otherwise I believe they would not have been there. 645. Can you not sell your fish to Messrs. Hay & Co.?-No. 646. From whom do they buy fish in that quarter?-The tenants of Mr. Bruce of Simbister, through the parish, have liberty to sell their fish where they please, and some of them are sold to Hay & Co. 647. Have you ever been prevented from selling your fish to Messrs. Hay?-I never tried to sell my fish to any other person than Mr. Bruce since he took the fishing. 648. Do you know if any man has tried to do that?-Yes; there are various men who have sold a few to other merchants. On one occasion young Mr. Bruce asked me whether I had sold any fish to any other person than him. 649. When was that?-It would be about half a dozen years ago. I told him I had sold a little, and I did not think I was doing any sin before God or man for doing it. 650. You were not turned out for that?-No. 651. Have you any grievance in Dunrossness with regard to whales?-Yes, we often drive whales on shore there; and after they are killed and pulled ashore, and the oil all taken out, the landlord takes one-third. 652. But you are allowed to sell the other two-thirds?-Yes. 653. To whom do you sell the two-thirds of the oil?-Generally to merchants in Lerwick. 654. How are you paid for that?-Not very well at the present time. 655. Are you paid in money?-Yes; in cash. Of course it comes through the proprietor's hands. 656. Does it enter into your annual accounting with the proprietor?-Yes. 657. The proprietor gets the whole money for the oil, retains his third, and hands you over or puts to your credit the remaining two-thirds?-Yes. Of course if a man requires the money to clear his way with the proprietor, it answers that end. If not, then the proprietors pass over the money to him. 658. Do you really think that if the proprietor had no store there, and you could buy your dry goods and provisions from anybody you like, you would be better off with respect to what you buy?- No; we could not do without the proprietor's store, because, if we have to give our earnings to the proprietor, we are obliged to take goods from his store in return. 659. But supposing you had liberty to sell your fish where you pleased, and to buy your goods where you pleased, do you think you would be any better off than you are?-Yes. There is a man named Laurence Leslie who went to the fishing in the same boat with me last summer. He lives in Lerwick, and was a free man, and he dried his fish for himself, and after he had paid for salt and curing he had about £5 more than any of us. 660. Do you mean that he had about £5 more from the home fishing than you had?-Yes. 661. Can you tell now the proceeds of your last summer's fishing?- We will be paid the price that has been paid already in the country. 662. But you don't know yet what you are to get?-No; Mr. Bruce said at the commencement that he would give us the currency of the country. Now Mr. Bruce is one of the greatest fish-dealers in the country, and of course he has it so far in his power to make the currency; but it is likely we will get the same as the other merchants are paying. 663. Then, in speaking of the sum which Leslie has earned more than you, you are calculating in this way: you know the price which other merchants have paid, and you know the quantity you have delivered?-Yes; and we know in that way what the amount will be. 664. What do you think the amount of your take will be?-About £18. 665. You think your fishing for the whole of last season will be £18, at the prices which are going in Lerwick?-Yes. 666. And you know how much Laurence Leslie has got?-Yes. 667. Had he about the same quantity of fish as you-Yes; he had the same quantity divided green. 668. What quantity had you?-I cannot exactly say. We had so much ling, so much cod, and so much saith. 669. You say he was in the same boat with you: were not all the boat's crew obliged to fish to Mr. Bruce?-All but that one man. 670. You separated your fish: did you just give Leslie his proportion of the whole fish in the boat?-Yes. We kept an account of his fish and of ours, and we gave him his share; and then he dried his part for himself. 671. How many men were in the boat?-Six. 672. Then, when you came to shore, you delivered five-sixths of the fish to Mr. Bruce, and Leslie got one sixth?-Yes; that was the way it generally went. Sometimes we would give all the fish to Mr. Bruce, and sometimes all to Laurence Leslie, and we kept an account; so that we could put the thing all right in the end. 673. Did you do that among yourselves?-Yes. 674. How did Leslie happen to go in that boat among Mr. Bruce's men?-Because he belonged to the place originally, and he agreed with us to go. He only left the place last year. 675. Has he not had a farm there for the last year?-No. 676. And therefore he did not consider himself bound to deliver his fish to Mr. Bruce?-Yes. 677. Who did he sell his fish to?-To Hay. 678. Were they cured when he sold them?-Yes. Mr. Bruce would not allow him to weigh his fish on his scales and weights, because he would not give them to him. 679. Who forbade him?-Mr. Bruce's factor. 680. Was that Mr. Irvine?-It was not Mr. Irvine; it was the man who was there in his place. I recollect that one day we were a good deal put about in consequence of that. It was a very coarse day at the fishing, and Hay & Co. did not have weights at the place, and Mr. Bruce's man would not allow us to weigh the fish on his weights. 681. But you were obliged to weigh them in order to find out how much was Mr. Bruce's share?-We were obliged to weigh the fish in order to know how they were to be divided among ourselves, and they had to lie for a whole day until weights were got. 682. Do you know how much money Leslie got for his fishing?-I think the whole amount was pretty nearly £26; but then he had expenses for salt and cure to be taken from that-perhaps 30s. 683. He would also have his own time and trouble to allow for?- He had a lad for curing the fish; that is included in the 30s. Of course Leslie would have some more trouble with it than we had. 684. That makes a difference of £6, 10s. between you, whereas you said the difference was about £5?-There may be some difference of that kind; I am not exactly sure to a few shillings. 685. Was there no objection made to Laurence Leslie going in the boat with you?-They did not know that he was, not to fish for Mr. Bruce until we commenced the fishing, and then they could not object; but Mr. Bruce's rule is, that he won't take part of a boat. The whole boat must be for him; and in that way there have been men who have been forced to part company who were nearly as bad to part as man and wife. 686. After the boat's crew was made up, was any objection taken to Leslie fishing with you?-They could not object then, because we had begun to the fishing, [Page 14] and they could not get another man to take his place, even although they had objected. 687. Do you keep a pass-book, at Mr. Bruce's store for the supplies you get for your house?-No; it would be of no use for me to do so. 688. Why?-Because I do not know the prices of the goods, and they won't mark them down themselves. 689. But they would mark the quantities of the articles you got, would they not?-No; they would not be bothered with that. 690. Have you ever asked for a pass-book?-Yes; I had a pass-book, and I had to drop it, because Irvine said he would not be bothered with it. 691. Does Mr. Irvine keep the store himself?-Yes. 692. Does he collect the rents on the property?-No; Mr. Bruce carries through the annual accounting himself. 693. When you go to settle with him, the books of the store are all made up by Mr. Irvine; and does Mr. Bruce state the balance to you?-Yes. 694. Does he show you how it is made up?-Mr. Irvine tells us the amount we have had from the store, and hands that in to Mr. Bruce. Mr. Bruce enters that against us along with the rent, and tells us the balance. 695. What means have you for checking that statement of his? How do you know whether it is correct or not?-We don't have the chance of knowing whether is correct or not. 696. Do you not know how much goods you have got?-Perhaps we might; but we cannot know the price of the goods. 697. But you might know how much goods you have got, and how much fish you have delivered, and how much you have to pay?- But we don't know the price of the goods. 698. Do you not know the price of the goods at the end?-We hear it read over as fast perhaps as it can be read. 699. Do you not get a copy of it?-Not of the shop account. 700. Have you ever asked for one?-No. 701. I thought you told me that you had a copy for some years?- Yes; from Mr. Bruce, but not from Mr. Irvine, for the store. I have had a copy of my account from Mr. Bruce for the whole thing, and it contained a sum for the goods got from the store; but it was all one sum. 702. It is a slump sum, and does not show the different articles?- Yes; that is the account which I promised to send. 703. You say you have asked for a pass-book, and have been refused it?-Yes; I had one, and Mr. Irvine threw it back again, and said he would not be bothered with it. 704. When was that?-I think about two years ago. 705. You brought a pass-book and handed it to Mr. Irvine, and asked him to put your account into it as the articles were furnished, and he refused to do so?-Yes; I wished to have a knowledge of how I was going on. 706. When does the annual settlement take place?-Generally in February or March. 707. Where do you meet for the purpose of settling?-At Sumburgh, at Mr. Bruce's office. 708. Has he an office in his own house?-Yes. 709. Are all the people summoned to meet there on a particular day?-There are certain men called for a particular day, according as he can get through them,-so many men for each day. 710. How long does it take you to settle with him?-Perhaps three or four hours. It is possible I might be three or four hours with him myself. Generally three men go in a boat, and the three men would probably take six hours, or perhaps only four hours. 711. You said there were six men in your boat last year?-Yes, there were six in our boat, but three is the usual number in the smaller boats. 712. And they will perhaps all go together to Mr. Bruce?-Yes, the men in every boat go together; and Mr. Bruce gives us every chance of being satisfied with our accounts that he possibly can. 713. Except giving you a note of them?-He will give us a note. 714. A short note; but he won't give you the full account?-We don't get the full account from the shop, but that, of course is not in Mr. Bruce's hand. 715. He only gets the sum-total due at the shop?-Yes; and he has the rest in his own books. The rest of the balance is in his own hand, and of course he gives us every satisfaction about it. 716. But the shop is his too?-Yes. 717. Did you ever ask him to let a pass-book be allowed you, or an account to be given you at the shop?-No; I never asked him for that. 718. Did you ever complain to him that you did not get it?-No. 719. Did you ever complain about any of the sums brought out in the shop account as not being due by you?-No, I could not do that, because I could scarcely tell whether it was right or wrong. 720. In fact you trusted to the honesty of the shopkeeper?-I was obliged to do that. 721. Then you say that you never see any statement of your account for goods supplied to you at the shop at all?-None, except the total. The total is handed in to Mr. Bruce at settling time. 722. Is there anything else you wish to say?-There is one thing I would like to ask. In consequence of my coming here, I expect nothing but that I will be turned off; and I would ask how I am to proceed. 723. I don't think you need be afraid of that; but if there is anything done to you in consequence of the evidence which you have given here, you had better write and let me know. Of course I am only to be here for a short time; but it would be my duty to communicate the fact to some of my superiors. There is one other thing I would like to mention: that any amount of liberty would be of very little account in Shetland, so long as the proprietors have power to turn off men at any time when they have a mind to do so. 724. At the end of the summer fishing is there generally a balance in your favour at the accounting between you and the landlord?- Sometimes there is, and sometimes not. I believe I generally stand about half and half. 725. Do you mean that if your fishing is worth £18, your account at the store and your rent will be about £9 or £10?-No; there are some years in which my account at the store, and my rent, are above the whole amount of my year's earnings,-while there are other years when my earnings are above my shop account and rent. 726. When the year's earnings are less than your account, is the balance written down against you for the next year?-Yes. 727. Then that is an additional reason why you are bound to fish to your landlord, because when you are in his debt you cannot very well sell your fish to another?-If we had our liberty, we could sell our fish to another merchant. 728. But suppose you had liberty, would not the fact of your being in debt to your landlord still be a sort of obligation upon you to fish for him?-It would still bind us, of course. 729. Does that cause operate, in fact, to tie the fishermen to the same merchant?-When the men have had their liberty, that has been the case. 730. Was it the case before Mr. Bruce took the fishing into his own hands?-Yes. 731. So that many men in those times would be unable to sell their fish to another merchant than Messrs. Hay or Mr. Robertson, who had the fishing then?-Yes; of course there were times when the fishing was small, and perhaps men required a lot of meal, and they could not get it without going into debt; and when merchants supported them in that way, the men could not do better than hand over their fish to the merchants to whom they were in debt. 732. So that there was even then a certain obligation on the men to fish to a particular merchant?-[Page 15] Yes. When a man is in debt, he is under an obligation to clear his debt. 733. But your complaint is, that you are much more strictly bound now?-Yes; there was no obligation for a man to clear his debt with any merchant before now. 734. Was there then any obligation to purchase at that merchant's store?-None. 735. Except that perhaps they would not get credit elsewhere?- Exactly. 736. In those times did the men get advances in money during the season when they asked them?-Yes. 737. But you still get that?-Yes, we get that still, of course. 738. If you choose, you can get your provisions elsewhere; and if you choose to get them elsewhere, you will get all your money at the end of the season?-Yes, if we had any over; but if we had no money over, of course the merchant from whom we had to get our goods would have to want. Lerwick, January 2, 1872, LAURENCE LESLIE, examined. 739. You are now a fisherman in Lerwick?-Yes. 740. You formerly lived at Dunrossness?-Yes. 741. And you had a piece of ground from Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh?-Yes. 742. You have been present during the examination of the previous witness, and heard the whole of his examination?-Yes. 743. Do you concur in that part of it which referred to yourself with regard to the quantity of fish you got last season?-I do. 744. What may be the total price you got for your cured fish?-We had three different kinds of fish-saith, cod, and ling. We got 12s. per cwt. for saith, I think 18s. for cod, and 20s. for ling, dried. 745. The quantity which you had to sell was the same when weighed green as that which Laurence Mail delivered to Mr. Bruce?-Of course. 746. You lived in Dunrossness for a number of years?-Yes. 747. Do you concur with the rest of the evidence which Laurence Mail gave?-I do. 748. It was all correct?-Yes. 749. Do you know a man named William Brown at Millpond?- Yes. 750. Was he a fisherman?-Yes. 751. How far did he live from your place?-I think about two miles. 752. Do you know whether at any time lately he and some other old men went fishing on their own account, and were obliged to pay liberty money?-Yes; he stated that he had been applied to for payment of liberty money. 753. How long ago was that?-I think it was three years ago. 754. Is Brown an old man?-Yes; perhaps between fifty and sixty. 755. Would he be able to come to Lerwick?-He might. 756. Would it not be rather hard for a man of his age to come this length?-I think it would be rather hard; but I think he could come. 757. To whom had he to pay that liberty money?-To Mr. Grierson of Quendale, his landlord. 758. Is Mr. Grierson a fish-merchant too?-Yes. 759. Do you know James Williamson at Berlin, Dunrossness?- Yes. 760. Is he on Mr. Grierson's land?-Yes. 761. Do you know anything about a boy of his who had gone out to service with a neighbouring farmer lately?-I know that he has a boy, but I cannot say anything about him going to service. I don't think Williamson could come here; he is in ill health at present. Lerwick, January 2, 1872, WALTER WILLIAMSON, examined. 762. You are a fisherman in the island of Burra?-I am. 763. Do you hold a piece of ground there under Messrs. Hay & Co., who are the lessees of Burra under Misses Scott of Scalloway?-I do. 764. You are one of the men who signed the following letter which has been addressed to me:- ' Burra Isle, 1st Jan. 1872. 'SIR, We, the undersigned, desire to give evidence to the following effect, and will be glad to be informed when it will be convenient for you to receive our evidence':- 'We are bound by agreement to fish to our landlord; but no price is agreed upon until the time of settlement, which occurs about once a year. We have then to take what price is offered; and if we or our sons fish to any other person, we have to pay 20s. each yearly of '.' 'We can get no leases of our farms, and have to build and repair our own houses at our own expense, without any compensation when leaving the farm, or when ejected from it. 'As we settle only once a year, of course we have to buy from our landlord's shop till the end of the year, at which time we seldom have any money to get, except when we have better fishings than ordinary. 'If we capture whales, we have to pay one-third of the proceeds to the landlord. 'Those of us who have daughters engaged in knitting can testify to the fact that they are invariably paid in goods, both for the goods they sell, and also for their wages when engaged to knit for the hosiery dealers. 'We have to add, that we wish to be free to fish to whom we please, or to cure our own fish, and to receive compensation for improvements effected on our houses or farms when we leave them. 'Other details we will state when called before you. Meantime we remain, sir, your most obedient servants, 'WALTER WILLIAMSON. 'GILBERT GOODLAD. 'LAURENCE POTTINGER. 'PETER SMITH. 'LAURENCE INKSTER. 'CHARLES SINCLAIR 'JOHN NEWTON GOODLAD. 'HANCE SMITH. 'ROBERT SINCLAIR. 'JOHN POTTINGER. 'ALEXANDER SINCLAIR. 'THOMAS CHRISTIE. 'GEORGE JAMIESON. 'To WILLIAM GUTHRIE, Esq., ' H.M. Commissioner, Lerwick.' -I am. 765. You say in that letter, 'We are bound by agreement to fish to our landlord, but no price is agreed upon until the time of settlement, which occurs about once a year. We have then to take what price offered; and if we or our sons fish to any other person, we have to pay 20s. each yearly of 'liberty money.' Is that an obligation which you have entered into with Messrs. Hay & Co.?-It is an obligation that we are under, that we are bound over to them. 766. Have you signed any obligation to that effect?-I was asked to sign an obligation to that effect; but I said I could not sign to bind my sons, and that I would on no account come under that obligation. 767. How long ago was that?-To the best of my recollection, it was about eight years ago. 768. Was there an agreement to that effect handed to you for signature?-Yes. 769. And to a number of other men at the same time?-Yes. 770. By whom was it handed to you?-By Mr. Wm. Irvine, who is a partner of the firm of Hay & Co. 771. Was that in Burra or here?-It was in Messrs. Hay & Co.'s office in Lerwick. 772. Was it handed to the other men at the same time?-It was offered to them at the same time that it [Page 16] was offered to me. A certain number of them were present at the time. 773. How many?-I should think there might have been five present, exclusive of myself. 774. Did they all sign it?-I cannot say that they did, for I went out and left them there. 775. Then you are under no written obligation to fish for your landlord?-No. 776. Is there any other understanding or bargain between you that you shall fish only for him?-Yes, we were told that we must fish for them. 777. When was that said to you?-At the time, when I took a property from them in Burra. 778. How long is that since?-About fourteen years ago. 779. Who told you so then?-The late Mr. William Hay. 780. Have you ever been told so since?-I have. 781. By whom?-By Mr. William Irvine. 782. How long ago is that?-It is just eight years. 783. Was that at the same time when you were asked to sign the agreement?-Yes; it was on the same day. 784. Have you ever been told so since that time?-No; I have never sought to fish for anybody else, nor asked my liberty since then. I asked for my liberty that day when I was asked to sign the agreement. 785. Was it given to you?-No. I offered to pay 20s. if they would give me my liberty, but I could not get it for that. 786. Was any price fixed by them for that?-I offered 20s. for my liberty to fish for whom I liked, or to cure for myself, and I could not get it for the paying of the 20s. 787. Were you told what they would give it to you for?-No; they would not say. 788. Do you wish to fish for anybody else?-I should certainly wish to fish for anybody that I could get most from; but I should like especially to be the master of my own fish, to cure them for myself, and to sell them to the best advantage. 789. You mean you would like to catch and cure your own fish, and then sell them, do you?-Yes; that is what I would like. 790. Why do you, not do it?-Because we would be ejected from the place if we were not to deliver our fish to them. 791. What is your reason for supposing that?-Because we have been told so. 792. Was it on the occasion you have mentioned, eight years ago, that you were told so?-It was. 793. Have you been told since that you would be ejected if you did not deliver your fish to Messrs. Hay & Co.?-I have never since asked anything about it, so that I had no reason to be told so. 794. Has any person been ejected for selling fish to other merchants than Hay & Co., or for curing his own fish?-I think there have been such cases in Burra. I believe John Leask was ejected for not serving as a fisherman to Messrs. Hay & Co. 795. How long ago was that?-I think it would be about thirteen years since, or close thereby. 796. That is an old story. Has there been anybody ejected since?- I don't remember any one at present. 797. Do you know from your own knowledge of any threats of ejection having been made to parties who were fishing for others?-Yes. 798. Who were so threatened?-We were threatened at that very time, eight years ago, that we should be ejected if we did not sign the agreement. 799. But do you know of any threats to particular parties for particular offences since that time?-There never have been any threats made to me, and I cannot remember exactly about them having been used to others; but there are parties here who may remember better about that than I do. 800. You say further in the letter, 'We can get no leases of our farms, and we have to build and repair our own houses at our own expense, without any compensation when leaving the farm, or when ejected from it.' That does not exactly fall under this inquiry, though it may perhaps indirectly affect it; but I suppose the obligation to build and repair your own houses is part of the bargain you enter into on taking the land?-It is. 801. Are you not at liberty to make your own bargain about the land, the same as any other tenant in Scotland is?-I am not aware of that. 802. Suppose you were to object to make such a bargain, could you not leave the land and get a holding elsewhere?-It is not likely we would get a holding elsewhere. 803. Why?-We would very likely be deprecated as not being legal subjects, and the heritors would all know that we were not convenient parties to give land to. What is one reason; and another reason is, that places are sometimes not very easily got. 804. Do the same conditions exist on other properties in Shetland?-So far as I know, they prevail all over the country, or nearly so. 805. You think that if you were trying to move, you would not get free of a condition of that sort?-We might get free of it for a time, but by next year the parties to whose ground we had removed might bind us down to the same thing. 806. But supposing all the men were united in refusing to agree to such conditions, there could be no compulsion upon them?-They have not the courage, I expect, to make such an agreement among themselves. 807. To come to the more proper subject of the inquiry: you go on to say, 'As we settle only once year, of course we have to buy from our landlord's shop till the end of the year, at which time we have seldom any money to get, except when we have better fishings than ordinary.' Your settlement, I suppose, takes place about the beginning of the year for the whole of the previous year?-Yes; generally a month after the beginning of the year. 808. And at that time you settle with your landlords, Messrs. Hay & Co., for all the provisions you have got from their shop?-Yes. 809. Where is their shop?-They have shops both at Lerwick and Scalloway. 810. Does the same man keep an account at both shops?-The same company keeps a store at Scalloway and a store at Lerwick. 811. But has the same man a book in both shops?-Yes; he has a book in both shops. 812. The men deal at both?-Some men in the islands deal at both, and others, again, have liberty to deal only at one. 813. Then, at the settlement time, you settle for all the provisions you have got from the shops, and for the rent that is due for your farm, and they set against that the price of the fish you have delivered?-Yes. 814. And you say that generally the account against you is as large, or larger, than that in your favour?-Taking it generally amongst the tenants on the island, I believe it is. 815. Do you get money advanced to you in the course of the season when you ask for it?-Yes, I have always, or generally, got it when I asked for it. 816. Suppose that at the close of the fishing season-that is, in September-you were to ask for all the money that was due for your fish, or for a sum about equal to the value of your fish, would you get it?-I don't expect I would get it. 817. Have you ever asked for it?-Yes. 818. In September, or about that time?-I asked it on 1st November, thirteen years ago. 819. That is a long time ago?-That was the first year I was resident in Burra; I had been there for a twelvemonth then. 820. What did you ask for, then?-I asked for the value of the fish that belonged to a fee'd man who had been along with me for three months in autumn. I fee'd a young man for these months to go along with me to the summer fishing at that time; he was to get one-third of the fish, and I was to supply him with boat, lines, and lodging. At the end of autumn he went home, and he wanted me to introduce him to Messrs. Hay's agent, so that he might get his money. [Page 17] 821. Did he want to leave the island?-He did not belong to the island; and as he was going home, he wanted to be paid, and he asked me to introduce to the agent, which I did. 822. Did you apply for his money?-Yes, as being a stranger I wanted them to settle with him; but they would not settle with him at all, I then asked for an advance of 20s. on my own account, and I would give it to him for his trouble; but they would not give that either. 823. At that time had you and he a large contra account against you in the shop?-Neither of us had any account against us at all. He told me that at the time he had not a penny taken out from either of their stores. 824. Was he offered goods at that time?-Yes; in my hearing. 825. What was said about that?-He was told to take anything he wanted out of the store. 826. Where was that?-At Scalloway, I expect, or Lerwick. 827. Can you tell me of anything of the same kind happening within the last two or three years?-I don't recollect anything of the kind happening within that time, so far as I was personally concerned. 828. Have you, within the last two or three years, always had a large account against you at the beginning of the winter?-Not of a bad debt. 829. But have you had a large account against you for goods supplied during the course of the season?-Yes; I have generally had a considerable account so far as our accounts go. 830. Was that the reason for your not asking for a settlement of it at that time?-I cannot say whether that would be the reason or not. 831. Did you know that you had got the value of your fish, or something approaching to it, in provisions?-Some of us in Burra had, no doubt, got the whole value in goods, and had even overdrawn their accounts, but others of us had not. 832. But if you want money in the course of the autumn or in the early part of the winter, do you not get an advance on applying for it at Messrs. Hay's place?-I only know of those getting it who might be worthy of it, who had not overdrawn their accounts. 833. But they will give you money as readily as they will give you goods now?-I suppose they would in Lerwick, but I don't think they would do that at Scalloway. 834. What is your reason for supposing that?-About twelve months ago I went once, twice, and at last three times with some fish to their fish-curing place in Scalloway; and their law there was that we should only get goods for our fish, but no money. 835. Who told you that?-Mr. Gilbert Tulloch, the shopkeeper, the master of the store. 836. Is he the shopkeeper for Messrs. Hay at Scalloway?-Yes. 837. Did you on that occasion ask for money for the fish you delivered?-The last time I went up, after taking a number of small things that I was requiring, there was a shilling due to me on the fish which I had delivered, and I asked for it. Mr. Tulloch said that I knew it was not the custom to give money. I said I knew that too well, but that it could not affect him very much to give me a few pence, as he had got much more from me in the course of the year. He hung on for a little bit and then put his hand on the counter and gave it to me; but he bade me remember it was to be the last. 838. You say the amount of your account is made up in the beginning of the year: how did you know that the cost of the provisions you were getting at the time you have now mentioned came to within 1s. of what was due?-There is a misunderstanding between us there. We have an opportunity of taking goods out of their stores; but when we come to their store at Scalloway with a little fish, we get goods from them there, without them entering into the annual settlement. That is not the proper place where we deliver our fish to Messrs. Hay-the proper place is in the island of Burra itself, but we have a chance of coming to Scalloway occasionally when we have got a few small fish, and we get goods home with us. 839. Then, when you want goods, you take the fish to Scalloway?-Yes, but we can also get goods there, although we deliver the fish at the proper place in Burra. 840. In that case, do you get a line from the manager at Burra stating that you have delivered so much fish?-No. 841. Then how do they know to allow you goods?-When we take the fish up to the store at Scalloway, we only get goods for their exact value. In the case I have mentioned I got goods up to the value of my fish within a shilling. 842. Did you not say you could also get goods at Scalloway although you delivered the fish at Burra?-Yes; that is on account of the fish which we give to the local factor. 843. And the goods you get in that case go to the general account for the whole year?-Yes. 844. Then those which you deliver at Scalloway are not put into the general account at all?-No. 845. That is to say, you are at liberty to deliver your fish elsewhere than to the factor at Burra?-Yes. 846. But the only place where you are at liberty to deliver them, if you do not deliver them to the factor in Burra, is to the store at Scalloway?-Yes. 847. And you take them there if you want a supply of goods?- Yes. 848. Is there any reason for preferring that way of dealing?-We have none. 849. But have you any reason for preferring to take the fish to Scalloway and getting the goods, rather than delivering them to the factor at Burra and having the goods entered in your general account?-We have then got the pleasure of seeing our fish paid for all at once. That is all the advantage we have about it, so far as I know. 850. Have you a chance of getting more money in hand if you take the fish to Scalloway?-Not one farthing more. I have got none this year. 851. But on the other system you may still get an advance of money if you ask for it?-Yes; I believe I might get some money if I wanted it. 852. Would you get it from the factor at Burra, or at Scalloway or Lerwick?-So far as I am aware, I would only get it at Lerwick. 853. Do you purchase in that way, from Messrs. Hay, all your provisions and clothing, and everything you want for the support of your families?-As a general thing over the islands, it is only from them we can get them. It is only from them we need ask them, because we have no power to sell the labour of our hands to any one else. 854. And you have no credit with any one else?-Some of us would have credit; but the system prevents us from getting credit, because we could not pay the parties from whom we got the goods. 855. But if these parties knew that you were getting money from Messrs. Hay for your fish, would it not be possible for you to get the money from Messrs. Hay, and with it to pay the other dealers?-That may be done no doubt on a very small scale, for anything I know. I believe it is done, to a certain extent, by persons who get a few pence or a few pounds from Messrs. Hay; but it is only a few of the men who are able to deal in that way. 856. You say in your letter that you don't know the prices you are to get for your fish until the end of the year: is that so?-Yes, it is so. 857. Messrs. Hay & Co. do not fix the price until what time of the year?-They do not fix it until we settle-about a month after the New Year. 858. So that you don't know before then what you are to get?-We never do. 859. Have you ever been to agree to fish at a certain price per cwt.?-I never was asked to agree to that during the whole fourteen years I have served them. 860. Would you like to have a certain price per cwt. [Page 18] fixed before the commencement of the season?-We should like that well enough if we had power ourselves to inquire after it, but we should not like it if it was to be left in the hands of another who had power to make the price what he pleased. 861. You also say, in your letter, 'If we capture whales, we have to pay one-third of the proceeds to the landlord.' Is that a frequent source of profit to you in Shetland?-It is not, a very frequent source. It is occasional, but not frequent. 862. What is your objection to that system?-We think that as we the fishermen, drive the whales ashore, and they are all flinched and wrought below high-water mark, we have a right to the whole proceeds. We think the proprietor has no right to anything at all, any more than he has to the fish that come ashore in our boats. 863. But when you get the whales you get two-thirds of the oil?- We do. 864. And you can sell that in any market you like-I believe we can. 865. Do you get cash for it?-Yes. 866. So that there is no truck there?-No; none. 867. Do you dispose of the oil yourselves, or is it done for you by the landlord?-I always knew of it being sold by public auction on the beach where it was landed. 868. Is it sold in lots consisting of the amount of oil which each man gets?-I always knew of it being sold in company; but it is set up in lots, perhaps of a tun, or five tuns, or half a tun, and so on, and it is carried away by the purchaser. 869. Then the landlord does not sell it you?-No. 870. How is his third set apart?-It is taken off the whole money when it has been paid by the purchasers. Any party or parties who buy the oil at auction, pay the money to the landlord, and he gets a third, and pays the other two-thirds to the fishermen. 871. Is it paid to you at the time, or is it put into your general account?-So far as I know, it is always paid at the time. 872. But that is not a common occurrence?-No. Perhaps it may not occur in the same place for ten or twelve or twenty years, or sometimes longer than that. 873. Does not the value of the oil go into the general accounts of the men at the end of the year?-I have had a share in whales on two occasions, and I believe that some of the fishermen who are in debt to the landlord will allow their shares to go into the general account. Those who are not in debt will get the money clear out. 874. You are not obliged to take that in goods?-I never knew of that being done. 875. In speaking of the fishing, for which you settle with Messrs. Hay in the beginning of the year, all your evidence has had regard to what is called the home or summer fishing?-Yes. 876. It has not had reference to the Faroe fishing-Not so much, so far as I know. 877. It is only with regard to the home fishing that you are bound to fish for them?-It is only with regard to it that I can speak, for I am not a Faroe fisherman. 878. Are the men in Burra free to ship for the Faroe fishing with any master they like?-I expect they are; but there are some of the men to be examined afterwards, who will be better witnesses on that subject than I can be. 879. The fish you take in the summer fishing are ling, cod, and haddocks?-Yes. There are plenty in the islands who fish herrings also. 880. But that is a distinct thing altogether from the summer fishing?-Yes. 881. The fishing you have been speaking to during all your examination has been the fishing for ling and cod?-I have been speaking of the whole home fishing of every kind, the herring fishing as well. 882. What do you catch in what you call the home fishing?-Ling, cod, and herrings. 883. And haddocks?-Yes; there are plenty of the men who catch haddocks also. 884. You spoke of taking some fish to Scalloway: were not these merely the small fish or haddocks?-Yes; the haddocks chiefly, and small cod. 885. Is that done at a particular season of the year?-Yes. 886. That is, when Messrs. Hay have not men at Burra to receive the large fish; or have they men there all the year round?-They have them all the year round. 887. Then why is it generally the smaller fish that you take at Scalloway?-I cannot give a particular statement why it is, except that the men get their account cleared off at Scalloway with these small fish. It is only haddocks that are taken there. The haddocks have never been taken in at their fish-curing station at Burra, so far as I know. 888. At what season of the year are these haddocks generally caught?-In winter. 889. Do they smoke the haddocks in Burra?-No; they never did that. 890. Their establishment there is only for curing the larger fish?- Yes. 891. Then, in order to get your haddocks smoked and cured, you must bring them to Scalloway, and deliver them at the store there?-Yes. 892. And that is the reason why you bring some of your fish to Scalloway?-It is. 893. Supposing you bring these fish there, is it still in your option to let them enter your general account, instead of getting goods for them at the time?-We can either take the value of them at the time in goods, or we can have them entered in our general account. 894. Have you ever asked, when bringing fish to Scalloway, to get the price of them in money?-Yes. 895. Have you asked for the whole price in money?-I don't remember that I ever asked to get the whole of it in that way. 896. Why?-Because, of course, I knew I would not get it. 897. How did you know that?-I knew it, because last year I asked only for a shilling on one occasion, and I was told by the shopkeeper that it was to be the last. 898. Then you go on to say in your letter, 'Those of us who have daughters engaged in knitting can testify to the fact that they are invariably paid in goods both for the goods they sell and also for their wages when engaged to knit for the hosiery dealers.' Have you sold goods for your daughters, or do they generally take them to the market themselves?-I have no daughters, and I cannot give evidence about the knitting. 899. You further say, 'We have to add, that we wish to be free to fish to whom we please or to cure our own fish, and to receive compensation for improvements effected on our houses or farms when we leave them. Other details we will state when called before you. That is the same complaint which you made at the commencement of your letter?-Yes. 900. Are there any other details on the subject which occur to you at this moment, and which you desire to add?-There is one thing which I desire to ask on behalf of myself and of the parties who shall be examined after me. I have been desired to ask you whether they shall be at liberty to speak here? If her Majesty's Government will give an obligation to protect them, they will speak then, and if not, they won't. 901. What is the obligation to protect them that you want?-An obligation that they shall not be ejected or fined. 902. I don't think there is any probability of that. You know you are all protected by the law, and I can give you no further protection than the law affords. The Government have it under contemplation at present to alter the law, and this inquiry is for the purpose of ascertaining whether the law ought to be altered in any respect.-If we had not been under the belief that it would surely be altered, we would not have come here. 903. Do you remember, three or four years ago, of the men in Burra getting up a memorial stating their [Page 19] grievances, and what they wanted, and having it forwarded to the agent for the proprietor of the island?-I do. 904. Were you concerned in that matter?-I was. 905. Was there any inquiry made at that time?-There was a petition sent up at that time to the trustee in Edinburgh for Misses Scott of Scalloway, by their tenants in Burra, asking for their liberty. 906. Was there any particular reason at that time for the petition being got up?-There was plenty of reason. 907. Was there any more reason for it then than at any other time? Was there any threatened expulsion, or any strict enforcement of the obligation to fish?-If my memory serves me right it was immediately after we had been asked to sign an obligation in Messrs. Hay's office to pay for our sons' labour. 908. But you said that was eight years ago?-Yes; about that time. 909. Was the memorial not sent up within the last three or four years?-No; it was longer than that, to the best of my recollection. Our petition was got up very shortly after we were wanted to sign the obligation. 910. Did you complain much at that time about the herring fishery?-I believe some of the men did but am not a herring fisher. 911. What is the usual amount of rent that you pay in Burra?-It will run from £6 to £2, 10s., or perhaps as high as £7. 912. That rent is paid for a small piece of ground?-Yes. 913. Is there a right to the pasture in the scattald besides?-Yes. 914. Your scattalds in Burra are not extensive or of much value?- No; they are of very little value. 915. Do you know of any other agreement having been signed by the Burra men, or asked from them, except that one eight years ago?-I have heard of another, but it was before I came to the island. 916. Was there any particular reason for getting the agreement signed eight years ago? Was there general renewal of your holdings; or what reason was assigned for it?-I know of no reason for it, except merely that we were to fish for nobody except Messrs. Hay & Co. 917. But was there any reason for it being signed that particular time?-I believe it was about that time, or immediately after, that Mr. Irvine came to be a partner of Messrs. Hay & Co. 918. There was a change in the firm about that time?-Yes. 919. Are there any leases given in Burra?-I never knew of any being given. 920. Do you know that most of the young men in Burra go to the Faroe fishing?-They do. 921. Do you know that they have shipped both with Messrs. Hay and with other merchants?-Yes. 922. Do they get the same terms both from Messrs. Hay and from other merchants?-I believe they do, so far as I know. 923. Do you know from your own knowledge, whether there is any objection made by Messrs. Hay to their shipping with other merchants for the Faroe fishing?-I have not heard of any recently, but it used to be objected to a few years back. There have been good fishings at Faroe for some time back, and all the agents can get plenty of men; so that there is no need for any restrictions. 924. Supposing you were at liberty to deliver your fish to any other merchant than Messrs. Hay, what reason have you for supposing that you would be better paid than you now are?-I have been a fisherman in Burra for fourteen years, and I was a fisherman in Havera for twenty years before that. There I cured my own fish, and I could do with them what I liked; and I learned there how much I could make by curing them for myself, or selling them to any one within reach who would buy them green. 925. It costs you something, both money and trouble in curing them?-Yes. 926. But, notwithstanding that, you would make more money by being allowed cure them for yourself?-We believe that, and we know it. We know that we would make more money than we have ever got. 927. To whom would you have an opportunity of selling your fish cured?-We could them to any one who would give us the most for them. 928. Are there people there who would buy them from you?-Yes, there are plenty of merchants in Shetland or in the south country who would come and buy them; and we would have a chance of sending them south at our own risk, or to our own advantage. 929. Has any one in Burra ever cured his own fish?-No; I believe no one has ever done so since Burra rose out of the water. 930. Has any one near Burra done so?-Havera is near Burra, and belongs to the same parish, and I cured my own fish there. 931. Why did you leave Havera and go to Burra?-Havera is a very small island, and it became too strait for me. 932. The population was increasing too rapidly?-Yes. 933. Had you not a holding of your own there?-No; I got married, and had to look out for a holding somewhere; and I was, by the law of necessity, compelled to move against my will. 934. Are there any dealers in Scalloway who would buy your fish from you if you were allowed to sell them?-Yes; there are Charles Nicholson and Robert Tait. 935. Do they buy fish cured?-They buy them either cured or uncured, and also what may be properly called half-cured-that is, salted but not dried. 936. Do they employ fishermen?-Charles Nicholson employs fishermen. 937. Do the fishermen who are employed by Nicholson and Tait supply their fish to them green or dry, as they like?-They only give them to them green, so far as I know. 938. But these merchants also buy cured fish from independent fishermen?-Yes. 939. With regard to your farm, do you sell any produce off your land?-We sell none. 940. What does it bear?-Oats and barley, or bere, and potatoes or turnips, and some cabbage. 941. Do you sell these things, or do you consume them yourselves?-We consume them either by ourselves, or by the stock on our farm. We have some cattle and sheep and pigs . 942. Do you sell your stock?-The cattle are generally sold to relieve the tenant's necessities, and in order to let him have a few shillings in money. 943. What is that money used for? Is it for things that you cannot buy in the store?-Yes; and sometimes for paying our rent. 944. I thought the rent was entered as part of your account with Messrs. Hay?-If our earnings are not sufficient to meet Messrs. Hay's account, or if we have overdrawn our account with them, then we sell an animal, and the price of it is put into the account. 945. Is there anything else for which you have to sell your cattle?-I am not aware of anything. 946. How do you sell them? Is it at a roup or at a public market?-We sell our cattle where we can dispose of them to the best advantage-sometimes at the market at Lerwick, and at other times cattle-dealers come round and ask us for them. If we choose to give them to the dealers, we have every advantage in selling our cattle. 947. You are quite free to sell them where you like-Yes. 948. Have you any ponies in Burra?-Yes; a few of the men have some. 949. And you have also and poultry?-Yes. 950. You can dispose of them as you please?-Yes. 951. Is there any shop on the island?-No. 952. You have to go over to Scalloway or to Lerwick for all your goods?-Yes. We don't have liberty to have any shop on the islands. 953. Are Messrs. Hay sometimes largely in advance [Page 20] to the people on the island after a bad season?-Yes; I believe they are largely in advance in some seasons. 954. Then they will trust you for a year or two until a good season comes, and the balance is then paid off?-Yes; most commonly they do that. 955. You would not have had that advantage if you were all free to fish for anybody you liked?-We believe that, if we had our freedom, we would not require to have that advantage. We believe we would be so clear that we would be independent. Neither have we the advantage of having a shop there, and keeping the penny among ourselves. 956. Do you think the goods you get at Messrs. Hay's shop are expensive as compared with the prices you would pay for them elsewhere?-I never thought that, and I never thought them worse than we could get elsewhere. 957. But as to the price, do you think they charge more for their goods than other people?-No; I have nothing to say against that. 958. Or as to the quality?-Both as to the quality and the price I was always satisfied as I would have been with any other body's. 959. You don't suppose they charge a higher price in consequence of the long credit they give?-No. 960. You get your goods from January onwards, and they are not settled for until the following January?-That is so. 961. But then there is credit on both sides; so that I suppose there need be no higher price on that account?-That is the case, so far as I am aware. 962. Is there anything else you wish to say?-You have not asked what may be the difference on a hundredweight of fish, if we had the advantage of selling them for ourselves, as against what we get for them under the present system. I believe the difference would be between 2s. and 3s. per cwt. 963. Do you think your profit would be 2s. or 3s. more per cwt. if the fish was sold by you?-Yes; if we were free agents to act for ourselves. 964. But in the case of a man who was curing on a large scale, has he not an advantage in the way of curing cheaper than a single fisherman would have?-We cannot think he would. We know what we could, cure them for ourselves: that is a matter within our own knowledge. The merchants tell us they cure, at a dearer rate, but we cannot enter into their accounts. If it costs them so much to cure the fish, then they must cure them much dearer than we know they could be cured for by ourselves. 965. Is it from your experience in Havera, as compared with your experience in Burra, that you believe you would be 2s. or 3s. per cwt. better off by curing the fish for yourselves?-That is from my experience in Havera, and also from my experience in Burra. 966. But you have had no experience of selling your own fish cured for at least thirteen years?-Not cured; but I have had a little experience in half-cured fish since that time. 967. Have you sold fish half-cured?-Yes; I have sold a little this year. 968. Were these small fish?-Yes. 969. Did you make more of them than you would have done by delivering them to the merchant?-I did. 970. Was any objection taken by Messrs. Hay to your selling the fish in that way?-I must tell the truth: we did smuggle a few. We would not like them to know of it, but I suppose they will know of it by and by. 971. Is there much smuggling carried on in that way among the fishermen?-I believe it is done on a very small scale. 972. But the restrictions you are under do induce you to smuggle occasionally, in order to get a larger price?-Yes; and on some occasions, in order to get the ready money. 973. Do you not always get ready money for smuggled fish?-We can get it now. 974. From people in Scalloway?-Yes; but if had our liberty like Englishmen, we would have no need to smuggle. 975. Is there anything more you want to say about the matters referred to in your letter?-I think I have said all I wish to say, only that our errand in here has been undertaken under the protection of you, as a commissioner from Her Majesty's Government, who can give us our liberty; and if it had not been on that account we would not have come. Lerwick, January 2, 1872, PETER SMITH, examined. 976. You are a fisherman in Burra?-Yes. 977. You hold some land in that island under Messrs Hay, and you fish for them in the home fishing?-Yes. 978. Do you go to the Faroe fishing also?-No; I never went there. 979. You have been present during the examination of Walter Williamson?-Yes. 980. Do you concur generally in what you have heard him say?- Yes. 981. You have been engaged in the herring fishery also?-Yes. 982. And you were one of the parties who signed memorial to the trustee on the estate of Scalloway some years ago?-Yes. 983. Can you remember how long it is since that petition was got up?-I cannot exactly say, but think it was eight years ago. 984. Was it shortly after you were asked to sign the obligation which Williamson mentioned?-Yes. 985. Do you remember the grievances that were set forth in the memorial?-Were they the same things that you are complaining of now, or was there anything additional?-There was nothing additional. 986. Was there any prohibition at that time to sell tea to your neighbours?-There was very little of it sold. 987. But was it forbidden to sell tea to your neighbours?-Yes. 988. Is that forbidden now?-We have never tried it since. 989. Who forbade it?-Messrs. Hay. 990. Why?-Because they won't allow that to be done on the island. 991. What was their reason for that? Did you want to sell tea?- We did not want to sell tea, except that we were locked up in the island, and we could not get to Scalloway every day. If a storm came on and lasted for perhaps eight days, we could not get to the shop; and some parties might have had a pound or half a pound of tea in small parcels, and they would supply it to any of their neighbours who happened be run out. 992. How did any of the people happen have much tea by them?- They were working among the fish for Messrs. Hay, and they took the tea out of their store. 993. Why did they take it? Did they not want it?-They sometimes required a few pennies. The merchants at that time would give nothing but truck, and the people took the tea, and sold it to their neighbours in order to get a few pence. 994. How do you know that was forbidden? Was there any order issued in writing, or otherwise, stating that people should not sell tea to their neighbours?-It was ordered by word of mouth, and it was also stated by the obligation which we had to sign in Messrs. Hay's office. 995. Did you sign that document?-Yes. 996. So that, you are now under a written obligation not to sell tea?-Yes; a written obligation. 997. Have you heard anything of late years about that prohibition against selling tea?-No. 998. Is it common for a neighbour who has got more tea than he wants, to sell it to another?-No they don't do it now. [Page 21] 999. Why?-I don't know, except just that they are afraid. 1000. Then, if you want tea or any other goods, must go direct to the store at Scalloway for them?-Yes, if we have not got money. If we had money, then we could go to any store we like, and buy what we want. 1001. Have the Burra people any complaints to make with regard to oysters?-I don't deal in them. 1002. You were engaged in the herring fishery. Was there any special complaint made in the memorial, or have you any special complaint to make just now, as to that fishery?-The herring fishery is carried on under the same restrictions as the ling, 1003. You are bound to hand over the fish to Messrs. Hay, and they are entered into the account the same as the others?-Yes. 1004. When you prepared that petition some years ago, did you land your herring on the island, or were they handed in to some vessel?-There were two or three years about that time when a vessel came to Hamnavoe, and we measured them on board of her. When she was full, we had to measure them on shore. 1005. Who sent that vessel?-It was a man who came with a vessel from Hamburg for herrings, and he bought them from Messrs. Hay. 1006. Did the man pay you for the fish?-No; we had nothing to do with him, so far as the paying was concerned. 1007. Was it one of the grievances set forth in the petition, that you were paid in goods for these herrings, while the Wick fishermen got a larger price in cash?-I don't remember about that. 1008. You say you signed the obligation about eight years ago. Have you ever endeavoured or wished to break through it and to obtain your liberty?-No. 1009. You have never attempted that?-No. 1010. Does that obligation bind your family as well as yourself?- Yes, if they like to do it. 1011. But in the obligation itself did you become bound that your sons as well as yourself should fish for Messrs. Hay?-Yes. 1012. Have had to pay liberty money for any of your sons?-Yes; I had to pay it for one of my sons-Robert Smith. He was two years away. One year he was with Mr. Harrison, and the year following he was with Mr. Garriock, and I paid liberty money in these years to Messrs. Hay on his account. 1013. How long ago was that?-I think it was three years ago. 1014. Then the obligation to fish applied to the Faroe fishing as well as to the home fishing?-Yes; to the whole fishings. 1015. Have you ever had to pay liberty money for your sons leaving the home fishing and going to some other employment?- No; they never followed the home fishing. They would not go to it. 1016. Then, if a man does not choose to go to the home fishing at all, he is free?-Yes. 1017. But if a man does go to the home fishing he is to fish for the landlord?-Yes, if he be a tenant. 1018. But he need not fish unless he likes?-No; it is only if he does fish, and if he is a person holding land, that he must fish for Messrs. Hay. 1019. Or if he is the son of a landholder, and living in his father's house?-Yes. 1020. I believe the liberty money amounts to 20s.?-Yes. 1021. When is it paid?-When we settle. 1022. Is it deducted from the amount due?-Yes. 1023. Do you know of any cases where that liberty money has been paid back by Messrs, Hay?-Yes. 1024. Was it paid back to you?-Yes; it was paid back to me for my son. 1025. Then the money you mentioned just now as having been paid by you for your son was paid back to you?-Yes; it was paid back to me afterwards. 1026. How long afterwards?-I think about a year and a half. 1027. Did you ask for it to be paid back?-Yes; I asked it over and over again before I got it. I think I asked for it two or three times, if I remember right. 1028. Did they give it back to you as a favour?-Yes. 1029. Was the amount of liberty money fixed in the obligation which you signed?-Yes. 1030. Did you get a copy of that obligation?-No. 1031. Have you been spoken to about that obligation since you signed it, and told that it was in force?-Never, except when they charged liberty money. I objected to pay it; and their answer was, that I had signed an obligation to pay it, and therefore that I was obliged to do so. 1032. Do you know any one else who has paid liberty money within the last year or two?-Yes; Andrew Laurenson paid it for his brother. 1033. Is Laurenson here?-No. 1034. Why did he have to pay it for his brother?-Because I think the father was not able, and Andrew had just to pay it. 1035. Were both the Laurensons living with their father?-No, Andrew was not living with him; he was married, and had gone away. But Robert was living with his father; and Andrew paid the money for the brother, because his father could not. 1036. Has there been any other case?-Yes; Peter Henry paid liberty money for himself about three years ago. 1037. Was Laurenson's money paid back?-Yes. 1038. After he had asked it?-I don't know if he asked it, but I know that it was paid back. 1039. Was Henry's paid back?-I don't know. 1040. Did these cases all occur about the same year?-Yes, all about the same time. 1041. Is it the case that at time you had several bad fishing seasons?-Yes. 1042. And is it the case that at that time Messrs. Hay were largely in advance to the fishermen in Burra?-Yes; for some years they were largely in advance. 1043. Did they want to get the young men to go to the Faroe fishing in order to get their parents out of debt: did they assign that as a reason for charging liberty money?-Yes, sometimes they did. 1044. Did they tell you, or did you understand, that these fines were required in order to induce the young men to go to the Faroe fishing, and to pay off the debt due by their parents?-Yes, I understood that. 1045. Were you told that by Messrs. Hay at the time?-Yes. 1046. Are these the only cases in which such fines have been exacted, within your knowledge?-Yes. 1047. Have all the landholders since that time fished for Messrs. Hay, to your knowledge?-Yes; they have all fished for them at the home fishing. 1048. And at the Faroe fishing too?-There are very few of the landholders who go to the Faroe fishing. 1049. Are there many men in Burra who go to the Faroe fishing?- Yes, a considerable number. 1050. But these are the younger men?-Yes; generally they are. 1051. And they are not bound in any way?-No, are not now. 1052. Do they generally ship with the Messrs. Hay?-Some of them do, and some do not. It is not general thing with them to do so. 1053. They can do as they like?-Yes. 1054. Can your sons do as they like in that matter, and ship with any person they please?-Yes. 1055. Do they go to the Faroe fishing?-Yes. 1056. And you are not asked to pay liberty money for them now?-No. 1057. Is that because Messrs. Hay have ceased to require payment of liberty money?-Yes; they thought the thing was not legal, and they have given it up. 1058. Are your sons living in your house still?-One of them is, but the other one is married, and is away from me. 1059. And the one who is living with you goes to the Faroe fishing?-Yes. 1060. Have you ever cured fish for yourself?-No. 1061. Then you don't know from your own experience, [Page 22] whether you would have a larger profit if you did cure them on your own account?-No; not from my own experience. 1062. Except when you signed the document you have mentioned, was there any occasion on which you were told by any of the firm of Hay & Co. that you were bound to fish for them only?-I don't remember any other time. Lerwick, January 2, 1872, THOMAS CHRISTIE, examined. 1063. You are a fisherman in Burra, and a tenant under Messrs. Hay?-Yes. 1064. You have been present during the examination of the two preceding witnesses?-Yes. 1065. Do you concur with them as to the most of the facts which they have stated?-Yes. 1066. Did you sign the obligation which has been spoken to?-I signed it once, about eight years ago. 1067. Did you do so willingly, or did you refuse first?-I did so willingly. 1068. Had you not received warning to leave your ground first?- No, I don't think it. 1069. Were you ever told that you would have to leave your ground if you did not sign it?-Yes; I suppose I was. 1070. Have you complied ever since with that obligation to fish for Hay & Co.?-Yes. 1071. You did not try to break it in any way?-No. 1072. Have you ever had to pay liberty money for yourself or any of your children?-No. 1073. Have you cured fish for yourself?-No. 1074. Is it your opinion, as well as that of the other witnesses, that you would make a larger profit if you cured your own fish?-I think we would. 1075. Can you give me any reason for supposing that?-No; no particular reason, because I never cured them. 1076. But you know that is the general belief?-Yes. 1077. Have you any knitters in your family?-Yes. 1078. The letter you have signed says that they are invariably paid in goods, both for the goods they sell, and also for their wages when engaged to knit for the hosiery dealers: is that so?-Yes. 1079. Have you ever sold any articles for your daughters?-Yes. 1080. Do you sometimes take the goods they knit the shops and sell them for them?-Yes. 1081. Where have you taken them to?-To Linklater. 1082. Do you keep an account with him?-No. 1083. You just take the article in and sell it?-Yes, and get what they want for it. 1084. Do your daughters knit with their own wool?-No, they knit with wool supplied by Mr. Linklater. 1085. Is it through you that the dealing generally takes place?- No; not through me. 1086. Your daughters generally manage it themselves?-Yes. 1087. But you have brought in articles which they have knitted?- Yes; on one or two occasions. 1088. On these occasions what took place?-I was just ordered to get some things from the shop, and I got them. 1089. Did you ever ask for money?-No, they never expected to get money, they never asked for it. 1090. You were told the articles that you were to bring home, and the value that was to be put upon the shawls?-Yes. 1091. Did you not leave the fixing of the price to the merchant?- He knew the price himself. It was marked down in the book, what I brought in for them was added to the account. 1092. Do your daughters have a book?-No; but the merchant enters these things in his own book. 1093. Then they have an account with Mr. Linklater-which is kept in his book?-Yes. 1094. What is the name of your daughter?-Elizabeth Christie. 1095. Is the account in Mr. Linklater's book kept in her name?- Yes. 1096. You say that you buy your goods until the end of the year from your landlord's shop: is it from the shop at Scalloway or in Lerwick that you generally buy?-I buy from both places. 1097. Is there an account in your name in both shops?-Yes; I can go to any place I like. 1098. And you get the same class of goods at both?-I don't think there is much difference. 1099. Do you get every kind of goods at both shops?-Yes. Lerwick, January 2, 1872, CHARLES SINCLAIR, examined. 1100. You are a fisherman in Burra?-Yes. 1101. Do you hold any land there?-No, I have only a room, and pay rent for it, in an old mansion-house on the island. 1102. To whom do you pay rent?-To Messrs. Hay. 1103. How do you make your living?-By fishing, and sometimes by going as master of a small coasting vessel. 1104. Does that vessel belong to you?-No; I sometimes get employment from the owners in Lerwick,-from Mr. Leask, or Messrs. Hay, or others. 1105. You have not a permanent employment as master?-No, but I am competent for taking charge of a vessel at times. 1106. Is that a vessel employed in the fishing trade?-Yes, and sometimes in the coasting trade, taking cured fish to any port in England or Scotland. 1107. You have been present during the examination of the previous witnesses during the day?-Yes. 1108. Do you concur generally in what they have stated?-So far as I can remember it, I do. 1109. Is there anything additional you want to say?-Yes. Our wishes are to have our liberty to fish for whoever we please, and to make the best we can of our fish. 1110. But you are not bound in any way?-I am bound to fish for Messrs. Hay in the long-line and herring fishing in the island. 1111. Did you sign any obligation-to fish for Messrs. Hay only?- No. 1112. Then in what way are you bound?-By our father signing an obligation. 1113. Are you the son of a Burra man?-Yes. 1114. Did your father sign the obligation eight years ago?-Yes. 1115. What reason have you to suppose that binds you to fish?- My father told me when he came home, that neither he nor his sons were to be allowed to fish to any other men than Messrs. Hay. 1116. Is it eight years since he told you that-Yes. 1117. Is your father alive?-Yes, he is here. His name is John Sinclair. 1118. Have you attempted or wished to fish for any other than Messrs. Hay?-Yes; in the Faroe fishing, but nowhere else. 1119. Was there any objection taken to your doing so?-No; because at the time when I broke off from Messrs. Hay they could not suit me with a vessel. I was competent to take charge of a vessel, and they had none to give me, and for that reason they let me off. 1120. Do you go in for the home fishing?-Sometimes. 1121. Have you fished for any other than Messrs. Hay in that fishing?-No, not in the long-line fishing. 1122. Have you proposed to do so?-No. 1123. Then you have never been interfered with in any way yourself?-No, not further than that. Occasionally I have had to fish a little for them when I was not engaged at anything else. [Page 23] 1124. How had you to fish to them?-To support myself. 1125. But if you had chosen, you might have engaged with any other merchant than Messrs. Hay?-No, not for the home fishing. 1126. Why do you say that?-Because we were made to understand that we would not be allowed to do so. 1127. You say that your only reason for understanding that, was what your father had told you. What would have been the result to you if you had done it?-The result would have been, that my father would have been turned out on my account. 1128. Is that what you were afraid of?-Yes. 1129. And is that the reason why you never tried to get engaged with any other merchant?-Yes. 1130. Had you ever to pay liberty money?-No. 1131. Had your father ever to pay liberty money for you or any of his sons?-I believe he had to pay for one who died. 1132. Do you know that yourself?-I am confident of it, from having heard about it. 1133. Was that when you were young?-Yes. 1134. But that was a good many years ago?-Yes. I cannot remember the time. 1135. Is that all you wish to say?-I remember in my early years, when I was a young fellow, and commenced to fish along with my father, we went chiefly to the herring fishing, and we had to catch herring for Messrs. Hay at a very low price. We had a certain allowance of meal, which I suppose would amount to about twenty-four pounds for seven or eight days; and it was hardly fit to sustain a family of about eight people. My father had to find boats and nets with which to proceed to the fishing, and that put him into debt; and about four years ago I and my brothers had to come good for that debt. 1136. Was that an old debt which your father had contracted?-It was a debt accumulated chiefly in the herring fishing. 1137. When was it begun to be incurred?-About fifteen or sixteen years ago. 1138. Had the debt increased, or did it merely stand over?-It was not regular; it sometimes rose and sometimes fell. 1139. But your father was constantly in debt up to four years ago?-Yes, so far as I can remember. 1140. Was that debt made out by the annual accountings which we have heard about to-day? Was it a debt in the books of Messrs. Hay for provisions supplied at the store?-Yes, and for fishing materials. 1141. Was it for a boat also?-It was chiefly for a new boat and nets. He purchased a new boat, which put him further down than ever. 1142. Was it purchased about fifteen or twenty years ago?-No; it is perhaps ten or twelve years ago. 1143. And you say that about four years ago this debt became so large that you and your brother had to become bound for it?-Yes. 1144. How did that happen?-Because they wrote out, or pretended to write out, what might be called a travelling-ticket, or a warning to remove off the land. 1145. At what term?-Was it at Martinmas?-As far as I recollect, it was. 1146. Some people have taken special objection to the short Martinmas warning. Do you concur in that objection?-Yes. It is only forty days in some cases. 1147. And your father got that warning?-Yes. 1148. How much was he in debt at that time?-Perhaps from £9 to £12. I and my brother Robert had to pay £6, and I believe that was the half of it. 1149. Did you sign any document obliging you pay that money?- No. 1150. Then how did you become bound?-On account of my father being warned out. 1151. But in what way did you become bound? Did you merely promise by word of mouth that you would pay it?-Yes; we had to become good for it. 1152. But you did not sign any agreement?-No; we handed over the money-the sum of £6. 1153. Was that money which you had earned?-Yes. 1154. Was it due to you in your account with Messrs. Hay?-No; I had it in my pocket. I had saved it in other employments. 1155. Then you had no difficulty in getting money for your wages when you wanted it? You were not obliged to take your wages in goods?-No, not our wages; but we have to take the proceeds of our fishing in that way, to a certain extent. They will give us part of that in goods. 1156. Is that the proceeds of the Faroe fishing?-No; of the home fishing. 1157. In the Faroe fishing, what arrangement do you make about the payment of your share?-We can get it all in money if we choose to have it. 1158. You have been at the Faroe fishing?-Yes. 1159. There is no difficulty in that fishing in getting cash at the end of the season?-No; not at the settling times, which take place once a year. 1160. How do you do about your supplies for the Faroe fishing?- We generally apply for them to the merchant we fish for. 1161. And you get a supply from him of provisions, clothing, fishing material, and everything you require?-Yes. 1162. That is marked down against you in the book, and deducted from the price of your fish at the end of the season?-Yes. 1163. Is the price for these fish fixed only at settling time?-Yes. 1164. Who does the boat belong to in which you go to the Faroe fishing?-I have been at that fishing for different owners. 1165. Does the boat always belong to the merchant, or does it sometimes belong to the men themselves?-No; it always belongs to the merchant. 1166. But the whole material required for that fishing, except the boat, belongs to the men?-Yes; and it is purchased by them from the shipowner. We have to find our hooks and lines and provisions. That is all we have to find, the owner finds the rest. 1167. Are you a married man?-Yes, I have a wife and two children. 1168. How are your family supported during your absence at the Faroe fishing? Where do they get their supplies?-They can get them in the owner's store if they require them, but, for myself, I do not require to go there. I can get them at any place I please. 1169. Is it a common thing for the other men who go to the Faroe fishing, to buy their goods at the owners store?-When they don't have money to buy them at other places, they go there for them. 1170. But is that a common thing?-I cannot say exactly. I suppose it is not uncommon. 1171. Does it often happen that a man employed in the Faroe fishing finds an account against him in the owner's store for provisions at settling time as large as the amount which he has to receive for his fishing?-I am not acquainted with that myself. 1172. When you are away at the Faroe fishing, and your family have occasion for money, is there any difficulty in getting it from the parties who employ you?-Not if they know we have money to get. If we have a balance in our favour, they are not against giving it. 1173. How long are you generally absent at that fishing?- Sometimes six months, sometimes seven, and sometimes as low as three months. 1174. Suppose you had been away from home for two or three months, there would certainly be two or three months take of fish, if it was a middling season, for which money would be due to you?-Yes. 1175. Would your wife at home be able to get an advance of money from the merchant in that case, if she required it for the support of the family?-Yes. 1176. There is no difficulty made about that?-No. 1177. Is it a common thing in Shetland for a man's wife to get such advances of money during his absence-Yes, they would get a small sum of money, but the merchant would prefer them to take goods. [Page 24] 1178. If she comes for the money is she ever told to take it in goods; or is there any understanding that she is to take it in goods?-I cannot answer that, because I am not acquainted with what goes on while I am away. I can only speak to what has come within my own experience. Lerwick, January 2, 1872, GILBERT GOODLAD, examined. 1179. You are a fisherman in Burra, and you hold land there under Messrs. Hay?-Yes. 1180. You have been present during the examination of the previous witnesses?-Yes. 1181. Do you agree with most of what Williamson and Smith have said?-Yes. 1182. Is it all correct?-Yes; all correct. 1183. You generally go to the Faroe fishing?-I do. 1184. How long may you be absent at that fishing?-It just depends upon the season: sometimes we may be away for perhaps four months. We are generally home once in the middle of the time. We are sometimes we may be away longer than four months, sometimes not so long ago. 1185. What merchants have you generally engaged with?-I have engaged with a great many merchants in Shetland. 1186. There has been no objection made to your going with any merchant you liked?-No. 1187. Messrs. Hay have not objected to that?-No. They might not have been requiring me when I was going, and therefore I could go where I liked. 1188. When you go there, how do you arrange for your family to be supplied during your absence?-The merchant supplies them during my absence. 1189. What merchant?-Whatever owner I am out for. 1190. When your wife wants supplies, does she go to his shop for them?-Yes. 1191. If she wants money, does she ask it from him too?-She may, but sometimes she has been refused it. They are not willing to give money. If they think we are doing well at the fishing, they will advance her a little money; but if they think we are not succeeding well, they will not give it, because they would think then that we might come to be in their debt. 1192. Is there any communication with the vessels when they are at the fishing?-Yes. Some of the vessels may go home and come back again, or an accident may occur on board of one of them, and she may go home and give an account of how the fishing is going on. They may also send letters from Faroe, by Denmark, to Shetland; so that there are several ways of communicating from there to here. 1193. Who are some of the parties with whom you have shipped for the Faroe fishing?-I have been out for Mr. Garriock in Reawick, Mr. Garriock in Lerwick, Mr. Leask, and Messrs. Hay. 1194. But, whoever you go out for, your wife generally goes to their shop for her supplies?-She is obliged to go there, if we have no other means to live on. 1195. Can you tell me one occasion on which she went and was refused money, or on which you have asked them to give her money and it has been refused?-I am not quite sure that there has been any occasion of that kind, because we know that if we are not fishing well, we need not ask for money. 1196. Have you been told that by any of the shopkeepers?-I have seen it, and experienced it. 1197. When, and how?-Even during the last season with the Faroe fishing, there were some of the merchants who would not make an advance to the people when they required it. 1198. Did they require to get an advance of money?-They might try to live on through the season without money, and they might have done it if they could only have got some meal and some bread to live upon. 1199. Do you mean that the people at the fishing had to do so?- No; the people whom they left at home got so little that they could hardly subsist upon it, and they had to try some other means in order to enable them to live. 1200. What other means had they?-They might have a cow or two, and make butter, and sell the milk, and buy a little meal with that. 1201. Do any of the members of your family knit?-I have two daughters who knit 1202. Do they get money for that knitting?-Not one cent. 1203. Have you sold the hosiery work for them?-I never did. They always manage these matters for themselves. 1204. Have you ever represented their case to the merchants, and said that they ought to pay them in cash?-No. It is no use saying anything of the kind, because the merchants would not give them money. There is one thing I should like to say with regard to the Faroe fishing. We come into the town of Lerwick, or any other port in Shetland where the vessels happen be fitting out, and commence to fit the vessels so as to have them ready for sea. We have to go on board, and have only an allowance of one pound of bread a day for every day we are on board the vessel. We have nothing else to live on during the time we are fitting out the vessels, and if we are absent on any account whatever during the time the vessels are being fitted out they charge 2s., 6d. per day for that, in order to put a man in our place. 1205. Is not that merely a part of your bargain with the merchants for whom you engage to fish?-It is part of the bargain, but it is a very bad part. 1206. If you did not choose to make a bargain of that kind, you would not be bound to carry it out?-That is true; but the poor people here cannot strike as they do in England: because they are so poor, the merchants can just do as they please with them. 1207. Did you sign the obligation eight years ago which has been spoken to by the previous witnesses?-No. 1208. Do you go in for the home fishing at all?-Yes; I am a fisherman in the Burra Isles. 1209. Do you consider yourself bound to fish only for Messrs. Hay in the home fishing?-I do. 1210. Have you ever been told so by Messrs. Hay?-Yes, I have been told that; and there was a document made out, but I did not sign it. I have got no notice about the matter since then, because we knew that we had to carry on the fishing in the same way. 1211. Have you ever paid liberty money?-No, I never had anybody to pay it for, and I never paid for myself. 1212. Have you ever asked to have the price of your fish fixed at the beginning of the season?-No. 1213. Is there not a feeling among the men, that that would be a better mode of dealing than the present?-We durst not go in for anything of the kind. 1214. Would it not be a better plan in the Faroe fishing?-We could not do anything of the kind there, because the merchants don't know what the price of the fish will be until they can be sold. The market may rise. 1215. You take your chance of the markets there-Yes; whatever chance the merchant gets, we get too. We run shares with the merchants in that fishing. 1216. You are not paid at so much per cwt.?-No; we have shares. One half of the fish that are brought in by the vessel belongs to the crew, and the other half belongs to the owners. 1217. Then you are not serving for wages there at all?-No; they give us wages if we have to go to Iceland in the fall of the year but they give no wages for the summer fishing at Faroe. It is just a partnership that is made up for the fish that are caught. 1218. Is there anything further you wish to say?-No; I think everything which we have to say has been pretty well said by the other men. 1219. Are all the thirteen men here who signed the letter to me about Burra?-Yes. 1220. Have any of them anything further to say?-[No answer.] . [Page 25] Lerwick: Wednesday, January 3, 1872. -Mr Guthrie. JOHN LEASK, examined. 1221. You are a fisherman at Channerwick, parish of Sandwick?- I am. 1222. You came here yesterday for the purpose making some statement: what was it about?-I wanted to make some statement about how I have been treated three years back, particularly. 1223. Are you a tenant of land?-Yes. 1224. Are you a yearly tenant?-Yes. 1225. Under whom?-Under Mr. Robert Bruce of Simbister. 1226. Do you pay your rent to him?-We pay our rent to Mr. William Irvine, the factor. 1227. Is that Mr. Irvine of Hay & Co.?-Yes. 1228. What quantity of land do you hold?-It is rather more than what are called two merks and about a third. 1229. How much is that in acres?-I don't know. It is a Danish measurement. 1230. How much rent do you pay for that?-£4, 2s. 10d. 1231. Do you also pay taxes and poor-rates in addition?-No; that is included in the sum I have mentioned. 1232. What did you come to complain about?-About the way we were dealt with when we were under tack for seventeen years to Mr. Robert Mouat. He got bankrupt in the latter end. 1233. How long is it since he became bankrupt?-It was only last year, and he went away then. 1234. Before that, had he a tack of the whole lands of Mr. Bruce in that part of the country?-He had Levenwick, Channerwick and Coningsburgh in tack. 1235. Had you to pay your rent to him?-Yes. 1236. He was what is called a middle-man in Shetland?-Yes; a middle-man or tacksmaster. The Shetland name for it is tacksmaster. 1237. You were under tack to him, and you paid the same rent to him that you have mentioned just now?-Yes, I suppose so, but I don't remember what rent I paid to him, for I never got my rent from him. 1238. How do you mean?-Because he was the tacksman, and he took what rent he liked. 1239. Do you mean to say that you did not pay £4, 2s. 10d. to him the same as you are doing now?-I paid him more. 1240. When was your rent fixed at £4, 2s. 10d.?-This year. 1241. What was your rent before?-I cannot tell what it was under Mouat, for I never heard what it was. He never told me what my rent was; it was just what he liked to take. But after Mouat left, Mr. Bruce gave us our liberty. We have had our liberty for the past year, and we go now and pay our rent to the factor, and he has told us what our rent is. 1242. Did you fish for Mouat when he was there?-I was bound by the proprietor to do so. 1243. Had you signed any agreement to do that?-I was never called upon to sign any agreement, but Mouat told me that his agreement with the proprietor was that I was bound to fish for him; and he told me that if I did not fish for him, he had power to warn me out of the place where I lived. 1244. When did he tell you that?-He told me that at the commencement of the tack, seventeen years ago. 1245. Had you been in the same ground before that time?-Yes. 1246. Who did you hold from at that time?-The tacksman before Mouat was Mr. Spence, Lerwick. He collected the rents for Mr. Bruce. 1247. Was he the tacksman or only a factor?-He was a lawyer or tacksman, taking up the money for Mr. Bruce. 1248. Were you bound then to fish for any particular individual?- We were always bound. 1249. After Mouat told you that you must fish for him, did you ever fish for any one else during the whole of these seventeen years?-No. 1250. Why did you not sell your fish to any one else?-For fear of being warned off the property where was living; and I had nowhere else to go to, because I was a poor man. 1251. Is it the home fishing you are now speaking of?-Yes, the home or ling fishing; but I have been in the whale fishery, and in the straits fishery, and the Faroe fishery, as well as in the home fishery. 1252. But you were not at these other fishings for Mouat?-No; I was at home when I fished for him. 1253. Could you engage with any one you pleased for the whale fishing or the Faroe fishing?-Yes. 1254. You have no complaint to make about that-No; I could go to any one I liked, only I was bound under tack to Mouat. 1255. When you fished for Mouat, did you deliver your fish to his people?-Yes. 1256. Where?-At Levenwick. 1257. Did you deliver them green or dry?-Green. 1258. How were you paid for them?-We were just paid as he liked to pay us. He gave us just what he chose. 1259. When were you paid for them?-Sometimes in March, sometimes about the New Year, or just when he chose to make arrangements for paying us. 1260. Did he pay you then for all the fish of the previous season?-Yes. 1261. At what time in the season did you begin to fish?-We began in the spring-generally in the month of May. 1262. And all the fish which you caught from May down to next winter were paid for in January or February or March?-Yes; or at any time, just as he chose to make arrangements for paying. 1263. Did you make a bargain about the price at the beginning of the season?-No. 1264. Did you make your bargain when you delivered your fish to him?-No. 1265. When did you fix the price which you were to get?-He fixed the price when he paid us. 1266. Did you ever object to the price which he fixed?-Many a time. 1267. You made that objection at settling day?-Yes. 1268. What did he when you asked for a larger price?-He told us that we should have no more, and that we were in duty bound to fish for him. 1269. Had Mouat a shop?-Yes; his shop was at the Moul of Channerwick, close to my house. 1270. Are there many fishermen living close by there?-There are a good many, and almost all men are fishermen. 1271. Do they live near that shop?-Yes. 1272. How many houses may be there, or about that neighbourhood?-I think there are about nineteen of them close together. 1273. Are there many more houses at a little distance?-There are no more at that particular place, but in the town of Levenwick, about a mile to the south of the Moul, there are more. 1274. Is there another shop there?-No. 1275. Do the Levenwick people come to the Channerwick shop?- Yes. 1276. What did you get in Mouat's shop?-We got the goods he pleased to give us. 1277. Did you get the goods you wanted?-No; we did not get the goods we wanted. We could just get the goods he had. 1278. What did you get?-We sometimes got a [Page 26] little tea and cotton and anything we asked for that was there. If it was there for us to get it was very well; but if it was not there, we had to walk home without, and we could get no money to buy it with. 1279. How could you get no money?-Because he would not give it to us on any consideration at all. 1280. Did you often ask for?-Every year and every time. 1281. What do you mean by every time?-Every time we came to that store when we thought his goods were not a bargain for us to take we asked for some money to go somewhere else and get a better bargain; but of course we were denied it. We could get none. 1282. Did you never get an advance of money from the time the fishing began, until settling time?-No. 1283. Did you ever get any money from Mouat during the whole seventeen years you fished for him?-No. 1284. Did you not get money if there was, a balance over at settling time?-No. 1285. Do you swear that?-Yes, I do. 1286. Supposing that at the time of settling there was a balance due to you after paying your account at the shop and your rent did you not get, that in money?-No. I had to take it in goods or else go without. 1287. Were you told that you must take it in goods?-Yes; I could get no money. 1288. Did you generally take goods there and then or did you get them afterwards just as you wanted them?-Sometimes I got them as I wanted them and at other times I might take a little goods expecting that I would perhaps get a shilling of money along with them as I was in necessity for it; but I could not get any. 1289. Did you expect that you might get a shilling for the goods?-As I had a balance due I expected that I might get a shilling in money; and I did not take all the goods at one time but I took a little now when I required them, and a little the next time; and always when I came to the store I asked if I could not get a shilling in money because goods could not serve me every time. 1290. Did you sell the goods which you got from the shop in order to raise a little money?-Sometimes. 1291. Did you sell them to your neighbours?-I could not sell them to my neighbours, because they were in the same state as I was myself. 1292. Where did you sell them?-Sometimes we would take a little and fall in with a boy or a laddie, who would buy a bit of cloth from us, or the like of that, at a reduced price and thus help us to get a few shillings. 1293. To what boys or lads did you sell these goods?-Just to any lad that would buy them. Perhaps my own lad would be going elsewhere, such as to the sea, where he would be paid by a fee; and sometimes I would get a bit of goods and give it to my boy, and he would pay me for it with a few shillings out of his fee and that would serve my ends for the time. 1294. Had you anything to sell off your farm?-Yes. 1295. You sold a beast now and then?-Yes; but Mouat took the whole of them. 1296. Did he buy your beasts too?-Yes. 1297. Did you not have liberty to sell them to other people?-No, we had no liberty at all; because he said we were under the same obligation with regard to beasts and eggs and all the produce of our farms as we were under with regard to the fish, and therefore, if he got the one, he compelled us to give him the other too. 1298. When did he tell you that about the beasts and the eggs?- He told us about it in the same year that he took the tack. 1299. Did you ever try to sell them to another?-Yes, I tried that sometimes. 1300. To whom did you try to sell them?-To any one who came round asking for such things; but I knew that if I did such a thing, and Mouat came to know about it, I must be prepared to take to my heels and fly. 1301. Did you ever actually sell any of the produce of your farm to another than Mouat?-I never sold any, except one little horse; and I sold it when I was in starvation for meal. That was towards the end of Mouat's tack. 1302. How long ago was it?-I think it is two years past. 1303. Who did you sell it to?-I sold it to a man in the neighbourhood of Quarff. 1304. What was his name?-Andrew Jamieson, he lives at Quarff now. 1305. What did you get for it?-I got £2; it was a small beast 1306. Did Mouat know that you had sold that beast to Jamieson?-Yes, and as soon as he heard about it he sent for me, and told me what he was determined to do, and that I might prepare myself for going. 1307. How long was that before he failed?-I think I only paid one year after that. 1308. Do you mean that there was only one settlement with him after that?-Yes. 1309. When you were making your settlements, I suppose it was the previous Whitsunday and Martinmas rents that you settled for at each?-Yes. 1310. How long would it be before the settlement that you sold the horse?-I sold it after the settlement for the year. Mouat knew that I had a pony to sell and he wanted me to give it to him. I said that I would give him the pony as he told me I was bound to do it but he must bring me some meal, because it was a very bad season, and I could not sow down my ground. He would not bring me any meal and therefore I resolved that, whatever might happen to me whether I should be put out or not, I would sell my animal and procure a living for my house; and I did so. 1311. At what time of the year did you sell it?-In March. 1312. That would be shortly after the settlement?-Yes. 1313. How long was it after that when Mouat told you that you must leave?-Just about eight days-as soon as he heard it. 1314. But he did not turn you off?-No. 1315. Could he not have turned you off at the following Whitsunday term?-Yes; he could have turned me off then. 1316. But he did not do it?-No; because I went to the proprietor, Mr. Bruce, and told him what I had done, and what Mouat was going to do to me. I don't know what took place between Mr. Bruce and Mouat about that, but I did not get my warning? 1317. What did Mr. Bruce say to you about it when you saw him?-He said very little. I went to him, and also to the factor, Mr. Irvine, and told him about it. I got no satisfaction at the time, and therefore I expected I would be turned off; but in the end I was not put off the ground. 1318. That would be in the spring of 1870?-Yes. 1319. Have you paid any rent to Mr. Irvine or to Mr Bruce this year?-Yes; I paid my rent about six weeks ago. 1320. To whom do you deliver your fish now?-To any one I choose. 1321. Who did you fish for last season?-For Mr. Robertson. 1322. Where do you get your goods now?-I can get them from Mr. Robertson. He bought Mouat's store in Channerwick. 1323. Do you still get your goods there?-Yes. 1324. Are you bound to get them there?-We are not bound particularly, because if we ask Mr. Robertson for a few shillings of money during the time we are fishing for him, we will get them. 1325. Have you got money from him since he took that store?- Yes; I got my rent from him this year. 1326. You mean, that you got money from him to pay your rent?- Yes. 1327. Can you mention the name of any person who [Page 27] was turned away for selling his fish or the produce of his farm to another merchant than during the seventeen years he held the tack?-I cannot mention any one particularly, except an old man who was turned off his farm; but that was a good while ago. His name was Henry Sinclair, in Levenwick. That occurred about the beginning of Mouat's tack. 1328. What was he turned out for?-For an 'outfall' about some fishing. 1329. What had he done with his fish?-It was his son that the thing occurred with. 1330. What had his son done?-His son got into some sort of dispute with Mouat about fishing, I can not tell what the cause of it was exactly; but Mouat gave him warning, and sent him off the property that he was staying on. Sinclair took a little bit of scattald outside of the premises, and built a house on it, and he is living there in a very mean condition. 1331. Did the other people in the neighbourhood take that case as a warning?-Yes. 1332. It frightened them, did it?-Yes; Shetland people are of that nature, to be frightened by such things-very much to their hurt. 1333. Do you know of any other person who was turned off in the same way?-No, I don't remember of any other person being turned off; because Mouat had no occasion to turn them off. They did not transgress his law. 1334. Do you know of any other who was threatened to be turned off?-Every one of us was threatened, the next man was threatened, and we were all threatened; so that we were frightened. 1335. Do you know of any person who sold his fish or his beasts or eggs to another than Mouat?-Towards the end of his tack, in the very last fishing when I fished for him, my family and I were in a state of starvation for want of meal. I have seen me out at sea under him for two days and part of a third, on two pounds of meal; and I saw that I must make some effort for a living, Accordingly I went to another store close by and gave them some of the fish I had caught, and got some meal from them. If Mouat's tack had continued longer, I have no doubt I would have been punished for that; but as it was nearly broken, he did not have it in his power to do me any hurt. 1336. Did Mouat speak to you about that?-Yes. There came a letter from him to the people in the neighbourhood, because some of them did take their liberty and go away. 1337. Was that in the last year of his tack?-Yes. 1338. What kind of letters were these?-They were letters from Mouat telling them not to prepare their turf or anything to keep them in their farms, because they had their warning to go. I got a letter as well as the rest. 1339. Did it refer to the fish that you had sold to the other merchant?-Yes. 1340. Have you got that letter?-I don't know. I don't know what became of it. I think I burnt it; but there ought to be letters in the neighbourhood that came from Mouat at that time. 1341. You said you did not get all the goods you wanted at Mouat's shop. What were the goods you asked for and could not get?-I generally asked for little tea. 1342. Could you not get that?-Yes, I always got that, and I could get a bit of cotton or anything out of the store that I wanted. 1343. Did you get the tackle you wanted for your fishing from him?-Yes. 1344. And clothes for your family?-I could get clothes for my family if I asked for them. Sometimes I did get a little clothing from him. 1345. Was it principally meal and tea that you got from Mouat?- Yes; and if his meal had been grain, it would have been good enough; but as it was, it was not fit for human food. 1346. You mean that it was not of good quality?-It was not; and we paid at the dearest rate for it. 1347. How do you know that?-Because we heard it from the storeman who sold it to us. Mouat had a storeman in the shop; and when we got the meal from him, he told us what the price of it was. 1348. Had you a pass-book?-We sometimes had a pass-book, but it was not always taken there; and besides, the storeman was not very willing to be bothered with it. 1349. Did you ever ask the price of meal and tea in Lerwick?- Yes. 1350. Did you ever buy these articles in Lerwick when you happened to have some money?-Yes, sometimes when I had any money I did so; but it was very little money that ever I had, because where could we get it, when we could get no money at all for our fishing? 1351. Have you bought these articles in Lerwick within the last two or three years?-Yes. 1352. Did you find the Lerwick meal better and cheaper than what you got from Mouat?-Yes; the Lerwick meal was grain, but Mouat's meal was nothing but the refuse of the worst that was given to us poor fishing slaves. 1353. Then the complaint you have to make is only about what is past?-Yes; about how I was treated during the seventeen years I was under Mouat. I have nothing to say against Mr. Robert Bruce, or against Mr. Robertson either, with regard to our present condition. 1354. You are quite content with your way of dealing at present?-Yes, I have nothing to say against that, but I am frightened for the future. 1355. Have you a boat of your own?-No. 1356. How do you do for a boat?-I generally arrange with some fish-curer, and he procures me a boat, and takes a hire for it for the season. 1357. How much is the hire?-The hire, as a general rule, has been £2 for three months, or £3, 10s. for the whole season. 1358. Is that the way you did with Mr. Robertson last year?-Yes. 1359. You got goods at his store?-Yes. 1360. As many goods as you wanted during the fishing season?- Yes. 1361. And a little money when you asked for it?-Yes. 1362. How much money would you get at a time from him?-If I asked Mr. Robertson for 5s. or 2s. or 6s., I would get it, according as I asked for it. 1363. If you asked for the whole of your earnings in money, and took no goods out of Mr. Robertson's store, is it likely that you would get the money, so that you could go elsewhere and buy your goods?-I could not say anything about that, because I did not ask it. 1364. You don't wish to go anywhere else?-No; I have not tried that. 1365. Do you think the quality of Mr. Robertson's goods is better than Mouat's?-Oh, Mouat's was nothing at all. 1366. Have you any daughters in your family who knit?-I have two. 1367. Do they knit their own worsted?-Yes; they make worsted for themselves from the wool of our own sheep. 1368. Do they go into Lerwick to sell the articles they have made?-They do. 1369. To whom do they sell them?-To anybody; they do not knit for a merchant. They go to any merchant they choose and sell their shawls, because the worsted with which they are made is their own. If they go into one store with the shawl, and the price is not suitable, they go into the next one. 1370. How are they paid for their shawls?-They are paid in goods at any store where they can sell them. 1371. Do they ever ask for money?-They have asked for it often, but they have never got it; and therefore they say there is no use asking for it, because they know they won't get it. 1372. Are you satisfied with the value of the goods they get in exchange for their shawls?-Sometimes, but not always. Sometimes the goods which they get [Page 28] in exchange are not worth the value put upon them. Sometimes they get cottons for 10d. which are not worth above 8d. 1373. How do you know that?-Because I see the quality of them. 1374. Have they told you the price which the merchant has charged for them?-Yes; and sometimes when my daughters have knitted a shawl, and it is ready to go to the dresser, there may be no money in the house to pay for the dressing of it, and it has to be paid in money. I have known my daughters detained in that way for some days, until I went to a neighbour and borrowed a shilling to pay for the dressing of the shawl, or until I could sell something off the farm; and then, when the shawl was dressed, they went to the merchant with it and sold it to him for goods, according to the custom. 1375. Can your daughters not dress the shawls themselves?-No; they are shawl-makers, but not shawl-dressers. Their dresser is Mrs. Arcus, at the Docks. 1376. Is she the only dresser here?-No; there are other dressers than her, but she is the only one that my daughters go to. 1377. Would she not give them credit for the dressing?-No. 1378. She always requires ready money for that?-Yes; she might give credit to a girl living in the town, but I live sixteen miles from Lerwick, and she would not give credit to a party living at that distance. 1379. How long have your daughters knitted?-A long time now. There is one of them twenty-seven years of age, and she has knitted since she was about eighteen. 1380. Have you ever seen your daughters bring home money for their knitting?-No; I never saw a shilling come into our house in my life which had been got for a shawl. I have paid out several shillings for the dressing of the shawls but I never saw any money given in for them. 1381. Is there anything more you wish to say?-No. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, GAVIN COLVIN, examined. 1382. Are you a fisherman?-Yes. 1383. Where?-In Levenwick, Sandwick parish. 1384. Was the ground there held in tack by Robert Mouat at one time?-Yes. 1385. How long have you been there?-I have been there all my life. 1386. What was your rent when you held your land under Mouat?-It was £4, excluding poor-rates and road money. 1387. That was what you paid to Mouat?-Yes. 1388. Then you knew what your rent was?-Yes. Of course he told us what our rent was. 1389. And it was accounted for at the settlement?-Yes. At the settlement he summed up our accounts, and told us we were due so much-so much for rent and so much for goods. 1390. Had you a pass-book?-No. He did not approve of pass-books. 1391. Did you take a note yourself of the goods you got, or did you just trust to the people at the store?-I trusted to the people at the store,-to his storekeeper. 1392. Have you been present during the examination of John Leask?-Yes. 1393. You have heard all that he said about the way of dealing, and about the store, and the quality of the goods?-Yes. 1394. Do you agree with all that he said?-Yes, I agree more particularly with what he said about the quality of the goods. The goods were very inferior at Mouat's store. 1395. You also agree with him in his description of the way of dealing with Mouat?-Yes. 1396. Do you also say that you were compelled to sell all your fish to him?-Yes. All our earnings, whether by sea or land, were in duty bound to his store. That was stated to us every year at the settlement. 1397. Was that stated to you by Mouat?-Yes. We were told that we were in duty bound to bring every iota of our produce, whether by sea or land, to his store. 1398. Did you ever get any letter threatening you for selling your fish or your goods to another than Mouat?-I never did, I got no letter, because I never got far forward as to require that treatment. 1399. You never got warning to go away?-No, but I was often told that I would get warning if I persisted in such things. 1400. Do you know of any of your neighbours having got such letters?-No; not in my neighbourhood. 1401. Is there anything you wish to add to the statement made by John Leask?-Nothing. 1402. Who were you fishing for last year?-For Mr. Robertson. 1403. Did you get goods at his store?-Yes. 1404. They were of better quality than those you got from Mouat?-Certainly they were. 1405. Do you get all the money you ask for?-I get what goods I require, and if I ask for money I will get it. At the settlement, if there is anything due to me I will get it; and if I don't have money for my rent, he will help me with it. 1406. But if you want all your balance in money, will you get it?- Yes. I got it last time. We are quite satisfied with Mr. Robertson according to the custom of the country. 1407. But are you satisfied with the custom of the country?-No; I don't agree with it. 1408. What do you want to be changed?-I am not prepared to say in the meantime. 1409. Do you want the price of your fish fixed in advance?-We would require that, I think, for some encouragement to us. 1410. Could you not get it fixed then, if you asked for it?-We have asked for it, but we have never got it yet. 1411. Who did you ask it from?-From the dealers we were fishing to, all along. 1412. But you have fished for no dealers except Mouat and Robertson?-No. 1413. Have you asked them to fix the price before?-Yes. 1414. Did they refuse your request?-Yes. They refused to state a price then, and said they would give the currency of the country at the end of the season. 1415. Have you asked them to pay for the fish as they were delivered?-No; I never asked them for that. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, CATHERINE PETRIE, examined. 1416. You come from the island of Fetlar?-Yes. 1417. Where do you live there?-In Aithness. 1418. Are you a married woman?-No. 1419. Do you live with your people?-Yes. 1420. Are you in the habit of knitting?-Yes. 1421. What do you knit?-Fine shawls and veils. 1422. Do you knit these articles with your own wool?-Yes. 1423. Do you make your own worsted, or buy it?-I buy wool, and make it. 1424. Where do you buy it?-From any person who sells it. There is a Mrs. Smith in Fetlar who sells wool. She lives at a place called Smithfield. 1425. Has she a shop?-No. They formerly had shop, but they don't have one now. She is a widow 1426. Has she any land?-Yes; she has a small farm. She has some sheep, and she obliges any person with wool who wants it. 1427. Do you always buy your wool from her?-[Page 29] Sometimes from her, and sometimes from any merchant I can get it from. 1428. Do you pay for it in money?-Yes; or in work. 1429. What kind of work?-Any kind of household work that they have to do. People employ others to do so much work, and give them wool for it. 1430. Do you mean work on their farms or ground-Yes; and they will give them wool in return, because the wool in Fetlar is so scarce. 1431. You knit on your own account, and sell what you knit?- Yes. 1432. Do you sell it to merchants in Fetlar?-No. There are no merchants in Fetlar who take it. I come down to Lerwick with it once a year. 1433. Do you then bring in with you all that you have knitted during the season?-Yes. 1434. How much will you bring?-It is not much; perhaps two or three shawls. I have had as high as five shawls when I came down. We have household work to attend to, and we cannot knit so fast as they do here in Lerwick. 1435. It is just part of your time that you can give?-Yes. 1436. Have you come down just now for the purpose of selling the articles you have knitted?-Yes. 1437. How many shawls did you bring with you this year?-Two. 1438. That is less than usual?-Yes. 1439. How do you get paid for your shawls?-I get goods out of the shop. 1440. Does the merchant fix the price 'for the shawl' when you take it in?-Yes. 1441. How much did you get for the two you brought down this time?-16s. for one, and 17s. for the other; and I had one belonging to another person that I got 19s. for. 1442. Who was the merchant that you sold them to?-Mr. Sinclair. 1443. What did you get for them?-Goods. 1444. Did you ask for money?-I did not ask for money, because it has been understood for many years back that they would not give any, and goods are marked on the paper that we get. When I come down I employ a person to dress the shawls, and then that person sells them for me in the shop, and I get back a note from her, stating the amount in goods that I am to get for them. I understand not to ask for money, because the thing is always in that form. 1445. When you get the note, do you hand it back at the shop and get the goods in return?-Yes. 1446. Have you got any of these notes?-No; I have got the goods for them, and I was preparing to return to Fetlar when I was summoned here. 1447. Is the note printed or written?-It is all written. 1448. Who is the dresser that you employ?-A Miss Robertson. I don't know where she lives. The woman I live with when in Lerwick-Mrs. Park, Charlotte Place-went with her when she sold the shawls. 1449. Do you never go to the shop and sell your own shawls?- Sometimes I do; but not this time. 1450. Did you ever go to the shop to sell your shawls, and ask to be paid in money?-No; because I understood I would get no money. 1451. Did you ever get any part of the balance in money?-None. 1452. What do you get in goods?-Any kind of soft goods which I want, and which are in the shop. If the goods I want are not in the shop, then they would say that they did not have them; and I would have to take something else. 1453. Is it just soft goods that are in the shop?-Yes. 1454. Not provisions?-No; not provisions. 1455. Is there any tea?-No. 1456. You go to the shop yourself for your goods, and hand your line in payment for them?-Yes. 1457. Could you the same goods in Fetlar?-I could get the goods in Fetlar if I had money to give for them; but I could not get money for shawls or veils in Fetlar. 1458. But if you had the money, could you get the goods as good and cheap in Fetlar as in Lerwick?-Yes; they are very cheap in Fetlar. Messrs. Hay Co. have a shop there. 1459. And you think you could get your goods as good and cheap there as you can in Lerwick?-Yes. 1460. And of course you would not have to carry them back with you?-No. 1461. Are there many people in Fetlar who knit the same way as you do, and come in to Lerwick to sell their shawls?-Yes; there are a good many people who knit in the same way that I do, and come down here with their shawls, because there is no other way of disposing of them. 1462. Do they get their payment in the same way?-So far as I know, they do. 1463. Do they always get goods for their lines when they come down?-Yes. 1464. Will they not get a line to come down at another time for the goods?-No; I don't think they would get them in that way. 1465. Suppose you did not want the whole amount of your line in goods at one time, could you not take the line home with you, and when you happened to be again in Lerwick might you not get the balance in any kind of goods you wanted that were in the shop?- Yes; and I could get the goods at any time if I were to send down the line. 1466. Is that sometimes done?-I have never done it; but I suppose the merchants would do it. 1467. Did you ever know of a line being sold to another for money, or for another kind of goods?-No; I never did that myself, and I don't know of it being done. 1468. Is it all drapery that you are taking back?-Yes. 1469. Then you will have about £2 or £3 worth of it this time?- Yes. 1470. Do you want all that for your own use?-The girl for whom I sold one of the shawls will get her share of it. 1471. But when you brought down five shawls you might have twice as much to take back as you have this time?-It is not very much that they give for the shawls sometimes; and once, when I came down from Fetlar and had to pay the freight, I had to take what they would give me; and I could not get what I asked. 1472. Is it all stuff for, your own use that you are taking back, in exchange for your own, shawls which you sold?-Yes. 1473. Do you want the goods?-Yes. 1474. Are you to use them for yourself?-Yes. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MARGARET TULLOCH, examined. 1475. You live in Lerwick 1476. Are you in the habit of knitting for merchants here?-Yes. 1477. Do you buy your own wool?-For about eighteen months I have bought it. 1478. Before that, how did you do?-I knitted for Mr. Robert Linklater. 1479. You got the wool from him and knitted it, and took back the articles to him?-Yes. 1480. When you got the wool from him, in what way were you paid?-In goods. 1481. Had you a pass-book?-Yes. 1482. Have you got it with you?-Yes. [Produces it] 1483. The goods you got at the shop are entered in the first part of the book, and then at the end there are entries of the knitted work which you have brought back to the shop?-Yes; I knitted a great deal before I took the pass-book out at all. 1484. The knitting begins on July 7th, 1869, and the goods begin in November 1866, and there was balance due for knitting of £3, 17s., 10d., which is not entered in the book at all: how do you explain in that?-It was them who always made up the book. [Page 30] 1485. Had you a pass-book for goods before this?-I knitted a long time before I took a pass-book. 1486. When did you begin to knit?-I cannot remember how many years it is ago. I had knitted for two or three years to Mr. Linklater before I got the book. 1487. Are the goods which are entered here just for your own use?-No; I sold some tea and got money for it, for I could not get money out of the shop. 1488. I see that in, 1867, on January 3d, you have, Tea 1s. 10d.; 24th, 9d.; 26th, tea 11d., tea 11d., 1s. 10d: does the last entry mean that you got two separate parcels of tea, each 11d.?-It may have been that; I cannot exactly say. 1489. How much tea would you get for 11d.?-A quarter of a pound. 1490. Then you got two quarter pounds on one day?-I suppose so. One would be for my own use and the other not. 1491. What would the other be for?-I would likely sell the other, in order to get money for it. 1492. Who do you generally sell it to?-I cannot remember who I sold it to. Sometimes there would be men coming to the house to buy, tea, and I supplied them. 1493. What kind of men were these?-Men come from the country and want to have some tea made and I supply them with it because I have it in the house. 1494. Do you keep lodgers?-I have very few lodgers; but sometimes people come from the country and want tea made for them, although they do not stay all night. 1495. Why, did they not stay all night?-Because they went home. 1496. Was it part of your business to take in people and give them tea?-No; but they would come into the house and get tea made, and then go out and do their errands. 1497. Then they came to your house to get refreshments?-Yes. 1498. And they sometimes paid you for the which they got?-Yes; I was always paid for the tea which I gave them in that way. 1499. Did you sell it to them in quarter pounds or smaller quantities?-Smaller quantities. 1500. Do you make a profit off that?-I get money for that, but I cannot say that I make a profit. Sometimes I had people working for me, to whom I gave a quarter pound of tea. 1501. When you got two quarter pounds, would you sell one quarter entire?-Yes. When people were working for me, then I had to give them a quarter of a pound of tea in order to pay them, because I did not have money to give them. 1502. What people had you working for you?-I have sometimes been sick, and I have had a person attending upon me, because I am not healthy; and I had to pay these persons in tea. 1503. Are you a married woman?-No. 1504. Have you a house of your own?-Yes; a room. 1505. The entries in this book only come down to February 1870. Have you had no book since then?-No. 1506. Have you still been dealing with Mr. Linklater?-No; I have been working for myself with my own worsted. That was when I stopped knitting for him. 1507. I see an entry on September 9th 1868, Tea 10d., tea 8d., 1s. 6d.: would these be two quarter pounds of tea of different quality?-Sometimes they would be that, and sometimes not. 1508. But I am speaking of that particular entry. Was it so in that, case?-I cannot remember. 1509. But when you got tea at 10d. and tea at 8d., that must have been two quarter pounds of different qualities?-Yes; I would get better tea, and tea that was not so good. 1510. When you got them on the same day, would you be intending to sell one of them?-Yes. 1511. Is that a common practice, to get two quarter pounds of tea and to sell one of them, or to get several quarter pounds in payment for your shawl?-No; I just got it as I asked for it. 1512. Have you sold anything else besides tea which you got from the shop?-Yes, cottons and some moleskins which I had to take out of the shop in order to pay my rent. 1513. I don't see any moleskins marked here?-No; they are not in that book. 1514. Had you any other book?-No; it was when I sold my own shawls that I took the moleskins. 1515. You say you buy your own wool: where do you buy it?- There is a woman who spins it for me. I buy it in worsted. 1516. Do you pay her for it in money?-Yes. 1517. And you sell your shawls to any merchant who will buy them?-Yes. 1518. How are you paid for them?-I sold the last two to Miss Robina Leisk. 1519. Is she a merchant in Lerwick?-Yes. 1520. Has she a shop?-Yes. 1521. How were you paid for these shawls?-I got £2, 14s. for the two-27s. apiece. 1522. Were you paid in money?-No. 1523. Were they fine shawls?-Yes 1524-5. Did you get any part of that sum in money?-14s. 1526. Was that all you asked for in money?-Yes. 1527. And you got the rest in goods?-Yes. 1528. Did you want these goods for your own use?-No; I took some moleskins to sell. 1529. Was that because you could not get the rest in money?- Yes. 1530. Did you ask for more in money?-She did not want to give me more. 1531. Did you ask for more?-I did not ask for it, because I knew I would not get it. 1532. Did she say she would give you that much, without your asking?-Yes. 1533. What did you do with the moleskins?-I sold them. 1534. How much of them did you take?-21/2 yards. 1535. What was the price of them?-2s. 8d. a yard. 1536. Was there anything else you bought for the purpose of selling?-Yes; I bought some cotton. 1537. Have you sold it?-Yes. 1538. Did you get as much for it as you paid?-Yes. 1539. Did you get a little more?-No; no more. I thought it a favour to get the same price. 1540. Did you know any person who would take these goods from you at the time you got them, or did you buy them on the chance of selling them?-No; I knew a person who would buy them from me. 1541. Is that the way you generally deal when you have shawls to sell?-Yes. 1542. You get some things that you want, and some things that your neighbours want, and as much as you can in money?-Yes. 1543. Do you often get tea for the purpose of selling it?-I get it when I ask it; but I only ask it when I know of a person who will take it from me for what they have done for me. 1544. How do you purchase the provisions-the meal and bread- that you want?-When I sell anything that I get for my work, I buy them with the money. 1545. But if you don't have the money, what do you do?-I don't have money at the time, I go down to a shop and get it from them until I can get the money to pay for it. 1546. What did you do with the 14s. that you got for the shawls from Miss Leisk?-It would go for worsted to make other things. 1547. Have you always to pay money for your worsted?-Yes. 1548. You don't get provisions, either meal or bread, at the shops where you sell your shawls?-No. 1549. Is that never done in Lerwick?-No; I never had it done to me. Those who buy the shawls keep nothing of that kind. 1550. Would you be content to take a lower price [Page 31] for your shawls if you were paid for them in money instead of goods?-Yes. 1551. Have the merchants ever offered you a lower price for your shawls in money?-No. 1552. Have you ever asked them to do that, or tried to get them to do it?-I knew that I need not try that, because I would not have got it. 1553. Do you manage to sell many of your shawls privately in the town, or to visitors in the summer?-No. 1554. Is there not a good deal of that done in Lerwick?-I believe some people do that, but I don't do it. 1555. Is it not an advantage to get them sold in that way?-Yes; I think it would be an advantage to get ready money. 1556. Do charitable ladies sometimes take the shawls-and get them sold to their friends at a distance?-I can say nothing about that, because I never sold them in that way. 1557. Do you give receipts for the goods or money which you get as the price of your shawls?-No. 1558. The transaction is all done across the counter, without any writing?-Yes. 1559. Do you know whether the shopkeeper enters the price of the shawls, and the amount of the goods sold to you in return for them, in any book? Do you see whether that is done?-No, I don't see it. 1560. You have never noticed that?-No. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MARY HUTCHISON, examined. 1561. You live in Lerwick?-Yes. 1562. Are you in the habit of knitting?-Yes. 1563. Do you knit with your own wool?-Yes. 1564. Do you sell your knitting in Lerwick?-I sell some of it in Lerwick; but I send the most of it south, to Mr. John F. White, Edinburgh. 1565. Do you also act as an agent for him in Lerwick, by taking in things from other people?-Yes; a little. 1566. How are you paid for the articles you send to him?-I am paid in ready money. 1567. Is it remitted to you by a post office order or a bank cheque, as the case may be?-Yes. 1568. How much do you send to him?-I never send a large quantity. I just send what he tells me: a few shawls at a time. 1569. He gives you orders which you execute?-Yes. 1570. Do many women who knit come and sell their shawls to you?-No; I don't buy shawls. I give out wool to be knitted. 1571. How do you purchase your wool?-I buy it for money. 1572. From merchants in Lerwick?-Yes. Sometimes I buy from Mr. Sinclair, but generally I send to the North Isles for it, to people who buy it in there. 1573. There are people in the North Isles who buy the wool from their neighbours and sell it to you, such as Mrs. Smith, who was spoken of by a previous witness?-Yes; much the same. 1574 Have you dealt with her?-No. 1575. Do you pay the women who work for you in money?-Yes. 1576. You don't keep a store?-No, nothing except the money; or whatever they require they got it. 1577. Do you make a bargain when you give out the wool, or fix price when you see the work?-I buy the wool, and employ them to knit it. 1578. You do not merely act as agent for Mr. White?-No; I just buy the wool and employ the women, and pay them according to the size of the shawl. 1579. How many women are working for you in that way?-I cannot say exactly. 1580. Are there about half a dozen?-Yes, just about that. 1581. Do you find that the women here are anxious to work for you?-Yes; they are anxious to get money. 1582. You think they would much rather work, for you than for a merchant who keeps a shop?-Yes; I am never at a loss for them. When I am in a hurry I always get them to help me, because I pay in money. 1583. I suppose you get the choice of the knitters?-I don't know about that. I just get done what I have to do. 1584. Have you often been applied to by women who were anxious to work for you rather than for the shops?-Yes; very often. 1585. Do they tell you that it is a kindness or charity to employ them?-Yes; because they could not get the money out of the shops. 1586. Do you know, from your own observation of the system, as to the mode of dealing at the shops?-I often sell shawls in the shops, although I am not in the habit of going with them myself, so that I am often dealing a little in the shops. 1587. You send them by some other person?-Yes: I employ a girl to go and sell them for me. 1588. In that case, how is the transaction carried out?-I just get a line out of the shop, and get goods for it. 1589. Is the line in your name?-No; it is just a simple line or I O U, and I send it back: to the shop at any time when I want the goods. 1590. Have you any of these lines with you?-I have one at home, which I will send in. 1591. From whom did you get it?-From Mr Robert Sinclair. 1592. Have you sometimes got these lines from knitters?-Yes; often. 1593. They wanted money, and could not get it at the shops, and brought their lines to you?-Yes; I have often taken a line and given them money for it in order to meet their necessities, because they would not get money elsewhere. 1594. You kept these lines until you could make some use of them yourself?-Yes. Whenever I required any little thing, I sent to the shop for it, and paid for it with these lines. 1595. Have you any of these lines belonging to other women in your hands just now?-I have not. 1596. How much money may you have had lying out in that way at a time?-Not very much; perhaps a few shillings now and then. 1597. Are the lines generally for a large amount?-No; from 8s. to 7s. or 8s., or thereabout. 1598. May you have had two or three of them at a time?-Perhaps one or two. 1599. Have you known other, people taking lines in the same way?-Yes;, I believe there are many who do it. 1600. Do you know any one who is often applied to in that way?- I cannot say exactly; but I have often taken a line from Miss Elizabeth Robertson, who was examined on Monday, and given her money for it, because she was in necessity. 1601. Does Janet Irvine knit for you?-Yes. 1602. Have you taken lines, from her?-No; she is a fish-girl, and does not knit much. 1603. In selling your own shawls to the shops, have you asked for money?-No; but I have told the girl who went with the shawls to sell them for me to ask for a shilling or two, and she said she need not ask for it because she would not get it. 1604. But that was a case of sale. You know nothing about the case where, the wool has been given out by the shops?-No, I don't know about that, because it is long since I knitted any for the shops. 1605. Do you know of any other person in Lerwick who sends hosiery south in the same way?-Yes; there are plenty of them through the town. 1606. Do they send the hosiery, south direct to White or to other merchants in Edinburgh or Glasgow?-Yes; there are, plenty who do that; but I never have any dealings with any one except Mr. White. 1607. Who else in Lerwick deals in that way with [Page 32] the shops in the south?-There is a Mrs. James Henry in Burn's Lane, and a Mrs. Elizabeth Anderson, and several other people. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, CATHERINE BORTHWICK, examined. 1608. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-I am. 1609. Do you buy your own wool?-No. 1610. Who do you knit for?-For Mr. Robert Sinclair, Mr. Thomas Nicholson, and sometimes for Miss Robina Leisk. 1611. Have you books with all these people 1612. Have you any pass-book at all?-No. 1613. You get the wool weighed out to you, and you take back the article which has been ordered?-Yes. 1614. What articles do you knit?-Veils, shawls, neckties, ladies' scarfs, and the like. 1615. How long have you been doing business in that way?- About fifteen years. 1616. How are you paid?-Just in goods from the shops. 1617. You take an article which you have made to the shop, and tell them what the price is?-No; they price it themselves. 1618. Do they price it when the material is given out to you?-No; they price it when the article is brought to them again. 1619. When they have fixed the price, what takes place?-I can get anything out of their shop in the shape of goods that I ask for, only I cannot get any money. 1620. Do you not get part of the price in money?-No; I have never any money from Mr. Sinclair, except perhaps 5s., for the whole fourteen years I have wrought for him. 1621. Do you get money from other dealers you have mentioned?-I have got a little money from Mr. Thomas Nicholson; but it is not long since he began business for himself. 1622. Do you often go into the shops with articles worth about 10s?-Yes. 1623. How much of that do you get in money?-I have never got any money from Mr. Sinclair at all. It is about seven years since I asked him for 1s., and he would not give it me, and I have not asked since. 1624. Can you only get dry goods and tea at the shops?-I can get tea, and soap, and soda, and blue, and starch, and the like of that. 1625. How do you get your food?-I have a father, who buys it for me. 1626. You live with your father, and get your food with the family?-Yes; what his wages can bring in. 1627. Is that the only way you have of getting a living?-No; sometimes I have to take things out of the shop and sell them for money. 1628. To whom do you sell them?-To any neighbour or any person who requires them. 1629. Do you do that often?-No; I have not done it for the last two years, because some of the ladies in the town have employed me to knit for money. 1630. Do you prefer to sell to ladies in the town?-Yes. 1631. Are the goods which you knit for them for their own use?- Yes; or perhaps they get an order from the south, and they will rather put the money our way than go to the merchants with it. 1632. Do many ladies befriend you in that way?-Not many. There is Mrs. Walker, the Rev. Mr. Walker's lady. 1633. Who else?-I have not done anything for any other person for money. 1634. But Mrs. Walker pays you in money?-Yes; and the same amount as I would get in goods from the shops. 1635. Are the women who knit anxious to get customers of that kind?-Yes. 1636. Would you be content with a lower price for your shawls if you could get it in cash?-Yes. 1637. Have you ever been to take a lower price and get the money?-No. 1638. Have you ever offered to take less for your shawls if you could get money?-Yes. 1639. To whom did you make that offer?-I offered a white half- shawl to Mr. Robert Sinclair, and I also offered a white half-shawl to Mr. Thomas Nicholson. 1640. When?-The one I sold to Mr. Nicholson was in the spring, and that to Mr. Sinclair was about two years back. 1641. How much less did you offer to take in these cases?-2s. The shawl was worth £1, and I offered it for 18s. 1642. Was anything due to you by Mr. Sinclair at the time you asked for the shilling?-Yes; I think he was due me about 5s. 6d. at that time. 1643. Do you mean that you took goods to the shop worth 5s. 6d.?-No; he was due me about 5s., 6d. at that time. I was knitting a shawl for him, and was settling up for it. 1644. Was the shawl not finished?-Yes; I brought the shawl ready, and I was settling up. I had all the price of the shawl to get, and I took some goods, and then there was about 5s. 6d. over; and I asked him for 1s., and he said he could not give it to me. 1645. How did you square the balance at that time?-I just took something to give to a girl who had been working in our peats. 1646. What did you take?-A petticoat. 1647. Was it worth. 5s. 6d.?-Yes; the girl took it because she knew I could not get the money. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MRS. MARGERY MANSON or ANDERSON, examined. 1648. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes. 1649. Do you knit with your own wool?-I have done so for the last twelve months. 1650. Before that, who did you knit for?-For Mr. Robert Linklater. 1651. You got wool from him?-Yes. 1652. Were you paid for your work in goods, or in money?-In goods. 1653. Did you get any money from him that you asked for, if you, wanted some?-I knew that I need not ask him for any, because I would not have got it. 1654. You are married, and therefore you don't spend all your time in knitting?-No. 1655. Why did you give up knitting for Mr. Linklater?-Because I could not do with it; it did not pay me. 1656. How did it not pay you?-I could not get money. 1657. But were the goods you got not as good you as money?- No. 1658. Were they not worth the money value that was put upon them?-No. 1659. Why was that?-I did not have money to live upon. 1660. But your husband keeps you?-No; he is sickly, and I have to do for myself. 1661. You have heard the evidence of the preceding witnesses, Catherine Borthwick and Margaret Tulloch?-Yes. 1662. They have explained the way of dealing here. Is that the way you have been accustomed to?-Yes. 1663. Have you anything different to say about the way in which you were paid for shawls that you knitted with Mr. Linklater's wool?-No. 1664. Did you ever get lines when you would not take goods?- No; I had a pass-book. 1665. Have you got it here?-No. 1666. Was it kept in the same way as Margaret Tulloch's?-Yes. 1667. The goods you got were entered at one end, and the shawls you gave in were entered at the other, and a balance was made now and then?-Yes. [Page 33] 1668. How often was your book balanced?-I don't remember. 1669. Did you sign your pass-book as a receipt?-No; he signed it. 1670. You have had no pass-book since you began to knit with your own wool?-No. 1671. Where do you buy your wool now?-I have a woman spinning for me, and I buy the worsted from her. 1672. You pay her in ready money?-Yes. 1673. Do you sell your shawls to any person in particular?-Yes; to Mr Robert Sinclair. 1674. Are you paid for them in goods?-Yes, and a little in money. I always get some money from him to buy the worsted with. 1675. Would you be content with a lower price for your shawls if you were paid in money?-Yes. 1676. Have you ever asked to get it all in money, and offered to take less?-No. 1677. Do you ever sell shawls to ladies or to any person not in the trade?-No; Mr. Robert Sinclair has bought them all from me. 1678. Have you ever asked for more money from any of the merchants than they would give you?-No. 1679. Have you ever got lines?-Yes, I got lines from Mr. Sinclair. 1680. When?-When I gave in my articles. 1681. And when you did not happen to want goods?-Yes. 1682. Have you got any of these lines?-No. 1683. What did you do with them?-I gave them back when I got the goods. 1684. Was that long ago?-No, not long ago; it was when I sold my last shawl to him. 1685. Would that be a month or two?-Yes. 1686. Was a line given to you for the whole price of the shawl that you were selling, or was it only for the balance?-27s., was the price of the shawl. 1687. How much of that did you take in goods?-I took about one half of it, and I got a line for the rest. 1688. Did you take the line out in goods afterwards-Yes. 1689. You did not think of asking money for the line?-No; I never asked money at that time. 1690. Did you ever know of people selling their lines to their neighbours?-No. 1691. Or dealing with them in any way, or letting their neighbours get goods for them?-No. 1692. How much of the 27s., the price of your last shawl, did you get in money?-7s. 1693. When was that?-I think about two months ago, I do not recollect exactly. 1694. Was the 7s. all that you asked for?-Yes; I asked for the 7s. and he said he would give it to me. 1695. Did you take 4s. or 5s, worth of goods at the same time?- Yes; or perhaps more. 1696. And the rest in a line?-Yes. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, JEMIMA SANDISON, examined. 1697. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes. 1698. Do you knit with your own wool?-No. 1699. Do you knit for merchants in the town?-Yes; for Mr. Robert Sinclair. 1700. Have you a pass-book?-Yes. [Produces it.] 1701. Do you deal with Mr Sinclair in the way which has been described already by the Witnesses you have heard?-No. 1702. Do you deal in a different way?-Yes. 1703. How is that? You get wool from him to knit into shawls or veils?-Yes; chiefly veils. 1704. The goods you get are entered in the passbook you have produced, and the goods given in are entered at the end of it?- Yes. 1705. Are the goods supplied to you always goods which you are requiring for your own use?-Yes. 1706. You do not sell any of them, or get them for your neighbours?-No; unless such goods as my own family require. 1707. Do you live with your own family?-Yes; with my mother. 1708. Do you get part of the payment for your shawls and veils in money?-Yes; whenever I ask money I get it. I never asked a shilling from Mr. Sinclair himself but that I always got it. 1709. When you got money for a shawl, how was it entered in the book?-I cannot say anything about that. 1710. If you were to take two veils to Mr. Sinclair and ask the money for them, do you think you would get it?-I cannot say, because I never asked it; but whenever I asked for a small quantity of money, such as 2s. or the like of that, I got it. 1711. What quantity of goods did you generally take at a time?-I cannot say that either. I don't think I ever had money to get out of his book. I was always due him something, and in that way I could not ask him for money. 1712. Then your account was larger than the value of the articles which you took to him?-Yes. 1713. If that was so, did you ever ask him for money at all?-Yes; sometimes, when I was in a strait for money I asked him for a little, and I got it. 1714. Then that was an advance, which he made when there was nothing due to you?-Yes; I have asked him for money when I was due him. 1715. But you don't know how that was entered in the pass-book, or whether it was entered there at all?-No; I don't think it was entered. 1716. I see there are entries in your pass-book: April 28, 1871, cash 1s.; April 26, cash 6d.: is that the way the money was entered?-Yes. 1717. There is an entry of worsted, 5d. was that worsted given to you for the purpose of knitting shawls to Mr. Sinclair?-I asked for worsted to buy, and I got it to knit for myself, and to sell again. 1718. Then it is entered in the pass-book just as goods?-Yes. 1719. Is there any difficulty made about giving you worsted in that way and entering it in the pass-book?-No; whenever I ask for worsted, I get it the same as any other thing out of the shop. 1720. Were you ever told that worsted was a money article?-No; I never was told that, so far as I can remember. 1721. Have you dealt in any other shop than Mr. Sinclair's in this way?-No; I have knitted for two and a half years for Mr, Sinclair. 1722. And always in the same way?-Yes. 1723. Are you a North Unst woman?-Yes. 1724. Do you live in Lerwick by yourself?-I live with my mother and my two sisters in a room. 1725. Does your mother knit?-No; she spins. 1726. Does she spin your wool?-No; she gets wool from other people to spin, and gets money for her work. She only spins for those who employ her. 1727. Does she spin for the shops?-No; she spins generally for ladies in the town, who employ her to make worsted for them. 1728. Ask her employers altogether ladies, not merchants?-They are just merchants' wives, and ladies in the town-chiefly Dr. Cowie's lady. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MRS ANN ARCUS, examined. 1729. You are a dresser in Lerwick?-Yes. 1730. How do you carry on that business? What is the nature of it?-I sometimes make shawls myself, and sell them. There [producing it] is a line of mine, which I got from Mr. Sinclair. 1731. Do you dress shawls or make them?-I dress shawls, and sometimes I make them or get them made. 1732. What is the dressing business?-Washing the shawls, and stretching them on the grass, and mending [Page 34] them and making them ready for the market. The stitches sometimes give way when they are stretched and then I mend them. 1733. Do you also bleach the shawls?-We whiten them with brimstone. 1734. You do that before stretching them on the grass?-Yes. 1735. That is part of the washing process?-Yes. 1736. Does every shawl, after being knitted require to be so dressed before it is sold?-Yes. 1737. The merchants don't buy shawls until after they are dressed?-No. 1738. Are your transactions in dressing shawls always with the knitters, or are they sometimes with the merchants?-Sometimes they are with the merchants, and sometimes with the knitters. 1739. Then the merchants do buy shawls undressed?-No; they do not buy them undressed, but they send some shawls out to be worked for themselves; and it is these shawls I dress for them 1740 In that way a knitter who works for a merchant has nothing to do with you?-No. 1741. When she has knitted a shawl with wool supplied by the merchant, she takes it to the merchant, and he sends it to you to be dressed?-Yes. 1742. It is only the knitters who work with their own wool who come to you?-Yes. 1743. Do you also buy shawls from knitters yourself?-No; but I get shawls made in the same way as the merchants do, and then I sell them. 1744. To whom do you sell them?-To the merchants. 1745. Do you send any shawls south?-No. 1746. Do you sometimes sell knitted articles to the merchants on behalf of the knitters?-Yes. 1747. When a knitter brings you a shawl to dress, I suppose she pays you in money?-Yes. 1748. What is the usual for that?-There are different charges, according to the size of the shawl; but for the general run of them it is 6d. 1749. And that is always paid by the knitter to you in money?- Yes. 1750. In what way is it that you are sometimes asked to sell articles for the knitters?-Because I cannot always have them dressed and ready for them to sell after the time they come in with the goods and before they go away again. These women come from the country, and I cannot have their things ready before they want to go home again; and therefore I sell them for them before they come back. 1751. You sell them as their agent?-Yes. 1752. And then you account to them for the price?-Yes. I get the price from some of the merchants, but others mark it in their books, and don't give lines. These merchants mark down the price of the shawl, and the name of the woman who owns it. 1753. And she, when she comes to the merchant again, arranges with him as to the price?-Yes. 1754. Is it within your knowledge that these shawls are always paid for in goods?-The country girls don't want money, and don't ask it. It is always clothing they need, and they get it. 1755. Then they just knit for the purpose of supplying themselves with clothing?-Yes. 1756. How is it that they don't want money?-They have some other way of doing at home, and I suppose they only want their clothing from the shops in Lerwick. 1757. Then the knitting with them is an extra sort of employment?-Yes; it is not exactly a livelihood for them. 1758. Is that the case with the town girls too?-No; they generally depend on their knitting for a living. 1759. Do they regard it as a hardship not to get money?-I can only speak for myself, not for them. When I have a shawl of my own, and ask some money on it, I get it. 1760. Do the town girls come to you to sell their articles for them?-No; they sell their own work themselves. I dress the shawls for them, and they get the price themselves-sometimes in money I suppose, to pay me with. 1761. You think they get sufficient money for their shawls from the merchants, to pay your charge?-They get money somewhere to pay me with: whether it is their own money or not I don't know. I don't take anything but money. 1762. You give them credit sometimes until their shawl is sold?- Yes. 1763. And then they come back you with the charge for dressing?-Yes. 1764. You shown me a line: where did you get it?-I got it in Mr. Robert Sinclair's shop-I think from his clerk. 1765. When?-When I sold my shawl-a shawl of my own, which I knitted myself. 1766. You did not want anything particular at the time, and therefore you took the line: was that so?-No. I asked him for a little money on the shawl, and I got it; and then I got the line, so that I could buy what I required afterwards as I needed it. 1767. Did you ask for money?-Yes; I asked for a little, and I got the sum which is marked on the line as having been paid to me in cash. 1768. He gave you 6s. in cash?-Yes. 1769. Was that all you wanted?-Yes. I did not ask for that sum, I only said I wanted a little money, he gave that. 1770. The line, is in these terms: 'C Z 91-Cr. bearer value in goods twenty six shillings 26s. stg. 'To cash 6s; to Vict. tartan 4s. 7d. ' ' White cotton, 6d.; wincey, 2s. 10d. ' ' Grey cotton, 6d. 'R. SINCLAIR & CO. 'C. S. '28.12.71' This was last Thursday?-Yes. 1771. Was the shawl with your own?-Yes. 1772. Then it was just a sale to Mr. Sinclair?-Yes. 1773. You got 6s. in cash and 8s. 5d. in goods, and the rest is still due?-Yes, for me to get when I require it. 1774. Is that a usual way of doing business in Lerwick?-Yes; but I have got the whole of the price in money from a merchant for a shawl when asked for it-not for myself, but for a country girl. 1775. From whom have you got it all in money?-From Mr William Johnston. The price was 20s. 1776. Is he a hosiery dealer, just in the same way as Sinclair & Co., and Mr. Laurenson, and Mr. Linklater?-Yes. I have had money from them all whenever I asked for it. 1777. Would the women get money from them if they were selling the shawls themselves?-I cannot answer for that. I don't know that they would. 1778. Is it not the fact that the reason why you are sometimes asked to sell shawls for these women is that you can get the money for them?-I don't ask any money for the country girls at all; they never asked me to seek it. 1779. Do not the girls employ you to sell their shawls because they think you may get some money from the merchants, when they would not?-It is just because they think I can get a better price; at least that is what I think is the reason. They don't bid me get money. 1780. Do you think the merchants give you a better price?-They think so. 1781. Perhaps you can make a better bargain for them?-They have that idea. 1782. Have you never been asked by a country girl to sell a shawl for her and to get money for it?-Never. 1783. Then, on the occasions when you have got money, it has been for shawls which you have sold either for yourself or for town girls?-Yes, but particularly for my self. 1784. Have you sold them for town girls, and got money for them?-No; I have never asked money for any person but myself, and I have always got it. [Page 35] 1785. How many shawls may you sell for yourself in the course of a year?-Sometimes there may be two. 1786. May there sometimes be three?-I could not tell the number particularly, but I have always one or two in the course of the twelvemonth. 1787. I suppose you are chiefly engaged with your dressing business, and have not much time to knit shawls?-Yes; the dressing is my only way of living. 1788. Are you a widow?-Yes. 1789. Have you often got lines similar to the one you have now produced?-Yes. Whenever I sell a shawl to Mr. Sinclair I get these lines, and then I give them to the girls to whom the shawls belong. 1790. Then they don't always want the value of their shawls in goods, but they sometimes take a line-Yes; and they keep it until they want something else. They are always served with what they want when they come with a line. 1791. You have not a pass-book with any of the merchants?-No. 1792. I suppose pass-books are only used where girls knit with the merchants wool?-Yes. 1793. Do you keep a pass-book with any of the merchants for the shawls which you dress for them?-No; I just get the money. 1794. Are you paid for them at the time?-Yes. 1795. Will the merchant send you a large consignment of shawls at a time to be dressed?-Yes; sometimes he may send a good lot. 1796. And you return the lot you have got when they are finished, and get paid for them when you return them?-Yes; in money. 1797. There is nothing entered in any book between you about that?-No. 1798. Are you the largest dresser in Lerwick?-I don't know that I am. 1799. Are there any others in the business?-Yes; there are a good many. 1800. Do they live mostly at the Docks?-No; there are one or two dressers who live at the Docks. They don't do so much as I do, but Mr. Sinclair has dressers of his own who do more than I. 1801. Does he pay them day's wages?-No; I think he pays them just as they work for him. The veils, neckties, and scarfs go by dozens. 1802. Is that the way you charge for these things?-I charge 11s. 6d. for a dozen veils, and the same for a dozen neckties or scarfs. I charge 6d. for every shawl, sometimes 3d. or 4d. if it is small, or 1s. if it is a very fine one. 1803. Have you ever sold shawls to any people except merchants?-I have. 1804. Do you sometimes sell to private ladies?-Yes, and gentlemen too. 1805. Do you sell to visitors in summer, and to people living in Lerwick?-Yes. 1806. Do you consider you are likely to get a better bargain with them than with the merchants?-I get the money from them. 1807. But you have no reason for dealing with them for the purpose of getting the money, because you say you get money from the merchants if you ask it?-Yes; but if a gentleman comes and asks me for a shawl, he has nothing to give me except the money, and I get it all in money then. 1808. Would you rather do with a gentleman or lady in that way than with a merchant?-It is only sometimes that they can take a shawl in that way; but the merchant always takes them. 1809. But would you prefer to deal with strangers rather than with the merchants?-If they were always here, I should like it very well. 1810. That is because you get a better bargain, and you are sure to get all money?-Yes. 1811. Is it not rather a favour to you that the merchant gives you money when you ask it?-I don't know whether it is a favour to me, but I always get it when I ask it. But I don't have such a great run of shawls as some of the other women have. 1812. It is rather out of your ordinary way to be selling shawls?- Yes; but when I do make one and ask money, I get it. 1813. Have you ever got the whole price of a shawl in money?- Yes. 1814. From the whole of merchants you have named?-No, only from Mr. Johnston; and that was for a country girl, because she was in need of it. 1815. That was a case in which you went out of your usual way, because the girl required it?-Yes. 1816. Have you asked the whole money from any of the other merchants?-No, I never did. 1817. You have only asked a part of it in money?-Yes. 1818. On a shawl worth 25s. that you were selling for yourself or for a girl, how much might you, in a general way, ask in money?- I have got as high as 10s. or 7s. 6d. or 5s., just as I asked it. 1819. But you never thought of asking the whole price of it in money?-No; but I was always requiring something that the merchants had to give me. 1820. Supposing you had a shawl to sell, would you give it to a merchant for a lower price if he paid it down in cash, than if he paid you in goods for it?-Yes; if I was requiring the cash, I would. 1821. Would you not do it in any case?-I would be glad of the money, certainly. 1822. Do you think it would be worth while for the knitters, as a rule, to take a less price for their shawls and to get money for them, rather than to go on in the present way?-I don't know about that. For my own part, I should like if the people were to get part of both-both money and articles. Nobody can live without articles; and it is just as well to get them from the merchants who buy our shawls, as to get the money. 1823. But if the merchants did pay all the price of the shawls in money, it would just come back to them, because, as you say very truly, people cannot do without some of the merchants' goods, and the money would return to them in payment for their goods. Don't you think, that would be a better system for all parties than the present?-Those who need money would like to get it; but some people don't stand so much in need of money as others. For instance, if I were knitting shawls only, I would need most of the price in money, because I have no other way of living but I don't mean to say that girls who work merely for the sake of getting clothing, require to get the whole price in money. 1824. But suppose they got all the price of their work in money, might it not be easier for them to make the purchases of the goods they require?-They would not get so much for their shawls then; they could not expect it. 1825. That is because the merchant makes a profit upon the goods he sells, as well as upon the shawls?-Yes. 1826. Are you aware whether it is a common thing in Lerwick, to sell shawls cheaper for money than they would be given for goods?-Yes, any person who required money would rather sell a shawl for 1s. or 2s. less, in order to get it. 1827. Have you often seen that done?-Yes. 1828. Have you often done that yourself on behalf of the country girls?-Yes. 1829. You mentioned a case where you got the whole price of a shawl in money from Mr. Johnston: did you, in that case, say you would give it for 2s. or 3s. less if you could get the whole price in money?-Yes; because the girl required it, and told me to do that. She wanted the money to pay her rent with. 1830. Was the price you got a fair price for the shawl?-It was at that time. 1831. Is there anything else you wish to say on this subject?-I have only to say that I think the girls ought to be very thankful to the merchants, for they have done more for them than any one in the place has done yet. They have bought their work, and then they have gone and distributed it throughout the country. This knitted work is not worn here; but the merchants have got a market for it, and therefore I think the girls ought to be very grateful to them. [Page 36] 1832. Do you think they would not have got a market for their goods themselves?-No; plenty of them would never have been able to have gone to the market, even if they had thought of it. 1833. How long is it since that trade became general here?-I can hardly tell; I was a little girl when it began. The first shawl I made I got 7s. 6d. for, and I was very proud of it. 1834. How much would you get for that now?-They would not buy such a thing now, the work was so open. I can just recollect of it. I don't think I was much more than ten years at the time. I sold it to Mr. Harrison, and he and Mr. Laurenson were about the first who began to buy them. We got groceries and everything we wanted then for our shawls. 1835. You do not get these things now, because the merchants who buy the shawls don't have them?-They have them all except groceries. 1836. With regard to the girls in town who sell the shawls to merchants and get only goods in return, how do they do for a living?-Some girls live with their parents, and can do very well. 1837. But a number of them live in rooms by themselves, and perhaps have a parent or some other person to support out of their earnings: how do they generally do for their food?-I can hardly answer that. I don't know how they do; but I know that some of the girls that I am in the habit of dressing the shawls for, come and tell me they have sold a shawl today, and what they got for it, and that they have got some money. Some of the merchants give them money, and some of them tea, and worsted to knit another shawl with; and that is just money. 1838. But if they have to make shawl with the worsted, they cannot turn it into provisions?-No; but they will make another shawl. 1839. And they may get 1s. or 2s. in money?-Yes. 1840. But if they only get 1s. or 2s. on each shawl, that is not sufficient either to pay their house rent or to supply them with provisions?-No; but I think there are some of them who may get a shawl sold for all money, and then that pays the rent. 1841. They do happen to get that occasionally?-Yes; some lady who wants one for a present to a friend might buy it from them. That is the only way I can think of in which they can get their provisions; but if it was the case that the merchants had groceries in their shops, people would not require very much money, and then they would get their livelihood. 1842. What kind of goods do you generally get for your country girls in exchange for their shawls?-I do not buy them; they buy them for themselves. 1843. You get lines, and they choose the goods for themselves when they next come to town?-Yes. 1844. In that way you do not know what they get?-No; but I always hear them say that they got very good bargains, and they are generally well pleased. 1845. You say shawls are sometimes sold to a lady or gentleman passing through the town; I suppose, in that case, there will be two prices for them?-No. 1846. Would you ask from them the same price that you get from the merchant in goods?-We might ask it, but, seeing the money, we might give the shawl for less. Some people don't ask to have the price reduced, but others do. 1847. You just make the best bargain you can, in each case?-Yes. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, Mrs. ELIZABETH MOODIE, examined. 1848. Are you in the habit of knitting for any one in Lerwick?- Yes; for Mr. Sinclair. 1849. Has any one asked you to come and give evidence here to-day?-Yes; I was summoned. 1850. Did any one ask you besides that?-No. 1851. Do you knit with your own wool, or is it with wool supplied to you by Mr. Sinclair?-Partly both, I generally have a shawl of my own in hand, but I always knit for Mr. Sinclair. 1852. Do you keep a pass-book?-No; I never had a pass-book with him. 1853. Are you paid in the same way both for your own shawls that you sell, and for those that you knit for him?-No; generally when I knit a shawl for Mr. Sinclair, he allows me so much for the knitting of it; but when I sell a shawl, I price it myself. 1854. Is that price paid in the same way that the wages are paid to you for knitting?-No. 1855. Is it paid to you in money in both cases; or in goods?-It is paid in goods in both cases. 1856. Is there not a certain part of it, in both cases, that you can get money for?-Yes. When I knitted for Mr. Sinclair before I was married, he generally gave me money whenever I asked for it; but since I had a house of my own, I generally manage my affairs so that I do not have to ask him for money. I usually take clothes for my children and myself from him without getting money at all; but if I did ask him for money, I have no doubt he would give it to me. 1857. Have you always got money when you asked for it?-Yes; whenever I asked I got it. 1858. Do you generally take the whole value of your shawls in goods?-Yes, I always do. 1859. And no money passes between you at all?-No, not since I was married; but previously, when I asked him for money, I always got it. 1860. Did you generally ask for a considerable part of the price of your shawls in money?-Yes. 1861. How much might you get out of a 20s. shawl, for instance?- Perhaps I might have asked him for 2s. or 2s, 6d., and so on, money. 1862. Would that be about the usual thing?-Yes; that was generally about the usual thing. 1863. Did you ever get the whole price of a shawl or of any hosiery goods in money?-No; I never asked it. 1864. Do you live at home with your people, or did you live by yourself before you were married?-I lived at home with my father. 1865. So that you did not require any money with which to purchase food for yourself?-No. 1866. You merely knitted to supply yourself with dress, or whatever you wanted for yourself?-Yes. 1867. Did you require for your dress all the payments you received for your knitting?-No, I cannot say that I required it all for myself. I might have supplied some of my brothers or sisters with any little thing they wanted. 1868. Did they repay you for that, or did you make a present of it to them?-I generally made a present of it to them, as I was at home. 1869. Would you have preferred to have been paid wholly in money?-I should prefer to be paid part of both, if I could manage it. 1870. Would you prefer to get half the price in money?-Yes, I would like that very well. 1871. Could you not get one half of it in money if you asked for it?-I believe if I had asked for it I could have got it, but I did not ask it. 1872. Then, if you preferred it, why did you not ask for it?-I told you I managed my affairs in such a way that I did not need it. 1873. But you said you would have preferred to have had half of it in money?-Provided I could have got it, I should have liked it very well; but I did not ask that. 1874. Why did you not ask it? Do you think there would have been a difficulty in getting it?-I don't know; I only know that I never asked for one half of it in money. 1875. Why?-I generally took a line for what remained to me upon a shawl. I might have got the money instead of a line, but I did not ask it. 1876. You have taken lines sometimes?-Yes, I generally took them. 1877. Have you any of these lines have none just now?-No, I have none just now. 1878. When you get a line, do you always take it [Page 37] back to the shop, and get goods?-Yes; I sometimes take it back to the shop. 1879. What do you do with it at other times?-Sometimes a friend may require a line from me, and give me money for it. 1880. If you were selling your goods for ready money, would you take a less price for them?-Sometimes I have seen me take a shilling or so less if it was all money. 1881. But you said you never got the whole price of a shawl in money?-Occasionally I sold a shawl to a stranger in the place in the summer time, and I might give it to him for a shilling less. 1882. Do you generally get a smaller price when you sell to a stranger in that way?-Perhaps I may sometimes have asked a smaller price, as it was the money I was to get. 1883. If you wanted the money, why did you not, when selling your shawls to a merchant, ask him for the ready money, and take 1s. or 2s. less?-I don't know. I never thought of that. 1884. Was it not because it was not the practice here to give money?-Yes; that is the truth. 1885. Of course a shawl which you sold to a stranger in that way would be one knitted with your own worsted which you had bought?-Yes. 1886. Do you always pay ready money for your worsted?- Always. 1887. Do you always buy your worsted from the merchants in town?-Sometimes; and sometimes, when the country people come down, they have worsted with them, and I buy it from them too. 1888. Is the price the same in both cases?-Yes, always. 1889. If you were selling a shawl to a merchant and taking goods, and if you asked to have part of the goods in worsted, is there any objection made to that way of dealing?-No; I never heard any objection made to that. 1890. Did you ever get worsted as part of the goods you received in payment for your shawls?-Yes. 1891. Often?-Not very often; sometimes. 1892. You never knew of any objection being made to giving you worsted as part of what you were to get for your shawls?-No. 1893. Or for a line?-No; I never heard any objection. 1894. Do you knit to a large extent?-Yes; knit a good deal 1895. How much will you make in a month or in a week in that way?-I could not exactly say. It takes a good long time to make a nice shawl. 1896. Is it mostly shawls you make?-Yes. 1897. Will it take a month to make a shawl which is worth £1?- Yes. I have other things to do, and cannot keep constantly at it. 1898. But you do make one shawl a month or there about?-Yes. 1899. So that your dealings in that way will come perhaps £12 or £14 a year?-They will be more than that. I would reckon that they would be about £15. 1900. Would that all be your own knitting?-I could not say that. Perhaps I might get some one to help me a little with a shawl. 1901. But it would be mostly your own work?-Yes. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MARGARET OLLASON, examined. 1902. Are you in the habit of knitting for merchants in Lerwick?- No; I knit for myself, and I sell the goods. 1903. How are you paid for them?-I generally make articles for which I get an order. 1904. From whom?-From ladies who employ me. 1905. Have you never sold to merchants at all?-I have sometimes sold to Mr. Sinclair. 1906. When you sell to him, are you paid in money?-I have asked for part of both-money and goods-and I got it. 1907. You did not ask for the whole in money?-No. 1908. Why?-Just because I thought it was not the custom of the place. 1909. Did you want the whole in money?-No; I was requiring the goods at the time. 1910. Does it often happen that you sell articles to Mr. Sinclair in that way?-Yes; I sold him two shawls lately. 1911. How much of the price did you get in money?-The price of one of the shawls was 35s., and I got 17s. 6d. in money. 1912. Did you ask for that?-Yes. 1913. And you had no difficulty in getting it?-No. I sold the other shawl for 28s., and I got 8s. in money and £1 in goods. 1914. That was the arrangement that you wanted yourself?-Yes; I asked it. 1915. You wanted the goods?-Yes. 1916. Would you have made a better bargain by selling these shawls to a lady in Lerwick, or to a stranger visiting the place?-I got much the same price from Mr. Sinclair as I had been in the habit of getting. 1917. Do you sell to visitors, or to ladies in Lerwick, because you prefer to do that?-We sell to them because we are not requiring the goods. 1918. And you prefer to sell to them because you wish to get the money?-Yes. 1919. Do you live with your friends?-I live with my father. 1920. And you buy your own worsted?-Yes. 1921. Where do you buy it?-I get it from the North Isles,-from Yell. 1922. You get it from people who make it there?-Yes. 1923. Do you generally knit for ladies who have given you an order, or do you knit your shawl and then seek for a purchaser?- Sometimes I get an order for shawl and make it, and at other times I make one and keep it until I get an order. 1924. Is it considered among you who knit, to be a better way of living that you knit to ladies than to merchants?-Yes. 1925. Do you ever try to dispose of your shawls to visitors who come to Shetland in the summer?-No, I never did that, for I generally get orders for them as soon as I have them ready. 1926. Do you know that it is the practice to look out for visitors in summer, or to send shawls to places such as hotels or lodging-houses where they stay, in order to get buyers among them?-I know that is a common thing, but I have never done it. 1927. Is that done because it is a more profitable way of disposing of the goods than by selling them to the merchants?-I think that is the reason. 1928. Or is it done because they get money from the visitors or strangers?-I believe it is because they get money. 1929. Do you get as large a price from a visitor in money as you get from a merchant in goods?-Yes. 1930. Do you know that from your own experience?-Yes. 1931. You said you had sold a shawl for 35s. to Mr. Sinclair: if you had sold that shawl to a visitor, or to a lady in Lerwick, or to a stranger in the summer time, would you have got 35s. for it?-I would. 1932. Have you got that price for a shawl exactly the same?-Yes; I have got it from Dr. Hamilton in Bressay, who was requiring it for a lady. 1933. You sold another shawl for 28s. Could you have got as high a price in money from a visitor for it as you got in goods from the merchant?-Yes. 1934. You don't know that there are two prices for shawls, according as they are paid in money or in goods?-I don't know that, for I have not experienced it. 1935. Would you have given either of these two shawls you mentioned for a lower price if you had got the whole price of it in money?-No; I don't think [Page 38] I could have done it, for I thought the shawls were worth the price I put upon them. 1936. Don't you think you could have got a higher price than 35s. for that shawl from a visitor?-I don't think it. 1937. When you sold the shawl to Mr. Sinclair at that price, you knew that he was buying it for the purpose of selling it again: was the price which he gave you not something of a wholesale price?- It was just the price I would have asked any one for it, because it was just what I thought it was worth. The price I put upon it was just sufficient to pay me for my worsted and my work. 1938. But Mr. Sinclair must make his profit off the shawl when he purchased it in order to be re-sold, so that there may be two prices in that way: do you know anything about that?-No; I don't know anything about it. 1939. You thought you ought to get at least 35s. for the shawl, and you were prepared to take as much more as you could get?-Yes. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, Mrs. BARBARA BOLT, examined. 1940. You are the wife of William Bolt who lives in Lerwick?- Yes. 1941. Are you in the habit of knitting Mr. Sinclair?-I knit for myself, but I sell my work to Mr. Sinclair. 1942. You have no pass-book in that way of dealing?-No. 1943. Did you hear Margaret Ollason's evidence?-Yes. 1944. Do you knit the same kind of goods as she does?-No; I generally knit veils and shawls to Mr. Sinclair. 1945. Do you deal in the same way as she has described?-Yes; something like the same. 1946. Do you sell to other people than Mr. Sinclair?-No; I generally sell everything have to him. 1947. When you go to him to sell your work, do you get payment in money or in goods?-In goods. 1948. Do you prefer that way of dealing; or do you want all money?-I generally require goods. 1949. Have you a family?-Yes; the goods were wanted for them. 1950. You don't get provisions there: you provide them otherwise?-Yes. 1951. Do you sometimes ask for money from Mr. Sinclair?-Yes, I have asked for money, and I got it when I asked it. I have not sold anything to any other shop for the last fifteen years. 1952. Would you prefer to get money if you could?-I don't know. If I were getting money, I would just have to buy goods with it, so that the goods are the same to me as money. 1953. Do you know that any one can get money for their goods if they want it?-I know there are plenty who get it. 1954. But can any one get whatever money they require for their goods?-I don't know. I only know that there are many who want money; but for my own part, I generally ask for goods, and I get them; and if I require a little money, I always get it. 1955. Do you sometimes get lines?-Yes; and worsted to knit, which is the same as money. 1956. If you are in want of worsted, do you buy it from Mr. Sinclair in payment for your shawls?-Yes. 1957. Do you keep any account, or do you just deal across the counter?-I just get the things as I want them. 1958. You go to the shop and say you want so much worsted as part of what you are taking?-Yes. 1959. Do you get it at the ordinary price?-Yes; it is just the same price. 1960. Does your sister-in-law, Mrs. James Bolt, deal in the same way?-Yes; in the same manner. 1961. And, altogether with Mr. Sinclair?-Yes. We always knit together, and what hosiery we have we always sell to him. 1962. Do you buy the worsted from Mr. Sinclair exactly in the same way as you would buy a piece of cotton or a dress?-Yes; just the same. 1963. The price of the worsted is reckoned up as part of the price of the shawl that you are selling?-Yes. We get it on a line the same as the other goods. 1964. Of course: there is no writing: it is just a transaction across the counter unless there is a line?-Yes. 1965. But if you have a line, and bring it back to the shop in order to get goods, do you get worsted for it just as you get any other goods?-Yes; I have got worsted on a line. 1966. Do you know that these transactions are all entered in Mr. Sinclair's book?-Yes. 1967. You have seen that done?-Yes. 1968. The worsted is entered there as well as the other things?- Yes. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, Mrs. WILHELMINA BOLT, examined. 1969. Have you anything different to say about the way in which you knit and deal in your hosiery business from what you have heard stated by your sister-in-law?-No; I have nothing more to say. 1970. You agree with her in everything?-Yes. 1971. And there is no difference or addition that you can state?- No. 1972. Have you asked for money and got all you wanted?-Yes; I never asked for money and did not get it. When I had a line from Mr. Sinclair, I just got the same goods from him upon it as I would have got for money. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MRS HELEN FLAUS, examined. 1973. Are you a dresser in Lerwick?-I dress a little and I knit a little. 1974. Did you hear the evidence which Mrs. Arcus gave to-day?- Yes. 1975. Do you do business in the same way that she described?- Much the same. 1976. Do you dress shawls for some of the knitters in Lerwick?- Yes. 1977. And you take ready money for that?-Yes. 1978. Do they sell the shawls direct to the merchants themselves?-Yes. 1979. Do you also dress shawls for knitters from the country?- Yes. 1980. Do you sell these shawls, or do you return them to the girls who bring them to you?-I sometimes sell them, and sometimes they sell them. 1981. When you sell them to the merchants, do you get ready money or lines, or do you get goods for the girls?-I get lines from those merchants who give lines, and those who give no lines mark them down in their books. 1982. Who gives you the lines?-Mr. Sinclair. Mr. Laurenson generally is the only other merchant I sell to and he marks them down in his own book. He does not give lines. 1983. You don't sell to any of the other merchants?-Sometimes I do. 1984. Do you sell to Mr. Johnston?-Not very much. 1985. Does he give you a line when you sell to him for a country girl?-Yes. 1986. Do you sell to Mr. Linklater?-Yes, occasionally. He does not give lines; he marks the articles down in his book. [Page 39] 1987. How does he know the girl for whom the shawl has been sold, when he only marks it in the book?-I give in the girl's name to him, and she goes and asks for the amount that is marked in her name, and gets it. 1988. If she knows the amount?-I tell her the amount. 1989. Then she knows the amount, and that is sufficient to identify her?-Yes. 1990. Do these country girls sometimes ask you to get money for them rather than goods?-No; they have never asked me to do that. 1991. Do they sometimes get part of their payment in money?-I cannot tell about that. They always get a line from me, and I cannot tell how the merchants and they settle. 1992. Do you know whether lines are sometimes given for the goods which are sold by the knitters in town?-I cannot say anything about that. 1993. Or which are sold by yourself?-No; I don't know anything about that myself. 1994. You never took lines for the shawls you knitted yourself?- No; not for my own goods. 1995. Do you sometimes sell to strangers, or to people who are not in the trade?-No; I have never done that. 1996. I suppose you meet with people who knit a good deal, and have a number of transactions with them?-Yes. 1997. Do you know whether they prefer to sell to strangers, or to merchants in town?-Sometimes they require money, and at other times they require goods as well as money; and they would then just as well have the goods as the money. 1998. But if they want the money, can they not have it from the merchants if they ask for it?-I always got it when I asked it. For any others, I cannot say. 1999. Do you dress goods for any of the merchants?-No. 2000. Only for the knitters?-Yes. 2001. You are never employed by the merchants at all?-No. 2002. Can you tell me; why there is not a system of paying always in money for the hosiery?-Because it has not been a customary thing, and they never ask it. 2003. Would it not be just as convenient for all parties to pay in money?-I don't think it. I think we may just as well have the goods. 2004. But if you had the money, it would be better for the knitters, would it not; because they could buy what goods they wanted? They might have to hand the money back across the counter, but they would be able to make their own bargain for what they bought?-Yes; but they would get a less price for their shawls. 2005. How do you know that?-It is so stated. 2006. Who states it?-They generally say that if they get money, they will not get so much as in goods. 2007. Do you mean that the merchants say that?-Yes; when we sell shawls for money, they say they will not give so much for them in money as in goods. 2008. Who has told you that?-The merchants. 2009. Has that often been said to you?-Not often; but it has been said. 2011. Who has said it?-Mr. Sinclair: I sold shawl to him last night. 2012. And he told you last night that he would give you more in goods for it than he would give in money?-Yes, than he could give in money. 2013. What was the price of that shawl?-I got 15s. for it. 2014. Did you take that in goods?-Yes. 2015. Or in a line?-In goods. 2016. In goods that you took away at the time?-Yes. 2017. What would you have got if you had sold your shawl for money?-I cannot exactly say. He did not particularize that. 2018. You did not go into particulars, because you wanted the goods?-Yes. 2019. Do you sometimes sell goods that you get from the merchants?-No; for I always require them for myself. 2020. Is it the practice for some of the knitters to sell the goods they get?-I cannot say; I never saw it done. 2021. You never bought any goods from a knitter which she had got in that way?-No, never. 2022. You are always paid in cash for your own dressing?-Yes. 2023. Do you think the knitters generally would be content with lower prices if they got paid in cash?-I cannot speak for any one but myself. 2024. You don't know the feelings of the girls deal with you from the town?-I do not. 2025. Do you know how most of these girls are provided with their food?-I cannot say. Occasionally the girls don't require money. 2026. Is it not the case that a number of single women live in rooms in and knit for a living?-I cannot say, because I am not much acquainted through the place. 2027. You do not know the private circumstances of your customers?-I do not. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, Mrs. ANDRINA MOUAT, examined. 2028. Where do you live?-I live in Girlsta, parish of Tingwall. 2029. Are you a married woman?-Yes 2030. Is your husband alive?-Yes, he is at Leith; but I have had nothing from him for five years. I live by my own knitting; and that is what has made me so anxious to come here. 2031 Have you any family?-I have only one son. He is sailing out of Leith. 2032. Do you knit with your own wool?-Yes. 2033. Where do you buy it?-I buy it mostly from my friends- some of it from my brother. 2034. Is your brother a farmer near where you live?-Yes. 2035. Do you pay him for the wool?-Yes. 2036. To whom do you sell your hosiery goods?-I always sold them to Mr. Spence before he went away. I made fancy stockings and knitted gloves, and things of that kind. 2037. You don't knit the fine hosiery; it is all stockings and gloves and mittens you do?-Yes, and men's frocks. I made them for Mr. Spence, but since he went away I have been very poorly off. 2038. He was a merchant in Lerwick?-Yes. 2039. Did he keep a shop here?-Yes. 2040. The same kind of shop as is kept by Mr. Sinclair and Mr. Linklater?-No. He had not so much goods in his shop, as Mr. Sinclair has, but he sometimes gave me money when I wanted it- either money or goods. 2041. Does his sister carry on the business for him now?-Yes. 2042. Do you sell to her?-No; she is not buying anything. 2043. How were you paid for your goods?-Just middling. 2044. Were you paid in money or in goods?-Either in money or goods. 2045. If you brought a lot of articles: and asked Mr. Spence to buy them, he would fix a price; and if the price suited you, you gave him the articles?-Yes. 2046. Did he pay you money across the counter?-Yes. 2047. Were you ever obliged to take goods from him?-Yes; many a time. [Page 40] 2048. Did he tell you he would not give you money?-No; he did not say that. 2049. What did he say?-He just gave me anything I wanted- sometimes money and sometimes goods. 2050. He never told you that he did not want to give you money?-Sometimes he did so. Sometimes he was very unwilling to give money, but he did give it. 2051. Was that pretty often?-No; not very often. My articles were always good. 2052. Did you sometimes ask him to give you money when you did not get it?-Yes. 2053. Is it long since he left the business?-I have never sold anything to him since the month of July. 2054. Who do you sell to now?-I have sent what articles I have made since to my son in the south, and he has sold them in Leith. 2055. Do you get as good a price for them there as you used to get from Mr. Spence?-No. 2056. But your son sends you money for the goods you send to him?-Yes; he always sends me money, and his shipmates buy what I make. 2057. Do many women knit that sort of goods that you deal in- stockings and gloves?-A great many. 2058. Is it mostly that kind of knitting that is carried on in your part of the country at Girlsta?-Yes. 2059. They don't knit fine work there?-No. 2060. Who buys the sort of work they make?-Most of the merchants do so. 2061. Do the people in your part of the country generally get payment in goods?-Yes. 2062. Or in money?-No; they never ask for money. 2063. Why?-Because the country people are not needing it. 2064. Do they not need money?-Yes they need money; but when they get the goods the same they always ask the goods. 2065. You think there would no use getting money for your knitting, and just handing it back across the counter the next minute for goods?-I suppose that is what they think; but they would be better if they could get the money. 2066. Can they not get it?-Not very well. 2067. Why?-Because the merchants are not willing to give it. 2068. I thought you said the country people did not get money because they did not want it?-Well, sometimes there is no use of them getting it, and giving it back again to the merchant they are dealing with; they might just as well have the goods, because they have plenty of meal and other things to serve their ends, and they are not like us, who have to buy everything. We would be glad of the money sometimes to buy things that the merchant does not have, or to pay our rent with; but the country people have plenty of these things, and it is only goods they are wanting, and that is the reason why they take them. 2069. Then you have no reason to complain of this system of paying in goods?-We have to complain of it many a time. 2070. Why do you complain?-Because if we had money it could answer for other things, and in other ways than when we get goods; but we cannot get it. 2071. Is it a common subject of complaint in the country, that you cannot get money?-It is every one's complaint; and when we get articles, we are sorry to have to part with them for perhaps half-price. 2072. Do you sometimes sell the articles which you get at the shops?-Yes. I am in the habit of making very good things, and I am very sorry sometimes that I have to give them away at so low a price. 2073. But suppose you come into town and get goods in return for your knitting, have you sometimes to sell these goods again?-No; I have not done that. 2074. Is there anything more you wish to say?-No. Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MARY ANN SINCLAIR, examined. 2075. You knit for Mr. Sinclair?-Yes. 2076. Do you knit with his wool?-Yes. 2077. Do you keep a pass-book?-No. 2078. You just settle for the work as you take it back each time?- Yes. 2079. Are you generally paid in money or in goods?-Part in both. 2080. Do you knit shawls or veils?-Mostly veils. 2081. How many veils will you take to him in a week?-I could not exactly say. There are four of us besides me. 2082. Do you all knit for Mr. Sinclair?-There is one who knits besides me, and another dresses. 2083. Does she dress only your own knitting, or does she take in other people's knitting to dress too?-She dresses what she gets to do for other people. 2084. Does she do a good deal in that way for other people?-Yes. 2085. You cannot tell me how many veils you take: to Mr. Sinclair in a week?-We might do three in week, each of us, if we were able to work constantly at it. 2086. Do you work at anything else?-Nothing else-only veils; but we are so often in trouble, that I could hardly tell you how many we do in a week. There are three sisters and one brother of us alive now: my father and mother are dead. 2087. Is your brother a fisherman?-No; he is in a shop. 2088. You are not a married woman?-No. 2089. How much will you get for your veils when you take a lot of them to Mr. Sinclair? Are they sold at 1s. each?-It is generally very fine veils that we knit, and we get 1s. 6d. each for them. 2090. How many do you take at a time to the shop?-Perhaps a dozen, or perhaps two dozen. 2091. If you take a dozen, that would be 18s. worth?-Yes. 2092. How much of that will you get in money?-Our rent is paid from the knitting. That, of course, is money. 2093. You have to get as much as will pay your rent?-Yes. 2094. How do you get your provisions?-We get money whenever we ask it, besides what is taken for our rent. 2095. Are you tenants of Mr Sinclair?-Yes. 2096. You have a house from him, and he keeps your rent off what you have to get for your knitting?-Yes; and we have sometimes to get as high as 5s. a week from him, and we always get it. 2097. That is, for your living?-Yes. 2098. Do you get as much money in payment for your veils as you require?-Yes; as much as we ask for. 2099. Will you manage to take a dozen veils to him in the course of a fortnight?-Yes; or perhaps a dozen in three weeks. 2100. You are speaking both of your sisters and yourself?-Yes. 2101. How much of that 18s. as a general thing, will you get in money?-I can hardly say. If we were to ask money weekly we would get it: but since our brother's wages were raised, we have not asked so often for money. 2102. That is to say, you have spent more of the produce of your knitting in goods-in clothing?-Yes. 2103. Have you ever had to sell any of the goods that you got at the shop?-No. 2104. Or tea?-No. 2105. You don't knit any for selling, and you never did?-No. 2106. Do you think you would be any better off if you got all the price of your knitting in money?-I don't think it, because if I got it in money I would just lay it down on the counter and get goods for it. 2107. That is to say, you would get the same quantity of goods that you get now?-Yes. Of course I would not take the money and go to another shop with it. [Page 41] 2108. Mr. Sinclair recommended you to come here today?-Yes; he said he thought I should come. 2109. How much did you get for knitting your last shawl?-I think we got £2, 10s. for our last shawl. [, £2, 15s.] Yes, it was £2, 15s. 2110. That was a remarkably large one, I suppose?-Yes it was very fine. 2111. It was knitted by you and your sisters?-Yes. 2112. How long ago was that?-It was in the month of April or May, I think. 2113. How much of that did you get in money?-It was just marked in to our account, and we got the money as we asked for it. 2114. You did not tell me before that was the way in which you dealt?-I thought I did. You asked me if I had a pass-book, and I said it was just marked into the book. 2115. I rather understood that a settlement was made with you each time you took in your work?-No, we have an account. 2116. And that £2, 15s. was marked into it?-Yes. 2117. You did not take any goods at that time?-I hardly think it; but I really forget. 2118. Did you get any money at that time?-I don't think it. 2119. Did you ask for money?-No; and it was merely because I did not ask for it that I did not get it. . Lerwick: Thursday, January 4, 1872. -Mr. Guthrie. ARTHUR LAURENSON, examined. 2120. You are a partner of the firm of Laurenson & Co., Shetland warehousemen and clothiers in Lerwick?-I am. 2121. That is the oldest house in that business in Shetland, is it not?-I believe it is. 2122. The other partner of the house is your brother-in-law, Mr. William Bruce Tulloch?-Yes. 2123. You succeeded your father in the business?-Yes. I was in business with him for a good many years before his death. 2124. Besides carrying on that business, you also act as a trustee or factor?-Yes; in bankruptcies. I am also treasurer for the Shetland Widows' Fund under Anderson's Trust. 2125. And in that capacity you have the management of a considerable income to be devoted to charitable purposes?-Yes; I am a member of the local committee. There are three other gentlemen on the committee. And I am also treasurer, and have been so for a long time. I was appointed by Mr. Anderson in his lifetime, and I have always been so since. 2126. In the Shetland hosiery business you get the goods from the women knitters, who I believe are of two classes: those who knit for you, and those who sell to you?-Yes. There are those who bring the article and just exchange it over the counter. The greater part of our business now consists in the exchanging of goods, rather than in the employing of women to knit for us. Some years ago we were more in that way than we are now. Our principal business now just consists in buying their own productions, or rather, I should say, in the exchanging of them. 2127. By using the word exchanging, what is it that you mean to imply?-I mean to make a difference between that and buying for actual cash. If I were using the word, buying, it might convey the idea that we pay cash down. When I say exchanging, I mean that they bring us the article, and we give them other articles in exchange for it. 2128. By that you mean to imply that the transaction is understood as a barter?-Precisely. 2129. What is the character of the stock that you keep?-Drapery articles altogether, and general soft goods. The only grocery goods we keep are tea and soap. 2130. And the exchanges which you make with your customers for their hosiery are of drapery goods, tea, and soap?-Yes. 2131. Are these purchases made chiefly from women who live in Lerwick, or from women who come from the country?-Part of both. We deal principally with women from the country. The Lerwick women only make fine goods, such as shawls and veils, as a rule, although some of them do make underclothing too. 2132. That practice of barter has, I understand, been of long continuance in Shetland?-Long before my memory. I suppose, as Mr. Walker humorously remarked in his evidence, it has probably prevailed since the days of Adam. 2133. Is any proportion of the payment now made in cash?- Sometimes it is; and that custom, I think, is a growing one. When I first came into the business with my father, it was, I may say, an unheard of thing to give any cash at all,-such a thing was not thought of or expected by the women; but now for a good many years-I should say for ten or twelve years-the custom has begun to give a certain portion of the price in cash, and it seems to be gradually increasing,-that is to say, each year we are paying more in cash than we did in the previous year. 2134. Is that because more cash is asked?-Perhaps it may be, and it may also be from a greater readiness on the part of the dealers to give it. I don't mean to say, by any means, that it is the rule to make cash payments; but I say that the custom of making occasional cash payments, at any rate, is getting more common. 2135. Are you speaking from your experience your own business, or do you speak generally?-I am speaking of my own experience, but I presume that will be the experience of others in the trade as well. 2136. Formerly people did not use to ask for money at all?-No. When I went first into the business it was never thought of. 2137. At that time was the trade one of purchase, or was it one of manufacturing for the merchant?-I think it was pure barter. 2138. It was barter in either case, but was the trade usually carried on by purchases from people who knitted their own wool?-I think in former times it was altogether that. It is only within the last twenty or thirty years that the women have been employed, so to speak, by the merchants. It was about 1840 or 1841 that the making of shawls began to get very common here; and about 1845 or 1846 there was a very great demand for them. After that the veil knitting commenced, about 1848 or 1849, and from 1852 to 1856 there was a very great trade done in veils. These are the dates, so far as I recollect them. 2139. Shawls and veils are the staple articles of the Lerwick women's manufacture?-Yes; and they also make country hosiery of different sorts. 2140. That is the coarser hosiery?-Not necessarily coarser, but stockings and fine underclothing for both ladies' and gentlemen's wear. 2141. Under the description of shawls I suppose you include the cloaks which are made?-Yes; opera-[Page 42] cloaks, mantles, and squares. There is a great variety of them made, in different styles. 2142. At present are you in the habit of giving cash whenever it is asked?-I am. 2143. Do you remember, during the last few years, of having refused to give money to any person who asked for it?-I have no recollection of doing so for a good many years back. 2144. Have the people in your shop any instructions on that point?-My assistants would not give cash without coming to me, because such a transaction has to be entered in the cash-book. If there was any cash to be paid, they would come to me for it, so that I might enter it. It would not be paid out of the ordinary shop-till, because we have to keep an account of it. 2145. But they would be at liberty to purchase hosiery and pay for it in goods without consulting you?-Either my brother-in-law or myself would fix the prices. 2146. Then none of your people have authority to purchase?- No; they would not purchase without consulting me or my brother-in-law. 2147. So that either of the partners must be in the shop, or must be consulted in every case of purchase?-Yes. 2148. Do you give the same answer with regard to cases in which parties employed by you are returning their work?-Perhaps any small sums of money, such as 6d. or 1s., they might get in my absence; but if it was anything larger that was desired, they would be asked to wait until either I or my brother-in-law came in. 2149. But in that case, if they wanted to take out the whole value of the article, they might get it in goods, in the absence of you and your brother-in-law?-Yes, they might. 2150. Does it depend upon the state of their account, whether they would get the whole value in goods or not?-No. Most of them have been long known to us, and even if they were in debt (which sometimes happens) to a small amount, it would not matter much, if they wanted anything. I may mention, as an instance illustrating that, that last night a girl called and asked me for some money to pay the police assessment which had been charged upon her father. She said her father was not able to pay it, and they had no money in the house, and she asked for money to pay it with. Money is often wanted in that way, and of course I gave it to her. 2151. Had she a pass-book with her?-No; she just came in with a small article of fancy knitting which she wanted to sell, and she sold it and got the cash for it. 2152. Did she get the full price in cash?-Yes. She told me what she wanted the money for. Of course I did not ask her or insist to know what the money was for, but she mentioned it incidentally. 2153. How much was the price of that article?-It was a small thing, 8s.-a pair of lace sleeves for ladies' under-dresses. 2154. Would you say that that was a transaction of a very usual kind?-No; I should not say it was very usual. 2155. But if that had been asked at any time during the last three or four years, would the same result have followed? Would she have got the money?-I think so, with me, if the request had come from the same person, or from a person who had been long employed by us. 2156. That case you have mentioned was one of sale?-Yes. 2157. It was an article made with her own material?-Yes; it was her own material and her own article altogether. I have just mentioned it, as the latest thing of the kind that has occurred. 2158. Do you know a Mrs. Williamson who lives at the Asylum?-I think there are two Mrs. Williamsons in the Asylum: there is a Mrs. Williamson who has been there since the Asylum was opened, and there is another who has come there quite lately, within the last twelve months. If the question you are to put has anything to do with knitting, it will probably refer the last one. The first Mrs, Williamson is in very good circumstances, and I don't think she would be employing herself in that way. 2159. I speak of one who knits with her own wool, and knits fine articles.-I am sure to know her if she is an inmate of the Asylum, though I could not just identify her at present. 2160. Then you don't know whether she knits to you?-She does not knit to me. 2161. Or sells goods to you?-She may come into the shop to sell goods as any other woman does, but I have no recollection of anything of the kind. 2162. Is there another Mr. Laurenson in Lerwick?-There is a firm of R.B. Laurence & Co. 2163. Do they sell provisions?-I don't know. 2164. Do you sell bread?-I sell nothing except general drapery stock, and the other articles I have mentioned. There is a Mr. Laurence, a baker, and his sons are the firm of R. B. Laurence & Co. 2165. Does Mr. Laurence buy hosiery?-Not so far as I am aware. He was in business as a hosier some years ago but he is now only a grocer and baker. 2166. Did you buy a shawl for 80s., about three months ago, from a Mrs. Williamson who lives at the Asylum?-Not to my recollection. If there is anything particular about the transaction, that might enable me to remember it. 2167. You did not purchase such a shawl, and pay part of the price in bread?-No; I could not have done that. I may mention that the name of the firm of R. B. Laurence & Co. is generally pronounced by the people here in the same way as my own, they speak of them as Laurenson, although their names are Laurence. 2168. Have you sometimes paid large sums in cash for shawls?- Very often, in separate transactions. I have frequently paid cash down for particular shawls worth £2 or £2, 10s. I have given as much as £5 in cash for a single shawl; but that, of course, was very special article. 2169. Would you make any objection to paying so much in cash?-No; but I would be pretty sure the article was worth it. 2170. In the case you have just now referred to, was it necessary for the woman to make any particular representation as to her wanting the cash before she could get it, or was she asked to take the price in goods?-No; I did not ask her to do that. Probably when she produced the article, she said she wished to sell it for cash, and so the price was fixed. 2171. Does a demand of that kind for payment in cash affect the price for the shawl?-Certainly. We could not give so much in cash as we could give in goods; and if a cash tariff were adopted, there would have to be a general deduction made all round-a deduction equivalent to the ordinary retail profit in the drapery trade. 2172. Do the sellers of these hosiery goods to you understand that if they demand cash they must take a smaller price?-Yes, they understand that; and they would be quite prepared to take it. 2173. Is it quite understood that there are two prices for these articles-a cash price, and a price in goods?-Yes; I think that is quite understood. Of course, if a woman comes in with a shawl for which she is willing to take 20s. in goods, she would be equally willing to take 16s. or 17s. in cash, because the difference between the 16s. or 17s. in cash and the 20s. in goods represents the retail draper's profit, which is supposed to run from 15 to 20 or 25 per cent. on these articles. That is the case over all the kingdom. 2174. Would not the result to the woman be, that if she took the 17s. in cash she would only be able to buy 17s. worth of goods with it?-Well, that is true; but she might be requiring grocery goods or meal, or some kind of articles that we don't keep in our drapery shops. Of course there would be an advantage to her, because she might be requiring the cash in order to help her in paying her rent, or anything of that kind. 2175. In that way, does it not come to be a disadvantage to the women to take cash?-It cannot be a disadvantage if they require it for these other purposes. [Page 43] It would not answer them at all times to get drapery goods. 2176. Is it an advantage to you, as a dealer in hosiery, to pay the price of the hosiery in goods?-Of course it is an advantage to us, as retail drapers, to sell as much of these goods as possible. 2177. But is it any advantage to you, if by buying for cash you are to get the same profit upon your hosiery goods on a re-sale of them?-There is this to be considered: that if we were buying for cash exclusively, then we would only buy such things as we were actually requiring, either for orders which we had, or which we thought were likely to sell; but according to the present system, although I don't mean to defend it altogether, we might have a pretty large stock, and have really no orders, and no immediate prospect of selling them. At the same time, so long as it is a system of barter or exchange, we can quite easily give goods of one description over the counter in exchange for goods of another description,-for this reason, that these goods of another description, which are received in exchange, can be stored by us as well as our drapery goods. At such times we would not be willing to pay anything in cash. 2178. Then what you mean to say is, that the opportunity of selling your drapery goods is an inducement to you to increase your stock of hosiery although the market may be unfavourable?-Exactly; because we have already invested our cash in these drapery goods, and we may just as well have that cash lying in Shetland hosiery as in drapery goods, in many cases. 2179. If you did not pay in goods, would the result be that you might still purchase the hosiery, but at a much lower rate?-That would be one result of it; and another result would be, that when the Shetland hosiery trade was dead, as it very often is for many months, we would have then to give up buying altogether. At the same time, I don't say but what an entirely cash system would ultimately be advantageous to both parties,-both to us as dealers, and also to the women knitters. 2180. In what way do you think that that?-I think it would simplify the thing, and prevent a good many disagreeable occurrences. In fact the present system is a complicated, antiquated sort of thing; and I, for my own part, would be willing if some plan could be adopted for introducing a cash system altogether. It certainly would be simpler, and I have no doubt it would ultimately come to be as convenient to us all; but you will please to observe that the present system is just a continuance of an old traditional system that we who are now in the trade found existing when we came into it, and it is rather difficult to get it changed. 2181. Do you think it is any advantage for the women to be able to get 20s. in goods rather than 16s. of cash?-It think it would be better for the women to be always paid in cash. 2182. For what reason?-Because they would then have the cash at their own disposal, and they could do with it what they liked. They might buy their goods from me or from any other body, just as they pleased. 2183. Do you think they could manage their cash better?-I don't know, but at any rate they would be more independent. If they did not choose to deal with me, they could go to any other shop where they thought they could lay it out to better advantage. 2184. Is it the fact that they cannot get the price of their goods in cash just now?-I believe, as a general rule, that is quite true. I have heard the evidence of two or three of the girls who have been examined on previous days with regard to that. 2185. I am speaking now entirely of the purchase system. I will ask you something afterwards with regard to the system of knitting with the merchants' own wool; but you understand that you have hitherto been speaking about the system of purchasing?-Yes; hitherto I have been referring to the exchange of articles over the counter. 2186. Your general observations have applied to both systems?- Yes, to both. 2187. Speaking then, in the meantime, about the purchase system, there is now in point of fact a difficulty in getting cash?-There is no doubt of that, because it is the custom of the trade, and has all along been, that these hosiery articles should be paid for in goods. That is known and understood on both sides. 2188. Will you tell me exactly where the advantage to the woman lies who sells her hosiery for 20s. in goods rather than for 16s. in cash? Are these 20s. of goods worth more to her than 16s. in cash would be-I mean, apart altogether from the question as to whether she wants other goods than hosiery?-Is the money value of the 20s. worth of goods greater than 16s. in cash?-The money value of them cannot be greater, because the retail profit is included in that. 2189. Yes, but the money value to you is one thing, and the money value to the woman may be another?-I assume, as a general rule, that all the goods which the women take they are actually requiring. 2190. Is that the fact?-I heard some statements made here by some witnesses yesterday, and I suppose they were quite correct, since the women made them, but I was not aware of it before, that they had to take goods and re-sell them afterwards. 2191. You were not previously aware of the existence of such a practice?-No; I was not aware of it until I heard it deponed to yesterday. 2192. You say there are periods of depression in the Shetland trade?-Yes; for many months there is little or no demand for Shetland goods, and at such times our stocks lie over and accumulate. 2193. In such a period of depression I presume that your prices, whether in money or in goods, are lower than at other times?- They naturally tend downwards, as in all other trades, because in many cases we really don't want the goods. Having quite sufficient and more than sufficient of the article, we don't want any more of them; but very often we take them, just as you may say, to oblige the women, and give them tea for them, or things which they may actually be requiring, although we may have no prospect of selling these articles for a year or so. 2194. Is there not a difficulty in the trade also from the nature of the articles which are made?-There is a very great difficulty in that respect, owing to the want of uniformity in the articles, and the great variety of them. You can never get two shawls alike; you cannot even get a dozen pair of half-stockings alike. If you were to get an order for twenty dozen socks of a particular colour, size, and price, you would not be able to get that number of socks alike in Shetland. 2195. The result of that is, that you cannot give a large order?- We cannot undertake to execute it; and it is only such houses in the south as are acquainted with the Shetland trade, and who know that, when they give an order for a certain quantity of goods, they must get them varied in colour and in quality, and who make up their minds for that, and don't expect anything else it is such houses who generally deal in Shetland goods. 2196. Does that fact, and the want of knowledge of that fact, restrict the number of houses in the south with which you can deal?-There is no doubt of it. Suppose an English house, who had never done anything in Shetland goods before, were to send down an order for a certain quantity of goods, they would expect to get them as uniform as if they were sending that order to Leicester, or any hosiery district in the south. 2197. In what way does that affect the system of paying in goods?-There are limits to the demand. It affects the market. We don't have such a large market. 2198. And it increases the inducement to merchants to make their payments in the drapery goods which they sell, and upon which they have another profit?-Exactly. 2199. I suppose the reason for paying in goods is really, that you manage to make two profits: the profit upon the drapery, and then the profit upon the re-sale of the hosiery?-For the most part, we have to be content with one profit. No doubt, like all other men, we would be glad to make two profits if we could; but I think it is a rule in the Shetland hosiery trade, that [Page 44] the dealer is quite content if he gets the price for the hosiery goods which he would have paid for them in cash, even with a very good discount off; that is to say, with £10 worth of Shetland hosiery, for which he had paid that sum in goods, he would be willing to sell them for £10 in cash, and 5 per cent. off for cash. He would not expect to get a profit on the hosiery also. 2200. Do you mean to say that a lot of hosiery purchased for £10 you would sell to a merchant in the south for £10, and give him 5 per cent. discount besides?-Yes. 2201. Then you would make a loss?-No; because we have paid the £10 in goods at retail prices, and we have the retail profit on them, which is more that 5 per cent. 2202. You mean that you have a profit on the goods?-Yes; the goods amounting to £10, for which we have got the hosiery. Perhaps the profit on these goods is 15 per cent.; and if we sell the hosiery afterwards for £10, and take off 5 per cent. for cash, we still have 10 per cent. for our trouble. 2203. That comes to this: that, keeping it apart from your trade in goods, you make no profit upon the hosiery at all, but you will pay 5 per cent. discount to a wholesale merchant in the south for paying it promptly?-Yes; and I believe, in some cases where the dealers in Shetland don't have good connections in the south and good markets, they generally sell at a much lower price. I believe it is quite common in the Edinburgh auction-rooms for parcels of Shetland hosiery to be exposed for sale, and sold at a rate much lower than they could be sold for in Shetland. That, I suppose, is done by dealers who are pressed for cash; and they have to sell their hosiery stocks at any sacrifice, at what they can get for them, because they cannot get them sold in the regular market at a profit. 2204. Does it not seem to you that it would be a more reasonable way, in such a state of matters, to reduce the price of your hosiery?-It would be better to introduce a system of cash payments. 2205. But, whether there was a system of cash payments or of payment in goods, would it not look better in your books, and would it not be the natural way of dealing, to purchase the hosiery only at such figures as would enable you to make a profit upon it?-Yes; that would be better, decidedly. It might practically make very little difference to the dealer; it would just be taking it out of the one pocket and putting it into the other, but it would be more business-like, and a simpler plan. 2206. Is it not one result of that system, that as the merchant runs two risks,-a risk upon the hosiery and a risk (not so great, but still a risk) upon his goods,-he is obliged to make a larger profit upon his goods than he otherwise would?-I believe that is so. 2207. So that the goods are really dearer to the retail purchaser here than they would be if another system were adopted?-I think 2208. You say you are quite ready to adopt a system of cash payments, and to carry it out if it were usual in the trade?-Quite ready. 2209. Is there any difficulty in a single house proceeding to act upon that system?-There has been no proposal made for it. 2210. Do you mean there has been no demand made for it by the sellers of hosiery?-I mean there has been no proposal made among the dealers in hosiery to adopt such a system; and it would be difficult for one house to begin to attempt it unless there was some plan agreed upon, and some tariff of prices. I think it would be necessary, in the first place, to have some scale fixed. 2211. Would the market not fix the prices just as it does in other trades?-By and by I have no doubt it would; but what I mean is, that at the beginning of the new plan, in the transition between the present state and a new system of cash payments there would require to be some sort of agreement. 2212. With regard to those women whom you pay for working, do you generally keep pass-books with them?-I don't think many of them have them now. In fact, within the last seven years we have not been very much in that branch of the Shetland hosiery trade. We still have a few knitting to us in that way, and I think some of them have pass-books. 2213. How many women do you employ in that way?-I could not say precisely, because for several years our shop-woman has attended to that altogether, and the books which I have brought with me are kept by her. I can give her name, and she will be able to give any information that may be wanted on that subject. 2214. What is her name?-Andrina Aitken. 2215. I suppose your books will show at once the number of people you employ in that way?-Yes, these books will show, but I cannot say from memory how many there are. 2216. Has not each woman whom you so employ a page in the ledger?-I think, for the most part, they just settle for each article as they bring it. If a girl or woman is knitting a shawl, she comes in with it; there is a price put upon it, and she settles up there and then for it. If there is a balance, whether for or against her, it is noted up as at that date. We don't keep long accounts with them. 2217. How is it noted?-It is noted in the book at the place where the work is marked as having been given out. The balance is stated there [produces book]. 2218. What is that book?-We call it a work-book. 2219. Is it kept as a day-book from day to day?-Yes. 2220. Is that the only book you keep?-It is the only book used for that purpose. 2221. Therefore you keep accounts, because when a balance stands against a woman you have to look back to where the balance is?-Yes; and where work is given out again, the balance is marked against her, that balance being agreed upon between the shop-woman and her. 2222. Is there any index to the names of the women in that book?-No; the girl knows them all. 2223. I see that the entries on two pages of it serve for a month?- Yes; the entries from December 5 to January 2 are all on two pages. These contain all our transactions with that sort of people, and it shows that we have very few of them. 2224. I see here an entry: 'December 5-Barbara Hunter, 11/4 oz. black mohair. D. 1s.-retd.' Will you explain that entry?-D. means debtor. It means that the woman got supplies to the extent of 1s. The 11/4 oz. black mohair was the worsted which she got at that time to knit up. Then on the 21st she comes back and returns it. At that time there is this entry: December 21-Barbara Hunter, 11/4 oz. black mohair. D. 1s. 4d., D. 6d. 2225. What does 'retd.' mean in the first entry?-It means that the work was returned on a certain day. The return would be made on the 21st, when she got out the same quantity of additional stuff, and then the balance is carried forward. 2226. Are there any entries in your books showing how the D. 1s. or the D. 1s. 4d. was made up?-No; I could not even tell what it was for. 2227. But it was a balance upon goods supplied to her?-Yes. It may have been tea, or some small sums of cash, or anything. Our shop-girl would go over it with her, and they would agree upon it that this was the balance due at that time; and then, when she came back with the work she had got out on the 21st, there would be another balance. 2228. Here is another entry: 'December 15-Christina Sinclair, 2 oz. black mohair. D. 1s. 4d., D. 13s. 3d., D. 5s. 1d.-retd.' How does it happen that, under the same entry and in the same line, there are three separate sums?-The girl came on separate occasions and got these supplies, and they have been, entered separately. She has been back since then, because the work which she got out at that time has been returned. 2229. Then follows the entry: 'December 26 [Page 45]-Christian Sinclair, 2 oz. black mohair. D. 10d. (in pencil), D. 11s. 11d.' The 11s. 11d. would be the balance on the previous three debtor entries, and the 10d., I suppose, had been got subsequently?-I presume it had been quarter it pound of tea for 10d. Christina Sinclair lives in Hancliffe Lane. 2230. Does she support herself entirely by knitting?-She lives with her father. She knits a good deal on her own account, and comes and sells it to us. These had been some veils and other things, which she makes for us occasionally when she happens not to have worsted of her own. 2231. The 11s. 11d., I think you say, shows a balance upon goods got by her?-Yes; I presume it is the balance, after deducting what she got for that work. 2232. What would she probably get for the work bestowed by her upon 2 oz. black mohair?-I suppose that would make four or five veils. Perhaps she might get 5s. Then, besides these little things which are entered there, she might have got some things when she was personally present, and the last balance would be struck upon the whole. 2233. I understand you to state quite distinctly that this book is the only one in which entries are made of any transactions with workers employed by you?-The only one. As I said before, we do very little in that way now; and this represents the whole of it. 2234. Do your sales to these women not appear in your shop day-book?-No; these are the whole entries. If they get anything when they come with their work, there is no entry made of it at all. 2235. If a woman, either a knitter employed by you, or one who sells to you, comes to your shop and has a large sum of money to get, is it the practice that you do not pay her entirely in goods, but give her an advance in cash; or is it sometimes your practice to give her a line?-We don't give lines at all; but I may say that it is very seldom any of them have very much to get. 2236. If a woman has something to get and does not want goods, do you make an entry of any kind to her credit similar to those debtor entries against her?-I see here an entry: 'December 26- Ann Anderson, 2 oz. black mohair. D. 5d., Cr. 7s. 6d.' That 5d. has been got afterwards. 2237. Then she could have come at any time and got that 7s. 6d.?-Yes; and more if she had wanted it. 2238. That sum is probably standing to her credit yet?-Yes; she has that to get just now. 2239. If she had got it, in what way would it have been marked out?-It would have been marked returned, and another entry made of the new work which she had got. 2240. I show you an entry in another part of the same book: what does that mean?-It is a memorandum of the goods given to women to dress. These are the goods given to Mrs. John Gifford. They are marked down when they are given out, and when they are returned they are marked out. There are more dressers than one. 2241. Here is one entry: 'January 3-Mary Greig, Trondra, 9 oz. black. D. 8d., Cr. 7s.' Was that a country girl?-Yes. 2242. Is it not usual for country girls to take away all the value of their goods when they come in with them?-I think that is generally what they do; but sometimes, as in that case, the girl does not seem to have been requiring anything. 2243. You don't know whether that girl asked for money?-I don't know; but the shop-girl would be able to tell. 2244. You have no doubt that if she had asked for it, she would have got it?-If she had asked for it, she would have got it; but, as I have said before, it had been so long the custom not to pay money, that they did not ask it, not expecting to get it. 2245. Do you say that your profit upon your drapery goods is calculated at about 15 per cent.?-I should say about 15 to 25 per cent.; that is the ordinary retail profit over all. 2246. Supposing you were to make a profit upon your hosiery goods, what profit would you expect to get from your drapery goods?-I understand that in the south the profit in the drapery trade is generally estimated at 15 per cent. on an average. 2247. And you make it vary here, according to the different goods, at from 15 to 25 per cent.?-Yes. 2248. Is that in order to cover your risk upon the hosiery?-Yes; I should say so. It would be much better for us to sell for cash down, with a smaller price, than to sell at a higher nominal price, and to lie out of the money for perhaps a couple of years, and perhaps run the risk of making a bad debt with the hosiery. I may add that we sometimes do make bad debts to a pretty large amount. Some years ago I lost £150 by one customer. 2249. Was he a purchaser of hosiery?-Yes. 2250. Show me any entry in this book relating to a shawl made for you?-There [showing] is 7 oz. black, which was given to a woman for a shawl which she is at present making. Here is another, Mary Greig, who made a black shawl, and returned it. 2251. Does the book show how much was the payment usually got for the making of it?-She came back on 23d January, and she is credited with the amount. She had 2s. to get when she got the work to do. 2252. And she has now 7s.; but the difference between 2s. and 7s. does not show the payment to her?-No; because she might have got more goods at the time, and there would be nothing put down in the book then except the actual balance. 2253. You don't know what goods she got?-No; but I have no doubt the shop-girl will be able to tell. 2254. Can you tell me what payment would be made to a worker of that kind for such a shawl?-I think perhaps 10s. It depends a good deal on the size of thread and on the style of knitting. Of two shawls of the same size, and having the same weight of wool in them, one may be worth 2s. 6d. more for knitting than another, on account of the pattern the girl might put into it, and the style in which it was done. 2255. Then that shawl would be sent south, I presume?-We might sell it here. 2256. What do you consider the value of the material for that shawl, 9 oz.?-That black worsted would have cost us in England about 8s. a pound. 2257. Then the worsted would come to about 4s. 6d. as the value of the material?-Yes. 2258. And 10s. for the work: that would be 14s. 6d.?-Yes. 2259. And 6d. for dressing, or 15s. altogether?-Yes. 2260. At what price would that shawl be invoiced to a customer in the south?-It would depend upon whether it was to a wholesale house or to a retail customer. We have to sell these goods at a lower price to wholesale houses in the south, who have again to sell them, than we would sell them for to others. 2261. In that way there are two classes of customers?-Yes. 2262. Who are your principal correspondents in the south?-[The witness shows the names in a book.] This is the day-book, which we use exclusively for our transactions in hosiery with the south. That book has just been finished. The last entry is 6th November 1871, and since then our entries as to hosiery sent south have gone into our ordinary shop day-book: we have not provided a separate book for them. 2263. You say that you have two classes of customers, wholesale and retail?-Yes; we have wholesale customers, such as these houses whose names I have pointed out to you. We also sell to private persons, and of course we must make a difference. We must sell to these wholesale houses at a much less figure, because they have again to sell them perhaps to the very same retail customers. 2264. At what price would that shawl of Mary Greig's be invoiced to the south?-It is not away yet but I think I will be able to find some of the same [Page 46] kind. It is very difficult to say what it would be, because there is such a difference in the quality of the worsted, and the price of the raw material differs a good deal. For instance, here is black Pyrenees wool, costing about 8s. a pound, and here is black mohair wool, 27s. a pound. It would cost us roughly about 2s. an oz.; but that shawl, I should say, would be of Pyrenees wool, costing about 8s. a pound. That [showing an entry of a shawl invoiced to a house in London at 20s.] would be something like it. I may mention that an account like that won't be paid for eighteen months, and then it will be paid with a discount of 5 per cent. 2265. Is that a fair specimen of the average sales of shawls?-Yes. 2266. And the average difference between the cost for materials and workmanship?-Yes. 2267. Do you pay the freight?-The consignee pays the freight. 2268. Is this day-book a copy of your invoices which you send to these houses?-Yes. In some cases we copy the invoices in a letter-book, and then re-write them into this day-book. I can produce the letter-book if you wish to see it. 2269. Does not that difference between the price marked in the book and the price you have to pay for materials and workmanship show something in the shape of profit?-Yes, undoubtedly. 2270. Then how do you reconcile that with your previous statement, that there is really no profit upon your hosiery?-I don't think I meant to say that there really was not a profit. What I meant to say was, that, as a rule we would be very well pleased, on an average of all our hosiery goods, just to get what we pay for them. Of course, if you take out a special article here and there, the rule might not hold good; but I think, on the whole, you will find the result to be as I stated. 2271. Do you make any distinction, in your statement with regard to profits, between those cases where an article has been made for you and those in which it has been purchased by you?-I think, as a rule, the articles which we purchase or exchange over the counter are generally sold by us just for what we have paid for them. The others we have a good deal more trouble about. The raw material has to be ordered, and the money paid for it pretty soon; and then it has to be given out, and these accounts kept, and the articles have to be dressed. In fact we have three or four times the trouble about articles of that description which we have with regard to articles that we buy in exchange. 2272. Do you make that profit upon the goods made to your order, by charging a higher price to your customer in the south, or by paying a smaller rate to the women who knit for you?-The rate we pay the work-women here depends on what the other dealers in town are paying. I suppose we all pay much about the same rates. 2273. But I don't see how the same articles if made by one of your own work-women, can be charged at a different price to your customer in the south from what it would be if it were purchased by you across the counter?-As I have said, we have much more trouble with it. 2274. But the customer in the south fixes the price; and you cannot give articles that are really the same in quality at a different price, in consequence of the way in which they have come into your hands?-No; but on some articles we must have less profit than on others, and we must just make the one balance the other. 2275. But your customer would object to take two identical articles at different prices?-No doubt he would; but such articles as these black shawls we never buy over the counter. In fact I don't think I ever did buy one in that way; they are always made to order. We bring in the raw material, and the women knit it up. The material of which these black shawls are made is not Shetland wool. The women don't have it. Of course they could get it if they chose to buy it in the shops: we would sell it to them just the same as anything else. 2276. Do you purchase stockings?-Yes. 2277. You don't have them made?-No; they are all bought over the counter. 2278. Are they generally paid for in goods?-Yes; I may say universally. 2279. Are they made by the people in the country rather than by those in Lerwick?-There are very few made in Lerwick; all the hosiery proper is made in the country districts. When I speak of the hosiery proper, I mean stockings. 2280. What do you call the other kind?-Under-clothing. Articles such as shawls, veils, neckties, and the like, we call fancy work. Then there is under-clothing-men's under shirts, gentlemen's drawers, ladies sleeve, ladies' under-dresses, ladies' drawers ladies' spencers, which are worn under the clothing. 2281. I see in your day-book a charge for half dozen white veils, 12s., that is, 2s. each: is not 2s. a high price for veils?-It depends very much on the quality. 2282. Would that be an average quality?-No; it is a good quality. 2283. Were these purchased or made to order?-I could not say as to that particular lot. The best veils may be specially made or they may be bought. We very often buy veils in the ordinary retail way over the counter, and give 2s. 6d. for them; but these would be particularly well knitted. 2284. Do you give so much as 2s. 6d. for veils?-Yes, for the finest quality. 2285. Then these 2s. veils were sent to a retail house?-Yes; but of course they are buying from us, and we are selling to them, and they get 5 per cent. off that. 2286. What might be the price of these veils to you?-Perhaps 18d. or 20d. 2287. Is there anything else that you wish to state about the hosiery trade?-Nothing that I recollect of, particularly; but I may perhaps be allowed to refer to some of the answers given to questions by the witnesses who were examined before the Commission in Edinburgh. In question 44,156, Mr. George Smith is asked, 'Who supplies them (the knitters) with the wool?'-and he replies, 'That is a very difficult question. They get it chiefly from the small farmers, and sometimes from the merchants?'-I don't see why Mr. Smith should have said that that was a difficult question. There was no difficulty in it whatever. 2288. Where do the knitters generally get their wool?-In the case of the country girls, their families sometimes have sheep running on the scattald, and the wool is their own property, and is spun by some member of the family. 2289. Are there people in the country who collect wool from a number of families and give it out to spin?-I believe, in some districts of the country, there are dealers who buy up the wool and sell it out again as wool. I was to say that the knitters can buy it from them also, or from their neighbours. These are the three ways in which they can get it. 2290. Is the greater part of the wool that is used in Shetland of native production?-Yes; the greater part of it is, except the Bradford and English manufactured wools, principally black mohair and alpaca. 2291. Is much of that sold to women who knit on their own account?-I do not know if there is much sold; but in my own case, if they came to me wanting it, and I had it in stock, they should have it, whether they paid for it in cash or got it put to their account. 2292. If a woman came to you and sold a shawl, and wanted part of the price of it in worsted, would she get it without any demur?-Certainly. 2293. Do you know whether objections are made by any of the merchants to that being done?-I have seen it stated in the evidence that there are such objections. 2294. But, apart from the evidence before this Commission, do you know from your own knowledge, or from the statements of people in Shetland, whether there has been a difficulty in getting worsted for knitting in that way?-Yes, I have heard that. 2295. Do you know from what that difficulty arises?[Page 47]-I do not; unless it is because the dealer thinks that worsted is an article on which he does not have so much profit as on other goods, and is unwilling to give it. 2296. There has been no difficulty of that kind in your shop at any time?-No, none. 2297. Is there any reason why, in dealing with knitters, worsted should be called a money article or a ready-money article, which was only sold to them for money?-The Shetland worsted, which is generally spun in the north isles, in North Yell and Unst, is almost always bought and paid for in cash. It has always been the custom, at least for many years,-I should say for fifteen years,- that when the women come down from the north isles with worsted and sell it either to private persons or in the shops, they are paid for it in cash at the rate of 3d. or 31/2d. or 4d. per cut of nominally 100 threads, which in reality, when counted, runs to 80 or 90. I have seen a cut of worsted for which you paid 8d. supposed to be 100 threads, which when counted was only found to be 55; but that was an extreme case. 2298. But that wool is obtained by merchants or other persons who want it, from Shetland women coming mostly from the north isles?-Yes; where it is principally manufactured. 2299. Is the price of it always paid to them in cash?-As a rule, it is. Perhaps there may be exceptions, but, as a rule, it is paid in cash. 2300. Is that assigned in the trade as a reason why, when it is sold out to other women, it should be paid for by them in cash?-I should say that that was the reason, because there would be no profit on it otherwise. For instance worsted for which a dealer paid 31/2d. a cut would be sold by him at the same price; and if he gave it in exchange for goods, he might be out of his money for weeks or months. 2301. Does he not get more than 31/2d. for it when selling it?-I don't think it. There is a sort of fixed price for the various qualities of it. 2302. Does he not make a profit on retailing it?-No; I think not. He would either refuse to sell it at all, or give it at the price at which he bought it. 2303. Then his purchase of the worsted must have been made primarily for the use of the knitters employed by him?-Yes, I believe so. 2304. So that selling it to those women who knit on their own account would be a little out of his ordinary way of business?- Yes. 2305. He does not profess to get it for that purpose?-No. It is the raw material brought in by him or bought by him for his own uses. 2306. Is it wool or worsted you are speaking of?-Worsted. Before it is carded and spun we call it wool; after it is carded and spun we call it worsted. 2307. It is brought in the shape of worsted?-Yes. 2308. So that all you have been speaking of is really worsted?- Yes. 2309. Is much of that sent south from Shetland by the merchants in the shape of worsted?-Not much, I should say. It is more profitable, of course, for dealers and knitters to make it up, as all the raw material would come to would be comparatively trifling. 2310. Then you are not in the habit of sending it south in the shape of worsted?-No. In fact it is difficult to get. Sometimes we get an order for a small quantity for the south, for darning purposes. When a customer orders a dozen or two dozen socks, he will ask for some worsted along with them for that purpose; but it is not easy sometimes to get that for him. I was to refer to one or two other questions in the previous evidence. In question 44,289 Mr. Walker is asked, 'These merchants have no hold over them as being their tenants?'-and he replies, 'Not in the town, except in very few instances; not as a rule.' Now I don't know what instances he refers to. For my own part, I cannot imagine how any of us Lerwick dealers can have any hold on the Lerwick knitters, because they can come to us or any other body, just as they please. 2311. None of them are your tenants?-No; but even if they were, I don't think it would matter. 2312. If their rent were in arrear, would the merchant not have a hold over them?-He, as their landlord, would just have the same redress as any other landlord would have. Then the next question is, 'Is it considered a lucrative business?-Oh ! immensely so.' 2313. You have already made a statement with regard to that answer; at least you have explained what the profit is?-Yes; but he says, 'I know for a fact, that the worsted of a shawl which sells at about 30s. is worth from 2s. to 3s.' Now that is quite incorrect, because with the very lowest price of worsted the cheapest would be at least 4s. 6d.; but for a shawl selling at 30s. the worsted of it would certainly cost me 10s. 2314. Do you mean the worsted of any shawl that would sell for that in the south market or to a south country merchant?-Yes, or to any customer here. We sell a good many of these shawls to ladies in Lerwick, or to any people who come in to buy them; and any shawl that would sell for 30s. the worsted of it would cost 9s. or 10s. 2315. How much would the workmanship of a 30s. shawl come to?-Perhaps 12s., and sometimes more. Sometimes we give as high as 15s. for it. We paid 17s. 6d. last week for making a fine shawl. Then he says, A good deal of the worsted is now made in England, and brought down to Shetland. 2316. Is there much worsted imported from England?-Yes. Mr. Walker says further, 'The demand is so great for the Shetland goods, that it (the worsted) is made in Yorkshire, and brought down at 8s. a pound; and a quarter of a pound of that worsted will make a large shawl.' That is a mistake, because nothing less than half a pound of worsted of that quality could by any possibility make a shawl. 2317. Is 8s. per pound a correct statement of the price?-For some qualities it is. There is a great variety of qualities. The qualities of Pyrenees and mohair and alpaca wools go by numbers, and according to fineness the numbers rise. 2318. Can you mention the various prices at present?-7s. and 8s. per pound for blacks and whites; 9s. and 10s. for scarlet and ingrained colours. 2319. That is for Yorkshire wool?-Yes, of the finer descriptions; and then mohair and alpaca will range from 20s. to 24s. and 30s. 2320. I thought you said 32s. before?-Yes; and I have no doubt some of the numbers are even higher. 2321. I suppose there is not much variety in the size of shawls used for opera-cloaks or dress purposes?-No, they are all made about a size; but the value does not depend so much upon the size as upon the style of the workmanship. 2322. It will also depend to some extent on the quality of the wool?-Yes, to some extent. 2323. But principally on the workmanship?-Yes, it depends in great measure on that; and that is the reason why there are constant disputes with the knitters. Two knitters may come in with two shawls made of the same material and the same size and yet the one will be 25 per cent. better than the other, on account of the work bestowed upon it, and the niceness of the pattern; but it is very difficult to get these girls to understand that they should be paid according to that. 2324. Can you show me any instance of a shawl made of Yorkshire wool for which you paid 20s.? That would be rather a fine quality, would it not?-Yes; that would be mohair or alpaca. 2325. But not the finest quality?-No, not the finest. 2326. We may take that as an average quality. You said it would take about half a pound of material to make the shawl; but you also said that the finer the wools are, the less thread it takes to make them. How much would it take to make a shawl of that kind?-Perhaps it would take 6 oz. 2327. That would be about 7s. 6d. for the material?-Yes; but a great deal depends on the way in which [Page 48] it is knitted. It is almost impossible to say, except with a very special article, what the knitter would get for it, because this is not like a uniform trade at all. 2328. Then you fix the price to the knitter according to the judgment of your eye?-Yes, after the work is brought back. Properly speaking, every shawl requires to be priced individually. 2329. Between what sums would you say that the price of the workmanship of a shawl made of that sort of stuff would vary?- That depends entirely on the workmanship itself. Some of the best knitters we have in town put very high prices on their work. 2330. I am assuming that it varies; but there must be a limit to it. Can you not give what would be about the average?-I will give an instance. About a fortnight ago I bought a shawl from a girl for 35s., made of common Yorkshire wool. It was her own material, and she just came in with it, and sold it over the counter. The material of that shawl, for which I gave her 35s., had not cost her 4s. It was a half-square shawl. It is still lying in the shop, and I can produce it if it is desired. The whole value of that article depended on the workmanship contained in it. 2331. Is it a black or white shawl?-White. It is not even fine Shetland worsted, which is the most valuable sort of thing. 2332. Is fine Shetland worsted more valuable than the other worsted at 32s?-Yes, we can always get a better price; and indeed the article is much more valuable when made of fine white Shetland wool than of fine white English wool, because there is a hardness and coarseness in the English wool that is not in the Shetland. 2333. But you don't pay so much as 32s. per pound for Shetland wool in any case?-No, I doubt think we pay so much as that for it, but the Shetland wool is more rare. The supply of it is limited. You can get any quantity of mohair or alpaca, but you cannot get any quantity of fine Shetland wool. 2334. Do you purchase that quality of fine Shetland wool to any extent?-I buy some of it. I have paid as high as 6d. a cut of nominally 100 threads for it; but that was a rare article. 4d. per cut is the usual thing. 2335. How much is that per pound?-We don't reckon the Shetland worsted by the pound. 2336. But as you do so little business in giving out work, I suppose you don't purchase great quantities of the Shetland wool for your own use?-No. 2337. Is there any other part of the evidence you wish to refer to?-There is another question, 44,301, where Mr. Walker is asked, 'Is it all done through the middle-man?'-referring to the buying of woollen goods: he says, 'Through the merchants. Then, in considering the hosiery matter, when you leave the town, you come to the middle-men, merchants, or merchant factors, or merchant proprietors; in which case the knitters are their tenants. All worsted goods taken and sold in town are virtually taken surreptitiously or on the sly.' I wish to remark with regard to that, that I never heard of such a thing until I saw it here. 2338. Are there hosiery merchants and worsted merchants in the country?-Yes, here and there. 2339. Do they possess any hold over the knitters?-I suppose in some cases they will be factors for the proprietors, and these knitters will be living in family with the tenants who have the holdings. 2340. Do you know any instance of such hosiery merchants being proprietors in the country?-I don't know about them being proprietors. 2341. Or factors for proprietors?-I suppose Spence & Co., in Unst, are in that position. 2342. Are they hosiery merchants?-They deal extensively in hosiery; and I understand they are factors or lessees or the greater part of the island. 2343. But the other fish-curers generally are not hosiery merchants?-I think not, as a rule. 2344. Then you deny that, as a general rule, knitters are bound in any way to sell to dealers in the country?-I never heard of such a thing before especially this statement, that all worsted goods taken and sold in town are virtually taken surreptitiously. That may be true, but I never heard it till I read it in this evidence; and I don't believe it is true. 2345. Do you often send orders to the country?-Yes; we send orders to the merchants in the country for hosiery just the same as we order goods from the south, and the merchants in the country make them up. 2346. Do they have their profit on the hosiery in the first instance?-I suppose so. We pay them in cash. 2347. And you have a commission or a profit in your turn?-Yes, we must have that otherwise it would be no object for us to buy the articles. 2348. Is there any other point in the previous evidence which you wish to mention?-I don't think there is anything else. 2349. Is there any other correction you wish make upon that evidence, or upon the evidence which has been taken here, so far as you have heard it?-No. I heard the evidence of several of these knitting women, and I have no reason to doubt its general correctness. 2350. Is it the case that the knitters are more commonly in debt to the merchant than the other way,-that they are generally rather behind in their accounts with him?-In my own case, I don't think that is so, at least not to any extent. 2351. In a bad season do they not fall behind, and require credit to some extent from the merchant?-I don't think that obtains very much with the knitters. It would obtain more with the fishermen and heads of houses. 2352. But if a woman is depending entirely on knitting for her livelihood, and the prices of provisions are high, while at the same time the prices for knitted goods may happen to be low, is it usual for a merchant to make advances to her in goods or, in cash?- There being no system of cash payments, I would not say that I would make advances of cash to her. 2353. But would the merchant, in such a case, make advances to her in goods?-He probably would. We know most of these knitting girls, and we would not see them at a loss for anything they actually required. I believe most of the dealers would be ready to help them in that way. 2354. Does that come to be any inducement to the knitting women to sell their goods to particular merchants afterwards, or to submit to take their payments in goods when, in other circumstances, they would prefer to have them in cash?-I think, in many cases, if they were in debt to me, they would not scruple very much at walking off and dealing with some other body afterwards, and leaving my debt to take its chance; for they know there would be no legal proceedings taken-no summoning, or anything of that kind. I never heard of any case in Lerwick where a knitter was summoned for any balance which she was due. 2355. Perhaps the balances generally are so small, that it is not worth the merchants' while to summon the women for them?-I daresay that is the case. I have been told that one of the witnesses yesterday, Mrs. Arcus, referred to the state of the trade in my late fathers time and said it was better then, because the women who made these goods were in the habit of getting meal and groceries from my father for them. 2356. Was that actually the case?-It was. For a great many years my father kept meal, barley, rice, sugar, soap, tea, and all sorts of provisions; but the consequence was, that when newer dealers came into the trade, and went more extensively into the drapery goods, then the knitters and people selling for drapery came more upon my father for groceries, on which there was a much smaller profit; and of course that put us to a great disadvantage. The consequence was, that we gradually gave up the grocery part of the trade. I believe that is the explanation of the statement, which I daresay was quite correct. 2357. Of course there are some women who live entirely by knitting? Can you explain how they supply themselves with food if they are paid entirely or almost entirely with goods? Have you turned your [Page 49] attention to that point at all?-No, I must say I was rather astonished to hear some of the evidence which has been given here, although, I have no doubt it was quite correct. It had not occurred to me that some of these women were under such conditions as it appears they are. 2358. However, you have not turned your attention to that point?-No, but I have no doubt that what they said was quite correct; and perhaps there is a grievance there which ought to be remedied. I show you an entry in my invoice-book of a dozen gentleman's drawers sold for 48s., which is exactly the price paid for them in goods. My customer does not pay for eighteen months, so that I lose the interest for that time; and there is also 5 per cent. off at the end of the eighteen months. The two next items are in precisely the same position. They are charged at the nominal prices which we have paid for them in goods. 2359. The long credit which you give, in that case, arises from the state of the market in London?-Yes; these London houses are generally long in paying. 2360. But cannot you get your customers here, from whom you buy the goods, to take less for them?-No, we don't require to do that. I believe that when a woman makes a pair of drawers, or anything else that kind, she cannot be paid for them with less than 4s. 2361. Is that an article in which you deal extensively?-Yes; we buy a good many of them, but it is an article on which we have no profit. 2362. A statement has been made in this inquiry, that the success of a merchant in Shetland consists in being able to accumulate such an amount of bad debts about him as thirls the whole families in a neighbourhood to him, and then he gets on: do you concur in that statement?-I think that statement must have been intended as a burlesque. I cannot understand how any man could thrive by accumulating a large amount of bad debts. I read the statement at the time, but I could not understand it. 2363. It can only mean this: that the man has a number of debts which his debtors have difficulty in paying, but that they are in the course of earning money year after year and that they are compelled to spend entire earnings in is shop: do you think that is the case?-I can only say that in my own business I make a point of making as few debts as possible, and never any bad ones. To make bad debts I should consider a misfortune rather than a piece of good luck. 2364. But they may not be bad debts, although payment of them may be delayed for a long time. It is perhaps a misnomer, to call them bad debts?-Yes I should say so. 2365. I understand you were engaged at one time in the whaling agency business?-Yes, for some years. My brother-in-law and partner managed that part of the business; and he purposes to come forward and give some evidence, and produce books which he kept at that time. We went out of that trade last spring. Lerwick, January 4, 1872, ROBERT SINCLAIR, examined. 2366. You are the principal partner of the firm of Robert Sinclair & Co., merchants in Lerwick?-I am the sole partner of that firm. 2367. Your stock, I understand, consists of drapery goods and tea?-Drapery, millinery, boots and shoes, tea, and various other articles. I also keep various kinds of groceries-not many; but there are tea, soap, soda, and blue. 2368. You do not keep provisions?-Not provisions. 2369. Do you keep sugar?-No; I do not sell sugar now. 2370. Besides that trade, you are employed in the purchase and sale of hosiery?-I am. 2371. Your hosiery is obtained in two ways: either women that knit upon your employment or from parties who come with their own goods and sell them to you?-They are principally the latter. 2372. How many women can you state, have been employed on an average during the last three years in knitting for you with worsted supplied by you?-I never was at the pains to reckon exactly the number of knitters I had. I should suppose there would be on an average from 80 to 100-sometimes more and sometimes fewer; but that is only a guess. I have books here which will show it exactly. 2373. Are those women who knit for you paid generally in money, or in goods; or is there an account between you?-There is always an account kept with the knitters, and they are paid in cash or in goods-principally in goods; but there is no objection to pay them in cash when they want it. 2374. Are your people instructed to pay in cash when cash is asked for?-I never gave any direct instructions to that effect; but occasionally they may pay in cash when they know a customer well. If it is advances that are wanted, they would require to know the character of the customer to whom the advances are made. 2375. Do you mean to say that the question whether a request for an advance is to be granted or not, depends upon the state of the customer's account at that time?-Exactly, or mostly that. 2376. Then, if a knitter has a considerable amount at her credit, and wants money, is it the rule in your shop that she will get an advance?-She will get an advance in money when she has it to get; but we don't call that an advance,-it is a debt; and it has been generally understood, as has been often stated, that it is goods which they are to get for their work. That rule, however, has often been departed from-more particularly lately. 2377. You say there is an understanding they are to be paid in goods, but that that understanding has been departed from?-Yes, often. But the last question put to me was a double one. With regard to the other part of it,-as to them having a large amount at their credit,-the fact is, that they seldom have anything at their credit, but when the goods come in, they have to be entered to their credit, to make up for advances which they received when they were knitting. That is the rule, but there are several exceptions to it. 2378. As a general rule, has a knitter got more goods from you than the value of her work?-Yes; she generally has got quite equal to the value of it, and frequently more. 2379. You say that she has either got more goods than the value of the hosiery which she brings, or she has got at least up to the value of the work returned?-Yes; generally. 2380. Have you formed any idea as to whether the kind of goods which you supply to your knitters consists to a greater extent of articles of ordinary dress, such as cotton, and dress stuffs, and boots and shoes, or of millinery, and the finer articles which you deal in?-They consist principally of strong usable wearing apparel, boots and shoes, and other things that are generally required for domestic purposes or for their own wear. 2381. You say that you have about 80 or 100 women engaged knitting to you?-I only guessed that. I think there must be more. 2382. Is the system of dealing with the whole of these, that an account is kept?-Yes. 2383. Is that account kept in a pass-book with the knitter?-Not always. When they want a pass-book, they get it. You can see from that book [producing work-book], who have pass-books and who have not. 2384. Has every knitter a separate page in your work-ledger?- Yes; the book speaks for itself. 2385. It may be convenient for both of us if you take the case of Jemima Sandison just now, whose passbook I have got here. Is that pass-book an exact copy of the page in her name in your ledger?-Yes; the entries in both are made, at the same time. She brings the pass-book when she wants any article and the entry is made in the work-book at the same time as in the [Page 50] pass-book. Unless there is any error in summation or date, the one should be an exact transcript of the other. 2386. Is it generally known by you or your shopkeeper whether there is a sum at the credit of the worker, or whether the account stands the other way?-After they have gone on for a while, and when they come in with any work, of course we square up the books and examine them. 2387. In adding up Jemima Sandison's book, I find from November 11, 1870, to December 28, 1871, the amount of goods and cash supplied to her was £3, 5s. 3d.?-Yes; but there is something I may explain with regard to this particular case. All the work she has done does not appear here. If she wants to get wool or any other article, she can get it out of the shop on bringing goods for it, and that does not appear in the book. She sells the goods to us when she has made them, and gets either cash or goods for them according she wishes. That book does not show all our transactions with her. 2388. Some of them may be ready-money transactions?-Not ready-money, but private transactions, that do not appear in the books at all, because the book only contains the goods she gets from us, and for which she returns knitted work. She is paid for the knitting of these goods, and not for the whole value. 2389. How do you distinguish, in that case, between the goods that go into the pass-book and those which she gets, but which do not enter the pass-book?-There is no occasion to distinguish between them at all, because they are separate transactions. 2390. When she comes with a separate article to sell, how do you do?-Suppose a time when trade is dull, as Mr. Laurenson has explained, and we are not making falls (which is the principal thing this woman makes for us), we try to keep her in work by giving her out material, and she makes anything else with it that she likes. We do not enter that in the book at all. She makes it for herself. We may buy it from her, or she may go and sell it to another if she likes; or she, may have a private order for it, and sell it in that way. These transactions do not appear in the book. 2391. But when she comes to you, and you do happen to buy an article in that way from her, is she paid for it to a certain extent in goods?-Yes, if she wants them. 2392. These goods are not entered in the day-book?-Of course not. 2393. You just deliver there to her across the counter, in the same way as you would deliver them to any party who came in to make a ready-money transaction?-Yes. 2394. If she does not want exactly the value of goods which will pay for her shawl, or for any other article which she may have brought to you, do you enter the balance in any book?-No; we do not enter it in the book, except in the line-book. We give her a receipt for the balance, and we give her the balance in cash or in goods at any other time. 2395. If she wishes money for the balance, is it usual thing in your trade to pay it in money?-The fact is that we never refused her money when she asked it. She stated that in her evidence. 2396. That may have been the case with this particular woman, but is it the fact that any knitter who wants a balance of that kind in money is able to get it?-If she has bargained to take goods, and if the price we put on the article be such that we cannot give money on it without making a loss by it, then we don't give the money: we stick to the bargain. If the bargain has been such that it would allow us any little profit on it, then we give it all in money, if they want it in that way. 2397. The question whether she is to get money or goods for the balance, depends on the bargain which the woman has made?- Yes; decidedly. 2398. Can you tell me any case in which you have paid the whole price for hosiery goods in money?-I could tell you many cases of that kind, For instance, I could mention the case of Miss Gifford. 2399. What was the transaction you had with her?-My last transaction with her-indeed I have only had one for a long time-was for a shawl which bought from her; and paid all cash for it. 2400. When was that?-About three months ago. 2401. What was the price?-The price of the shawl was £4, and I gave her four £1 notes for it. 2402. Was not that a very valuable shawl?-Yes but I would rather have taken it and paid money for it, than I would have given barter for a thing that might lie on my hands until the moths eat it. 2403. The quality of the thing was so good, that you wanted to have it at any price?-Yes, and I could charge a small profit on it; but I cannot do that on the great bulk of the things I get. 2404. Did you pay for that in cash because it was an exceptional article?-I paid for it in cash because I wanted it. I would do the same for anything I wanted; but when goods are forced upon us, and goods asked for them, we cannot be expected to put our hands into the till and pay out cash for them. 2405. Are goods forced upon you?-Yes. 2406. Have you no option but to buy them?-No. That is not the meaning of my words. I do not mean that we are forced to buy them, in that sense. I mean, that people come in importuning us to buy goods which we do not want. 2407. You do buy them, however?-Sometimes, and sometimes not. 2408. Is it in consequence of the importunity of your customers that you buy them?-Sometimes, and sometimes not. 2409. But you say that sometimes you are forced by the importunity of your customers to buy their goods?-Yes; we may be induced to do it by an importunate woman. 2410. And when the importunity is so great that you are constrained to buy them, are these the cases in which you pay in goods?-No; the people often don't want the cash. They don't ask for it. They come to us with the general understanding that the, trade is done in goods-I mean in barter. 2411. Do you say the general understanding is that the payment is to be in goods, and also that you have sometimes to buy goods because you are importuned to do so?-Decidedly. I say I do buy them sometimes, because I cannot get rid of the customer otherwise, but these are exceptional cases. 2412. Is it because of the importunity, or because it is the general custom, that the payment is in goods?-That has been a tradition from time immemorial. 2413. But you have assigned the fact of paying in goods to both of these causes, and I wish to know which of them it is that you really refer it to?-It is sometimes the one and sometimes the other. 2414. But you are not obliged to buy hosiery and pay with goods unless you like?-Not at all; nor for money either. What I stated was, that I would rather pay in cash for a good article which I can sell again, than purchase a thing on barter that I have a great risk in selling. That is the whole import and purpose of what I said. 2415. You instanced one transaction,-that which you had with Elizabeth Gifford?-Yes; and there is another girl, Catherine Brown, who is in Leith just now, from whom I bought a great number of shawls, and paid her cash down for them. 2416. Was that long ago?-It has gone over a number of years. 2417. Was your reason for paying the cash the same in that case: because the articles which you got from her were good?-Yes; they were prime articles. 2418. Is there any one else you wish to mention?-There are many cases in which I paid cash for hosiery articles, although I could not name the persons just now. They were people whose faces I knew, but I cannot recollect their names. 2419. Were these cases in which you paid the whole value in cash?-Yes. 2420. Did these transactions enter your books?-No; the cash was just paid for them at the time. 2421. Do you take no notice of the cash paid out in [Page 51] that way?-Not generally. I don't that there is any special entry in the cash-book showing what it had been paid for. 2422. Don't you take a receipt from such persons?-No, I never did. 2423. Then how do you know the price at which to sell these shawls?-Because I put the prices on the shawls myself. 2424. Do you mark them all at the time?-Yes. 2425. And you swear that no entry of such a payment enters into any of your books?-I swear that, to my knowledge, there is no memorandum taken of a cash transaction carried through in that way. With regard Elizabeth Gifford, I may explain that I gave her a receipt for a shawl to be paid for in cash, and she came to my shop some time afterwards and got the cash. 2426. Then that cash entered your book?-Yes. Here is the entry [produces line-book]: 'C. M. 95. 1. 11.71. Paid in cash, 80s. £4.' 2427. How do you know that is the transaction?-Because it is the only transaction of the kind that is in the book, it is the only transaction in which £4 was paid in cash. 2428. Was that entry all made at one time?-The first part of it was made when she brought the shawl. The date when she got the line is not here. 2429. Then it was on 1st November 1871 that she got the money?-Yes. 2430. The entry made at first was 'C.M. 95. 80s. £4?'-Yes. 2431. And the figures '1. 11. 71,' and the words 'paid in cash,' were inserted when the money was given?-Yes 2432. There is no entry of the date of the issuing of the line at first?-No; the book was not being dated then. 2433. When did the book begin to be dated?-We have the date on the line itself, and therefore it is quite sufficient to enter the numbers of the lines in the book. 2434. But when did the book begin to be dated?-On 30th October. 2435. Then it must have been a few days before 30th October when the line was first given out?-Yes. 2436. To come back to Jemima Sandison's book the total amount supplied to her was £3, 5s. 31/2d. in period of thirteen months, and there was a balance of 16s. to begin with. The amount that appears to have been paid in cash during that time is 3s. 6d. on all these transaction: is that so?-It may be; but I have ready explained that the entries in the book do not represent all the cash which she got from me. 2437. She also appears to have got tea on thirty-seven different occasions, in quantities of 8d., 9d., and 10d. worth at the time?- Yes; that would be a quarter of a pound. 2438. The amount of tea altogether comes to 5d. or more than one-half of the total quantity of all that she got from you. If we assume that she got a amount of tea as part of the previous balance of 16s, there is thus only 8s. 6d. paid in cash, 30s. or more paid in tea, and the rest paid in goods. Can you give me any idea whether the amount of cash paid to this woman on the separate transactions you have been speaking of would be greater or less than the amount appearing in this book?-I could not swear as to what it was, because we are transacting business of that kind with her very frequently, and it is impossible to remember what amount of goods or of cash she got on these particular transactions. I should say that what the book gives about a fair average of what it might be upon the other sales as well, or it might be that it would rather exceed it; but I should wish to remark that she never was refused the cash that was asked for by her. 2439. Do you think the case of this woman Sandison may be taken as a fair specimen of the accounts which you keep with the other women employed by you?-No, there are exceptions; there are some who got a good deal more cash than she did. 2440. Was there any reason, in these other cases, for their getting more cash?-Of course they asked for more and perhaps they needed it. There are some who are equally dependent with her, and who have perhaps less chances of getting money otherwise. As I said, she sometimes makes to order, and gets cash from that source. If you will take the case of Mary Ann Sinclair and her sisters as it appears in the book, you will see that they got more cash than Sandison did. 2441. I see in Mary Ann Sinclair's account on 'September 30, 1868, cash 5s.; October 13, cash for meal 11s. 3d.; November 18, cash 1s.; November 23, to paid William Smith for meal 5s. 4d.; November. 27, cash 1s.' Do you give that as an average specimen of the amount of cash that was paid?-There may be exceptional cases; but I daresay, taking the whole thing, Sandison's pass-book may be regarded as a fair specimen of the way in which the thing has gone on. 2442. In that account of Mary Ann Sinclair's which you have just showed me there is an entry of 5s. 4d. paid to William Smith for meal: who is William Smith?-He is a grocer in town. 2443. Was that paid to him directly, or did the money pass through the hands of the woman Sinclair?-I generally gave her the money, and told her to go anywhere she liked with it; but in some cases, if it happened that I did not have the cash on the counter, or handy, she went to the same person that she used to deal with, or to any one she wanted to go to, and got what she required, and I paid the cash for it perhaps on the same day. 2444. In what way was that transaction carried out? Did you give her a line to go to Smith for the meal?-I don't think it. I have no recollection of doing it. 2445. Is that a common kind of entry in your book?-No. 2446. There is another entry of 11s. 3d, for meal: would that be paid to Smith or to the woman Sinclair?-I think it was paid to herself. 2447. Then why is it entered in your book as being for meal?- Very often we did that in order to distinguish the things she wanted the cash for, and to keep a check on them. For instance, they might come in and ask cash from me and they would receive it. 2448. But why should you wish to keep a check on them in a case like that?-I don't know. 2449. Had you any interest in the way in which the woman was to spend her money?-No; but if we paid cash to a person for one of these women, we marked it down as having been paid. 2450. Then when you put down this sum of 11s. 3d. for meal, did that mean that you had paid the money to Smith or to some other meal-dealer, or that you had paid the money to Mary Ann Sinclair herself?-I cannot recollect. 2451. I only want you to explain, if possible, or to suggest an explanation if you don't remember, about how it happened that that entry was made for meal. If the woman got it in cash, would it not be simply marked down as cash?-I don't remember about that. She might have got the meal from Smith, and paid him the money at any time. She may have told us that she had to pay Smith an account, and asked us to pay it for her. That is the only explanation I can give of it. Sometimes she would ask to get a little meal; and as we did not have meal, we would tell her to go to anyone she liked and get it, and we would pay the party for it. I may say, at the same time, that I did not have a fraction upon that. There was no compact about in between me and the man who supplied her with the meal. We just paid her account to him in cash. 2452. You don't remember either of these payments?-No; I cannot remember them. 2453 Do you know whether such entries are frequent in your books?-They are not; there is no occasion for them being frequent. 2454. Does a woman often come and say to you, 'I want some money to pay for meal or some groceries, and I wish you would give me so much?'-No; I have no recollection of any other case than the one which [Page 52] has been referred to. There may have been cases in which, when selling an article, they may have asked for a few shillings for themselves, and where they may have mentioned what they wanted it for; but with regard to Mary Ann Sinclair's case, to the best of my recollection, this was just an account which I paid for her to a meal-dealer that she was owing it to. 2455. You say that some of your knitters don't have pass-books at all?-The majority of them have. 2456. In that case, the only account kept with them is the one entered in your work-book?-Yes; but whenever we settle, we carefully read over all the items to them and if they take any objection to them, of course they get some explanation. 2457. The work-book you have produced is the current one?- Yes. 2458. Is there any entry in it showing where a pass-book has been given?-Yes; it is generally marked in red pencil where there is a pass-book. There are not many pass-books; I don't think we have a dozen altogether; but the women are never refused a pass-book if they want it. It entails a great deal more trouble on us to keep them. 2459. When you come to settle one of these accounts where there is no pass-book, how do you proceed?-For instance, here is Elizabeth Hunter, from Trondra: she comes into town on September 2, and you find then a balance for articles brought in, which she takes in goods?-She takes more than she has to get. 2460. Are all these items read over to her at that time?-Every item is read over to every person when we settle with them. We always make a point of reading over the account in detail, and satisfying them about it. Sometimes it happens that they cannot remember about a particular thing, and some explanation is given to them, generally by one of the people the shop; and that satisfies them. 2461. Does it sometimes happen that the balance such a case is in favour of the knitter?-Yes; sometimes. 2462. Is it, then, the practice simply to carry the balance on to the new account, or does the woman receive any acknowledgment for the balance?-The balance generally the other way. I may say that we never take goods in advance. They generally go ahead, and we must keep a tight rein on some of them otherwise they would go deep enough. For instance here is a copy of the account of Elizabeth Robertson, who was examined before you on Monday. [Produces copy account.] 2463. Before going into that, I believe you think that in some parts of the previous evidence an erroneous impression has been produced to the effect that no worsted can be got in exchange for the knitted goods?-Yes; I can state that I myself with my own hands have given Elizabeth Robertson worsted in payment for shawls more than once. I have given her the greater part of the value of her shawls, or of the goods she had to sell, in worsted, although that does not appear in her account. 2464. That has occurred when she has brought articles to you for sale or exchange?-Yes. 2465. Do you say you have often given her the greater part of her work in worsted?-I have not often given her the greater part, but I have often given her part, and sometimes the greater part, in worsted. Those in my shop can bear testimony to the same effect, that they have given her worsted too. In fact we never refused to give Pyrenees wool for the knitted goods when we had it, except on rare occasions, when we had very little of it, and had to give it out ourselves for work that we required. 2466. I suppose you know that if you give them that worsted in return for their hosiery, they will bring it back to you?-They may, or they may not. 2467. Do they not bring it to somebody?-They may to somebody, but perhaps not to me. They may have an order for it from a lady in the south, or dispose of it in other ways. We do not ask them what they do with it, unless we give it out to them to make a special article with. The fact is, with regard to that kind of worsted we do scarcely anything in it, but we sell it to any knitter in order to accommodate them. 2468. Then you say you have given Pyrenees worsted to Elizabeth Robertson?-Yes. 2469. Have you ever given her the other kinds of worsted that come from Yorkshire?-That is the same thing. 2470. Is the Pyrenees and the Yorkshire worsted all the same?- No, the Pyrenees is one class. There is mohair worsted. I don't recollect whether I ever gave any of it. It is used, for knitting falls. 'The Pyrenees is generally made into shawls. 2471. Does Robertson generally make shawls-Yes, generally; but she makes falls too. I don't recollect giving her mohair; but I have given her Pyrenees often. She would get any kind when she asked for it; but mohair is a thing we never do sell, because we only bring it in for our own use 2472. Is it the highest priced of all?-Yes. 2473. Is it higher than the Shetland wool?-We don't sell the Shetland wool, except in rare, exceptional cases. The fine wool we never sell, because we have great difficulty in getting it. We never send it south; nor do we sell it in the shop as an article of sale, except on occasions when a person is very much in want of it for any particular purpose. 2474. For darning, for instance?-No, that kind of wool is not fit for darning; it is only the coarser kind that is used in that way. 2475. Then you don't regard the Shetland wool as an article of commerce?-No, it is a material we use for ourselves and we have very great difficulty in getting as much of it as we require. We pay cash for it; and if we were to sell it would put a stop to our trade. 2476. You heard the evidence of Mr. Laurenson about Shetland wool?-Yes; it is something different from my experience. If a lady or a retail dealer in the south orders a Shetland shawl, we don't send a shawl made of Shetland wool unless we know that they want that particular kind, but if we send one of Pyrenees wool, we tell them what it is made of and that if will not do, they can return it. 2477. With regard to the worsted, does the idea that knitters cannot purchase worsted from merchants in Lerwick arise from the fact that the merchants do not regard Shetland wool as an article of commerce?-That is my impression. They not only do not so regard it; but the fact is, if they made it an article of commerce, it would put a stop to their business. 2478. How so?-Because they cannot get sufficient material for their own use and also for sale. 2479. Do you mean that if you sold Shetland wool to any one who asked it, you would not have a sufficient supply for your own trade?-That is one reason; but there is another reason: because it would be like changing a shilling, for the people know the value of these things, and they would just pay me for the wool what I paid for it in cash. 2480. They can get the wool from the same dealers from whom you buy?-Yes, and of course the price of it is as well known to them as to me. Another thing is, that if I take a parcel of worsted of perhaps 600 or 700 cuts, a knitter who wants some of it won't be pleased unless she gets the very pick of it; and for the very pick of it she won't give me any more than I had to pay for the whole of it overhead. 2481. That is substantially what Mr. Laurenson said with regard to the reason for not selling Shetland wool. He does not sell it either?-None of the principal dealers sell it. Sometimes some of the wool is sold to grocers in town who don't deal in shawls, and the knitters buy it from them. 2482. But if the knitters ask for Shetland wool, and offer cash for it, is it usual to sell it?-No, except in very exceptional cases; and you will see that an exception has been made in the case of that girl Robertson. [Page 53] 2483. You want to point that out?-Yes; I consider that we dealt with her in rather an exceptional way. 2484. I see '12 cuts worsted:' is that what you refer to?-There is more than that in the account. The very first thing is a balance on worsted from a previous account, of 2s.; then on December 16, 1865, she gets 12 and 16 cuts at the same time, but at different prices. The 16 cuts are charged at 3d. per cut, which is a kind of worsted we very seldom sell. Then July 5, 1866, there are 12 cuts; and in 1868 there are other sales of worsted to her. 2485. Is this a copy from your books of the account with Elizabeth Robertson?-Yes; exactly. 2486. The crosses on the side show where worsted has been given?-Yes. 2487. Do these entries refer to Shetland worsted?-I think mostly. 2488. But you say this is an exceptional case?-Yes; it was to favour her that I did it. 2489. Was there any particular reason for favouring her in that way?-It was done because I thought she was a needful person, and she pleaded for it. 2490. Was it that sort of wool that she was in the way of knitting?-It was that kind she wanted; and although I was not in the habit of selling it, I gave it to oblige her. 2491. Do these entries appear in the ordinary account which you kept with her as a knitter employed by you?-She was never employed by me specially. 2492. Did she always knit with her own wool?-Always with me. She did not knit specially to me, that I recollect of I have no recollection of ever employing her. [Shown account in work-book.] I see from this that she has knitted for me. She knitted three shawls for me in 1867. The others are shawls she knitted for herself, and sold in the shop. At 15, March 1870, she was due me £4, 16s. 31/2d. 2493. I see that between March 29 and December 28 she has paid off that balance with the exception about £1?-Yes. Then she said in her evidence that she would not have taken out so much in clothes, or half so much, if it had not been that she was compelled to take goods for her work. Now I would ask how that statement is consistent with the fact that for about twelve months she was due me that sum, mostly for clothes, when she was not asked to take them, but the reverse. 2494. She got them on credit?-Yes. 2495. Then this account of hers you happen to have, because she was knitting at that time for you?-I would not assign that is a reason for her getting the goods. 2496. But I am asking you the reason why you have this account?-Because it is in my books. 2497. I rather understood that the only women who had accounts entered in your books were those who were employed by you as knitters: is not that so?-Of course, when the women get into my debt, I must take note of what they bring to me with which to pay off their debt; and that must pass through my books. I do not take a note of all the transactions over the counter; it is only when a woman runs into debt that anything appears in the books. 2498. Is this account taken from what you call the work-book?- No; it is entered first in our ledgers, and now it has been transferred to the work-book. 2499. Is the ledger a different book?-The work-book is a kind of compound between the two. It was entered first in the one, and then in the other. 2500. But it was because the woman was working for you that the account happened to be put in that form?-Of course. I think that was mostly the way in which the credit was got. She would just creep in and then, and she was in the habit of getting things that she asked for, and these were put into the book. That is the only way in which I can account for her getting them. But I would draw attention to the copy of her account, as showing that she got goods she needed them and it was a mere subterfuge for her to say that she got goods from the merchant although she did not knit for him. 2501. Is there anything further you wish to say with regard to the evidence of Elizabeth Robertson?-Nothing, except with regard to these two items of it. 2502. When she was under examination she handed me this line [showing line quoted in Elizabeth Robertson's evidence]; and I have also got a line in these 'C. Y. 92.-Credit bearer value in goods for 18s. 'R. SINCLAIR & CO. 'J.J.B. '22. 12. 71.' Do you give out many of these lines in your business?-Yes, a good many. 2503. How is that?-It is not our wish to give lines, if the women would only take the value out at once; but when they have bargained to take goods for their work or for their hosiery, and they will not take them at the time, what are we to do?-We might enter them in a book, but they prefer to have a line, and come with it and get what they want marked on it later, whenever they want the goods. 2504. What is the meaning of the initial letters at the commencement of the line?-They are put there so that we may be able to identify the lines at a glance and they correspond with the same letters in the line-book, where a check is kept. The numbers begin under each initial letter, and run to 100 consecutively until that number is reached, and then we begin with another initial letter. For instance, after C. W. we have C. X. 2505. There are two letters: how do you explain that?-Because, when we get to the end of the alphabet we must distinguish; we could not begin with again. 2506. In introducing this system of notation you began with?- Yes, and went on to Z. 2507. You numbered these receipts or notes, or whatever they may be called, A 1, A 2, and so on up to A 100, and then you went through the alphabet with one letter until you came to Z 100?- Yes. 2508. When you began to take A A 1, and so on?-I think it was A B, until we came to the end of the alphabet again. 2509. Then you took BA, and so on to B Z, using the double letters BA, 100 times, and the double letters BC 100 times?-Yes. 2510. How long is it since this system was introduced?-I have no recollection how long it is since it began. It is not two years, I think; but it may be more. 2511. Does that mean that you have issued some 6000 or 8000 of these lines in two years?-I suppose so. It will just mean about that. 2512. Can you give me any idea, or do your books give any idea, within what time these lines are brought back to be liquidated?- Sometimes in two hours, and sometimes longer. When we take goods from the knitters, we generally, in order to prevent any mistake, give them a receipt for them in that form; and having other work to do when we are very busy, they take that in their pocket and go away, and then they look in again when we have a slack moment and get the value of it, sometimes on the very same day. I don't know how often it is on the same day, but it is very often. 2513. Are these lines only given to the people who sell you goods, or are they given also to your work-people?-There are very few of the work-people who got lines in that way. It is only when the people selling goods that they may get such a line if they want it. 2514. Can you tell me any of your work-people who have got lines in that way?-I cannot; but the work-book would show if such lines had been given. 2515. In what way does the work-book show it?-By an entry to the individual's debit. I think you will find very few of them. 2516. What do you call these things? Do you call them I O U's, or receipts, or lines; or what are they?-They are just vouchers for their value. [Page 54] 2517. Is it a general practice in the trade in Lerwick to give these lines?-It is only within the last few years that it has been practised to any extent, and we would, much rather do away with them if we could. 2518. How could they be done away with?-Just by giving the people value for their goods when they bring them. That is the only way I know. 2519. Do you mean the value in cash?-The value in cash or in goods. If it cash tariff were introduced, which I suppose would be better for the whole of us, it would save us all this bother. 2520. Do you think it would be better to have a cash system introduced altogether?-It would be better for the trade, at any rate. 2521. But the nominal price paid to the knitters would in that case be less?-I think that, in some cases, not only the nominal but the real price would be less. 2522. Do you mean that the knitter would really get less value for her work?-I do mean that, as we have always endeavoured to deal on that principle,-to sell on cash terms, and to take the very least we could for the article in cash. 2523. You mean that you take the smallest profit you can on your goods?-Yes. Suppose for instance, a woman comes in with a shawl, the market value of which is 20s. that is the price I should expect to get, and would get, for it. 2524. Do you mean that is the market value in Lerwick?-No; it is the market value in the south. Suppose the value put upon it were £1, I would only get 20s. for it in the south. 2525. Do you sell your goods to retail or wholesale dealers?-I sell them wherever I can get them sold, but the greater part of them are sold wholesale; that is, we sell them wholesale to retail dealers. 2526. You sell them to retail dealers, so that you have only one price, for your goods going south?-Yes. 2527. You heard Mr. Laurenson state that there was sometimes it difference in the price which he charged, according as the sale was one to dealer, or to a dealer who sold retail?-I understood Mr. Laurenson to mean that he made a difference when he sold a shawl to a private customer, and when he sold a dozen or two to a retail dealer; and so do we. 2528. Is that the only difference you make in selling your goods?-Yes; and we think that is only fair the trade. 2529. I interrupted you when you were putting the case of a shawl worth 20s. What did you wish to say about that?-We fix our lowest rate of profits, and we give the people goods the same as if they had cash to lay down for them; and I can bring evidence to that effect if you want it. 2530. Do you mean that you fix your lowest rate of profit upon the hosiery goods you buy?-No; our lowest rate of profit on the goods we sell. A third way of explaining it is, that we treat as cash the goods which we buy. A shawl worth 20s. is reckoned by us as a £1 note would be reckoned,-with this difference, that if a man is laying down a £l note we would give him 5 per cent. discount when he bought our goods. We consider that the trouble we have with the shawls, and the time we lie out of our money, is worth 5 per cent. 2531. Then what you say comes to this: that upon your hosiery goods you make no profit at all?-Not when they are once sold; that is to say, when they are once bought, the profit lies in the profit we have upon the goods. That is the only profit we have in the matter. 2532. But upon the hosiery, looked at by itself, you do not make any profit at all?-No; I say that I make none, and I swear to that most emphatically. 2533. In other words, the profit you make upon your purchases of hosiery is only the profit you make upon your sales of goods, which are given in return for the hosiery?-Yes; in short, it is two sales for one profit. 2534. That is to say, you are obliged to take the hosiery at the market price in the south, in order to get payment for your drapery and other goods?-With regard to that, I am not obliged to take them, further than that is the only thing in the country that reckoned as a kind of payment. 2535. It is the only thing which your purchasers have to give you for your goods?-That is my meaning exactly. 2536. You were going to offer me some evidence of that?-I can give evidence of it afterwards. My own employees can prove it, also women who have been in my employment, and also people who have been purchasing both for cash and goods. 2537. What can they prove?-They can prove that there is no difference between the two prices, and that the price which I charged is the lowest price I can fix. 2538. You are prepared to give evidence of this fact, that the price you allow to the seller of hosiery in Shetland is the price you get from the buyer in the south?-Yes, I can prove that. At least I can prove that it is so on the whole, by comparison, the invoiced prices of the goods sent south with the general prices of goods bought in the country. Here is a list of them [producing trade list]. 2539. Is this list what you send to your purchasing customers?- Yes; and if you compare these prices with the prices of similar goods bought at the counter of my shop, you will find that there is no difference. The question was put to me, whether there would be a difference between the nominal value a customer would receive under the present system and if a cash system were introduced. I say there would be a real difference, but ultimately the merchant would be no loser. The difference would lie in this: that if I were compelled to buy goods for cash, that is, if I could not barter them, I would have no profit by giving the same rate that I now give. That, I think, is plain from what I have already stated. Then I would require to buy them at a discount equivalent to the profit I now have on my goods, or else I could not carry on my trade; and that would be the same with whoever dealt in these articles. The cash price we can afford to give for Shetland goods here is just the value we pay for the goods that we give in exchange for them; and if we were to give more than that price, there would be an end of the trade. 2540. Do you not mean that it is the value you pay for the goods you give in exchange, plus your profit upon these goods?-I say the price we could afford to pay in cash is just the price we do pay cash, which is paid not to the knitter, but to the party in the south that we buy our goods from. Our goods cost us cash: that cash, thousands of pounds every year, would go into the hands of the knitters here; but in that case we would just give them that money, less the profit we have on the goods. That is speaking of the thing in a broad sense. There would be a real loss to the knitters in that case where they were fairly dealt with, because they could not get goods without a profit, and they in that case would have to put their hands into their pockets and give a few shillings more. For instance, suppose the case of a 20s. shawl: they get 20s. of real good value for it under the present system. If I were obliged to pay in cash, I suppose I could not give more than 16s. or 17s. for it; and if the individual wanted the very same thing from me which she can now get for the 20s., yet under the other system she would require to go to some other shop and purchase it, paying 3s. or 4s. more for it than she now does. 2541. Is this what it comes to: that if a cash system were introduced, the knitter would be worse off, because the merchant would require to take two profits instead of one?-He would only have one profit to take. 2542. But if it were a cash system, would he have to take two profits?-No, he would not take two profits. 2543. If there were a cash system, would not the [Page 55] buyer of the hosiery from the knitter require to make a profit upon the hosiery?-Decidedly. 2544. And further, would not the seller of the goods to her require to have a profit upon these goods as well?-Certainly. 2545. Therefore there would be two profits?-Yes; there would be two profits taken from the knitter, but not by me. 2546. But I am putting the case of the knitter, and in that case the buyer of the hosiery might be a different person altogether?-That is my meaning. 2547. The knitter would have to sell her hosiery at such a price that the hosiery merchant would make a profit on his re-sale, while she would have to buy the goods at such a price that the dealer from whom she bought them would make something like the present profit which you make upon them?-Yes. Suppose we were to purchase for cash, and the cash system were introduced, in all probability the drapers would be simply drapers, and not hosiers at all; or they might withdraw their capital from the drapery business and embark it in the hosiery business altogether. 2548. Then what you mean to make out is, that at present you are making only one profit?-I do mean to make that out, for it is true; and I am very thankful when I can get it. 2549. How do you prove that there is only one profit at present?- By looking at the prices at which the goods are bought and sold. 2550. Let us take a single instance: you have put in a wholesale trade list for 1870?-Yes; we have later ones, but that will be sufficient for the purpose. There is no difference on them. 2551. Is that list issued at the beginning of the year?-I should like that others proved that, and not me. You can get it from my employees, or from my books, or from people who buy from me. 2552. In what way do you suggest that it should be shown? By this wholesale trade list, and by taking a variety of instances from your books in which prices have been paid for the articles that are mentioned here?-Yes. 2553. How would that be shown in your books?-By entries to the knitters whom we deal with. 2554. We could not find that by the entries in the work-book, because they show it only in detail?-I am not speaking of the work-book just now. 2555. It could only be shown by the sales?-Yes; and of course that list has been prepared from the prices which we pay for the goods. 2556. Do you mean the prices to dealers, or prices to people who sell them over the counter to you?-I mean the prices that we pay to the people for them, and which I pay over to them. 2557. But I think you said that when you buy the goods over the counter, no record is kept of these prices?-No; but the people that we buy them from would tell you the prices they get for them. In some instances, where debts have been paid by means of these goods, there may be entries in the books which will show the prices. 2558. Is there any entry in your books at all of your purchases of hosiery? I rather understood you to say that there was no such entry?-I think I said that when goods were presented for sale, there was note taken of what was given for them; but when goods come from the north isles or from people who send them to us from a distance, we enter them in the books. 2559. Are there dealers in the north isles who send goods to you?-Either dealers or private individuals may send us falls or various other things, and the entries with regard to them will show the prices given for them. 2560. These transactions will appear in the day-book?-I think so. 2561.You think Mr. Sandison, your bookkeeper, would be better able to point these out than you?-He would be better able to lay his hand on them; but sometimes we buy from dealers and pay cash for them, and same thing applies in that case which Mr. Laurenson stated, that we charge a small percentage on these goods, because we pay in cash for them. 2562. You put in the trade list, and you also put in a copy invoice, which you have shown to me, containing the prices at which you have sold the goods there mentioned?-Yes. It shows that there is a certain discount allowed; but that discount does not come off the profits charged on the hosiery, but off the sales of goods I give for them. 2563. Do you calculate that there is a larger profit upon hosiery goods which are made by your own knitters than on those which you buy and sell in the way you have described?-That is it question I have sometimes asked myself; and, taking the thing altogether, I don't think there is much difference. 2564. Don't you allow a little for the extra trouble and risk you have with your knitters?-There is a certain market price that we cannot get beyond. We must take the price in the market. Unless one merchant was able to monopolize the trade altogether, and force up the prices, he would not get more than the market price of the goods. 2565. You have said that the footing on which you settle with your knitters and with those who sell to you is, that the bargain between you is that they are to take goods?-That is the understanding. We do not make any formal bargain. 2566. Is that bargain made with the knitters whom you employ at the time when you give out the wool?-I have said already that we make no formal bargain, but it is generally understood that we pay them in kind. They know that, and consequently they very seldom ask for anything else. But we don't stick entirely to that. 2567. You sometimes give them cash?-Yes. 2568. Is it regarded as a great favour to pay them a considerable sum in cash?-I may give an instance. The general price paid for knitting a fall of Shetland yarn is about 1s. That is about the average price, although the coarser quality may be lower than that. The yarn for that fall costs us from 6d. to 7d. That is paid in cash; and the girl is paid part in cash and part in goods, or it may be all in goods. That brings up the cost to 19d.; but if it is wanted black we must pay freight south, in order to have it dyed, and freight back to Shetland. We also pay for the dyeing of it; and these things altogether come to about 11/2d. per fall-that is 1s. 81/2d.; and then there is dressing, 1d. 2569. When do you send it south for dyeing?-When it is made. 2570. And do you bring it back here to be dressed?-Yes; that is an additional expense upon it, which has never been pointed out. 2571. Could it not be dressed in the south?-No, it could not. 2572. It must come back here simply for the dressing?-Yes; we could not value it unless we got it back and sorted it, and knew the value of it. 2573. You don't know the value of it until it is dressed?-We do not ask ourselves the value before then. We know the average value of them pretty nearly; but we send them south, and get them back dyed, and then we must dress them. There are a number of them which may be damaged, either in the working or the dyeing, and that detracts from their value, and that very fall I am now referring to, when it comes to be sold, will not bring more than perhaps 2s. In that way you can calculate where our profit lies. There are cheaper falls that do not bring more than 18d., and sometimes even lower. 2574. Then I understand you to say that in every bargain with a knitter, and generally with a seller, of a shawl, the understanding is that they are to take the price in goods?-Yes; that has been so time out of mind: I remember a time about forty years ago, when it was different and when there were two prices on goods which they sold. 2575. There were two prices then-one for cash, and the other for goods?-Yes; perhaps from 20 to per cent. of difference. I remember hearing that question discussed at my father's fire when I was a mere youth. I have been told, although I do know it [Page 56] myself, because I was not in the trade then, a woman may have bought a piece of goods for 16d., when a party paying cash for it only paid 1s. The more intelligent of, the natives thought that was an iniquitous thing; but then it was always known and done avowedly, and the people yielded to it. They said it was not possible for them to take barter, and sell their goods at the same rate because there was so much risk and outlay. That reason never appeared satisfactory to me; and it was not until I came behind the scenes, as it were, that I saw the reason for it was, that the value given for Shetland goods was far beyond what it really was worth in the market. Its real value in the market was about the same amount less than what was charged as an addition upon the goods. What I mean is that, supposing a woman came in with a pair of stockings, the real market price of which was 2s., but for which she wished 2s. 6d., the merchant, in order to secure a sale for his goods, would give her goods in exchange of the nominal value of 2s. 6d., but he would put 3d. a yard on the price of the goods which he gave in exchange. That explains how it is that a person knowing the value of the articles, seeing the purchase which the woman might have made, and hearing the price of it, might have said that they were about 25 per cent. too high, whereas in reality they were not so. She had merely been getting value for her goods, although she did not know it; and it would not have made any difference; although it had been as many pounds higher, while the relative proportions were kept up between the value of the two articles. 2576. Is that done now?-Not that I know of. 2577. If a woman puts a higher price on her goods, is it not the usual thing for a merchant to put a little additional on the price of the goods which he is to give her in exchange?-I don't know what other merchants do, but we never do it. Only the other day, a woman carried out two shawls which I could have bought if I had departed from our usual practice, but I thought they were priced too high. I could have sold the shawls at 1s. or 2s. lower, but I would not buy them these terms. We have one fixed price for cash and goods. I am not aware whether the practice I have mentioned exists now in the town; I don't think it does. When I commenced business I made it a point fix my price in that way, and I have always adhered that. I was told by some parties I would never do business in that manner; but I had some faith in common sense, and I hoped the people would come to see that they were as well dealt with in taking the real cash value and getting the real cash value; so that we never give a higher price than we consider the thing is worth in the market, and we do not give lower. 2578. You say your understanding is, that goods are to be taken in payment, but that cash is given to a small extent: do you not consider that to be a departure from the understanding?- Decidedly. 2579. You do that, as a favour to the knitter?-Yes; and I wish it to be distinctly understood, that in every case when I give 1s. of cash, I consider it is just 2d. out of my pocket. 2580. Would you not have that profit if the 1s. was spent in your shop?-Yes. 2581. With regard to the lines or receipts which you issue, can you say whether they are generally presented at your shop by the parties to whom they were originally given out?-They are made payable to the bearer, and they may not be presented by these parties. 2582. But, in point of fact, are they generally presented by the parties to whom they have been given out?-It is impossible to know who they have been given out to, or who brings them back. 2583. Then what is the purpose of your keeping this register of them?-It is a check upon the lines. If we had no check of that kind, we would not know what lines were out. 2584. And you would not know what amount was lying out in that way?-No; that is one reason for keeping it. Another thing is, that if a line was lost, and its value paid to another person who had found it, we could see by this book when it was paid. 2585. Could it show to whom it was paid?-No. 2586. I suppose the lines themselves are destroyed when they have been settled for?-Yes. 2587. You have no means of telling from your books, whether they have been presented by the original creditor in them, or by another?-No. 2588. And you don't know about that from your own personal knowledge?-As regards my own personal knowledge, I know that, in the generality of cases, they are presented by the parties to whom they have been given originally. 2589. Does that lead you to conclude that this system of lines is not a new kind of currency that has been generally adopted in Shetland?-I never heard of that. 2590. Does one of these lines pass from hand to hand, in payment for what the creditor in it wants?-Not to my knowledge. It is only now or lately that I have ever heard of such a thing being done. 2591. You have not known of them being transferred to other hands, and being presented by some one from whom the knitter has obtained other goods or services?-There never was any such thing stated to me. 2592. Of course you pay the value of the line to any one who presents it?-Yes. There was a girl, Borthwick, examined here, who said she had to sell her tea at half-price, in order to get other things which she wanted. I spoke to her about it, and said I had never heard of such a thing being done before, and that she must be a great fool to do anything of the kind; for she had come to us and said that she wanted the money, she would have got it upon giving a small discount for it. 2593. Have you actually given money upon that discount when requested?-I have. 2594. That is to say, one of these lines has been presented to you and cash asked for it?-Yes; part cash. I have sometimes given cash on these lines, although it was goods that was bargained for. 2595. The lines bear to be payable in goods?-Yes; but when I saw that the person was really requiring the cash, and that it was not just a 'try-on,' as it were, I took 2d. off the 1s. and paid in cash. 2596. May that have occurred often?-No; very seldom. 2597. Has it been lately?-Yes. I was obliged to make that deduction, because, if I had not done so, it would have opened a door for a system which would have robbed us of every penny of profit. If we were obliged to pay cash instead of goods, we would have no profit at all. 2598. But that has occurred sometimes?-I think it has only occurred twice in the whole of my transactions. 2599. When a discount is taken in that way, how is the entry made in the line-book?-The lines are entered when they are finally paid up. The way in which they are paid does not appear here at all. 2600. Then that discount will not appear in the book?-No; but I may say that I often give small sums of cash on these lines without taking a discount, where I think the person is really in need of it. 2601. I think you said these lines were very seldom given to women whom you employ to knit for you?-Very seldom, I think. 2602. Can you name any of these women who have got them?-I cannot; perhaps Mr. Sandison can. He is more in the way of settling with these people than I am. 2603. Have you any dealings in stockings and the commoner kinds of hosiery?-The price-list will show that. 2604. Is the system of dealing in these just the same as you have already described?-The same principle applies to all the trade. 2605. That kind of goods is generally brought in from the country, I understand?-Yes, generally. 2606. Is it the case that people coming in from the country take goods more readily than the town?-There are very few of the people from the country who ask for cash, but they are now beginning [Page 57] to do it. They think the Truck Commission will force us to give cash. 2607. What is their reason for wanting cash, if they are as well off with goods?-I suppose it is just for same reason, that we all want cash. 2608. But if they get goods, why should they not be content with that?-I don't know. We have no objection to give them cash, if they will only be content to take less of it, on the principle have already explained. 2609. Have you ever stated to the knitters who were coming to sell to you, that they had better take ready money and take less of it?- I have. It would very great deal of bother if they would do so. 2610. What have they said to that proposal?-They have never entered heartily into it. There was a case I may refer to, not of women employed to knit for us but of women from whom we bought shawls over the counter which corroborates what I have already said on that subject. I cannot now recall the names the parties, but I would know their faces at once. 2611. Were they women from Dunrossness?-Three girls came into my shop, each of them having a shawl to sell worth £1. At that time the noise had come up about cash payments, and I said to them, 'Now, what would you take for these in money? I am not saying that I will give you money, but what would you take for them in money?' One of them said, 'Oh, I ken you will just be going to give us money.' I said, 'Why? Don't you think the goods you get cost us money?' She said, 'I ken that fine. I will give my 20s. shawl for 18s. 6d.' I said, I could not give her 18s. 6d. for it, and asked her if she would take 17s. She said, 'No,' and that it would be most unconscionable to take 3s. off the price of a shawl. I said, 'I don't think it, because when I sell the shawl again, I can only get 20s. for it, and then there is a discount of 5 per cent. taken off. 2612. I suppose that bit of trading came to nothing: they did not take money?-No; they did not money; but another one said, 'I would not sell my shawl for 18s. 6d. or 19s. either, for I see a plaid in your shop that I want for my shawl; and what good would it do me to sell you the shawl for 17s., and then take 3s. out of my pocket to pay you in addition, when you are willing to give me the plaid in exchange for the shawl?' That was her answer to me. 2613. Was one of these women Catherine Leslie?-I think so. Leslie was her surname, but her first name I cannot recollect. 2614. There were some payments made by you to Mary Ann Sinclair for meal. Have you often paid accounts to tradesmen for meal?-Not often for meal. 2615. Or for provisions?-Very seldom. We sometimes pay small sums for such things when the people want them. 2616. But you are not able to say whether these goods are paid for directly to the dealer or through the hands of the women?-We sometimes pay for them to the dealer. For instance, if a woman was due an account to a shoemaker or any other person, and told us to pay a part of it for them, we would do it. 2617. Does the tradesman come to your shop and get the payment?-No; we just settle with him. He may come to the shop for it, or he may not; but it is very seldom that such things happen-so seldom, as not to be worth mentioning. The case of Mary Ann Sinclair to which you referred was just a cash transaction. 2618. You remember that now?-I remember that it was a cash transaction. She had to get cash from us to pay her meal with; but the particulars of the transaction I cannot recollect. 2619. She wanted the meal?-Yes; she wanted it, and we did not have it. 2620. But there were two transactions of that kind which she was concerned; one in which she was paid 11s. 3d. for meal, and another in which the entry is, 'Paid William Smith for meal.' Do you recollect about these transactions?-She had to get her meal from some one; but I really cannot say what took place 2621. I want to know what you think about the way in which these women get their living. Have you anything to say about that?-If Mary Ann Sinclair, or any one of her sisters, had come and said, 'I want so much money for meal,' I would have gone to the counter and given her out the money, and she would have gone to any one she pleased for it; or she might have come when I was out, and she could not get the money; or there might not have been money at the counter at the time; and in that case I would say 'Go over to William Smith and get half a boll of meal, and I will pay him again.' I don't think there was any great breach of honesty in that. 2622. I do not say there was; I only want to know your opinion about the way in which those women supply themselves with provisions. Some of them I find are entirely dependent on the proceeds of their knitting for getting supplies of food; is not that so?-Yes. 2623. Now, if they take all the payment for their knitting, or the greater part of it, in goods, I don't quite see as yet where the money comes from with which they pay for their living. Have you considered that point at all?-I have not. They have never complained to me about it. 2624. Don't they say, when they come to you and beg you to give them a little money rather than goods, that they must have something to live upon?-I never heard that yet. It is very seldom they ask for money. 2625. Many of them live with their parents, and are provided for in that way; and when a woman is married, her husband provides for her; but there are single women in Lerwick, are there not, who depend upon their knitting mostly or entirely for their living, and how do they manage if they are paid almost entirely in goods?- These are the cases I have just been explaining to you. For instance, there are the Sinclair girls. 2626. They come and beg for a little money from you in that way?-Yes. 2627. Are there any others?-There are many others who get a little money. 2628. Who are some of these others?-I really don't know that I can go into the matter more fully than I have done. There are several benevolent ladies in the town who buy knitting from these women. They are not bound to work for us; and these ladies, I suppose, pay them in cash. That is one of the ways in which it may be accounted for. 2629. Do you know whether the women prefer to sell to these ladies or to you?-They have never told me anything about that. They just sell their goods where they think they will get the best bargain; but there is this to be said about it, that if they had not some place like ours, they would not get rid of one half the goods they make. The greater part of our knitters are in the country. 2630. And they knit with their own wool?-Yes. 2631. They are mostly the daughters of labourers, or farmers, or fishermen?-Yes; and they spend their leisure hours in knitting. 2632. You have no knowledge of the fact that there is often a want of food among these knitting women?-I never heard that they were really in want. 2633. Have they not stated that as a reason for your giving them money?-No; they have been very reticent on that point if it is a fact. I should be very sorry to know that there were any poor persons starving when I could help them. 2634. I suppose the character of the Shetland people is such that they don't like to confess their poverty if they can help it?-That may be so. They may be too prudent on that point, for all I know; but I suppose there is a great variety of character here as everywhere else. 2635. Has this been a fair season in the knitting trade?-The season is getting over in some departments. It is generally in the fall that we sell most. 2636. I don't mean for the sales, but for your purchases?-Well, the busy season is getting over. [Page 58] 2637. I see from your line-book that on December 13th you gave out about 20 of these acknowledgments; on the 14th, about 20 also; 15th, 18; 16th, 17; 17th, 38; 18th, 10; 20th, 24; and on the 21st, 29. Would that be a busy season of the year?-Yes; very busy. 2638. Perhaps during the rest of the year you were not giving out quite so many each day?-Perhaps not. 2639. The dates of payment are all entered in the book, showing how long the lines have been in currency?-Yes; these have not been long in currency. 2640. I see that a great number of them have been paid up on the very day they were issued?-Yes; it was a system which I adopted in order to prevent any mistake or trusting to memory when I purchase a parcel of hosiery from a woman. Instead of trusting to memory, I give her a receipt for it, and she takes it with her. She may go anywhere else she likes, and then she comes back and gets the value of the line from me; it may be on the same day or two days afterwards, or it may be weeks. The greater part of these lines need not have appeared in the book at all, because they were paid up immediately afterwards. We might have kept a memorandum of them in the shop, and the people might have come and got the value afterwards. I believe other merchants do that, but I thought it was better to give the people an acknowledgment for their goods at the moment they brought them in. 2641. Do these lines go mostly to women in the country or in the town?-Just to any person who brings in goods. There is no distinction. 2642. You cannot say that the one class of women get them more commonly than the other?-No; I cannot say that they do. 2643. Is there any other point you wish to speak to?-I wish to refer to a statement made by one of the previous witnesses, Catherine Borthwick. I was present when she said that she could get no cash, and also that there was a time when there was 5s. 6d. due to her, and she had asked me for 1s. which I did not give to her. I had no recollection of the transaction at the time, and I have none still; but on referring to her account, I cannot find any occasion on which she had 5s. 6d. to get when she came to settle. I now show her account, from which it appears that she did get cash. 2644. Do you remember whether her statement referred to a sale of goods or to money that was due to her for knitting?-I understood she referred to transactions she had had in the shop with regard to her knitting. At least that was my impression at the time. 2645. But if it were a sale of goods that she spoke of, that would not be entered in your books at all?-No, not if it were a sale of goods. 2646. Is there any other point you wish to speakto?-I should wish to make a remark or two about the value of a Shetland shawl. It was stated before the last Commission that a Shetland shawl could be made for very little money. I heard Mr. Laurenson's evidence about that, and I was rather surprised to hear that a 30s. shawl could be made for so little as he stated, or anything approaching to it. It certainly has not been my experience. For a 30s. shawl the worsted would cost 10s.; and if Mr. Laurenson meant a real Shetland shawl, I should say it would cost 12s. at any rate. I consider that the prime cost of a Shetland shawl that would bring 30s. would be this: thirty-six cuts at 4d., 12s.; knitting, 14s.; dressing, 6d.-in all, 26s. 6d. 2647. The 30s. at which that shawl would sell in the south would be the price charged by the retail dealer there?-No. I don't know what the retail dealer's charge for it would be. 2648. Then the 30s. is your charge for it?-Yes. 2649. That is 3s. 6d. you would have on it?-Yes. 2650. Is not that a profit?-Well; it is not a very heavy one. 2651. But still there is a profit?-Did I ever say that we had no profit? 2652. I thought you rather made out that the only profit you had was on the goods you sold?-I am speaking here of the cash value of the thing. We don't get our wool for barter; the wool costs us cash 2653. You allow something for interest on the price of the wool?-Yes. I say that is what I would have to pay for a shawl of that value in cash if I were buying it, or if I were trying to get it made. 2654. You would pay 26s. 6d., and you would sell it at 30s.?- Yes. 2655. Do you not call the 3s. 6d. a profit?-I do; but then in that case there is nothing else for a profit. 2656. You are supposing that you pay the 26s. 6d. in cash? If you were paying for the shawl in goods, would you pay 26s. 6d., or anything more?-If I were paying for it in goods, I would pay 30s. There might 6d. less or 6d. more; but as far as my experience goes of this kind of goods, and selling them at a wholesale price, I could not expect to realize a higher price for them than I pay, taking discounts and all together. 2657. What is the kind of evidence you are to give me to prove that there is no profit on a 30s. shawl which you pay for in goods?-I have no evidence to offer as to that. 2658. Except your trade list?-That would be taking a wide view of the thing. It would embrace the whole trade. The case I have given is a special one in contradiction of the statement made, which was a false one that a Shetland shawl could be made at that price. 2659. The list enables you to say what you sell the articles for, and you leave me to find out the price you pay from particular cases?-Yes; and if an examination of my books would help you in that, they are open to you. I am also prepared to give you the names of a number of women who would be able to tell you what prices they get for their goods. 2660. Can you give me any particular kind of goods which you think would be a fair test of that?-You may take the winter shawls, white, brown, and grey, natural colours, and straight borders. 2661. Do you think that would be a fair test?-I think it would. 2662. But there are no entries in your books which will show at what price you bought these shawls?-There may be. If a woman brings in a shawl, and gets so much goods at the time, then the balance only might be marked down, and that would be no guide to you; but at other times the whole price is marked. 2663. That is, where there are credit balances with people who come to you with shawls?-Yes. 2664. Which book will show that?-The day-book or women's ledger. 2665. Is there anything else you wish to say?-I don't think there is anything else. Lerwick, January 4, 1872, ROBERT LINKLATER, examined. 2666. You carry on business as a merchant in Lerwick?-Yes. 2667. You purchase hosiery, and you keep a stock of drapery goods, and tea, and other articles?-Yes. Tea is the only thing in the grocery line which I keep. 2668. Have you heard the evidence of the preceding witnesses?- Only of the last witness. 2669. Is the manner of conducting business in your establishment similar to that which has been described as being carried on in Mr. Sinclair's?-Very similar; there are some differences. 2670. You deal with knitters of two kinds-women who knit with your wool, and those who sell to you?-Yes. 2671. In both cases are the settlements usually made by means of goods which they take from you?-Yes, principally. 2672. In what proportion is money paid to women who knit with your wool?-I cannot say what the proportion may be. [Page 59] 2673. But is there a much larger proportion of the prices taken in goods?-Yes, very much larger. 2674. Is it the general rule that it is to be paid in goods?-Yes, it is the understanding that goods are given out. 2675. And that any money that is paid is the exception?-Yes. 2676. Is the dealing with these women usually carried on by means of pass-books?-The greater number of the knitters whom I employ have pass-books. 2677. And these pass-books are transcripts of the accounts kept in your ledger?-Yes. 2678. You ledger, I presume, is kept on the principle of having a page for the account of each woman?-Yes; or sometimes a page for two. 2679. On the one side there are the entries of goods got by the woman, and on the other there are entered the payments due to her for knitting?-There is double money column which shows both the credit and debit on the same side. 2680. How many women do you generally employ to knit for you?-I could not say exactly; but I think there might be over 300. 2681. Are these scattered all over the island?-Yes, all over the country. 2682. Is it a subject of complaint with these women that they do not get payment for their work in money?-No; I have not heard much complaint about that. 2683. The understanding is, that the payment is to be in goods?- Yes, it is the understanding that goods are to be taken when the work is given out; but I give a good deal of money. 2681. Is it considered a matter of favour when a woman gets payment in money when she asks for it?-No, I don't think it. 2685. If a woman asks for money rather than goods, is it given to her as a matter of course?-As a matter of course. 2686. Is that done whenever she asks for money?-As far as my recollection goes, it is. The greater number of the knitters whom I employ live in the country, and they very seldom ask for money. When they come in with their work, I generally ask them what they want, and they select the goods which they require. 2687. Do you know Mrs. Jemima Brown or Tait?-Yes; her sister, Harriet Brown, is the only one I have in my books. 2688. Have you ever told Mrs. Tait, or any of her sisters, that you could not give them money, and that you never did it?-I don't remember doing that. I don't remember any money being asked by them. 2689. Is it likely you said that?-I don't think I said it. I don't think I would say it, if I had goods of hers in my hand. 2690. Did she knit with your wool?-Yes. I have no recollection of her asking for money and being refused. 2691. I suppose a knitter of that kind is not likely to ask for money unless there is a balance coming to her upon her account?-It is not likely, and I think there is rather a balance against her. 2692. Is it a probable thing that you may have refused to give her money?- I don't think I did so. 2693. May your shopman, Mr. Anderson, have done so?-Not so far as I know. 2694. Do you issue any kind of lines or acknowledgments for the balances upon sales made to you?-I give no lines. 2695. If a party comes and sells a shawl to you, and does not wish goods to the whole value of it, what is done?-I understand you to refer to goods bought over the counter; in that case I mark the balance down in a book. If they come with a shawl or any other article, and sell it over the counter, and if they don't wish goods to the whole value, I mark the balance down in any name that is given to me. 2696. In what way is that entered?-It is entered on the back of the day-book by itself. 2697. Is there a special place in the day-book for making entries of that kind?-Yes. 2698. They are put under the particular date?-Yes. 2699. And are these balances generally settled up within a short time afterwards?-Generally. 2700. The party comes back soon to you for goods?-Sometimes soon, and sometimes she delays a good while. 2701. Is it usual for a party who has a balance of that kind to ask to get it in cash?-No; that is not usual at all. 2702. When you buy a shawl in that way, do you consider it to be part of your bargain that the payment is to be taken in goods?- Yes; it is distinctly sold for goods in exchange, and paid for in that way. 2703. Is that because there is a distinct understanding to that effect prevailing among the people, or is it stated at the time when the bargain is made?-It is not stated at the time, but there is a distinct understanding that payment is to be taken in goods. 2704. Will you show me the way in which these balances are entered?-[Produces day-book.]. The entry is merely the name of the party and the amount left. I generally put the date upon the top of the page but not the date for each entry. 2705. Then all these entries at the end of the book are entries of balances due by you?-Yes. 2706. And when a party comes and gets the goods, the balance is marked as 'settled'?-Yes. 2707. Where there is a sum like 3s. 4d. or 7s. 101/2d. due, there must sometimes be a little difficulty in making it square exactly, is there not?-No difficulty whatever. 2708. Is there not a difficulty in getting the exact quantity of goods to answer to that balance?-No, I don't see any difficulty. 2709. The woman may want so many yards of cotton, or a pair of gloves, or a packet of tea, and she may bring up the sum to 7s. 6d. or 7s. 3d., there being 7s. 101/2d. due to her; in such a case, how do you square off the balance?-She always takes the full value of it when she comes to settle. 2710. If the goods she gets come to something more than the balance due to her, does she pay the rest in money?-If it comes to anything more, she either pays it in money, or she may have another piece of goods to sell. 2711. Suppose 7s. 101/2d. is the sum at her credit, and she takes various articles amounting to 7s. 7d., leaving 31/2d. over, might she not have some difficulty in selecting an article to cover that?-No, I don't find any difficulty in that at all. 2712. I suppose you or your shopman can suggest something very easily?-Well, there is always something required. 2713. Have you often been importuned by these women to pay them in money, because they could not supply themselves with the means of living unless they were paid for their work partly in cash?-No; there are many cases where cash is given. 2714. These are cases where the people were in circumstances to require it?-Yes. 2715. And I suppose you are acquainted with these cases?-Yes; I generally know the people who are actually requiring money when they ask for it. 2716. Do people often ask for money in that way?-Not often. 2717. Then there are few of them who are in circumstances to require money?-I should not say that. I think there are many of them who require money. 2718. Do you mean that many of them are in need of money payments for their knitting, in order to provide themselves with the necessaries of life?-In the town there are a good many who at particular seasons of the year have other ways of working outside as well as knitting. 2719. For these, do they get money payments?-Yes. 2720. Or they have friends with whom they live?-Yes; and in the country there are a great many who live with their parents. 2721. But there are some women who depend entirely upon their knitting for a living?-I believe there are. [Page 60] 2722. You don't know any of them yourself?-I could not mark out any one. 2723. But when you do meet with a woman of that description, and have dealings with her, cash payments must sometimes be made?-Yes; it little cash. 2724. If she takes her goods from you and only little cash, how do you suppose she supplements her means of living?-Just in the way I have stated, by working outside at the proper season of the year. 2725. Is that in the fish-curing business?-There is fish-curing, but there is other work outside besides that. 2726. Do you agree with the preceding witness, that there are two prices for hosiery goods bought-a cash price, and a price when paid in goods?-I very seldom buy goods for cash. 2727. But if you were doing so, would you have two prices?-I would not give the same price in cash as in goods. 2728. Do you also agree with his statement, that where you buy a shawl or other Shetland hosiery for goods, you do not get any profit except the profit which you have upon the goods?-I would not say that. 2729. In pricing a shawl, do you allow a certain margin for your own profit?-There must be that; because we get a very great deal of bad stock, and a good many of the things lie on our hands for a considerable time before we can realize what they cost us, and therefore we must have a margin for profit. 2730. There has been a statement made, that a shawl which sells in the south for 30s. can be made in Shetland for 26s. 6d.; do you agree with that?-Yes; from about 25s. to 26s. 6d. 2731. You think that statement is about correct?-Yes. 2732. Is that the price you would give in cash for such a shawl?-I am not prepared to say that. Until a cash tariff comes in, I could not decidedly say what I would give for it. 2733. Is that because of the rarity of your dealings in cash?-It is not exactly that; I should think that there would be an ordinary profit. 2734. I am speaking of a shawl that would sell in the south for 30s.; would the price you give for that shawl in goods be 26s. 6d.?-No; would be nearer 30s. in goods, perhaps about 28s. 6d. 2735. And if you were to buy it for cash, the price would be from 25s. to 26s.?-Perhaps about 26s. 2736. Then, if a similar shawl were made by your own knitters, how would you calculate the cost of production? would you supply a certain amount of Shetland wool?-Yes. 2737. How much would it require?-I think it would require about 35 or 36 cuts at 4d.-12s.; 13s. for the knitting of the shawl, and 6d. for the dressing; making 25s. 6d. That is for a white shawl, without speaking of dyeing at all. 2738. Do you deal in the commoner hosiery?-Yes. 2739. Is the system pursued in that business the same as you have described?-Yes. 2740. There is no difference that you think worth referring to?- No. 2741. Do you agree generally with Mr. Sinclair on all the other points he has spoken to?-I do. 2742. You have pointed out some differences in answer to my questions with regard to several of the points, but you don't remember anything else on which you incline to differ from him?-No; I think there is very little in which I would be inclined to differ from him. 2743. Is there anything else you wish to state?-I should wish to make one explanation with regard to the evidence given in Edinburgh about the cost of the worsted for a 30s. shawl. 2744. That evidence has already been spoken to by Mr. Laurenson?-I did not hear his evidence. 2745. He stated that the worsted for a 30s. shawl would come to at least 10s.?-If it is Shetland wool, the worsted for a 30s. shawl would cost me about 12s. 2746. If a 30s. shawl is made with any other kind of wool, is there a difference in the cost of the wool?-There would be a difference of about 3s. 2747. The English wool would be about 3s. cheaper?-Yes. 2748. And the shawl would sell for how much?-I suppose for about that much less, or about 27s. 2749. A shawl exactly the same in other respects would be made out of English wool for 3s. less?-Yes; for 2s. or 3s. less. 2750. And it would also sell in the market for 2s. or 3s. less?- Yes. 2751. The knitting in that case would be paid at the same rate?- Yes. 2752. Do you buy much wool in Shetland?-We buy all the fine wool we can get. In fact, we cannot get supplied with as much Shetland wool as we want. 2753. You don't buy it to resell?-No; I just buy it for my own use. 2754. Is it the fact that some of your Shetland hosiery is sold without any profit at all?- There is some of it sold below cost price when it comes to be bad stock. 2755. Are gentlemen's drawers, for instance, sold without a profit?-I think they are sold at no reduction. 2756. Do you make any profit upon them?-Yes, I make a profit. 2757. You sell them south at a higher rate than you pay to the knitters for them?-Yes; at a shade higher, some of them. 2758. I have had evidence today from one gentleman that he bought them and sold them at a lower price. Do you think that is the case?-It is quite possible, and I have known instances of that with myself. 2759. Does that happen with you in some kinds of goods?-Yes; with certain kinds of goods which are produced in larger quantities than are required. 2760. But that over-production does not continue over a long period of time?-It does in the knitting trade with myself. I don't pay off any of the knitters; I keep them on. 2761. Can they not turn their attention to some other kinds of work when there is too much stock of a particular kind?-It is generally lacework, veils or shawls, that I give out for knitting. 2762. But when there is an over-production of that kind of goods, can the knitters not turn their hands to something else?-They do so occasionally. 2763. So that you have not an increasing stock of goods which you cannot sell at a profit?-Very often they cannot get the wool with which to make the coarser sort of goods. It is not to be got, and there is a very large proportion of the Shetland wool sent south, and sold as raw material. 2764. Then the women are restricted to the articles for which they have suitable wool?-Yes; both those who knit for themselves, and those who knit with the wool which we give out. 2765. That is to say, you have not always the kind of wool that you want?-No; we cannot get a sufficient quantity of fine Shetland wool; but I don't give out any wool for making coarse goods, only the lace goods. I don't give out wool for such things as men's underclothing and stockings. 2766. Have you anything else to say?-No; there is nothing more that occurs to me to say. Lerwick, January 4, 1872, JAMES TULLOCH, examined. 2767. You are a merchant in Lerwick?-I am. 2768. You keep a drapery store?-Yes. 2769. Do you sell any other goods?-The only grocery goods I sell are tea and soap. 2770. Do you purchase hosiery?-My chief business in it is purchasing it. I have very few knitters employed. 2771. Do you pay them in money or goods?-It is the understanding that they are to be paid in goods; but I often give a few shillings when they ask for it, [Page 61] both when purchasing and when I employ the women to knit. I have only one or two persons knitting for me in Lerwick just now, and not more than three or four that I remember of in the country. My business in that way is mostly done by purchase. 2772. Do your knitters have pass-books?-No; the account with them is just kept in the day-book and ledger. 2773. You have an account in the ledger with each knitter?-Yes. 2774. Does it show what proportion of the payment to the knitter is made in cash?-No. In some cases the price is marked in and sometimes not. 2775. Then how do you know what you have paid if it is not marked?-The transaction is very often carried through without reference to the book at all, particularly in the case of a purchase. 2776. But I am speaking only of those knitters whom you employ. I am quite aware that in sales it generally a transaction that is finished at the time; but in the case of your knitters, how do you know how much is paid to them in cash?-I had many more knitters at one time than I have now, but I have given them up. With regard to the one who is knitting for me just now, I don't remember whether she ever asked me for any cash upon her knitting or not. 2777. Have you only one woman knitting for you just now?-I have only two, and one of them has had no knitting for some time. I don't remember of either of these two having ever asked me for money. 2778. They have an account in your books, and they take goods, and their account is balanced now and again?-Yes. 2779. Do you sell worsted?-No. For the last few months I have had a little of the Pyrenees wool to sell, and I have sold it. 2780. Is that extensively purchased by people who wish to knit?- There seems to be a good deal of it wrought into small articles at present. I have never wrought up any of it. 2781. Is it an article that is sold for cash?-Yes; but sometimes we give it out upon the work that is brought in. 2782. There is no difficulty made about giving it out upon a transaction of that sort?-No; not that kind of it. I never object to give Scotch wool. 2783. But you do object to give the Shetland wool that is purchased for cash?-Yes; we have a profit on the Pyrenees wool. 2784. Why is it called Pyrenees wool?-I don't know. It is sometimes called Scotch wool too. 2785. Is it the practice in your shop to give workers lines for a balance that is due upon goods sold?-Yes. 2786. What is the form of these lines?-I have one or two of them here. (Produces lines.) It is in this form: 'I O U 1s. 3d. in goods. JAMES TULLOCH 3. 1. 72.' There is a private mark in the corner which is only known to myself, showing the amount; and there is also a private stamp on the corner, as a guarantee for the genuineness of the line. 2787. The other one which you produce is a blank form?-Yes. I keep some of them on hand, ready for filling up. 2788. Can your clerk issue them in your absence?-Yes; he knows the private mark too, and he puts it there. 2789. Do you keep a register of these notes?-No; they are just given out as they are required, and goods are given for them when they are brought in. Sometimes I have given goods for a note which the people said they had lost or torn; but it is only as a matter of convenience for them that they are given at all. 2790. You would rather give the goods to them at once?-Yes. Sometimes lines are given to them when we do not have a particular thing they want; and we also give them out sometimes when we are in a hurry. 2791. Have you ever been asked to give money in return for these lines instead of goods?-I cannot charge my memory just now with any case of that kind, but sometimes it may happen. The lines are only given out for goods purchased, and not for knitting; and several times I have given 5s., and 4s., and 3s., and 2s., and so on, in cash; but if they ask for much money on a shawl, the understanding then is that I shall get it at a little less. 2792. That is arranged at the time of the sale?-Yes. 2793. But suppose the sale is concluded, and one of these lines is given for the balance, do you then understand that the whole sum due is to be taken in goods?-Yes. The reason why I expect to get the shawl for a little less if large part of the price is wanted in money, is because I never consider that I realize above what I pay in goods for my hosiery, and very often there is a heavy discount off. I have heard some of the other evidence which seems to clash a little with that, but I can easily explain it. 2794. What can you explain?-The apparent discrepancy between the value received in goods, and what the articles realize in the market. The hosiery market is a very uneven thing. 2795. If there is anything you can explain on which Mr. Laurenson and Mr. Sinclair have differed, I shall be glad to hear it?-Of course it is not my business to try to reconcile their evidence, but I was about to say that the hosiery market in the south is very irregular. It is done to some extent by a kind of, I can hardly call it favouritism, but there are houses in England that if they begin to buy from one party, they will not afterwards buy from another. If they get a very long credit, they will give a higher price, and I know of persons they are constantly dealing with to whom they will give 9s. or 10s., for an article, while they would only offer 6s. or 7s. for it to another. 2796. Are you now referring to people in the south?-Yes, wholesale dealers. And just as we may happen to get into the good graces of a good customer, so prices vary. 2797. But every article has a different price of its own, I fancy? You cannot price a Shetland shawl without seeing it and judging of it both as to the material and the workmanship?-No; that is quite true. 2798. You cannot get twenty shawls of a certain size at the same price?-No; but we can perhaps select them out of a greater quantity. 2799. But you cannot get twenty shawls made to order exactly of the same value?-No. 2800. What is your reason for carrying on that system of paying in goods?-It has been of old date. It was the practice when I commenced to the trade; but my own impression is that if a money system were adopted, only a very few of the producers would accept of it, because they would, as a consequence and as a general rule, have to take 20 or 25 per cent. less in money than they would get in goods. We buy with the understanding that we are to realize what we pay in goods. As I have said, sometimes for a certain article, or in a good market, a good deal more may be realized; but then we have the risk of loss, and we have a heavy discount; and therefore we have to live by the profit on the goods we sell. If we were to pay in cash, then of course we must buy at a lower rate, so as to give us some profit on the shawl, and consequently if a woman were to come in with a shawl, and to agree that the price was to be 20s. worth of goods, it is not likely that, unless she was very hard up for money, she would take 15s. or 16s. 2801. Can you give me any instance in which you have paid a cash price for a shawl which was lower than what you were willing to give in goods?-I don't recollect any case of that kind just now, except one. 2802. How long ago was that?-Not very long; perhaps a few months. 2803. What were the circumstances of that transaction?-It was one of these fine shawls. I don't know what I would have offered for it, but the person said she would give it to me for £2 in money, and it was agreed that that was to be the bargain. When [Page 62] I saw the shawl, it did not turn out to be quite so good as I had expected. The woman had got £1 of money at the time when the bargain was made, and after that she had taken up some goods out of the shop, and the balance of the price was taken out in goods. 2804. The bargain was made in that case, before the shawl was knitted?-No, the shawl was knitted. 2805. I thought you said, it did not turn out to be quite so good as you expected?-No, it was not quite so good when I came to see it as I expected from hearing of it. 2806. Had you looked at the shawl before you made the bargain?-I had seen her knitting it. I may remark, that very often these goods turn out better than they look when they are in an undressed state, and sometimes much worse. 2807. Have you any objection to adopt a cash system the people are willing to agree to it?-Of course I would have no particular objection; but my own impression is, that a cash system, if adopted, would give a very great check to the sale of goods. 2808. Don't you think it would be better for the merchant?-I don't know. I think a merchant would never risk so much if he had to pay in cash, or push so hard as he does now. 2809. Would the merchant in that case not make sure of getting two profits instead of one?-No, he would not do that. 2810. He would have a profit on his hosiery, because he would buy it at a cash price, and sell it at a price which would pay him for his risk, would he not?-There much competition in the trade already that the price kept up to its utmost point. Indeed, it is kept above what the goods actually realize. 2811. But if a man was depending upon the profit he was to get on his hosiery, he would not pay more for it than he could afford?- Of course he would not; but just as in other businesses, opposition here is sometimes the life of trade, and sometimes it is the death of trade. 2812. How do you apply that principle here?-There is sometimes such a keen competition that people cut up one another. 2813. Do you think the competition, would be so keen that the cash prices for the hosiery would be forced up to the level of the goods prices that are paid now?-That would depend. Those who had the best markets would be able to give the best, price, and no doubt they might by that means be able to drive others comparatively out of the trade. 2814. Is it the case, that you generally send your shawls south at such a figure as leaves you no profit upon them?-Taking it all in all, I never have any profit on certain articles. When I have an opportunity of selling to a private person, or when I get private orders, I generally realize a profit, but when I sell to wholesale merchants taking the thing as a whole, I consider that I have never realized the full price of my goods from the hosiery which I have sold. 2815. Is that one of the reasons which lead you to continue the system of paying in goods?-Of course, the system is quite general. 2816. No doubt; but supposing it were not general, would that be a reason for continuing it in order that you might make a profit out of the goods you give for the hosiery?-Of course I cannot say exactly what it might be, further than that, as I have already stated, we had to pay in cash, we would have to buy at considerably lower rates, and I am not aware that there is such a demand in the south as to enable us to do that. 2817. But you say that at present you do not make a profit upon the goods sent south?-Yes; I say that there is no profit upon the goods sent south, taking it as a general thing. The profit I have is upon the goods which I sell in exchange for the hosiery which I buy. 2818. You say you generally buy shawls: you do not get them knitted for you?-No, I have very few knitted for me. 2819. Suppose you pay 25s. for a shawl, at what price will you invoice that to your southern customer?-Generally, I would just invoice it at about the same price. Sometimes I am obliged to put it lower, but when an article after dressing turns out to be better than I expected, then I may put a shilling or so upon it. 2820. Do you keep an invoice-book?-I keep no invoice-book, but only a day-book and ledger. 2821. The day-book shows the number of shawls you send south, and the prices at which they are invoiced?-Yes. Lerwick, January 4, 1872, WILLIAM JOHNSTONE, examined. 2822. You are a merchant in Lerwick in the same line of business that is carried on by Mr. Robert Sinclair?-Yes, something similar 2823. You deal in the same articles, and purchase hosiery in the same way?-Yes. 2824. Do you also employ knitters?-Yes. 2825. How many of them do you employ?-I can hardly tell. I have very few just now. I have sometimes had as many as from 30 to 50, but I have not nearly so many at present. I don't think I have a dozen altogether just now. 2826. Do they mostly live in Lerwick?-Yes. 2827. Are these knitters so employed by you paid for their work by taking goods, or do you, sometimes pay them in cash?-They are generally paid by taking goods. If they ask for a little cash at any time, I will give it. 2828. Are their names entered in your books?-Yes. 2829. Has each of them an account in your ledger?-Yes; a small book which I keep for the purpose. [Produces book.] We generally settle for an article when they bring it in, but sometimes there may be a balance on one side or the other. 2830. Does this book show the amount of cash that is paid for the shawls brought in to you?-No. There are many transactions that are never entered here at all. 2831. But does the book show the amount of cash that is paid for shawls which are knitted to order with your own wool?-No; when I give out wool for the knitting of a shawl, no note of it appears in the book at all. 2832. What note do you take of it?-I merely take a memorandum on a piece of paper. 2833. Then you may have a lot of slips of that kind lying beside you?-No. I very likely burn them whenever the shawls are returned, and if I know the woman sufficiently well, I may give the wool to her without keeping any note of it of any kind. 2834. Do you trust to your memory for that?-Yes. I weigh the wool before it goes out. 2835. What proportion of the wages of these workers is paid by you in money?-I cannot say. 2836. Will there be a shilling in the pound paid money?-I cannot say, but I think there will be more than that. 2837. May there be 2s.?-I cannot say exactly. Perhaps if they come with a shawl for which they are to get 8s. or 10s., they may get 1s. or 2s. upon it, but if they did not ask it, they would not get it. 2838. The understanding is that you pay them goods?-Yes. 2839. Are you often asked to give some money?-Very seldom; but whenever they ask for money, they get it, or any other thing I have in the shop. 2840. Can you explain how women who knit for you support themselves if they only get soft goods and tea for their knitting?- There are very few of them who do not do other work. There may be a few who do nothing but knit, but the greater part of the girls and women who employ themselves at knitting have other work to do besides. Some of them sew slop shirts for the agents shops, and various other things. 2841. These are required for the men who go to the whale-fishing?-Yes. [Produces day-book.] The [Page 63] details of the goods sent south are all there. It is only the amount that is posted into the ledger. 2842. What would be the cost of producing this one dozen socks [showing]?-They were bought with barter for exactly the same value of goods as is charged for them there. I have also to be at the expense of dressing them and packing them, and then perhaps lying out of my money for twelve months. 2843. Then you dress them for nothing?-I must dress them for nothing. 2844. Is not that a loss to you?-Yes. 2845. And you must pay yourself for that out of the profit on the goods which you give for them?-Yes. 2846. Is that a common thing in your trade?-I believe it is. Of course there are some of the articles on which there is a profit. 2847. I see here 'One brown half hap shawl, 3s. 9d.:' would there be a profit upon that?-There would not be much; perhaps there would be 8d. on it. 2848. 'One large hap, 18s.:' would you have a profit on that?- Yes; I might have about 2s. That article was made specially to order. 2849. Was it made with, your own wool?-Yes. 2850. 'One white hap, 9s. 6d.?'-There might be about 1s. on that hap. 2851. Was it bought over the counter for goods?-I think that one was made upon an order; but it was paid for by me in goods. 2852. There is another one at 9s. 6d.?-That is one of the same size and of the same colour. 2853. Suppose that 9s. 6d. hap had not been made to order, but had been bought over the counter and had been settled for with goods, what profit do you suppose would have been upon it apart from the goods?-I cannot say. 2854. Was 9s. 6d. the price which you paid to the party selling, or was it somewhat less?-It was 8s. 6d., and I would have a profit of a shilling on it. 2855. That was when it was knitted for you?-Yes. 2856. But I am speaking of articles which were bought by you: what profit would you have upon such an article then?-I could not tell unless I knew the kind of goods they were to take for it. 2857. But apart from the goods altogether, what would you give for a shawl that you would sell for 9s. 6d., if it was offered to you for sale?-Perhaps I might give 9s. 6d. worth or goods. 2858. Would that be the usual way of dealing?-Sometimes it is. It depends very much upon the quality of the article. Sometimes we pay a dear price for them, and at other times we get them pretty cheap. 2859. Do you say that you generally buy an article of that kind at the price payable in goods for which you sell it to the merchant in the south?-Very often we do. 2860. Therefore you take no profit off your hosiery at all?-In some cases we do not. We cannot get it; we are glad to get what we pay in goods for them. 2861. So that the fact that you get your goods disposed of, is the inducement which you have in buying an article over the counter?-Yes. 2862. Is that one of the reasons why this system of dealing in goods continues?-I believe that is the very reason of it, and the scarcity of money. 2863. Do you approve of the system, or would you rather have cash payments?-I would rather have cash payments. 2864. In that case would you not have two profits instead of one? You would make, sure of a profit on the hosiery, as you would be able to pay for it in cash?-Yes. 2865. And would you not have the same profit that you now have on the goods that you give for the hosiery?-I think we might. 2866. Would you not have a smaller profit upon them?-Of course, if we were selling for cash over the counter, we would try to cut the goods as low as we could. 2867. If you were selling your goods for cash over the counter instead of for hosiery, would you reduce your prices?-We could do that quite easily; because often we buy hosiery articles which lie on our hands for years and the moths get into them, and we get nothing for them at all. 2868. Therefore, in consequence of being paid in hosiery you must put a higher price upon the drapery goods and tea that you sell?-I do not put a higher price on them in consequence of that, because I generally charge the same price to those from whom I get hosiery as to those who pay me in cash. 2869. But if there was no such thing as paying hosiery with goods, you could sell your goods a little cheaper, because you must calculate upon a little loss on the hosiery?-Yes. 2870. So that both the customers who pay in hosiery, and those who pay in cash, are made to pay for a possible loss upon the hosiery?-Yes. 2871. In that way they are made to pay rather higher for their goods?-Yes. 2872. Does not that rather show that the system is a source of loss to the whole community?-There is not the slightest doubt about it, but what can we do until things are put upon a better footing. 2873. You would be glad to pay in cash if you could get your goods disposed of?-I would be very glad. For one thing, it would save us a little trouble. 2874. There is a complicated system of bookkeeping entailed by the present system?-There is. 2875. Have you had any balances to settle on lines or acknowledgments or vouchers?-No; I do not give any lines. I have always been against it. 2876. Did you give any formerly?-I gave them very rarely, unless when I could not help it. 2877. That is to say when a person came to sell hosiery to you and she did not want to take the whole price out in goods, you gave her a line?-Yes; if there was a balance then they would want a line for it. 2878. Would they not have preferred money?-They never asked for money; at least very seldom. 2879. How long, is it since you ceased to give these lines?-I have not given any lines for the last two years, or nearly that time, and I just gave them occasionally. 2880. What was your reason for laying down that rule?-Because there was such a great deal of bother about it. At a time when you were busy they would come in and pop down their lines and that is another secret in the line business. Some of the people like to sell shawls and get a line for them and then they go away and give that line to some other person, and that person comes in and orders goods of different kinds and prices them at the lowest rate we can give them for. Then, when they have screwed us down to the lowest price, they throw their line down upon the counter the same as if it were a bank-note. 2881. They do so, after having bargained and bothered with you to get you to reduce your prices, on the footing that they were to pay you in cash?-Yes; and of course you cannot refuse the line when it is offered to you. You must just take it and say nothing. 2882. Was that one of the reasons why you gave up giving lines?- It was not exactly for that I gave it up, but it was one of the reasons, because it was a great annoyance and bother. They would come in with the lines perhaps on mail-day, and bother us then. 2883. But a person might come in with a shawl on mail-day, and wish to take the value of it in goods. What would you do then?-I might tell them to come back again, and they would do it. 2884. Would they not do that if they had a line?-They would take care of that. They would get the goods they wanted, and then they would pop the line in. 2885. Then you think you are under an obligation to serve the people whenever they choose, if they have a line of yours?-Yes. 2886. But if the people have bargained with you, and you had offered them goods at a somewhat lower price for cash, and if a line was then offered to you in the way you have mentioned, would you not refuse to take the line in exchange for the goods?- No, I would not. It would not be right to do it. [Page 64] 2887. Would you not say,-If you are to pay with a line, you must take the goods at the ordinary price?-I never thought of doing that, and I don't think anybody would do it. 2888. You would not like to have the appearance of drawing back from your bargain?-No; it would not look very well. 2889. Have you heard any of the evidence that has been given to-day?-I was present when Mr. Laurenson was examined, and also during the first part of Mr. Sinclair's examination. 2890. Do you concur generally with the statements which Mr. Laurenson made with regard to the trade in Lerwick?-Yes; I think he gave a very just statement. 2891. You think what he said was generally correct?-I think so. 2892. Do you know how the women who live alone, and entirely by knitting, get their provisions?-I used to keep meal, but I don't do it now. I cannot do it, because it destroyed my place with moths. 2893. Do you know how these women supply themselves with meal now?-I cannot say. 2894. Most of them are likely employed at other work as well as at nitting?-Yes. 2895. But some of them will do nothing else?-There are very few who do nothing else, except those who are in bad health, and who are not able to work outside. 2896. Have you known any of these women taking goods from you and selling them again, in order to get money?-No; I never heard of any one doing that, so far as I know. 2897. But at the time when you gave I O U's they often exchanged them for money?-Yes; or gave them to some other body to come to my shop with them. These are the only cases where I knew of them being exchanged. I heard yesterday, when I was present, that yarn had been refused upon these lines, but I always gave them yarn when they asked it from me. 2898. Did you give them Shetland yarn?-I seldom had it for my own use, but I have often given them Pyrenees wool. 2899. I suppose the reason why the idea has arisen among the knitters that they cannot get wool in exchange for their work, is because Shetland wool is very difficult to get?-I suppose so. 2900. The merchants don't keep it for sale?-No; they cannot get enough of it. I may say that I supply the women with sugar and tea, and with paraffin oil when have it. 2901. I think you are the only soft goods merchant in Lerwick who keeps sugar?-I don't know. Perhaps there are more; but I keep sugar, tea, coffee, rice, and brimstone, which they need for dressing their shawls. 2902. Is it the case that your purchases of hosiery are more commonly paid in tea and sugar than in drapery goods?-The knitters who work to me generally take what tea and sugar they require. They also take drapery goods when they need them. When we buy hosiery over the counter, it is generally drapery goods that are paid for them; but they get tea also if they ask for it. 2903. The tea is made up in quarter-pound parcels?-Yes. 2904. Do you know of any case where it has been exchanged after being purchased from you?-No. Lerwick, January 4, 1872, HUGH LINKLATER, examined. 2905. You are a merchant in Lerwick?-Yes. 2906. Is the business which you carry on similar to that of Mr. Laurenson?-No. I don't give out wool for people to knit. I only purchase a little over the counter, and I do very little of any kind in the fancy line. 2907. You do more in the coarser hosiery?-Yes. 2908. Do you deal largely in that business?-No, I don't do much in hosiery at all. 2909. What is your business?-Selling drapery goods. 2910. Do you sell them in the ordinary way for cash?-Yes, and I take a little hosiery when it is offered in exchange. 2911. But the bulk of your transactions are in cash?-Yes. 2912. Are you engaged in any other business?-No. 2913. Do you concur generally in the evidence which Mr. Laurenson gave, so far as the hosiery business is concerned?-I do. I think he gave a very fair statement of it. 2914. You do not wish to add anything to it?-No, for it is not much that I do in that line. I may say that I don't do any in fancy goods at all, I am not much acquainted with them. 2915. But you have a considerable trade in drapery goods and tea for cash?-Yes, or in exchange for goods. It is principally with country people that I deal. 2916. With small farmers and such like?-Yes. 2917. Do you find that they are generally ready and able to pay you in cash for the goods you sell?-There are some cases where I hate to lie out of it for a good while. 2918. But your general mode of dealing is in cash?-Yes; but if they come forward with an article which is suitable for my hosiery trade, I may take it and give them goods for it, the same as if they were to pay me in cash. 2919. Money payments are the rule in your shop, and hosiery the exception?-Yes. 2920. But when you are offered hosiery, is there a different price charged by you for your I make no difference. I buy their hosiery, such of it as I accept, the same as cash, and I expect to get a cash price for it. 2921. In selling hosiery, do you put a profit upon it?-By no means. 2922. You sell it at the price which you put upon it to the person who brought it?-Yes, so that I can get the price of my goods. 2923. You regard it merely as a currency in which you are paid for your proper drapery goods?-Yes. Lerwick, January 4, 1872, JOHN MANSON, examined. 2924. You were at one time a fisherman at Dunrossness?-Yes. 2925. You are now employed on weekly wages by Mr. Harrison, fish merchant, Lerwick?-Yes. 2926. You cure his fish when they are landed in Bressay?-Yes. 2927. You are his superintendent there and have charge of all his men?-Yes. 2928. How many men are employed under you?-It is generally women and lads who are employed under me. 2929. Is Mr. Harrison a large trader in the home fishing?-Not in the home fishing; principally in the Faroe fishing. 2930. Are his fish from that fishery landed in Bressay?-Yes. 2931. How many people are generally employed there?-The numbers vary according to the demand for work. They may range from 80 to 60 hands daily for five months in the year, during the fish-curing season. 2932. Mr. Harrison has a store in Lerwick, where he sells all kinds of provisions and dry goods?-Yes, he has a provision shop and a clothier's shop; they are different shops. 2933. Do you and the other persons employed in his fish-curing establishment deal at these shops? Do you get your supplies for your families there?-Not generally, unless we choose to do so. 2934. But in point of fact, do you get many of your [Page 65] supplies there?-I buy the greater part of my groceries from that shop. 2935. Is there any obligation upon you to do so?-No. 2936. You have never been told that you ought to do that?-No. 2937. Do you deal at the shop for ready money?-Yes. 2938. You pay for the articles as you get them?-Yes. 2939. How are your wages paid to you?-In cash. 2940. Are you paid at the end of each week?-Yes; unless when the weather prevents us from getting across the Sound, which does not very often occur. 2941. When you or any of your family come over to make your market in Lerwick, and go to Mr. Harrison's shop, do you bring with you the money which has been paid to you in Bressay?-We are paid at Lerwick in Mr. Harrison's office, for our work; and if we choose to go into either of his shops we can do so. We get the cash at the office; and if we go to the shop, we pay that cash for the soft goods or groceries which we get, but we can take the money to any other shop we please. 2942. Is the office near the shop?-The office and the clothier's shop are connected they are both on the same premises. 2943. Do many of the people employed under you deal at these shops?-Not so far as I am aware. They do deal there in a certain way, but not in a compulsory way. 2944. Is there any system of pass-books carried on there?-Not so far as I am aware. 2945. You don't think any of them have pass books at the shop?- I don't think it. I may mention in passing, that very often when we get our wages, instead of being urged to buy from them, are cautioned to use our wages in the most economical way possible, and to go elsewhere if we think we can be better 2946. Who cautioned you in that way?-Mr. Harrison himself. I don't mention that as giving you an idea that there is any grievance in the way of our not getting as good remuneration for our money in these shops as we do elsewhere, but to show the independence of the service. We are in no way bound. 2947. I know that you have not come here because you have any complaint at all?-No; I have no complaint to make in that way. 2948. Do you find the supplies which you get in these shops to be quite satisfactory?-Quite satisfactory. 2949. Do you know anything with regard to the dealings at that store of men employed, in the Faroe fishing?-Yes, a little. 2950. Is that from your own personal knowledge, or merely from hearsay?-A little from my own personal knowledge. I know the way in which the men deal with regard to getting their outfit when the fishing commences. 2951. You know that they go to the store for their outfit and that is put down in a ledger account against each man?-Yes, each man has generally a private account for himself. 2952. The contract for the Faroe fishing is that the fisherman makes certain supplies for the ship, and he is to get one half of the take?-Yes. 2953. Is the price for the fish fixed at the beginning of the season or at the end?-At the end. 2954. And no fisherman knows the price he is to get until the settlement time comes round?-Not so far as the Faroe fishing is concerned. 2955. During the absence of the fisherman at the fishing, are his family generally supplied with goods from the employer's store?- Generally; if the family are in circumstances to require supplies. Plenty of them do not require them, but those who do are supplied in that way. 2956. Do you mean that they are supplied with goods?-They are supplied with goods and cash. 2957. How does it happen that some of them do not require supplies?-A few of them live in the country, and have little patches of land, and they do not require so much goods during the season as others. 2958. Do you know the way in which the business is conducted as between these fishermen and the store?-So far as I know, they get what they ask. 2959. Do they get what money they ask?-They get money or goods, whatever they ask. 2960. And an account runs, which is settled at the end of the year?-Yes. 2961. Is there any obligation on these Faroe fishermen to deal at the store?-Not so far as I am aware. 2962. Are they not obliged to deal there for their outfit?-It is generally understood that they will take their outfit there, because it is more like giving them an advance of money than anything else. 2963. What is the name of Mr. Harrison's store-keeper in Lerwick?-There is no special storekeeper; he has several shopkeepers. 2964. But who attends to the shop?-James Mouat is in the clothier's shop. 2965. Who gives out the stores to the fishermen for their outfit?- Mouat generally gives them anything in the way of soft goods, and Gilbert Harrison, junr. supplies them with what they require in the provision shop. 2966. However you have not much experience of that part of the business?-Not much. 2967. I suppose you don't know much about Dunrossness at present?-Not much just now; it is ten years since I was a regular resident there. 2968. Have you been there lately?-It is about twelve months since I was there last. 2969. Have you relations living there still?-Yes. I have brothers there. 2970. What was the reason for your leaving Dunrossness?- Because I thought I could better myself elsewhere. 2971. Had you a farm there?-Yes. 2972. Have you one here?-No. 2973. When you were at Dunrossness, were you bound to fish to any particular person?-No; I happened not to be bound at that time, but I was singular in that respect because there were not many who were not bound. 2974. Is it a common thing in Shetland for a fisherman not to be able to fish for any one he likes?-It is quite common where the landlord is also a fishcurer. 2975. Can you tell me any men who are so bound in any part of the islands?-I think that generally the tenants on the estates of Mr Grierson and Mr. Bruce are bound to fish for their landlords. 2976. You don't know any other case within your own knowledge where a fisherman has been checked for fishing to another than his landlord or tacksman?-No, not within my own knowledge. 2977. Nor for taking goods from a store other than that of his landlord, or employer?-No; I understand that is the case in other parts of Shetland, but only from report. I don't know it from personal knowledge. . [Page 66] Lerwick: Saturday, January 6, 1872. -Mr. Guthrie. MALCOLM MALCOLMSON, examined 2978. Are you a fisherman at Channerwick?-I am. 2979. Do you hold land there?-My father holds land under Mr. Bruce of Simbister. 2980. Robert Mouat was formerly tacksman of Channerwick and Levenwick under Mr. Bruce?-Yes. 2981. He carried on a fish-curing business there up till last year?- Yes. 2982. During the time he held the tack, were the tenants there in use to fish for and deliver their fish to Mouat?-Yes. 2983. Was it supposed that there was an obligation on them to deliver their fish to him only?-Yes; they thought so. 2984. Was it the case that there was such an obligation?-It was not, but in their ignorance, they did not know otherwise. 2985. How do you know it was not the case?-Because afterwards, when he was put out of the place, Mr. Bruce, the proprietor, told them they never were bound to Mouat; only that if he gave them as high a price as was given in the country, and served them as well in every respect as they could be served anywhere else, why should they not fish to him as well as to another? If, however, Mouat came anything short of that, then they were under no obligation whatever, but they could put their produce where they pleased, and they had only to pay him their rent on a given day. 2986. When did Mr. Bruce tell you that?-In 1871. 2987. Had he never told you so before?-He never told the tenants that before. He had given a statement to Mouat before, but Mouat never revealed it to the tenantry until after his departure; and then it was known, and only then, how matters stood. 2988. To whom did Mr. Bruce make that statement? Was it in writing, or to some particular person?-I could not exactly answer that for I have never seen the statement myself. It is only from hearsay among the tenantry at large that I know about it. 2989. Have you heard that from many of the tenants?-Yes, from many. 2990. What is your father's name?-Malcom Malcolmson. He is unable to come here, unless it is absolutely necessary. 2991. Is he not in good health?-No; not at present. 2992. Was it the practice in Mouat's time to require the tenants to deliver their fish to him only?-Yes. 2993. Did he object to their selling them to others?-Yes. 2994. Did he turn out any people for doing so, or threaten to turn them out?-He threatened a few, and turned out one 2995. Who was that one?-Henry Sinclair, Levenwick. 2996. Was that a long time ago?-Yes; a few years ago. I don't remember the number of years in particular but it is a good while ago. 2997. You have given me a letter in these terms: 'MOUL, 18. 1869. 'Mr. Malcolm Malcolmson. 'Dear Sir,-I am sorrey to think that I shoud hav met to-day what I have, but you will be pleased to lok out for A place at Martamas 1869, 'ROBT. MOUAT, 'as I am goen to set your land.' What had he met that day?-He had received intelligence from his storekeeper at Channerwick that Malcolm Malcolmson's son (that is myself) had given part of the fish of Thomas Jamieson's boat to another fish-merchant, Thomas Tulloch, in Sandwick parish. 2998. Does Tulloch live in Sandwick?-Yes, near Sand Lodge. 2999. He keeps a shop and cures fish there?-Yes. 3000. How do you know that that was the reason for this letter being written?-Because Mouat told my father himself in my presence. 3001. Was that before or after the letter was received?-It was after the letter was received, and when my father asked the reason why he was to give his land to another. 3002. Was your father put out of the farm at that time?-He was not. 3003. How did that happen?-Because he lost the use of one of his hands or of his right thumb, and Mouat had a sort of sympathy with him as being unable to earn his bread as he used to do before, and therefore he let him alone for a season until he could get round again, and regain perfect health and strength, but before that season rolled round, Mouat was out the place himself. 3004. Did you consider yourselves bound to take goods from Mouat's store?-We could not do anything else. 3005. Why?-Because we had no money to purchase them with from other stores. We received no money during the fishing season. 3006. Did you ever ask for advances of money during the fishing season?-Yes; but they were refused. 3007. Why?-Because he just would not give it. He gave no reason, except that he could not give it. 3008. But you would get any kind of goods you wanted?-Yes. 3009. What was the quality of the goods at Mouats' store?-They were of a very inferior quality to what we could purchase anywhere else in the island. 3010. Are you speaking just now from your own knowledge, or from the common understanding of the people about?-I am speaking from nothing else but my own knowledge. 3011. But are you a good judge of the quality of goods?-I cannot say that I am a very good judge, only I know well enough a bad article from a good one. 3012. What particular thing are you speaking of just now?-Say cottons, moleskins, and cloth. 3013. And what as to the provisions?-They were of inferior quality as well. We had meal from his store which he called his second flour. It was as dear, if not dearer, than we could purchase it anywhere else, and it was of such a quality that it could not be eaten by human beings. 3014. Then you did not eat it?-It had to be eaten for the support of life, while it existed; but had it not been for the provisions that came from other stores, and from people who had them to sell, Mouat's tenantry could not have been alive now, and I among the rest. 3015. How could they get provisions from other stores if they had no money to purchase them with?-They made a statement of how they were situated under Mouat, and how they could not receive any meal at all, and that they had to give all their fish to him; and the other shopkeepers felt such sympathy for them, that they gave them supplies to save their own lives and the lives of their families, and to put the men to the fishing. At the same time, when they gave them these supplies, they had no expectation whatever of receiving anything for them from a good many, because they were so poor that they could not give it. 3016. Do you think the storekeepers gave the fisher [Page 67] men credit, without any expectation of being repaid?-One of the shopkeepers told me so himself. 3017. Who was that?-James Smith, Hill Cottage, Sandwick parish. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, WILLIAM MANSON, examined. 3018. Are you a fisherman at Channerwick, in Sandwick parish?- Yes. 3019. Do you hold a piece of land under Mr. Bruce of Simbister?-Yes. 3020. It was formerly included in the tack to Robert Mouat?-Yes. 3021. Were you bound to fish for Mouat?-Yes. 3022. Did you give your fish to any other merchant during the time of his tack?-Yes. In 1870, the year that Mouat failed in business, I gave my fish to James Smith, because I saw I could not live for want of meal, and therefore I and some others were determined to give our fish where we could get both meat and money; and for doing so, Mouat served me with a summons. 3023. Were Smith and Tulloch the only fish merchants in that neighbourhood besides Mouat?-Yes; they cure fish, but not in a large way. 3024. But they buy your fish, and sell you provisions and goods?- Yes. 3025. In consequence of selling your fish to Smith, did you receive a letter from Mouat?-Yes; I have lost that letter. 3026. Did it warn you that you were to leave your ground?-Yes. 3027. Did you also get a formal warning to quit?-I did. I have it. [Produces summons of removing.] 3028. This is a summons at the instance of Robert Mouat, residing in Lerwick, principal tenant under Robert Bruce, Esq. of Simbister, dated 29th September 1870, giving you warning to leave at Martinmas: was that summons served upon you by a sheriff officer?-Yes. 3029. Did you leave in consequence of it?-No; it was in the latter part of the harvest that I received it, which was a very inconvenient time for me to leave, and I went to Mouat and spoke to him about it. He told me that if I would promise to be an obedient tenant, and agree to fish for him the same as I had been doing before, and pay the expense of the summons, I could stay. I knew that it was then coming towards the end of his lease, and I agreed to do that. If I had thought he was to continue longer on the place, I would have left. 3030. Did you pay for the summons?-I did. 3031. You have handed me another letter in the following terms: 'MOUL, 1869, . 18. 'THOMAS JAMIESON. 'LAURANCE MALCOLMSON. 'WILLIAM MANSON. 'WILLIAM MOUAT. 'I this day duly give you notice to look out for A house at Martamas 1869, as I am not incline to keep such men as you for your preasent condick. 'ROBERT MOUAT.' 3032. What does that letter refer to?-It was sent to us because we had allowed Malcolm Malcolmson to give his share of the fish away to another merchant than Mouat. 3033. You understood Mouat to refer to Malcolmson having sold, his fish to Tulloch?-Yes. 3034. This letter was written at an earlier period than the warning you received yourself?-Yes, the year before. 3035. How do you know it was that particular act on your part which caused this letter to be written?-Because Mouat told me so himself. 3036. When did he tell you so?-That same year, just a few days after the letter was written 3037. How was it that you did not leave your ground at that time?-We just never minded him, but went on as we had been doing. I and the rest of the men fished for him, and that man fished for Thomas Tulloch as he had been doing, and Mouat never asked anything about it afterwards. He just annulled the letter, as it were. 3038. You have produced another summons of removing: what does it refer to?-It is the summons that was served upon another man, Thomas Jamieson, at the same time that the summons was served upon me, and for the same thing. He knew that I was coming here, and he wanted me to bring his summons also, that I might show it to you. He had also fished for James Smith in 1870. 3039. Have you anything to say about Mouat's shop?-It was very little worth. 3040. Did you get all your goods there?-Yes. 3041. Were you obliged to take them there?-We were because we could not get them anywhere else. 3042. Did Mouat tell you that you must take them from him?-He did not say that we must take them; but when we were fishing for him, and getting no money, we were obliged to go and take our goods from his shop. Although they had been double the price of what they were anywhere else, we had no other way of doing. We could not make a better of it. 3043. You think the quality of the articles you got there was not good?-It was not. 3044. The meal especially was bad?-Yes; the meal was worst. 3045. Was the tea good?-No; it was bad, and it was dear. 3046. For whom were you fishing last year?-For James Smith. 3047. Are you perfectly at liberty now to fish for any one you please?-Yes, we are at perfect liberty. 3048. Smith is not a tacksman?-No; he just takes our fish, and pays us well for them, as high as can be got in the place. 3049. Do you deal at Smith's shop?-Yes. 3050. And you settle with him annually?-Yes; I have just settled with him this week. 3051. Had you a balance to receive from him?-Yes; £4, 14s. 3052. That was your balance of the season's fishing, after deducting the price of the goods you had got during the season from his shop?-Yes. 3053. Is that a usual balance in a good season, or is it under or over?-It is just about the general thing. 3054. Was that paid to you in cash?-Yes. 3055. You paid your rent to Mr. Irvine, of Hay & Co.?-Yes. 3056. Have Hay & Co. any fish-curing places in that neighbourhood?-No, they have a place down at Dunrossness, but that is a long way from us. 3057. You are not expected to fish for them?-No; we have heard nothing about that yet. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, ROBERT ANDERSON, examined. 3058. You are principal shopman to Mr. Robert Linklater, merchant, Lerwick?-Yes. 3059. I understand you desire to make some explanation with regard to the evidence of two women who were examined here?- Yes; of Margaret Tulloch, and of Mrs. Thomas Anderson, Margaret Tulloch said she refused to take worsted from us to knit, because she could not get cash for her work. I have to state that we refused to give her work because she kept it so very long; and when she was asked why she had kept it so long, she said she had so many lodgers, that she had scarcely any time for knitting. The last thing she had from us was a small handkerchief, the knitting of which was worth 1s. 6d., and which could easily be [Page 68] made in three days. She had it in hand for two days short of five months. Mrs. Anderson made the same remark, that she would not take worsted, because she could not get cash for her knitting. I have the same explanation to make with regard to her, that we refused her work because kept it too long. She got a little shawl to knit on 28d February 1870, and she returned it to use on 14th June. The knitting of it cost 2s. 3060. You find that from your work-book?-Yes. When we asked her why she kept the work so long, she replied that she had so much out-door work to do, that she had scarcely any time for knitting. Then there was one of the girls Brown, Mrs. Tait, who was examined the first day, and who said, I think, that I would not give her cash, but would only give it to my favourites. There are some sisters of that family, and the book was in name of one of the sisters. I only recollect her asking me once for a shilling, which I gave her. 3061. If she got cash, would it not appear in the book?-Yes. 3062. Did she sometimes deal with you in the way of selling her hosiery?-No. 3063. She always knitted for you?-Yes. On 2d July 1869 there is cash 1s. marked: that is the only time I recollect her asking it; and she got it, although I may have made the remark when handing it to her, that we were not in the habit of giving cash. I did not refuse it for all that, but in the act of handing it I may have made that remark. 3064. Mr. Linklater stated that there are about 300 people knitting for him: are the names of all these parties entered in your work-book in separate accounts?-Yes. [Produces work-book.] 3065. Will you show me the way, you make settlement with one of your workers?-Here [showing] is the case of Mary Henry, a country girl. 3066. Is that a good enough instance of it?-Yes. She brings in ten veils, and she has to get 1s. each for knitting them. That is entered to her credit. She will ask what she is to get, and we tell her. Then she will take whatever she wants at that time. She may have sent the veils in with another girl, and come in afterwards herself to get the goods. 3067. I see she has taken out 17s. 41/2d., worth in goods?-She had taken out the amount she had to get, and she brought in other ten veils afterwards, the date of which I find is not marked. Then she asked what she had to get, and she was told it was 4s. 111/2d. We would ask her if she was to settle for that, and she said yes, and we marked it settled. 3068. Was that 4s. 111/2d, which is marked as the balance due to her, paid in cash or got in goods?-It was got in goods entirely. 3069. The items of that do not appear here?-No. When we are busy we scarcely have time to enter all the items; but at other times, when we are not so busy, we enter them all. 3070. It is a rule in your business that you do not give lines for a balance of that kind?-Yes. 3071. You do not give them on a purchase of goods either?-No. 3072. Do the purchases of goods from parties who do not knit with your worsted appear in any of your books?-No; unless a balance is left, and it appears in the end of the day-book where I now point it out. [Showing.] On page 38 there is the account of Helen Arcus, our dresser. 3073. Is that Mrs. Arcus who has been examined?-No; she does not dress for us. That account of Helen Arcus is entirely for dressing. 3074. Is it settled by goods?-No. I wish to explain how we deal with her. She gets out a quantity of shawls and veils or neckties to dress. When they are finished, she brings them down to our hosiery shop where we keep our hosiery and she gets the amount marked on a bit of a line with which she goes to the other shop. I ask her what she wants and perhaps if the amount is 8s. 71/2d. she will ask for a quarter pound of tea for 10d. I then ask her what she wants next, and she says, 'I want 2s. or 3s. in cash.' There is then a balance left, which I mark in the book thus 'By 4s. 81/2d.,' which stands as a balance due to her. If she wants any cash in the interim between that time and the time when she brings down her dressing, she comes to the shop and gets cash, say 6d., or any goods she requires. She gets at the very least 5s. a week in cash all the year round. That does not appear in the book, but she gets whatever she asks. 3075. How do you balance the account when the time comes for doing that?-We add up the two sides of it. 3076. I see that each line in the account contains both debit and credit entries?-Yes, but there are two money columns at the end, and the entries are carried out to them according as they are debit or credit. 3077. How do you do with regard to sending goods south?-When we get orders for Shetland goods in the winter time, they go to our house in Edinburgh. We have already forwarded goods there, and they are kept in store; the orders received at that season are executed there, and a statement is sent down to us. This [producing document] is one of the statements which have been sent from Edinburgh for veils, and here [producing document] is another for shawls. I have brought a sample of each. 3078. The veils are numbered according to quality?-Yes. When we send them of different prices, there must be a different number, to let the people in the south know what the prices are. 3079. You fix the price here at which they are to be sold in Edinburgh?-Yes. 3080. That is the wholesale price?-Yes. Here is June 4: 4 dozen grey veils No. 1, 18s.-£3, 12s.; 4 dozen grey veils No. 6, 21s.- £4, 4s.; 3 dozen No. 7, 27s.-£4, 1s. 3081. Have these grey veils No. 1 been knitted for you by your own knitters?-The principal part of them; but we buy some. 3082. Show me one of the entries of the payment to a knitter for these veils?-I could scarcely show it for these identical veils. 3083. But for veils of the very same quality?-I should think this [showing] would be of the same quality: '10 veils, 9d.-Barbara Pottinger, Burra Isle.' 3084. Then the No. 1 veil which you sell at 1s. 6d. would cost 9d. for the knitting?-We pay 9d. for the knitting of it. 3085. You give out the worsted: what will that cost?-I should think for the coarsest, about 5d. 3086. Would that be the price you pay for it, or the price you would ask for it from a knitter?-It is the price we pay for it; it is Shetland wool. 3087. Which you don't sell?-Which we don't sell. We sell no kinds of wool. 3088. What does the veil cost you for dressing?-11/2d. 3089. Is there any other expense connected with?-There is not on that identical veil, but there is other expense connected with the trade. 3090. Have you to pay freight?-Not freight; but when we get a quantity of goods of that kind, perhaps one-half of them cannot be sold as they are. The colour is so uneven, that we have to send them south and dye a great part of them. 3091. Do you send one-half of each lot south?-Sometimes one-half, and sometimes more and sometimes less. 3092. What is the cost of dyeing?-We pay 1s. a dozen for dyeing; and there is the freight south and the freight back again, and we require to re-dress a great many of them. 3093. So that some of these veils may actually cost you 1s. 6d.?- Yes; and some of them cost less. 3094. What margin of profit does that leave?-I really cannot say. I think no Shetland merchant can tell the exact profit he has on any of his goods. 3095. But there are a number of incidental expenses of that kind, which bring the actual cost of the veils up to about 1s. 6d. apiece?-Yes. [Page 69] 3096. May that be said with regard to other goods also?-It can be said of shawls. 3097. You think the expenses of that kind for sending south, and dyeing and re-dressing, often make the cost of production nearly equal to the selling price?-Yes; and in many cases more than the selling price. 3098. How much wool would there be in a dozen of these Shetland veils?-I should say there would be twenty-one cuts of Shetland wool in a dozen No. 1 veils at 18s. 3099. What is the price of that Shetland wool per cut?-3d. is the price for a fairish quality. Some of the veils turn out very bad from the 3d. worsted, while others turn out to be a little better. 3100. Therefore the worsted costs 5s. 3d., the knitting 9s., and the dressing 1s. 6d.: that leaves 2s. 3d. What proportion of these veils can go to the market without any dyeing or re-dressing?-I don't think there will be more than half of them. The worsted looks very well before it is given out to the knitter; but when it comes back, there are dark and light bars through it. 3101. Then upon one-half of them you have the expense of a double freight to Edinburgh, and also the expense of dyeing and of re-dressing?-Yes. 3102. But it is only a fraction of those sent south require to be re-dressed when they come back?-They all require to be re-dressed when they come back from the dyers. 3103. What dyers do you send them to?-P. & P. Campbell, Cockburn Street, Edinburgh. 3104. What is their charge for dyeing?-I think it 1s. 6d.; but they give 5 per cent. off at the end of the season. 3105. Coming to the English wool; I see there are four dozen black veils No. 5s. 33s., made with English wool: what quantity of wool is required to make dozen of these?-It requires about 3 oz. for a dozen, or about a quarter oz. to make a single veil. 3106. Do you sell that wool by the ounce or the pound?-We buy it by the pound, at 32s. 6d. 3107. Then 3 oz. would cost about 6s.?-Yes; a fraction over that. We don't give them to the knitters here; we give them to a person in the country, who gets them knitted for us. We pay 14s. for the knitting of them to that person in the country. 3108. Is there any particular reason for employing a party in the country for that kind of goods?-We think we can get them better done in that district of the country. 3109. Where is that?-In Unst. 3110. Who is your agent there?-It is a private person. I would rather not tell her name in public. 3111. What is the expense of dressing these veils?-1s. 6d. a dozen. 3112. Does the same proportion of them require dyeing as in the other case?-No; none of these require dyeing, because they are black. 3113. Then there is no expense for dyeing with regard to them?- Very seldom. 3114. Is that sum of 21s. 6d. the whole cost of production of these veils?-No. 3115. What additional cost is there?-There is about the same proportion of them both in the knitting and in the dressing that gets damaged, we cannot get the prices for them that we allow for the knitting. 3116. Do you mean that such a large proportion of them are destroyed in the knitting and the dressing, that you cannot sell them?-Yes; we cannot sell them at very much more than half-price. 3117. What proportion of them are so damaged?-I cannot say exactly; but I should think about the same proportion as in the other case. 3118. Therefore the high price you put upon these veils is intended to cover the loss incurred in that way?-Yes. 3319. The damage, I understand, occurs in the dressing?-Yes; and in the knitting too. There are a good many black lumps in the wool, and the people are very careless, and knit in the black lumps, and thus destroy the veils. 3120. Under what description do you sell these damaged veils?- As job lots; but I wish to state that the woman whom we employ in this way is a dealer, and we have to give the goods to her at a very great reduction. We have to give them to her at the wholesale price. The goods which we pay for the knitting are sold much cheaper to her than to others. 3121. You pay this woman in goods?-Yes; at wholesale prices. It is almost the same as cash, because we have to give the goods so much cheaper. 3122. Does she keep a shop?-No; but she deals in a small way. I think she has a room in which she has some small things. It is in one sense a shop, and in another it is not. 3123. Do you require as much as 11s. 6d. to cover what you lose on the job lots?-I think we do. 3124. Have you any books here which show an entry of a job lot of that kind?-I don't have them here. 3125. How does that appear in your books?-They are entered as so many dozen veils job. 3126. They are entered in that way in your day-book as sent south to your correspondent in Edinburgh?-Yes; there are a good many of the same kind of veils, which having to lie over the season get crushed, and are taken back and re-dressed, and sent south again. 3127. But losses of that kind occur in all trades, I suppose?-I suppose so. 3128. You said you would charge for a job lot about half-price?- Less than half-price. 3129. Can you calculate how many job lots there would be out of say ten dozen of these black veils?-I have often taken one-half of them out for job lots. 3130. Do you say that, as a rule, there would be five dozen job lots in ten dozen black veils?-Very often there are that number. 3131. Would that be an average?-I think average is scarcely so high, but very near it. 3132. Then, of all the black veils No. 5 sent to your correspondent in Edinburgh, nearly one-half will be job lots?-Yes; of the one kind of veils-that is-the finest kind. There are very few of the cheaper veils jobbed in the same way, 3133. Why are there so many of them in these fine veils?-The worsted is so fine, that they get torn, and the slightest mistake injures them. 3134. Will you show me an entry of some veils of the medium quality?-Here [showing] is an entry of No. 7 veils at 24s.: these are Shetland wool. 3135. I would rather take a case where English wool was used?-I don't think there is any case of that kind there. No. 2 is the only one very near it of English wool. 3136. Here [showing] is an entry of four dozen black veils No. 2, 21s.: what would the cost of wool be there?-About 10s. 6d, per pound. 3137. What quantity of wool would be required for a dozen?-I think 1 oz. would make three veils., 3138. Then 4 oz. would make a dozen; that is 2s. 71/2d. as the cost of wool for a dozen?-Yes. 3139. What would be the cost of knitting a dozen?-12s. in goods. 3140. And of dressing?-1s. 6d. 3141. Have you to dye these?-No; we don't dye them. 3142. Is there the same risk of loss from their being spoiled as in the other case?-Not quite the same; but there are a certain number of job lots there too. 3143. What proportion of job lots may there be in that sort of veil?-Generally from one-eighth to one-fourth of the whole. 3144. Do these sell at half-price, or more than half-price?- Generally about half-price-sometimes a shade less and sometimes a shade more, according to the state of the market. 3145. Then the price you charge for them, 21s. is calculated to cover the loss upon job lots?-Yes. 3146. There is thus a difference of nearly 5s. between the cost price and the selling price of these No. 2 veils: is it not the fact that that difference is allowed for profit?-It is the fact that it is not allowed for a profit: the profit is not so much. [Page 70] 3147. But it is calculated so as to allow you a certain amount of profit?-Yes; a certain amount. 3148. That is not the actual profit receive; but the price is so calculated as to cover the loss upon job lots and to allow you a certain amount of profit as well?-Yes. 3149. In fact, so as to make it safe that you may get some profits- Yes. 3150. Is that not so with the prices, of all your hosiery goods?- With the lace goods that we get knitted it is the case. We only put out lace goods to be knitted; we buy all the other goods over the counter. 3151. What do you mean by lace goods?-Lace shawls and veils, principally, and neckties. 3152. Do you call all the open lace goods Shetland goods, whether they are made of English or Shetland wool?-Yes. 3153. This [showing] is an invoice of shawls?-Yes. 3154. Is there any material difference, with respect to the shawls, from the calculations with regard to the cost of production and profit which we have just made with respect to the veils?-I think it is very similar. 3155. It comes to something like the same thing?-Yes; but the difference is not quite so marked. 3156. You think there is not so much difference in the cost to you, in the case of shawls, as in the case of veils?-No; because we don't get job shawls, and we don't require to guard against that. 3157. Are there no job shawls at all?-It is extremely seldom that there are any. 3158. Therefore, in that case, you require to make the margin less?-Yes. 3159. What do you think would be the percentage of profit upon the lots of veils and shawls mentioned in this account [showing]?-I really could not say. I am quite sure that no person in the trade could tell that. 3160. You have never made an exact calculation of it?-Never. 3161. Can you give me an approximation to it? Will it be 10 per cent.?-Yes; it will be more. 3162. Will it be under 15?-I think it will be. 3163. That is not taking into consideration the fact that they are paid for in goods?-There is nothing like 15 per cent. in that view. I am taking the whole profit in every way connected with them. 3164. But the question I am asking is, whether, calculating the cost of production in money as I have done just now, and calculating the selling price in money, the profit realized upon these two invoices you have handed to me will amount to 10 or 15 per cent.?-I don't exactly understand the question. 3165. We have been calculating the cost of the article to you?- Yes; and the real cost to us, I would say the profit will be 15 per cent. 3166. Then, in addition to that, you sell goods to the parties who bring in the articles?-Not in addition to that. 3167. You don't mean to say that you give your goods in return for these articles at cost price?-No, we don't. 3168. You have a profit upon the goods?-Yes; but we don't have a separate profit of 15 per cent. on the hosiery. 3169. But the purpose of the calculations we have been going into just now is to show what the hosiery costs?-Yes; what is the cost to Mr. Linklater. 3170. How do you get at the actual cost?-I cannot get at it exactly. I really don't know what it is. 3171. But when you say you pay a woman 10s. for knitting, that is marked down in your book as the price paid to her for knitting, just in the same way as if it had been paid in money?-Yes; but I say that we don't have 15 per cent. of profit on these goods over and above the profit we have on the goods given to the knitter. 3172. But, setting aside in the meantime the fact that the women are paid in goods, and supposing that the 10s. entered in your book is paid to the knitter in cash, do you mean to say that your profit is not 10 or 15 per cent.?-If it was cash, I should say it was 10 or 15 per cent.,-on some things a little more, and on some things a little less. 3173. I am speaking of the hosiery exclusively at present; but in point of fact the 10s. that is entered in your book as the cost of knitting is invariably, or almost invariably, settled for by means of goods on the other side of the account?-Yes. 3174. Are these goods charged to the knitter at wholesale prices or at retail prices?-At retail prices. 3175. Then that retail price implies that there is a profit on the goods?-That is what I am saying; but I say that we don't have 15 per cent. profit on the shawls, and a profit on the goods besides. I say that if we were paying the actual cash for the knitting of the shawls, then we might have 15 per cent. of profit. 3176. Do you mean that if you were paying actual cash for the knitting of the shawls, you would allow smaller profit on your goods?-I do. 3177. Then when you said with regard to the grey veils No. 1, at 18s., that the cost of knitting was 9s. a dozen, that payment to the knitter was higher than if you paid her in cash?-Yes. 3178. How much higher?-I think that one would not be safe in that case to pay more than 7s. or 7s. 6d., but some knitters make rather better things than others. Of course that is only my own opinion, and it is a thing I have never discussed either one way or another. 3179. You don't sell the Shetland worsted?-No. 3180. And you say an average price for it is 3d. a cut?-Yes; fine worsted may be from 3d. to 6d. a cut. 3181. The payment for that is generally in goods?-No, it is generally in cash, but we do sometimes get it for goods. 3182. You pay for it generally in cash: how do you account for that deviation from your general practice in Shetland?-We buy a good lot of it from merchants, and there are a good many old women who spin for a living, who we think require the cash. There is also such a demand for it that we are very glad to get it for cash, when the market is generally overstocked with everything else. 3183. Is there much Shetland wool sold in the southern markets?-No; we only send very small quantities of it south, for darning purposes. 3184. Are you aware whether there are merchants in Shetland, either in Lerwick or in the country, who send Shetland wool to the southern markets?-I know it has been sent from Yell. 3185. To a large extent?-No; it is not produced to a large extent. All that is produced in Shetland is very trifling. 3186. How did it happen to be sent from Yell?-Because a hosiery merchant in the south, who was selling their goods, got an order for worsted, and it was sent to him. I only know or that one instance. 3187. Was it sent by a proprietor?-I am not sure. It was Mr. Pole of Greenbank who sent it. I rather think his father is proprietor of Greenbank. Mr. Pole is now at Mossbank. 3188. What is the cost per pound of that worsted which sells at 3d. per cut?-Ordinary good 3d. worsted should be about 20s. a pound. 3189. Therefore it is not so dear as the English worsted?-It is much dearer. 3190. But there is some of the English worsted high as 32s. a pound?-Yes; but we have bought Shetland wool at 96s. 3191. Is that the finest quality of Shetland worsted?-Yes 3192. How much is that per cut?-I think about 7d. We have paid 7d. a cut for it, and on weighing it out I have found there were 12 cuts to the ounce. A cut is 100 threads, and a reel is about a yard long, or scarcely so much. 3193. There will be a greater number of cuts in a pound of fine worsted than in a pound of coarse worsted?-Yes. 3194. So that the proportion between the price per [Page 71] cut and the price per pound will differ very much?-Yes 3195. In your trade is there any quantity of goods sold for cash?- Yes. 3196. Are these marked and sold at the same price as those which you give in return for hosiery?-Yes; they are marked at the same price, and generally sold at the same price. On rare occasions there is a slight discount given for ready cash. 3197. How much is that discount?-I should say about 1s. per £1. 3198. Why is that not allowed when the settlement with hosiery?-Because we consider that in our transactions throughout the year we do not realize for our hosiery goods the full price which we pay. 3199. Have you two shops?-Yes. 3200. In one of these is hosiery kept and bought?-In one of them hosiery is kept; it is only in bought that shop now on very rare occasions. When Mr. Linklater or I happen to be there, we may buy something, and send the customer to the other shop to settle for it. 3201. Then the buying of hosiery is only conducted in the drapery shop?-The settlement for hosiery is only conducted in the hosiery shop. 3202. As a rule, a person selling a shawl or veil would go to the drapery shop?-Yes; and if Mr. Linklater or I was not there, she would go to the other shop to see if we were there. 3203. How do you settle with them if the purchase is made in the hosiery shop?-Generally one of us goes across with them, and on other occasions we give a line to the other shop such as this: '12s. R. L.,'-just the sum and the initials, and they go to the other shop, where it is settled at once. 3204. That is in cases of purchase, and has nothing to do with your knitters?-Nothing; unless in the case of the dresser, who has to bring all the dressed goods to the other shop. She sometimes gets a similar line; at other times she just tells the amount. Of course we put every confidence in her; and whether she has a line or not, she is settled with all the same. 3205. Do you exchange a large quantity of tea for hosiery and knitted work?-Not a large quantity; only a small quantity. 3206. Was it larger formerly than it is now?-I don't think it. 3207. The principal dealing is in goods?-Yes; in goods. Of course when people ask for tea, they are never refused it; but we don't sell much. 3208. Do you give them tea for goods at the ordinary market price that it is got at in the other grocery shops in town?-I have no idea what their tea costs them at other places. One merchant does not know what another merchant's goods are sold for. 3209. At what prices do you sell your teas?-Generally at 9d. and 10d. per quarter. 3210. Have you only two qualities?-Yes. 3211. Is it always sold in quarter pounds?-No; it is sometimes sold in half ounces. 3212. It is just put up as the people ask for it?-Yes. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, ROBERT SINCLAIR, recalled. 3213. Have you anything further to add to the evidence you previously gave?-I produce a list of names of parties who have sold goods to me, and they can be examined as to the prices they have got for their goods, that the range of prices may be ascertained. [Produces list.] 3214. I believe you also wish to explain something about the number of your knitters?-Yes; I made a mistake about that. I find from the index in our workers' book that the number is upwards of 300. I believe, however, that a great number of the knitters who appear in our books will also appear in the books of other merchants. They take work from two or perhaps three, at the same time; and consequently the aggregate number of knitters is not represented by the number that is found collectively in the books of the employers. 3215. You wish also to speak about Catherine Borthwick's evidence. She said she had never got any money from you; that she had asked you about two years ago for 1s,, when there was about 5s. 6d. due to her; that you refused it; and that she had never asked you for any since?-I have no evidence either to corroborate or to disprove that statement. I have not the least recollection of it; but I don't believe that it happened 3216. Is there anything in your books to contradict it?-Nothing. 3217. Then there is nothing for it but her statement, and your statement on the other side?-Quite so. 3218. In a large business like yours there might be a cash transaction at a time, apart from your books, which was settled for there and then?-Yes, it might have been; but it is a very unlikely thing that she asked me for 1s. in cash and I refused it unless I had very good grounds for doing so. She was generally behind in my books. 3219. But what she deponed to might have happened when she was behind?-Yes; I think it was very seldom, until I settled up with her, that she was not behind. 3220. In the work-book, I notice that dressing is occasionally charged against you on the credit side?-That is in the case where the knitter also dresses, and she is paid for that as well as for the knitting. We sometimes included both in the same payment, but not very often. Now we always separate them. 3221. When you were examined previously with regard to the cost of the wool in a shawl made of English wool, were you speaking of the price which you paid for the wool, or of the price at which you would retail it?-With regard to English or south-country wool, I may just repeat what I said before; that we really do very little in it, especially for fine shawls. I never charged 30s., or anything like it, for a shawl made of Pyrenees wool, because I did not consider that it was real Shetland goods. 3222. Then you deal in the real Shetland goods?-Yes, mostly. Occasionally, if I have to send a shawl of another kind to the south, I state that it is not handspun wool-that it is not the real Shetland wool. 3223. So that the great majority of your goods consists of Shetland wool; and in estimating the cost of production of a shawl, you estimated it at the price you paid for the wool?-Just so. 3224. And not at the retail price to a customer?-No; it was the cash price meant. There is one exception-that is, in the mohair falls-similar to those Mr. Anderson has been referring to, where, as rule, we pay a higher rate for knitting than that mentioned. These mohair falls are the only thing we deal in that is not Shetland. 3225. That is, the grey and black falls?-Yes. We never buy black wool; we always dye the falls after they are knitted. 3226. Are falls and veils the same thing?-We don't buy the mohair black; we think we get a more uniform shade of colour when we buy them in the piece. 3227. I understand you have two shops?-Yes. 3228. One of them is a shop where you only deal in drapery goods?-Yes; where we only deal for cash. 3229. There are no hosiery dealings carried on there?-No. 3230. Are the same prices charged for the drapery goods in the two shops?-There is a very small shade of difference on some things. Some things are exactly the same in both; on others there is a small difference. I should say that there is such a difference on calicoes. There are several things we sell in that shop, such as fancy goods and sewed articles, which are not kept in our hosiery shop at all; but winceys and stuff goods, such as camlets and satteens, and other things for dresses, are charged alike in both shops, so far as I remember. [Page 72] 3231. Is there any difference made in the price of the tea?-We don't sell tea in the drapery shop. While on this subject I would call attention to one thing that was stated in Mr. Walker's evidence. He said that the merchants gave mostly flowers and ribands, and things of that description in exchange for the hosiery; while the fact is that flowers and ribands are just the kind of goods which I would avoid giving, if I could, because we do not realize a profit on them. In our cash shop we never have flowers or ribands, unless when we are obliged to have them for the accommodation of our customers; and we would rather want them. I was four years in the trade, so far as I recollect, before I had any flowers or ribands in stock at all, because I knew from former experience they were a thing which did not pay. 3232. What is the reason why these things do not pay?-They may pay some people in the south, who charge a higher rate for them; but we do not charge so high for them as in the south. 3233. How are you obliged to have them now?-Because the people will have them, and they have got into the habit of buying them at the ordinary rates. An ordinary retail profit put on any of these things won't pay us, because so many of the flowers are lost, crushed, or destroyed; and sometimes I have seen us have to throw a box of them from the pier. Another thing is that ribands go out of fashion. There are boxes of ribands standing in my shop, which I would sell for one-fourth of the cash I paid for them. 3234. Do you not keep these, goods because you find it necessary to have them in order to induce people to come to your shop with their hosiery goods?-By no means. They come without any inducement of that kind. 3235. But they want them when they are selling their hosiery?- We could do without them, for that part of it. There are many customers who come for them, as well as hosiery customers. When we want a particular article of hosiery, and have an order for it, we can arrange, and often do arrange, to buy it for cash; and the people may go and buy their goods where they like. That is frequently done when we have a standing order for an article; so that we do not keep these things as baits for the public at all. 3236. You buy a good deal of wool from the north isles?-Yes. 3237. I think you said you did not send any of it south?-No; I don't require to send it south. 3238. Are you aware of Shetland wool being bought and sent south in considerable quantities?-I was told by a south-country dealer that he had bought a considerable quantity of wool from Shetland; but that is all. I know about it. I have no personal knowledge of the thing being done. 3239. You don't understand that it is bought up by the proprietors or factors or middle-men?-I never heard anything about that, except from Mr. Walker's evidence; and it is a dream. 3240. You don't buy it yourself for any purpose of that kind?-No; there are none of the merchants who do that. There is one thing in my previous evidence which I wish to correct: I thought of it after I left here. In calculating the value of a 30s. shawl, I put down 14s. as the value of the knitting; but in that case I did not make the deduction I should have made for the percentage of the goods paid for it, which would increase the real profit to the dealer. As, however, in a great many instances, when we require a fine shawl of that kind, a good deal of it is paid in cash, I think that, taking it as a general thing, not more than 1s., 6d. would fall to be deducted for that from the figure I gave. In some cases the price is paid wholly in cash, especially for things of that kind. That sum of 1s. 6d. would therefore fall to be added to the profit if the article was paid in goods; but if paid in cash, then my statement was quite correct. 3241. Did you hear the evidence which has been given by Mr. Anderson with regard to the cost of making shawls and veils?-I did. 3242. It was mostly veils he spoke to, and the selling price of them: do you think his calculations that on subject were generally near the truth?-I believe they were perfectly correct, so far as my own experience goes, but I may say that my experience in that matter has been somewhat different from his, inasmuch, as for that class of wool, and knitting. I often pay a higher rate to good knitters. There is this; however, to be said in my case, that I do not have so many job lots, which compensates to a great extent for the difference; and another thing is that I do not charge such a high price for them as he stated, when sending them south. If I am selling to a private individual, I may but it is very seldom that I sell to private individuals. 3243. That may be accounted for in this way: that you sell more to wholesale customers, while I suppose Mr. Linklater's business in Edinburgh is really a retail business?-Yes; he has a very extensive establishment in Edinburgh. 3244. His own establishment there is a retail one; so that the prices Mr. Anderson was speaking of were probably retail prices?-I suppose so. I think if the one was balanced with the other, there would be found to be very little difference between Mr. Linklater's experience in the trade and my own. I wish it to be distinctly understood, that when I said we got no profit, on the goods except what we realized on the first purchase, I meant that we do not realize indeed we often don't realize so much-as the price we paid for them in goods. In particular cases, we may charge a shade over what the thing has actually cost us; but there are a great many articles for which we must charge less, and that much more than balances the other. If our customers in the south were private individuals or consumers, we could very easily pay the same rate in cash that we now pay in goods, but as we have to sell to retail dealers in a wholesale way, we cannot afford to do that, unless we were to rob the retail dealer of his profit altogether. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, ISABELLA SINCLAIR, examined. 3245. You are the daughter of Mr. Sinclair, who has just been examined, and one of the assistants in shop?-Yes. 3246. Are you sometimes concerned in the purchase of hosiery goods?-No; I never purchase hosiery. 3247. You only sell in the shop?-Yes. 3248. Is it the case that the lines which are given out in your father's shop are generally brought back by the same parties to whom they are issued? Do you know who the lines are given to?-No; we keep no note of their names. 3249. But do you happen to know them?-I know several cases in which the lines have been brought back by the same parties to whom they were given out; and there have been other cases where I know that they have been given by that party to another party, just the same as sending them an errand. 3250. Do you know of any cases in which they have been brought back by people with whom they have been exchanged for money or for goods which could not be got in your father's shop?-No; they would never mention such a thing to us. 3251. And no such case has come within your knowledge?-I have heard vague reports of such things being done but nothing that I could, state positively. I know that if they had come to the shop and asked money for their lines, they would have got 10d., in the shilling for them from my father. 3252. Have you ever been asked for that?-Very seldom. There was one girl who came in a few nights ago and offered me a veil. My father happened to be in the back shop, and I went to him with it, and he said he would give her 1s. 4d. for the veil. I came back to the girl, and she said, 'Would I give her 1s. 4d. in money?' I said, 'Certainly not,' because the veil season was over; and also I did think that money [Page 73] and goods were the same thing. I said I would give here 1s. 1d. in money, and she asked if I would give her 1s. 2d. I said, 'No;' I would only give her 1s. 1d. and she took that and went away. 3253. Is that a usual sort of transaction?-No. I never heard them asking for money before; at least not asking for it in that way. I have heard them wanting to get the same price in money that they got in goods. 3254. Is that a common thing for them to ask?-Well, it is. 3255. Do you know anything about the work-book?-Yes. 3256. Do you sometimes settle the accounts in that book with the knitters?-Occasionally, when the clerk is out. 3257. Are the items in the account always read over to the knitter?-Yes. 3258. Is there any receipt or acknowledgment given when an account is settled?-Occasionally they take a line for the amount if the balance is in their favour, because sometimes the shop is so crowded that we don't have time to turn up the account. 3259. In that case the account is marked as settled in full?-Yes. 3260. In other cases the balance is carried to the next account simply, without any line?-Yes. 3261. Is the work-book kept in the shop, or in the office at the back?-We used to keep it in the shop, but they came and bothered us at the time we were writing, and we thought it better to keep it in the office. But we take the book into the front shop, and read the items over to them when we settle. 3262. If a woman comes with work and gets it entered in the work-book, and then wants a certain quantity of goods, do you communicate with the clerk at the back before giving out the goods, in order to see the state of her account?-Yes. 3263. Who enters the goods in the book?-The clerk, when he is present; or if he is not present, then any of us who retail the goods may enter them. 3264. Do you go into the back shop for the purpose of doing that?-I take down a note of the goods they get on a slip of paper. 3265. And the contents of that slip are entered into the book?- Yes, by the clerk. 3266. Then there may be a great number of these slips to enter in the course of the day?-They are handed to the clerk at once. If he is busy about anything else, any of us may take the book and mark the goods in ourselves. 3267. Are these slips preserved?-No. 3268. They are just destroyed when entered?-Yes. I have occasionally given them to the people themselves, if it was a case where they were getting goods for another person. If they had been sent an errand by any one, I have handed them their slip, in order to show the person who sent them what they had got. 3269. Is there anything else you wish to say?-I wish to say that in a very short time the Shetland wool will be entirely destroyed, because the breed of sheep is wearing out. The Cheviot wool is taking its place. 3270. You mean that the introduction of Cheviot sheep into Shetland is entirely destroying the breed of native sheep?-Yes. 3271. Do you do a good deal in purchasing wool from the Shetland people?-No; I don't purchase but I know the quality of it. 3272. Do you find from the qualities that pass through your hands, that the Shetland wool is not so good as it used to be?-Yes; it is deteriorating very much. 3273. You find it is becoming more like what you buy from the south?-Yes; there is a great difference upon it. There is more elasticity in the Shetland wool than in the Pyrenees wool. 3274. Do you buy the wool yourself?-No; it is spun and knitted by people. 3275. Do they bring it to you, or have you people who gather it in for you?-They bring it to us to the shop: and I have heard the people very often making complaints that they could not get wool at all from any source. 3276. How do you buy wool?-We do not buy wool at all. 3277. Do you buy Shetland worsted?-Yes. 3278. Do the spinners bring it to your shop and sell it?-Very seldom. We buy it mostly from merchants in the country-in Unst and Fetlar. When a spinner comes in with worsted, she generally wants ready money for it. 3279. When a woman comes with it or sends it, how is she paid?-She gets anything she asks for-either goods at wholesale prices, or the cash. 3280. When you buy worsted and give goods for it, you give them at the wholesale prices it is the same as cash?-Yes. 3281. Are there many merchants who deal in that kind of way?-I suppose most of them do so in the places where it is made. It is mostly in the north isles. Occasionally, I think, they do a little in Dunrossness. 3282. Is it bought in by a shopkeeper at Dunrossness?-I don't know how it is done. I simply know that there are some goods made there. 3283. But where do you get your worsted from?-We don't get worsted from any merchant in Dunrossness. I was merely stating where the worsted was spun. 3284. Do you get Shetland worsted from merchants in the north of the mainland as well as in the north isles?-Yes. 3285. Do you get any from Mossbank or Lunna?-No. 3286. Do you get any from Northmavine?-I think we get a little worsted from a merchant there. The books will show where it is got. 3287. Do you know about the prices paid for goods bought in the shop? I don't mean goods knitted you, but goods bought?-Yes. 3288. What do you generally pay for a dozen of men's hose?-I think about 20s.-sometimes more, but very seldom less. That is a thing very seldom sold now, except knickerbocker stockings. 3289. I see in an account five white lace shawls sold each. What would be the price of these if bought over the counter?-8s. in goods. 3290. If paid in cash, what would the price be?-About is 9d., I should say. 3291. Do you buy many of them for cash?-We sometimes buy the larger things for cash. I have been in the shop when large shawls were paid for in that way. 3292. In the same account I see twelve hap-shawls at 11s. 6d.: what would these be bought for across the counter?-It is very likely that 11s. 6d. would be paid for them in goods. 3293. In this account I see one hap-shawl entered at 14s., and then at 13s.: what does that mean?-It means that 14s., was paid for it, and it was sold for 13s. Perhaps it may have been slightly ill-coloured. 3294. In the wholesale trade list which has been given in, I see white, brown, and grey shawls, natural colours, charged 8s. 6d. to 18s.: do you know, from what you see in the shop, the prices at which these are generally bought over the counter?-They are just bought at the same prices at which they are invoiced, and which are put down there. 3295. When a shawl is brought to the shop and paid for in goods, is it ticketed for the south market?-Yes; the fine shawls are ticketed. 3296. Wrap or winter shawls, 8s. 6d.: would these be ticketed?- No. 3297. Why?-Because my father knows the prices so well; they are sold by measure. 3298. The prices at which they are charged do not depend so much on fancy?-No. 3299. Then the prices of these shawls are fixed afterwards?-Yes. 3300. How do you know that the prices which are charged for these shawls are the same as have been paid for them over the counter?-Because I have seen haps sold at the counter for 8s. 6d.; and afterwards, [Page 74] when they were ready for the market, they were charged at the same, or nearly the same, price. 3301. Don't you sometimes see them charged at a higher price?-I cannot say exactly, because I do not always notice what the prices are; but I know that I have sometimes seen the same prices charged. I have noticed that particularly in haps. 3302. There are grey and brown long shawls, 20s. to 24s. are these also haps?-Yes. 3303. Are they generally bought at from 20s. to 24s.?-Yes. 3304. And sold at the same prices?-Yes, I have noticed that. 3305. You have nothing to do with the pricing of them yourself?- Nothing at all. I merely see the tickets, and recognise the article. Perhaps there was something particular about it which led me to recognise it. 3306. How often has that happened?-I could not say. 3307. Has it happened a dozen times?-It has surely happened more than a dozen times. That is a very small number. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, JOHN JAMES BRUCE, examined. 3308. Are you a shopman to Mr. Sinclair?-Yes. 3309. You are not the bookkeeper?-No. 3310. Do you know the prices at which hosiery goods are bought across the counter?-Yes. 3311. Do you also know the prices at which these same goods are invoiced to the southern market?-Yes. 3312. Is the price at which they are bought and the price at which they are sold the same, or different, on the ordinary run of goods?-They are charged to the wholesale or the retail dealer in the south at the same price as we pay for them in goods at the counter. 3313. Is that the invariable practice?-Yes. 3314. The goods, I understand, are not all ticketed when bought?-Fine shawls are generally ticketed, but haps and other goods are judged of afterwards, when being looked out in order to be sent to the market in the south. 3315. In the case of fine shawls, is it within your own knowledge that the ticket put upon them at the time of the purchase bears generally the same price as has been paid for them in goods?- Yes. Mr Sinclair puts up these goods himself for the market, and the ticket is put on them at the time of the purchase, in order to bring to his remembrance, when he is putting them up for the market, the price he paid for them at the counter. 3316. In all these cases there is only one valuation of the shawl, and it is made to the person who brings it to you for sale?-Yes. 3317. The ticket is put on them, and the invoice price is the same as the price on the ticket?-Yes, the same. 3318. Do you make no allowance, in that case, for the loss upon the dressing or the dyeing of the shawl?-When a girl comes with an article that is ill-coloured, she may ask a certain price for it; but we state that we cannot give her that price, owing to it being ill-coloured, and that it requires to be dyed. In that case we deduct the price of the dyeing from the price which is paid to her. 3319. Is that deduction made before the price is put on the ticket?-We don't ticket it then. It has to be sent south to the dyer, and to come back and to be dressed here. 3320. In that case you must make an estimate, because you cannot identify the shawl afterwards?-No; we just leave it to our own judgment afterwards. 3321. Then it appears that you don't invoice the goods at exactly the same price that is paid in every case?-We don't invoice them at the same price if we are selling them to private individuals; but when we sell them to a retail dealer, we invoice them at the same price. 3322. But you have said that very often you require to send them to the dyer, in which case they are not ticketed at the time you purchase them?-No; but the retail dealer must pay for the dyeing. 3323. But the goods are not always ticketed at the time they are bought?-No; not always. I did not say they were. 3324. Are they ticketed, as a rule, when they are bought?-The finest of the lace goods or shawls are ticketed. 3325. And veils?-No, not veils; but the fine lace shawls are generally ticketed. 3326. How is the invoice price of the veils fixed, if they are not ticketed when they are bought?-We can easily judge of the quality of a veil by looking at it, and we can tell what we paid for it. Of course, in fixing the price, we always refer to what we paid for it, and we know that at a glance by the quality of the work and the worsted. 3327. You cannot tell what you paid for a particular lot of veils, because you cannot identify them?-No. 3328. But you know by the quality what they likely to have cost you?-Yes. 3329. Is the price at which veils are sold generally the same as that at which they are bought?-Yes. Veils which have been bought across the counter are charged at the same price that we consider we paid for them. 3330. Are many of the shawls dyed?-A good many. Some are dyed on account of being ill-coloured. Perhaps we don't discover, at the time when they are taken in over the counter, that they are ill-coloured; we only find that out afterwards, and then we have to dye them. Sometimes we dye shawls, not on account of them being ill-coloured, but because we require them of a particular colour. 3331. Is that done with fine shawls?-Both with fine and coarse. 3332. But not with haps?-Sometimes with haps too. We dye haps scarlet and black. 3333. Therefore there is a considerable quantity of the shawl goods which it is not possible to ticket at the time when they are bought, because they have afterwards to be dyed-Yes, a considerable quantity. 3334. And, in that case, the price is fixed afterwards, according to your own notions of the quality?-Yes. 3335. Who fixes the invoice price of shawls when they are sent out finally to the market?-Mr. Sinclair himself. He takes that department. 3336. Do you know whether, in doing so, he takes into account the market price in the south?-Although he makes up the articles, they pass through my hands in packing, and I see the tickets. They generally have a ticket on them, in order to guide the clerk in checking them and entering them into the book. 3337. But you don't know the principle on which Mr. Sinclair values these shawls when they are invoiced?-He just judges of them in the same manner as he did at first when taking them in over the counter. 3338. What proportion of the shawls may be revalued in that way?-Will it be one-third or one-half of them?-They are all re-valued in that way, unless those which are ticketed. 3339. But what proportion of them are not ticketed at first?-I could not say. 3340. Is it not the case that very few of them are ticketed at first?-There are only the finest lace shawls that are ticketed at first. 3341. Therefore the bulk of the shawls are not ticketed then, but valued afterwards?-Yes; they are valued in the same manner at that time as they were when taken in at the counter. 3342. Are you in a position to state whether or not that valuation which is made when they are sent out exceeds the valuation which is put upon them when they are purchased for the market?-I have reason to believe from Mr. Sinclair's long experience in the trade, that he will know to a fraction what he paid for the [Page 75] shawls; and I can swear that they are not charged by him at a higher price than the price which was paid for them in goods at the counter. Of course deductions are made afterwards by the wholesale dealer, if he thinks the article is inferior. 3343. Do you issue the lines which are given out in the shop?-I very often issue lines. I perhaps issue more of them than any one else. 3344. Do you also serve customers who have lines?-Yes. 3345. Is it consistent with your knowledge, that the lines are generally brought back by the parties to whom they were originally given out?-They are generally brought back by the owner of the hosiery. 3346. Is it the party herself to whom the line has been given that usually brings it back?-Very often but sometimes they may send a line in by another party as a messenger. 3347. How do you know that?-Sometimes a line may be brought back an hour after it has been given out, by a different party, and they will perhaps make remark in order to let me know that they have been sent by the party to whom the line belonged. 3348. Are you aware that the lines are exchanged or sold by the parties to whom they were first issued?-I have heard something to that effect this very morning. 3349. But you have not known of that in your own experience?- No. It has not come under my notice, unless from report. 3350. Does the party bringing one of these lines for goods ever tell you that she had purchased it?-No. I don't remember an instance of that kind. 3351. You don't remember any particular case in which there had been a sale of the line for cash, or for other goods which you don't supply?-I say there was an instance this morning which came under my notice, in which a line had been exchanged, and in which the party had got cash for the line. 3352. From whom had the cash been got?-I could give the name of the party to whom the line belonged, but not of the other party. 3353. Was that an instance of a line being brought back by a person to whom it had not been originally issued?-No; it was merely a party in the shop who said that some time ago-she did not state the time-she had a line which she had given to another person, and had got cash for it. But at the same time she said that she did not ask cash from Mr. Sinclair, or she might have got it. She felt diffident in asking for cash, because she had brought her hosiery to the shop on the understanding that she was to take goods for it. The receipt she got had not been a cash transaction. 3354. Is that the only time, in your experience in the shop, that you have heard of these lines being exchanged for cash, or for other goods than those which Mr. Sinclair sells?-It is the only one I can point to in particular. 3355. But do you swear that you don't know that lines have been so exchanged?-No, I would not swear that. I said I have heard a vague report that on several occasions they have been exchanged, but I could not point to any other case than the one I have mentioned. 3356. Is cash ever given in your shop upon lines?-Yes, often. It is given on lines, even when the hosiery article has been taken in over the counter with understanding that the party was to take all goods for it. 3357. The lines bear that their value is to be given in goods but notwithstanding that you know that cash had been given on them?-Yes. 3358. How often?-I could not say how often, but I can point to one woman in particular who has got cash in that way. She stated that she was in need of it, and she got it even when the hosiery article was taken with the understanding that only goods were to be given for it. 3359. In that case, was any discount taken for cash?-No. 3360. Was the whole amount given in cash?-Yes, all cash. She said she required it to buy meal with. 3361. What was the amount of that line?-It was the case with that woman on several lines, not on one line in particular. 3362. Who was the woman?-I should prefer to give her name in private. 3363. What proportion of her line was given in cash?-I could not say what proportion, but she got the proportion she asked for. Of course, when giving money in that way, we considered it was a deduction from the profit on our goods. 3364. Then it was given as a sort of charity?-It might be considered as a sort of favour, because it was a deduction from our profit. 3365. Do you say that it was really a deduction from the profit?- Yes. 3366. But you said before, and I have been informed by other parties, that there is no profit at all upon the hosiery goods; so that if you pay the lines in cash, you take away all the profit you make upon a purchase of hosiery?-Yes; that is only if we charge the wholesale dealer the same price. 3367. But you say that, practically, the wholesale dealer is charged the same price?-Yes. Even should we pay the same price in cash as we get from the wholesale dealer, if we were sure that this party would come back to the shop with the money which we gave her and take our goods, it would not be a loss; but if she did not come back, then there would be a loss. 3368. In other words, the effect of the lines and of paying in goods is, that these sellers of hosiery are bound to take their goods at your shop, instead of another; and therein lies your profit?-Of course. We just have our profit on the goods. We have two sales for one profit. 3369. But you say that although you suspected, and had heard from rumour, that these lines were commonly exchanged for money or for other goods than you dealt in, you have known of no particular case except the one you have mentioned?-No. 3370. Have you known of cases where goods which had been delivered in return for hosiery had been exchanged by the women for other goods or for cash?-I could not point out any case. 3371. Did you ever hear of any case?-I could not point out any one. 3372. But did you ever hear of any such case?-I have heard that rumour, the same as I heard of the other thing. 3373. Have the women told you that themselves?-Yes; just speaking of it among the crowd in the shop. 3374. You don't remember the names of these women?-I do not. 3375. Have you any doubt at all that that is done?-No; I am led to believe that it is done. 3376. How are you led to believe that?-Because I have heard the vague report so often-not once, but several times. 3377. Does that report lead you to believe that it is done to any great extent?-I could not say to what extent. 3378. How does report speak of it?-Just that it was not uncommon. The report did not say that it was very common, but only that it was common. 3379. Do you swear that you cannot remember the names of any women who have done it?-I do. 3380. Or who have spoken to you about it?-None, except the one who has said it to-day 3381. Or that you have heard speak of it?-No. 3382. In the journal, or work-book, I see that there is sometimes a line entered. I do not mean merely that the balance is struck, but sometimes there are entries, 'To lines.' Can you explain that?- Sometimes the party that the account belongs to will have to pay another party so much, and she gives us instructions to mark a line for a certain amount in the book, and then give her that line to give to the other party, who comes back with it and gets the amount in goods. 3383. Then the line is granted to your knitters for the purpose of paying their debt to another?-Yes. 3384. Is that frequently done?-Not very often. [Page 76] It has happened occasionally. I have entered such lines myself in the work-book; and sometimes, although not very often, when looking over their account, instead of taking the balance that may be in their favour, they will take a line for it. I may say, however, that where hosiery has been taken from a person on the understanding that they were to take all goods for it, I have never known a case where cash was refused to them when they said they were in need of it. 3385. That just amounts to this: that Mr. Sinclair, in a case of that kind, throws away the whole of his profit?-Yes; it shows a charitable spirit in Mr. Sinclair. 3386. In the case of Mary Ann Sinclair, there was an entry in the journal of cash paid to William Smith for meal: can you explain how that was done?-I heard Mr. Sinclair's examination about that. His attention was directed to an entry of 'Cash, for meal,' he was asked why that was not entered merely cash. I cannot say whether the entry was in my writing or not, but I remember that girl coming into the shop and asking for cash, and she made a remark that it was for meal. I think that the entry is in my hand, and that I just put it down as she said it. 3387. The giving of that cash was a deviation from your usual practice?-Yes, these parties depend chiefly upon the knitting, and they get a larger supply of cash than the general workers. There are not many cases, I don't think we have a similar case in the town, where the parties depend entirely on their knitting. Our knitters belong chiefly to the country, and the knitting is with them an extra piece of work. 3388. In the same witness's account there was another entry of 'Cash, for meal:' do you explain that in the same way?-Yes; but of course they were at liberty to go to any shop for it they liked. 3389. Does the entry, 'To William Smith, for meal,' mean that you paid the money directly to Smith?-Sometimes we did. His account would show that the amount which he received from us was just the same as had been marked to the women. In his account he would state that he had given out so much meal to them. 3390. Has Mr. Smith an account with R. Sinclair & Co.?- Sometimes there was an account between them at that time. 3391. Was that account for supplies to work-people?-Sometimes it would be for such supplies along with Mr. Sinclair's personal account. 3392. Does Mr. Smith make frequent supplies to Mr. Sinclair's work-people?-No; it has not been done very frequently. 3393. To what class of work-people are these supplies made?- Chiefly to the party who has been already examined, Mary Ann Sinclair, and that has not been done of late. These girls have not been so dependent on their knitting lately, because they have got help from another quarter. 3394. Then this payment for meal, and that payment to W. Smith for meal, were really so much taken out of Mr. Sinclair's profit?- I think so, because their knitting was estimated at the goods price, not at the cash price. 3395. I see that in the same account there are other two entries of purchases of meal?-Yes, that was merely put down because the parties said they wanted meal, and for a considerable time they had just a weekly allowance. 3396. The entries of these two purchases of meal are really equivalent to entries of cash?-Yes; sometimes when it is said, 'Cash, for meal,' they got the cash into their own hands. 3397. And sometimes it was entered in the account with Mr. Smith?-Yes. 3398. Was that account of Mr. Smith's a personal account of Mr. Sinclair's?-I suppose it was just made out as an account of R. Sinclair & Co. 3399. What was the nature of the dealings with Smith? Have you seen his account?-I cannot remember. I saw the account when it was handed in, but I cannot say what was in it. 3400. You don't know about it personally?-No. 3401. Is there anything you wish to state on the subject of this inquiry?-I wish to state that, supposing a new system of cash payments is adopted, there will be a change, which I don't think will be altogether in favour of the worker. No doubt it would be to some extent. 3402. What difference would there be?-I shall suppose that a woman comes in with a shawl, say to-day, while the present system exists, and gets 20s. in goods. She wants grey cotton, and she will get forty yards of it for her 20s. To-morrow she comes in, and the system is changed, and she must be paid in cash. Well, she gets the cash, and she requires the same kind of goods, but she thinks there is no need for going out of the shop, as the goods here are as cheap as anywhere else. Then she will get for her cash the usual discount of 5 per cent. That would be 16s. 91/2d., and she would only have then about thirty-three yards of cotton instead of forty yards. 3403. But in the case you have supposed, would not the cotton be sold cheaper, because the merchant would not require to put all his profit on the cotton, as you say he does now, but he would also put a profit on the hosiery; and therefore he could afford to sell the cotton at a smaller profit?-The merchant would not have two profits on his hosiery. 3404. If he was buying for cash, he would?-No, it would merely be embarking his capital a second time. 3405. If he were buying the shawl for 16s. in cash, would he not sell it for 20s., as he does just now?-Yes; he would embark that cash again. 3406. That allows a profit of 4s. upon the hosiery, perhaps under deductions for certain contingencies; but it certainly allows a profit which on your own statement, he does not have now. According to your own statement, there is no profit on the hosiery now, because it is bought for the same price in goods as it is sold for; but if he were paying 16s. in cash for it, there would then be a profit upon the hosiery of 3s. or 4s. Now, would not the fact that a profit is taken upon the hosiery enable him to sell his cotton goods with a somewhat less margin of profit than he does just now?-It might. 3407. Besides, the case which you have put just now implies that the woman wants something which Mr. Sinclair has in his shop?- Yes. 3408. It does not allow at all for a case in which she wants something different and in order to get which she might perhaps have to part with the goods at a loss?-Viewing it in the light I have stated would perhaps be a disadvantage to the knitter; but there would certainly be an advantage to her, as she would have cash with which to go and buy groceries or other things wherever she wanted, 3409. Then that would be an advantage?-It would be an advantage; but another disadvantage to her might be, that the merchant would not take her goods at all unless he actually wanted them and he had orders for them, and unless they were of good quality. There would thus be only one advantage against two disadvantages. 3410. But if one merchant did not take her goods, another would, if they were worth buying at all?-Perhaps he might; but I was only speaking about how the thing might act if such a system were introduced. There might be a second advantage, in this way: that more encouragement might be given to the trade in the south, as the cash system might be a means of producing better articles. The knitters might be induced to bestow more pains on the manufacture of their goods and then there would not be periods when the market was in a dead, dull kind of state, as it sometimes is now. 3411. Is it ever in a dead, dull kind of state?-Yes, at certain seasons it is. 3412. Is there ever a time when you refuse to take Shetland goods?-Yes; at this very season we cannot buy veils at all, because we have no market for them. The market is blocked up entirely. But if the manufacture was improved, and the goods were somewhat [Page 77] better than they are now, there might be a regular flow of goods into the market. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, ROBERT SINCLAIR, recalled. 3413. Is there anything further you wish to say?-With regard to Mr. Bruce's evidence as to the account with Smith, I think he is mistaken in saying that there is any entry of that meal in any of Smith's accounts. I remember only one case where Miss Sinclair got her meal from Smith, and I went myself, either that day or the following day, to him with the money. That is the only case I know of; and I am almost sure there is no such thing as meal supplied to her entered in any contra account of Mr. Smith, because we paid the meal in cash at once. I know of no other person being supplied by Mr. Smith except her. Another thing is with regard to the number of shawls that are dyed. Mr. Bruce does not seem to recollect that the number of shawls dyed bears a very small proportion to the number of shawls we sell. It is only a fraction of them that are dyed. I don't think there is one out of eighty which requires to be dyed for selling south. With regard to the valuation of the shawls, the fact is, that although sometimes it happens that we detect a fault in the goods when we are buying them, and make a deduction for that from the price, yet in the majority of cases the faults are only detected after the goods are bought, and no deduction for that can be made from the price which we pay to the knitters. In all such cases we have to dye them for nothing. 3414. Do you mean that the fault is detected after the shawls are bought from you?-Not after they are bought from us, but after we have bought them; and consequently we have to dye them. Then when they are dyed, they very often, indeed generally, do not bring more than they would have brought if they had been white; but that is such a trifling thing, that it is not worth speaking about. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, Mrs. ANN EUNSON, examined. 3415. You live in Lerwick?-Yes. 3416. You have come forward voluntarily to make a statement?- Yes. 3417. Nobody has sent you here?-No. 3418. Have you knitted for a long time to Mr. Linklater?-Yes, for a long time; I don't remember how long. 3419. What have you made?-Little hap-shawls. 3420. How have you been paid for them?-I have been well paid for them, according to what I sought. 3421. Did you get money or goods?-When I sought money I got it; but when I required anything which he had, I thought it was my duty to take it from him, and not from another. He always gave me a little money when I asked it. 3422. How much would you get at a time?-I might not ask above 6d. at a time, but I would get it. 3423. How much would you make in a week by knitting?-It was just as I had time to sit at it. 3424. Did you do a good deal at it?-Not a great deal I made a good many haps for myself when I could. I am a widow. I had seven children, who are all dead, and I have supported myself entirely by my work. 3425. Have you supported yourself entirely by knitting?-Yes. I had no other work, except that of going for peats, or anything else I had to do. 3426. Were these your own peats?-Yes. 3427. Therefore you had no other means except by knitting?-No; except that for some time back I have had 1s. a week from the parochial board. 3428. Before you got that, did you support yourself entirely by knitting?-Yes; only at times I have got some things from friends. 3429. Did you get your meal and provisions from the proceeds of your knitting?-Yes. 3430. How did you manage that, when you were paid mostly in goods?-Often, when I had a little time, I made small shawls for myself; and when travelling merchants came to town, they would take my shawls and sell them for me for a little money. 3431. Did you do that because it was not the custom to give money for such things at the merchants' shops?-It was not the usual thing always to give money at the merchants shops. If they had given it, I might not have given my shawls to these travelling merchants, 3432. If you had got money from the merchants shops, you would have been as ready to sell your shawls to them as to these strangers?-Yes; but I sold some haps to Mr. Linklater, and got much the same from him as I got from them. 3433., Only you got it in goods?-Yes; but if had sought a little money, I would have got it. 3434. What was the price of the hap-shawls which you made?-I have got as high as 3s. and 4s. for them. I don't make the fine knitting. 3435. Do you ever make hose or stockings?-Yes. 3436. What do you get for them?-I don't make many stockings; I think I am better paid by making these little haps. 3437. Do you take any lodgers?-I don't take any now. I am in the Widows' Asylum; but before I went there, I took one or two. 3438. Did these lodgers help you in your living?-Yes, a little. 3439. Then you would get money in that way with which to purchase provisions?-Yes; but I could not get so much knitting made when I had lodgers. 3440. But the money you got from them would help you to buy meal and bread, and what you wanted to live upon?-No; I did not have above 6d. a week from my lodgers, and sometimes it was 1s.; but I got through with it, and now it is come to a conclusion. 3441. How old are you?-I think I am about seventy-two. 3442. You are still knitting a little?-Yes; my fingers are as clever as can be yet. 3448. You don't get money for your knitting now?-I get money from Mr. Linklater when I ask it. 3444. How often do you ask it?-I don't like to trouble him too much, but I know that he would give me what I sought; and many a time I have got it. He often supplied me when I required it, and when I had nothing in his hands to get. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, JOHN JAMES BRUCE, recalled. 3445. I understand you wish to make some correction on your former evidence?-Yes; I find I made a mistake. On going back to the shop after giving my evidence, I found the same girl there whom I mentioned before, and I spoke to her about what I had said here. She said it was not a line that she had exchanged. She has an account in the book, and she had got a bonnet, and had given it to the other party. Of course it was to the same effect as if she had given a line. She had got goods from us, and had given them to another person for cash. 3446. Was all the rest of your statement correct?-Yes. 3447. Have you anything to say with regard to the proportion of goods which are re-dyed about which Mr. Sinclair made some explanation?-What I meant to say was, that all the goods not ticketed are re-valued, and that some of them are dyed,-these, of course, not being re-valued until they come back from the dyer. Only the finer qualities of goods are ticketed at the time they are taken from the customer. [Page 78] 3448. So that the larger proportion of goods are, in point of fact, re-valued?-Yes. By being re-valued, I mean that they are judged of again in the same way that they were judged of, on being taken from the customer. I don't mean to say that a different price is put upon the article; it may be the same price. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, ROBERT SINCLAIR, recalled. 3449. Is there anything you wish to add?-I may make one remark about that last point,-the valuation of the goods. Many years ago I had a partner, from which the firm took its name of Sinclair & Co. At that time we ticketed all the shawls that we bought, with the exception of the lower-priced ones. We found it a little inconvenient to be always doing that, and my partner and I, in order to test our own judgment with regard to these articles, entered the goods in a book at the ticketed value when we bought them. When we put them out to the dressing, of course the tickets were taken off; but when they came back, we re-valued them according to our own judgment, without any reference to the entries we had made in the book; and I can declare on my oath that we never varied one per cent. on the things-we knew their value so well. When I came to see that I could judge of the values so well, I did not ticket the lower qualities of goods-only those of the value of which there could be any doubt. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, MARGARET CLUNAS, examined. 3450. You are a native of Unst, and you have lived there until lately?-Yes. 3451. Are you in the habit of knitting?-Yes. 3452. For whom did you knit in Unst?-For Mr. Thomas Jamieson. 3453. Is he a merchant and purchaser of hosiery?-Yes. 3454. Did you knit with wool supplied by him?-Yes; generally. 3455. You sometimes knitted with worsted of your own?-Yes. 3456. How were you paid for what you knitted with his worsted?-The veils were 1s. when made with Scotch worsted, and 10d. when made with Shetland worsted, and for shawls of twenty-four scores we were paid 9s. for knitting. 3457. What do you mean by twenty-four scores?-That was the size of the shawl. 3458. Did he pay you in money when you knitted for him in that way?-No. 3459. Did you ever get any money from him?-No, I never got it, because it was a thing he never gave, and we never asked for it. 3460. Were you content to take the value in goods?-Sometimes, and sometimes not. 3461. When were you not content to do that?-When I could not fall in with the things I was wanting. 3462. Was that often?-Not very often; but sometimes he was out of things I wanted. 3463. When you wanted anything which you could not fall in with in his shop, what did you do?-Sometimes he sent for it to us, and sometimes not; and we had then to take just what things were there. 3464. Did you live with your father?-Yes. 3465. He kept you in food, so that you did not require to buy any food for yourself?-Only sometimes in the summer time chiefly. 3466. Did you work out in the summer time?-Yes, for day's wages. 3467. Then you did not require to knit for your living, but only for your clothing?-Only for our clothing; but of course we could not have got food for our knitting from that man, even if we had required it. He would not have given it. 3468. How much would you make in the week in Unst by knitting?-Perhaps 3s. or 4s., according to what we did. 3469. That was his value in goods?-Yes. 3470. Were you paid in the same way when you knitted with your own worsted?-Yes, we were generally paid in the same way. 3471. What kind of goods did you get from Mr Jamieson?- Cotton and winceys. 3472. Did you get tea?-He would sometimes refuse to give above a quarter pound of tea on a 9s. shawl he did not like to give much tea. 3473. Why?-He called it a money article, and he would not give it. 3474. How long is it since you left Unst?-It is about two or three months since I left it first, but I have been home again for some time. 3475. Did you come to Lerwick to knit?-No, I came to be a servant. 3476. Are you not knitting here now?-Yes, I am knitting at present. 3477. Are you out of a place?-Yes. 3478. Do you deal in the same way here as you did in Unst, or is there any difference?-There is a woman in Lerwick that I knit to, and she gets money for our goods, and is thus able to pay us in money. 3479. Who is that?-Miss Hutchison, Burn's Lane. 3480. Does she always pay you in money?-Yes; or if she has any little thing, which she has got, we can get it. 3481. Are there other merchants in Unst besides Mr. Jamieson who buy hosiery?-Yes. 3482. Who are they?-Mr. Alexander Sandison, at Uyea Sound. 3483. Where is Mr. Jamieson's place?-At Westing. 3484. How did you happen to have wool of your own to knit with?-We generally bought it from people who had wool. 3485. You got it from the neighbours?-Yes. 3486. What did you pay for fine Shetland worsted?-We bought the wool, and we spun it for ourselves. 3487. Did you ever sell the worsted that you spun?-Yes. 3488. What did you get for it?-3d. a cut. 3489. Was that from Mr. Jamieson?-Yes; or from Mr. Sandison, or any of them. 3490. Was that paid to you in money?-No. 3491. Was it always paid in goods?-Yes, but we would have got more money articles for the worsted than we could get for knitting. 3492. They would have given you tea for worsted?-Yes. 3493. Would they not have given cash for it?-We never asked it; but I believe if we had asked it, we would have got it for worsted. 3494. Then you did not ask money for your worsted, simply because you wanted the goods?-Yes Lerwick, January 6, 1872, Mrs. ANDRINA ANDERSON or NICHOLSON, examined. 3495. You live in Lerwick?-Yes, at the Docks, but we call it Lerwick. 3496. Your husband is alive?-Yes. 3497. Do you sometimes knit?-I don't knit so much at present as I was accustomed to do, on account of my husband being at home; and I don't require to do it. 3498. Have you heard a good deal of the evidence which has been given here?-Yes; I came here for that purpose, but not to speak. I wished to hear the evidence which was given, because I had heard so much said on both sides of the subject. 3499. In the evidence you have heard, is there much that you differ from and wish to correct?-As I have [Page 79] had a good deal of knowledge with regard to the hosiery business and about the payment in goods, I should like to say what I know about that, and what I think would be a better plan to take, so far as my experience goes. 3500. You have heard a description given of the system as it exists,-how hosiery is paid for in goods or in lines?-I have not only heard it, but I have had experience of it for a long time. The first shawl I knitted was in 1840, and since then almost all that I have done has been in the hosiery line, either knitting or dressing. 3501. Has all your work been paid for by goods in an account?- Almost the whole of it has been paid in that way, that is, what I have done in Lerwick; but I have done something for Miss Hutchison. I have also sent some goods south to Mr. John White, and been paid for them in money. 3502. But all that you have done for the merchants in Lerwick has been paid for to you in goods?-I think the whole of it. 3503. You are speaking now of all the shops in Lerwick?-I don't have any particular statement to make about one more than another, because I have dealt with three or four different shops. 3504. Are you speaking now of articles which you have knitted with your own wool, or with the wool which was given out to you by merchants?-I chiefly knitted an article and sold it; but I was in the way of dressing for a good many years, and, I saw then how the people complained about getting goods for their work. Their complaints on that subject were very frequent, and in some cases I thought they had great reason to complain. 3505. Why was that?-Because the goods were charged so much more in some cases than what they could have been got for in ready money. I may tell you what first opened my mind to that point. I required a good deal of money at one time. I could not get it in the way we were then doing, and I then adopted the plan of trying to dress for some of the hosiers, and getting money for it. 3506. How long ago was that?-I think it will be about sixteen years ago. Fourteen years past in July I went south and sold a Shetland shawl to Mr. Mackenzie, a Shetland warehouseman, in Princes Street, Edinburgh. He asked me what I wanted for the shawl, and I said 10s. He said he would give me 8s. I told him I could get 10s. in Lerwick for it, from the merchants there; and he said, 'But when I give you 8s., that is just as good to you as 10s. from them.' I had felt the truth of that, but I had never seen it properly before. 3507. Did he explain to you how 8s. in cash from him was equal to 10s. from the merchants in Lerwick?-He told me the profit was laid on the goods; and at that time, and before that time, I will declare it was. 3508. You mean that the goods were dearer in Lerwick than you could have bought them in the south?-Not only in the south, but dearer than we could have bought them in another shop in the town. We could have bought them cheaper in shops in Lerwick when we were not dealing in the hosiery business. 3509. Are there drapery shops now in Lerwick that do not deal in hosiery?-Yes. 3510. And is it the case that you can purchase the same goods at those shops at a lower price than you can at shops where the hosiery business is carried on?-Yes; I know that from experience, because I have the money in my hand, and I can go and purchase them cheaper elsewhere than I can do at some of these shops. I don't say at them all, but I know there are some of the drapery shops in Lerwick where they could be got cheaper. I will give a case of that. Last summer I had to buy a woollen shirt, and I went into a shop, and saw a piece that I thought would do. The merchant brought it down and said it was 1s. 8d. a yard. Another merchant had charged me 1s. 6d. for something of the same kind, and I told this merchant that the thing was too dear. He said, ' I will give it to you for 1s. 6d. a yard;' and I said, 'Well, I will give you 4s. 6d. for 31/4 yards of it;' and he gave it me. A day or two afterwards a woman came into my house and saw the goods, and said, 'That is the same as I have bought; what did you pay for that?'-I said I had paid money, because it is an understanding that some shops can give it for less with money than with hosiery. I told her I paid 4s. 6d. for 31/4 yards; and she then told me that she had paid 2s. of hosiery for a yard of it-6s. for 3, or, 6s. 6d. for 31/4 yards-just the quantity required. 3511. Have you any objection to give me the name of the woman and the names of the shops?-I could give the names, but I would prefer to do so privately. The stuff I bought is still in existence, and also what she bought, and they could be compared, to show that they are of the same quality. I did not do that with any intention of finding out the difference in prices; it just occurred accidentally, and I only give it as an instance, to prove that if we could get money for our hosiery goods it would be far better for us. I know that many a poor creature in Lerwick, if she could get money for her articles, even although she were to get less of it, could make more of it than she does now, by getting the money in her own hand, to be applied for any purpose she thought proper. I heard you ask one of the witnesses whether people would give them articles for less in money than in goods, and that was what made me think over it. 3512. Do you think they would be willing to do so?-I think so. I remember one time when Mr. Mackenzie-the same gentleman I have already mentioned-came down to Lerwick and stayed here for some time, and he gave money for the articles that were brought to him, but scarcely so much as his own customers in Lerwick will give you in goods; and that was the way he came to know that if he gave me 8s., he would pay me as well as some of those who paid me with 10s. 3513. Did you sell anything to him at that time?-I sold to him at the time I was south. I did not sell to him at Lerwick. I could not get in to see him there, because there were so many people who came with their work for the sake of getting money for it, although it was a less sum that he gave than the merchants here. 3514. How long ago was that?-It was when Mr. Harrison was dealing in the business. I think it will be about twenty-five years ago. 3515. Then the custom at that time was to deal in goods, as it is now?-Yes; and indeed the goods are rather a better price now than they were then. We could get scarcely any money articles at that time at all. I think that the articles are more reasonably priced now than they were at that time. I have seen us go into a shop then, and they would ask us what sort of goods we wanted for our knitting; and if they saw we wanted money article they would perhaps not take the goods at all. 3516. You say that you know many girls who would be much better off by being paid in money?-Yes, if what they tell me is true. They say that there are many purposes to which they would require to put money if they had it, but they cannot get it without doing something for it in some other way, as has been already explained. I have heard you put a question to some of them about their being compelled to sell their lines. I don't know any case of that kind, but I know that they have done that, or equivalent to it, by taking a piece of cotton out of the shops and selling it in order to serve the purpose they required the money for. 3517. I suppose some of them manage to live by taking in lodgers occasionally?-That is done only on very small scale in Lerwick. 3518. Do not people in the country sometimes come in and stay with them for a night or two?-Yes but it could scarcely be called a lodging-house as that is understood in the south. 3519. But people do come from the country for a night or two, and perhaps bring their own provisions with them?-There is very little of that can be done in Lerwick at present, because there have been so [Page 80] many people warned out of their farms in the country. 3520. Have you known many cases, within your own knowledge, of girls being in straits in consequence of that system of dealing?-Yes, I have had to supply them many a time with things. I bought some little things from a girl within the last week or two at a reduced price, which she took from me because I could give her the money. I did not require the article. I only bought it from her as a charity, and I would not have mentioned it unless you had asked me. 3521. Have you ever known of girls falling into evil courses in consequence of the want of money?-Perhaps if they had the inclination, they would have fallen into them any way. I think, on the whole, that if they had money, they would be able to save a good deal out of the expense for dress which they sometimes wear. They would then have their money, to do what they chose with it. Perhaps they might apply some of it for a religious purpose, or put it into a missionary box; or if they did not think of doing that, they might have an opportunity to put it into the savings bank, which Lerwick knitters have never yet had the pleasure doing. 3522. Is there no savings bank here?-There is a post-office savings bank; but I don't think there are many of the knitters who can get the blessing of putting cash into it for a rainy day, either to pay the doctor or anything else. 3523. You seem to think that the effect of the system is to lead them to spend more of their earnings on dress than they would otherwise do?-When I was young myself and unmarried, and when I was getting dresses instead of getting money articles for my work, I would not have thought much of putting a very expensive dress on; but when I got money I did not like to spend so much upon dress, because I prized the money so much more. I only judge others as I would judge myself; but I know that when I was paid only in goods for my knitting, I would be more ready to take an expensive dress than if I were to get money. 3524. I asked you a question just now which you did not answer quite distinctly: whether you had known of girls who were knitters falling into evil courses?-I cannot say about that. 3525. Do you think girls are led to fall into a bad way of living from the system which prevails here, and from being led by it to indulge more in dress than they ought to do, or from being in straits from want of food?-I cannot answer that question. I don't see why they should do that in consequence of the system; but what I mean is, that if they could get money for their goods, that would perhaps prevent them from spending all their earnings in dress, and expensive articles of that kind, and they would have something for other purposes which are as necessary, or more so. 3526. You said the prices differed at certain shops in town: would you give me an instance of that besides what you have mentioned? Suppose, for instance, that cotton is charged at 6d. a yard, is not that the common price for cotton that is given for hosiery?-Yes. 3527. Do you know whether that could be got cheaper at any other shop?-That particular thing does not vary so much just now as it used to do; but with regard to the dress pieces, and things of that kind, I know there are some shops that have a higher price marked on the articles than the other shops have on an article of the same appearance and, I think, of the same value. 3528. You know that from examining them in the shops?-I know it by going from shop to shop and purchasing the articles with money for myself. 3529. What is your husband's business?-He is a cooper. 3530. Have you bought Shetland worsted yourself?-I have. 3531. From merchants or from people?-Generally from country people. 3532. Do you always pay money for it?-Yes. 3533. Have you bought it from merchants too?-Yes. 3534. Do you always pay them money for it?-I have seen Mr. Sinclair sometimes supply me with some of it on work, although it was a money article and I felt obliged to him for it, because I sometimes could not get it from the country as well as he could. 3535. That was given you to work into things for yourself?-Yes. 3536. But the price was the same, in both cases?-Yes; of the Shetland worsted. 3537. And when you got it from the shop in that way, it was as a favour that you got it?-Yes. 3538. What would be the value of the Shetland worsted in a shawl that was worth 20s.?-I generally deal with Mr. John White in shawls that are worth more than that. I do not send many to him now. 3539. Do you get a high price for them from him?-No; I can get as much for them in Lerwick. 3540. What price do you get for these shawls?-From 28s. to 30s.; and I can go in with the same shawl to any of the shops in Lerwick and get the same price, only in goods. I don't say that Mr. White will give us any more for our shawls than the merchants here will give us in goods. 3541. Only you think that, if you get 30s. in cash from Mr. White, you could possibly buy what you want cheaper than you would get it from the merchants here in exchange for your hosiery?-Yes, that is what I mean to say. 3542. With regard to a shawl worth 30s., how much would you pay for the Shetland worsted that it is made of?-Perhaps about 9s. or 9s. 6d., or perhaps 8s. 6d. if I could buy it economically. 3543. About what quantity of worsted would there be in it?- About thirty-three cuts to that size of shawl. 3544. Would it be worth more than 8d. a cut?-No. Some people might charge more, but I generally get it for that. 3545. Then thirty-three cuts at 3d. a cut would be 8s. 3d. for the worsted?-Yes. 3546. How long would it take you to knit such a shawl?-It would take me a long time just now. 3547. Perhaps it is hardly possible to calculate how long it would take?-No. 3548. The worsted is the only expense you would have in making such a shawl?-Yes; I could dress it for myself. 3549. But if you did not, what would be the charge for dressing?- 6d. 3550. So that the payment for your labour on a shawl of that kind would be about 21s.?-Yes; but of course, if I was getting it knitted, I might get it done for about 12s. A knitter would make it for me for that sum if I were giving her the worsted. 3551. Have you ever dealt in that way giving out worsted to knitters, and getting shawls knitted for yourself?-Only on a very small scale. I knitted more to others when I was young. 3552. But you have given out some knitting to others?-Yes, perhaps part of a shawl; so that I calculate the whole cost would be about that. 3553. Therefore, if you were giving out a shawl to knit, it would cost you 8s. 9d. for the material and the dressing, and you would pay 12s. for the knitting-in all, 20s. 9d.; and you could sell it to Mr. White in cash for 9s. 3d. of profit?-I would not call it all profit, because sometimes I have a good deal to do before I can get the worsted wrought as good as I would like to put it into Mr. White's shawls, and then I have to lie out of my money until I can get a party to take it in. Besides, if I were putting it out to knitter, I would have to stand the risk of getting it done properly to my mind. There might be some faults in the shawl; and if there was anything of that kind, there must be an allowance made for that. I am not saying that I ever did that, I am only speaking of how it could be done. 3554. You are speaking of what you could do, and of what you know can be done, from your experience in giving out part of your own work?-Yes. 3555. Do you know anything about the stocking [Page 81] business-the cheaper and coarser kind of Shetland goods?-No; I have not much acquaintance with that. I may say, that while I think in Lerwick it would be far better for the people if they could get money for their work, yet the country people are not requiring the money quite so much, as they need the goods at any rate; but if, as a rule, a money system were once established, and the people were all to get money for the work, I think those who purchase the work would find the profit of it as well as those who have to sell it. 3556. Have you ever considered why this system of paying in goods is kept up?-Yes. 3557. What do you suppose to be the reason for it?-If I had had it in my power, I would perhaps have done the very same as the merchants have done, because they have got the good of it. 3558. How have they got the good of it?-Because I think they must have had a profit on it. 3559. On the hosiery?-Not so much on the hosiery as on the goods. Reason teaches me that there must be a profit somewhere, or else it would not have been carried on to such an extent. 3560. I suppose the present system of payment induces the people who sell hosiery to the merchants, to buy their goods from them rather than from another?-Certainly it does; because, when I go in with a shawl to a merchant, I consider that I have to take the whole value of that shawl out in goods. 3561. It makes the merchants sure of their customers?-Yes. 3562. Is there anything else you wish to say?-I may mention, that I think the system of paying half in money and half in goods would not do. One party was asked whether she would be pleased to take one half in money, and the rest of the payment in goods. That may be a good enough plan if it were established and carried on throughout the year; but I remember that at one time one-half the value of a shawl was given in groceries, and that plan died away. The merchants kept groceries at that time, for the sake of getting hosiery with which to supply their orders. The merchants who did so were Mr. Harrison and Mr. Laurenson. As the season of the year came round when they did not have orders for their shawls, then, if they bought shawls, they had to lay them past until the market opened again; and there were very few groceries given out, because I understood they had more profit on their drapery goods. By and by the system of giving groceries died out altogether. 3563. Was that because they had a less profit on them than on the drapery?-I understood so. I remember Mrs. Harrison, the party with whom Mr. Mackenzie lodged, telling me that as soon as the country people began to knit, we, the town's people, would suffer very much. I could not understand very well what she meant at that time, but afterwards, when the country people supplied the merchants with the goods which they required, then they saw that these people from the country only required drapery, and they could get their orders supplied from the country. That led the merchants to pay for the hosiery only in drapery goods, and the Lerwick people had to comply with the same rule. It was when the country people came in to do the knitting that the supply of groceries died away, because the merchants could get their orders so much cheaper from the country people. They did not require the groceries like the town's people, because knitting was not the only thing which they had for their living. 3564. Do you think the ready-money system would be better for the merchants than the present?-It would be better for those who have very little profit on the goods they sell, but it would not be so good for those merchants who take a great deal of profit. 3565. Are there any of the merchants who take very little profit on their goods?-There are some who have less than others. 3566. And you think they would profit by a cash system?-I think, on the whole, they would. 3567. They would have no bad debts?-No; and they would not issue so many lines or have so many clerks; and there are a great many ways in which I think it would be better for them. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, THOMAS NICHOLSON, examined. 3568. You are a draper and dealer in hosiery in Lerwick?-Yes, principally a draper. I don't do much in hosiery. 3569. You were formerly in the service of Robert Sinclair & Co.?-Yes. 3570. You have heard some of the evidence that has been given here?-Yes, some of it. I think Mrs. Nicholson and Mr. Johnstone are the only persons whose evidence I have heard throughout. 3571. Do you concur generally with what Mr. Johnstone said about the system of business here?-Yes. I also heard a good part of Mr. Laurenson's evidence, and I thought it gave a fair statement of the matter. 3572. Is there anything you wish to add with regard to the system of paying in goods?-I have nothing to add to what I believe has already been stated. 3573. Do you give lines?-Only a very few, when they are asked. 3574. Do you give them to people from whom you buy hosiery, or to those who knit for you?-Only to those from whom I buy hosiery. I don't give out any hosiery to knit at all. 3575. Is it understood in your trade, as well as in that of the other gentlemen who have been examined, that all purchases of hosiery are to be settled for in goods?-Yes, that is generally understood. It has always been the habit, and we have never got it altered yet. 3576. Do you think it would be expedient to have a change in that respect?-I believe it would, if it could only be got to work. 3577. What is the difficulty in the way of having another system?-We could not give so much in cash for the goods we buy. 3578. Do you think the people generally would not take cash?- Yes, I believe they would want goods. So far as I am concerned, they always take goods from me, and I have never heard them ask for cash. I deal both with country people and with people from Lerwick, and none of them ever asked me for it. 3579. Is it long since you left Mr. Sinclair's employment?-About two and a half years ago. 3580. There has been no important change made in the system of carrying on business either in your shop or in his during that time?-No. 3581. Do you do much in the coarser kinds of hosiery?-A little not a great deal. The stockings are generally done by the country people, and the finer work by the town's people. 3582. You buy the stockings from the country people?-Yes, I just exchange the one article for the other. 3583. You fix a nominal price at which you are to buy the stockings?-Yes; the price. I expect to get for them, as near as I can fix it. 3584. You don't expect to make a profit on them?-No; I would often be very thankful to get what I have paid for them. 3585. Then your profit is on the goods which you give in exchange?-Yes. 3586. Do you think you take a higher profit on your goods in consequence of accepting payment for them in hosiery rather than in cash?-No; the goods are all marked in plain figures. When I get cash I generally give off 21/2 or 33/4 cent. 3587. But don't you take a higher profit from all your customers because so much of your goods are paid for in hosiery?-No; if I did so, I would run the risk of losing my business; and in fact I would rather give up the hosiery altogether, because I don't think it [Page 82] pays very well, so much of it gets damaged, and the moths get into it. 3588. How long were you in Mr. Sinclair's shop?-For thirteen years. 3589. Were you acquainted both with the prices paid for hosiery goods and the prices obtained for them in the south?-Yes. 3590. Was more asked for them from the merchants in the south than was paid for them to the knitters in Lerwick?-No; we were always very thankful to get what we had given in goods for them. 3591. But if a cash price was paid for an article, was a higher price put upon it when it was sold south?-Yes; if we paid cash, we required a little more than we had paid. We could not have carried on the business without having a little profit on it. 3592. You do not give out any knitting at all?-Scarcely any. I think I have only two girls knitting for me at present. 3593. Do they get any part of their payment in cash?-Yes, whenever they ask it. 3594. But is it not the understanding that they shall be paid in goods?-Yes; it is generally understood that they shall get anything they want. 3595. How much are they in use to ask for in cash?-Probably a shilling now and then. 3596. Do they live by their knitting, or have they other means of support?-There is one party that does something for me who lives exclusively, or almost exclusively, by knitting; but almost all the girls have something else to do besides that. 3597. What is the name of the girl who lives almost exclusively by knitting?-I think one of them is Catherine Borthwick. 3598. Tea is one of the most common articles you give in exchange for the knitting?-Yes. 3599. Have you ever known of the goods you gave being exchanged for necessaries after you gave them?-No. 3600. Or of your lines being exchanged for necessaries or for cash?-I never knew of a case where that was done. 3601. Have you heard of such a thing being done?-I have heard of it; but I never knew of any of my lines, or any of the goods bought, from me, being exchanged. 3602. Are your lines generally brought back by the same parties to whom they were given out?-I think so; but I am not quite sure, because we just put on them 'Credit the bearer' so much. 3603. Have you a register of your lines?-Yes; I enter the number of the lines in a book. 3604. Was that a system which you adopted from Mr. Sinclair?-It was partly a system of my own. When I commenced on my own account, I adopted the system of keeping a check, the same as a bank chequebook. 3605. How many of these lines do you suppose you issue?-I don't do a great deal in that way. It is only for the accommodation of the parties that I give any at all. I would be quite prepared to settle with them at once if they liked. 3606. I suppose these lines are generally given for the balance upon a shawl, or anything that you buy?-Yes, for any little thing they are selling. 3607. Part of the price is taken in goods, and they take the balance in a line if they don't want the whole of it?-Yes; or perhaps a line may be taken for the whole of it, and they come and get tea and other articles as they want them. 3608. Is it generally long before they come back with these lines?-Some of them may be returned perhaps in a few days, and some of them in a few months. A country girl may keep a line beside her for perhaps a month or twelve months. I have known them keep them for three years, when I was in Mr. Sinclair's employment. 3609. Then the system of lines existed when you were with Mr. Sinclair?-Yes. 3610. But he had not a register of them at that time?-Not for all the lines: he had a check for them, but they were not all registered then. 3611. Are you aware of the fact that the knitters in Shetland are anxious to sell their goods to others than merchants, in order to get ready money for them?-I believe some of them are; but I never met with many who were anxious to sell their goods for cash. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, ISABELLA SINCLAIR, recalled. 3612. Do you wish to add anything to your previous evidence?-I wish merely to say, that I have known cases where people have gone out with hosiery and sold it for money, and then come into our shop and bought what goods they required. 3613. Was that hosiery which had been offered to you before and was refused?-Yes. 3614. You had refused to buy it at the price they wanted?-Yes; at any price. I remember one case of that kind with regard to some half-stockings. 3615. When you refused to take them, the woman went and sold them elsewhere, and then came back to you with the money?- Yes. 3616. Was that long ago?-Yes, a good while ago. Of course there may have been other cases of that kind which I don't know about, but in that particular case the woman told me she had done it, I don't remember her name. Lerwick, January 6, 1872, ROBERT SINCLAIR, recalled. 3617. Do you wish to add anything?-I should like to state something which struck me just now about a case where I saw lines given for money. It occurred in my own shop, and I believe it occurs oftener than we think; but there was one time when I detected it. A customer came into my shop and made some purchases, and at the same time another customer came in who I knew had got lines from the shop. The first person who was making the purchase was carrying through a cash transaction with me, and I expected to have been paid in money for it; but the other customer who had the lines took the other person aside and handed over the lines to her, and I was paid with them. I did not object to take the lines for their value, because the goods were charged at a fixed value for cash or line, but it certainly deprived me of the cash at that time. 3618. And it deprived you also of the profit which you would have had upon the goods that ought to have been given for the line?- Yes. I merely mention that as an instance in which cash was given for lines. . [Page 83] Lerwick: Monday, January 8, 1872. -Mr. Guthrie. WILLIAM IRVINE, examined 3619. You are a partner of the firm of Hay & Co., merchants in Lerwick?-I am. 3620. You have been so for many years?-Yes. 3621. I presume you take a principal part in the management of the affairs of that firm?-I do. 3622. In consequence of hearing that this inquiry had been appointed to take place, you have prepared a written statement with regard to the system pursued in the fish-curing business in Shetland, which you now hand in?-Yes. 3623. It is a correct statement?-It is quite correct, to the best of my knowledge. [The following statement was put in by the witness:-] I have had many years' experience of Shetland business generally, and especially of the fish-curing trade. Most of the time I have been connected with my present partners, and we have curing stations and establishments at several parts of the islands. We also manage four estates in the country-two as factors for the proprietors, and two as lessees. For the first we only account for the rents collected, but for the other two we pay fixed tack-duties. The tenants on one of the estates for which we act as factors are altogether free to fish where they choose, and to dispose of their farm produce as they think proper, and their rents are received in cash every year at Martinmas. The tenants on the other, which I believe is next the largest in Shetland, are also free (with the exception of the island of Whalsay, and Whalsay Skerries); and we seldom see them unless when they come to town to pay their rents. Some fish to one curer, and some to another, as they find convenient; and they are quite at liberty to dispose of all their produce, such as cattle, ponies, hosiery, and the like, where they can obtain the best prices. We are not liable to the proprietor for bad debts on this estate either, but the rents are generally well paid, and very few of the tenants are in arrears. In Whalsay there is only one curing station, and we pay the proprietor a yearly rent for the stores, booths, kelp-shores, and other privileges; and receive fish, oil, and kelp from the tenants, for which we settle at the current prices of the country. We have a factor there, with assistants, who manages for us, and supplies fishing materials and other necessaries to the men and their families during the year; and I usually go there myself soon after Martinmas, to square up accounts, pay the balance due the fishermen, and collect rents from the tenants. We also pay large sums of money at all our other country stations. In 1870, when north settling, I paid the men at Whalsay, after deducting their advances, £1222; and I find from a state prepared by the factor, that of fish, oil, and herrings received there that year, amounting to £2529, 15s. 1d., we paid the men £1584, 12s. 9d. in cash. We have not yet made up a similar account for 1871; but when settling there lately, after retaining their advances, I paid them no less than £1374. There are very few debts in the books there, and the people are considered to be in good circumstances. Of this estate I can speak with confidence, as the management is more immediately in my department. There are 430 tenants on the lands-nearly all fishermen and sailors. When we strike out of the arrear list those tenants who have not had the opportunity of paying their rents for last year,-two who are old and infirm, and another who retains his balance for alleged improvements,-the amount due for the three years it has been in our hands is only £57, 13s. 1d. None of the tenants have been warned or sold out. Shetland fishermen have been represented as ignorant and uneducated. This is a great mistake. They are as intelligent, shrewd, and capable of attending to their own interest as any similar class of men in Scotland. Many of them have sailed in all quarters of the world. Newspapers are now circulated all over the islands; and the Aberdeen, Leith, and Clyde Shipping Companies' powerful steamers bring mails with great regularity twice a week in summer, and once a week in winter; and in consequence of the frequent communication, all sorts of farm produce have largely increased in price. I have seen eggs selling in the islands at 11/2d. for sixteen,-now the price is 10d. per dozen; butter 6d., now 1s. and 1s. 2d. per pound; fat cattle £3 each, now £6 to £7; ponies 40s., now £6 to £10. In our dealings with fishermen, they are charged the same prices for goods that we sell at for ready money to the public. We employ a number of carpenters and other tradesmen here, all of whom receive their wages in cash every Saturday night. The Burra Islands are one of the properties which we hold in tack. We have two curing stations in the islands for convenience of the fishermen, and factors on the spot to receive the fish as they are landed from the boats. The fishings are prosecuted on the coasts in small boats in spring and summer, but the best of the men are employed out of the islands, and the fishings are now very unimportant. These men who fish out of the islands are employed in smacks belonging to Hay & Co., and various other owners, and prosecute the fishing on the coasts of Faroe and elsewhere, from the end of March to the middle of August. Those who fish to us get the same as those who are employed by others. The tenants of these islands sell their cattle, ponies, hosiery, eggs, and all other produce (except the few fish caught on the coast), as they like, without let or hindrance. We have no shop in the islands, and the men employed by us get their supplies from our stores here and at Scalloway. Some years ago, after a time of bad crops and bad fishings, when we had to give them large quantities of meal for their support, and many of them were unable to pay rents, the islands were indebted the best part of £1000. We made an attempt at that time to get the young men to fish to us and assist their parents, and I think in two cases we imposed fines of 20s.; but it had a contrary effect to what we intended, and, so far as I remember, the money was given back. I do not mention that the men are confined to our stores. They can deal with any other curer or shopkeeper they choose, and all our fishermen over islands can do the same, and at settlement receive their season's earnings wholly in cash. I believe this is the general practice; and were it otherwise, there is the small-debt court, the sheriff court, and several lawyers here to help them to their rights. On the other estate referred to of which we are lessees, the tenants who remain at home are nearly all employed in the ling fishing. Some go south sailing, and pay their rents in cash, and we never exercise any control over them; but as we pay the current price to the tenants who remain at home, we insist on getting their fish as a security for their rents, otherwise the improvident might squander their earnings, and in some bad years be unable to pay. We never interfere with any of the tenants' produce except fish, on this estate more than the others. They are left to dispose of it where they like. We have other curing stations at different parts of the islands, and employ a number of men and boys [Page 84] from all quarters during the summer months, but after they settle, we have no transactions with them till another year comes round, when they return to our employment if they think they have been well served. As already mentioned, we are engaged in the deep-sea cod fishing, and, like others, send vessels to fish at Faroe, Rockall, and Iceland. The crews are engaged on shares, and the fish are salted on board, and afterwards landed at the curing stations in a wet state. When ready for market, they are sold at the best price that can be obtained, and, after deducting expenses and other charges according to agreement, the proceeds are divided equally- one-half to the owners, and the other to the crew. Fishings of all kinds succeed best when the men are paid by shares. When they are secured on monthly wages, there is no inducement for exertion. The fishing season being short, the utmost activity is necessary; and when the weather is favourable, the men are often obliged to work day and night. Shetland fishermen are not altogether dependent for their livelihood on the produce of the fishings. In most cases they have farms that can keep their families six to eight months, and with good crops many of them have no occasion to buy meal the year round. They cannot afford to use fresh beef, but, as a rule, most families can kill a pig; and on the whole, in ordinary seasons, I believe they have a much greater abundance of the necessaries of life than a great many people of their class in the kingdom. They are, without doubt, more independent and less under control than mechanics and others (who are obliged to work under a master a stated number of hours every day), and consequently are more happy and contented. We have no international societies in Shetland. Some of the dwelling-houses are not what they should be, but a great improvement has taken place in this respect since the timber-duty was repealed; and, for my own part, I would ten times rather live a year in a Shetland cottage, surrounded by pure air, than week in one of the slums of London or Glasgow. Preparations for the ling fishing commence early in spring. The men form themselves into crews, and appoint the most experienced man as skipper. If they have no boat of their own, one must be hired, or a new one built; but the lines in most cases belong to themselves, and they always find curers ready to supply them with what they want, on condition that they receive their fish. No curer would be safe to make these advances, without the men engaging to deliver their fish-a new boat alone costing about £20 without lines, The price of the summer fish is seldom fixed until the end of the season, when the fish are sold for the south-country markets. Fishermen are quite safe with this arrangement. They know the competition between curers all over the islands is so keen, that they are secure to get the highest possible price that the markets can afford. Any curer that can offer a little advantage to the fishermen over the others is certain to get more boats the following year; and this is carried so far, that men with limited capital, in their endeavours to obtain a large share of the trade by giving credit and gratuities, in one way and another leave nothing to themselves, and in the end come to grief. I have known crews to be engaged at fixed prices before the commencement of the fishing but as markets improved towards the end of the season, we were obliged to throw the agreement aside and pay the same as others, in order not to lose the men's services the following year. When the fishing season is over and the fish prepared for market, south-country dealers contract for it at prices free on board; and with them again there is competition, so that curers seldom fail to get the full value of the article. People in the south, who have to pay perhaps 4s. to 7s. 6d. for a fresh cod or ling, are surprised to hear that the poor Shetland fishermen only get 6d. to 9d.; and we have had a great deal of clever writing on this subject lately, without much common sense. The shipping price of ling in the past season has been £23,-rather higher than usual,-and fishermen have been paid 8s. per cwt. wet, or about 9d. per fish. Although it has been rather a good year for curers, the following statement will show that fortunes are not rapidly accumulated in the trade:- 21/4 cwt. wet fish, cured ready for market, weigh only 1 cwt.-21/4 cwt. @ 8s. £0 18 0 Add cost of salt, hire of vats, tubs, tarpaulins, and other curing materials; also wages to men and boys splitting, washing, and drying; and expense of flitting from beaches-weighing and storing usually reckoned. . . 0 3 0 £1 1 0 21s. per cwt., or £21 per ton, leaving 40s. to the curer, out of which he has to pay store rent, weighing, shipping, skippers' fees, gratuities to fishermen, and to meet loss by small and damaged fish, and of interest-the sales being made at three months in October, and the men settled with in November; and further, when the risk of sales is also taken into account, the sum left to remunerate the curer for his season's work is not very large. One great drawback on a Shetland business is fishermen's bad debts, and our chief study is to limit the supplies when we know the men to be improvident; but it is quite impossible to keep men clear when the fishing proves unsuccessful. There is no difficulty, however, when dealing with careful men. At various stations round the islands near the fishing grounds, where there are natural beaches, the men have small huts to live in during the fishing season, and the crews assemble there about the middle of May to commence operations. The merchants or fish-curers have the necessary curing materials on the spot, and factors, splitters, and beach boys attending to receive and cure the fish; and, while the fishing is carried on, the men go to their respective homes every Saturday, taking with them small and unmerchantable fish for the use of their families-returning to the stations, with provisions for the week, every Monday. They generally make two or three trips during the week, according to the state of the weather, and weigh and deliver over the catch when they land. Their families get supplies from the factor's shop as required; but the men have opportunities weekly of seeing their accounts and can limit these supplies if they choose. The Whalsay fishermen deliver their fish in summer, and live at small holms to seaward of the main island near the fishing ground, and a large boat is employed to remove their fish to the beach at Simbister to be dried. The men are thus enabled to make more voyages to the haaf than by landing each time at the curing-beach. As settling time approaches, our managers in the country prepare by sending for the men, and reading over to them individually their private accounts, comparing and making up pass-books, where any are kept, and giving copies of the accounts when desired; and when we come to settle, each man knows exactly the amount of his season's expenditure. If a ready-money system were adopted, and payments made in cash for each landing, I believe it would scarcely be practicable to carry it out. Large sums of money would require to be kept at these stations,-men with some knowledge of figures and accounts to be always present,-and half the fishermen's time would be taken up with the settlements. The money would then be carried home to their families, and in many cases at the end of the season there would be little left to pay rent and provide necessaries for the winter months, when there are no fishings, and no work except at their own farms. Such a mode of dealing would otherwise injure the men, as curers with small means would be driven out of the trade, and in some measure competition prevented. From twenty-five to thirty years ago I had several opportunities of seeing how the fishings were conducted Barra and South Uist. At that time the fishermen were all living in wretched hovels along the sea-coast, and the islands let for grazing cattle and in sheep farms. Very few of them were able to keep a cow, and they knew nothing of the luxuries of life, and could scarcely command a bare existence. Their chief living in winter [Page 85] and spring was potatoes not fit for pigs, and shell-fish, with any small fish they could catch in the bays. There were plenty of fish on the coast, but no middle-men with capital to encourage the men to work. In summer they prosecuted the fishing a little distance outside of the islands, where their buoys could be seen from the shore. Their boats were clumsy and unmanageable-some with sails and some without; and the lines were made by themselves out of hemp obtained on credit, and only lasted one year. They were set on the fishing ground at the commencement of the season, and seldom taken up to dry. Now, however, I understand large capital is embarked in the fishing trade in that quarter, and of late years it has been very prosperous, and the circumstances of the natives greatly improved. In 1785 a Commissioner was sent by Government to inquire into the state of the fisheries in the Hebrides, and in his report to a committee of the House of Commons, on being asked 'whether he thought it would be benefit to the lower classes of people if any of the tacksmen or others were debarred by law from entering into a contract with these people for obtaining the pre-emption of their fish, etc., as specified in his report,' he answered, 'That, so far from thinking it would be a benefit to the people, he should think it would prove a material injury to them; for they have no other possible way of being supplied with the necessaries they want from distant markets but by the intervention of those persons who keep stores in the manner described in the report; neither have they in general any means of finding money to purchase boats and other necessary apparatus for fishing; and that, unless they were furnished by these storekeepers upon credit, very few of them could engage in the fisheries at all; and, in the present situation of that country, as they have no other possible way of paying the debts they thus contract but by the fish they catch, no person would furnish these upon credit unless they had the pre-emption of them: that it has been already stated in the report, that this kind of trade, though apparently very oppressive to the poor in all cases, affords but very little profit to the merchants; and that he knew several instances where the people who keep these stores, by acting in a disinterested manner, have contributed very essentially to promote the welfare of the country.' Since that date the Shetland fisheries also have been largely extended by the introduction of capital and the opening of stores among the different islands, where the men can always obtain fishing materials and supplies for their families; but to the present day the answer still holds good: curers must have the pre-emption of the fish, as a security for payment. In the evidence before the Truck Commission in Edinburgh lately, witnesses were examined who had little knowledge of Shetland business, and many of the statements were not only contrary to fact, but simply absurd. For instance, can any man of common sense imagine that a merchant would come to grief in consequence of not having enough of bad debts, and that if he could carry on until he had £2000 of bad debts, he would do a flourishing trade, 'because they keep it going in a circle, and it never gets worse?' That was one of the extraordinary statements made to the Commission. Is it not clear that if a dealer with small means emptied his shop of goods to people who could not pay for them, then, as soon as the bills he had granted for these goods fell due, he might shut it up? As already mentioned, the Shetland fishing trade has been largely developed by increased capital of late years, but in all time past it has been conducted on the same principles, with few modifications, as at present, and will be so, I think, in all time coming. If the islands and their fishing banks could be removed to near London, where the fish might be sold fresh at high prices, the fishermen would be greatly benefited; but as this is impossible, we must all submit to the inevitable. It is true, Government may attempt to change the trade by Act of Parliament; but in that case they will either have to remove the entire fishing population to some other and better country, or keep them at home as paupers, by annual grants for food and clothing. We are not engaged in the hosiery trade; but I know it to be the most troublesome business in the islands, being conducted chiefly by barter. I think it could not be carried on very well to any extent otherwise. We would be quite ready to embark in it and buy for cash, if we could make a commission; but I do not believe it would pay the expenses and servants' wages. Giving goods in exchange, hosiers can afford to allow a much higher price for the articles than we could for cash, and therefore very little of the trade would come our way if we took it up. Besides the fishing trade, we have acted a long time as agents for ships engaged in the Greenland and Davis' Straits whale and seal fishing. These vessels call here to complete their crews in February and March; and when they return, the men are either landed at Lerwick, or some other point of the islands as they pass south. When they go out, the men are engaged at the shipping office, and receive a month's wages in advance, in presence of the shipping master, and the agents are reimbursed when they send the accounts to the owners. When the ships return and the men are landed, they disperse without a moment's delay (in most cases) to their several homes, and come back to Lerwick to settle for their wages and first payment of oil-money, individually, as it suits their own convenience; and in the same way, a second time, to receive the balance of their oil-money and sign the ship's release. This may be better understood from the following correspondence that took place the past year between Hay & Co. and one of the Peterhead shipowners, in respect to a notice said to be issued by the Board of Trade, headed 'Truck System in Lerwick:'- 'PETERHEAD, 16 1871. 'R. KIDD HAY & CO. 'I enclose you letter I have received from H.M. Customs as regards the engaging and paying of the men engaged in the Greenland fishing ships. You will know how to act in regard to this. You have likely received direct orders, and I only enclose it to keep you in mind of it.' The document to which Mr. Kidd's letter refers is given below.* * 'TRUCK SYSTEM IN LERWICK. 'It appears from the returns and documents received by the Registrar-General of Seamen, that the indulgence granted by the Board of Trade under their special regulations, M. 2884/1864, to the owners and masters of sealing and whaling vessels, in respect to seamen engaged at Orkney and Shetland, has in a great measure been abused, and the whole object of the regulations defeated by the agents employed by and representing the owners at Lerwick. The Board of Trade are informed that many of the Shetland seamen who should have been discharged before the Superintendent there, within a reasonable time after their being landed on the termination of a first or second voyage, remain undischarged and unpaid even into the currency of the succeeding year, and that some of the releases for 1870 still remain incomplete. 'It should be borne in mind that the exceptional regulations referred to were issued by the Board of Trade, with a view to the convenience of the owners and masters of this class of vessels, and the protection of the Shetland seamen; but as the latter intention seems to have been purposely frustrated, the Board of Trade direct you to inform the owners and masters of those vessels whose crews are engaged before you during the ensuing season, that unless they cause their agents to comply with the spirit as well as the letter of these regulations, and discharge the men within one month of their being landed, the Board will be necessitated either to render the regulations more stringent, or withdraw them altogether. If the latter alternative were adopted, the discharge of the Orkney and Shetland whaling crews would have to take place under the more rigid terms prescribed by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, which of all other vessels at ports in the United Kingdom.' 'CUSTOM HOUSE, PETERHEAD, '10 1871 'SIR,-The foregoing is a copy of directions just received from the Board of Trade, dated 7th March, regarding the faulty way in which seamen are discharged from Peterhead whaling vessels at Lerwick; and I now beg to call your attention thereto, requesting that you would instruct your agent at Lerwick to attend to the previous instructions issued, which were circulated among the masters and agents when they were issued. 'W.R. BALFOUR. 'Mr. R. KIDD, Merchant.' [Page 86] 'LERWICK, 27 1871. 'HAY & CO. R. KIDD. 'We are duly favoured with your's of 16th instant, enclosing a communication from the Board of Trade in reference to payment of wages to Shetlandmen on board of ships in the Greenland trade, and headed by the words, 'Truck in Lerwick,'-a cry raised by a stranger who has taken up his residence in Shetland, and is now endeavouring, by every means in his power, to make himself prominent both here and elsewhere. 'We utterly deny that we have ever 'purposely frustrated' the Board regulations in respect to the payment of these men; on the contrary, we have kept a clerk, whose time has been chiefly occupied in settling the wages in presence of the collector as they came to town one by one, according to their own convenience; and you know how far the commission we get from the ships can go towards his salary. Nobody can compel the men to come to town all at one time for their wages; and if the releases of 1870 are not yet completed, it is not our fault. 'Without attaching any blame to you, we consider the document referred to-if it is meant to apply to us-a gratuitous insult. The Greenland agency is no great object, and after this season we shall not put ourselves in a position to have it repeated.' 'PETERHEAD, 23 1871. 'R. KIDD HAY & CO. 'I sent the document from the Board of Trade, in case you should not have received a copy. I am of opinion that the men will suffer more by this new order than the merchants, from the experience I have had here. Were I not to give some credit to some of our own men during the winter, their families would starve. I do not wonder you feel sore upon the subject of the report.' 'LERWICK, 27 1871. 'HAY & CO. R. KIDD. 'We have yours of 23d instant. With respect to advances, our people are differently circumstanced from yours. The married men have all farms in the country, and the young men live with their friends there, and we never see them from the time they settle the one year until they come to town to engage the next; so during the winter they neither ask, nor would we give them any supplies if they did, as in all probability they would offer their services first to agents who held no claim against them. Of the twenty men engaged for the 'Mazinthien,' not one was due us a shilling, and their month's wages was paid to them in cash at the shipping office at the time they signed articles; and any advances their families may get during their absence is given on their monthly notes, which are the only authority we have for making the deduction from their wages when they return. 'A great deal of absurdity has been written lately on this subject by well-meaning people, but who were entirely ignorant of the whole matter, and ready to believe whatever was told them, without taking the trouble to ascertain whether it was true or false.' 'LERWICK, 22 1871 'HAY & CO. R. KIDD. 'Referring to your letter of 16th March, we now send you enclosed abstract account of payments to Shetlandmen on board vessels for which we have acted as agents during the past three seasons, 1869, 1870, and 1871, to show how far we have benefited by what the Board of Trade are pleased to call the 'Truck System in Lerwick.' 'We are almost inclined to suppose the document now referred to, received in your letter of the above date, was titled at Peterhead, as we can scarcely believe it would be issued from a public office in London before previous inquiry had been made on the subject. 'As to signing the releases at the Custom House, neither the owners nor agents of the ship can compel the men to come to Lerwick for their wages, otherwise than they find it convenient for themselves. It would save us much trouble if they would wait in town a few hours after the ship's arrival, and receive their wages all at once at the Custom House; or, when they happen to be landed at a distance from Lerwick, if they could arrange to meet together here for the purpose at the same time. 'While matters remain as at present, whether these releases are signed or not, we can only do as we have always done in time past: pay the men promptly when they call. The supplies mentioned in the account now enclosed consist mostly of meal given to the men's families to account of their half-pay notes, and on which the profits cannot pay cellar rents, and servants' wages receiving and delivering it; so that, beyond the 21/2 per cent. commission on the wages, we have no inducement to continue in the trade.' The abstract account above referred to is given below.* * ABSTRACT ACCOUNT of WAGES paid by HAY & CO., Lerwick, to Shetlandmen belonging to Ships engaged in the Greenland and Davis' Straits Seal and Whale Fishery, during the years 1869, 1870, and 1871:- Name of Ship Men Amount of Supplies before Paid in Wages and Sailing, and to Cash Oil-Money family during the Man's Absence 1869 Labrador 20 £94 14 10 £4 3 9 £90 11 1 1869 Intrepid 28 355 0 21/2 71 19 51/2 283 0 9 1869 Alexander 21 272 19 8 31 14 11 241 4 9 Total 69 £722 14 81/2 £107 18 11/2 £614 16 7 1870 Labrador 21 £196 9 5 £7 18 0 £188 11 5 1870 Mazinthien16 226 18 0 49 7 1 177 10 11 1870 Eclipse 12 256 2 0 29 5 9 226 16 3 1870 Erik 30 562 0 6 66 17 41/2 495 3 11/2 Total 79 £1241 9 11 £153 8 21/2 £1088 1 1/2 1871 Labrador 25 £221 7 4 ...... £221 7 4 1871 Erik 26 138 2 5 £ 8 15 3 £129 7 2 1871 Eclipse# 1871 Mazinthein# 1871 Erik to D. Straits# 51 £359 9 9 £8 15 3 £350 14 6 1869 69 £722 14 81/2 £107 18 11/2 £614 16 7 1870 79 £1241 9 11 £153 8 21/2 £1088 1 81/2 1871 51 £359 9 9 £ 8 15 3 £350 14 6 199 £2323 14 41/2 £270 1 7 £2053 12 9 1/2 Average per man for the three years £11 13 6 £1 7 2 £10 6 4 # Voyage not ended. In conclusion, I have only to add, that Hay & Co. have given notice to their friends, the shipowners in Peterhead and Dundee, that they cannot continue any longer to act for them. 3624. You say in that statement that you manage four estates in the country: what are these estates?-There are two for which we act as factors-the estates of Lord Zetland, and Mr. Bruce of Simbister; and there are two of which we are lessees-the Burra islands, belonging to the Misses Scott of Scalloway, and the Gossaburgh estate, in Yell and Northmavine. 3625. You say that the tenants on the estate of Mr. Bruce of Simbister, with the exception of those on the island of Whalsay, and Whalsay Skerries, are free to fish for whom they like: what is the nature of the obligation under which the tenants in the island of Whalsay lie?-There is only one fish-curing establishment there, and the men could not conveniently fish out of the island. We have a place rented from the proprietor as a curing establishment, with booths and beaches, and all curing preparations made for receiving their fish; and it is an understood thing that the tenants are to deliver the fish to us at the current price of the country. 3626. That is not an obligation that enters into any written lease?-No; it is merely an understanding with the proprietor. We have no lease of the island. 3627. Is it a condition of the verbal tacks of the [Page 87] tenants, that they shall fish for you?-Yes; they are made to understand that they are to deliver their fish to us at the current price. 3628. That applies to the home fishing?-To the home fishing only. The Whalsay men are not engaged in any other fishing. 3629. They don't go to the Faroe fishing at all?-No. 3630. Is yours the only shop upon that island?-The only shop. 3631. Have you an establishment at the Out Skerries too?-Do you mean at the Skerries lying to the eastward, where the boats deliver their fish? 3632. Yes.-No, we have no establishment for supplying the people with goods; but we have beach boys and curing materials at the Skerries to the east of Whalsay. 3633. Is there not a firm who have an establishment there?-Yes, at Skerries; but that is a different Skerries, which lies farther out beyond where the lighthouse is. There is more than one curer there, but the Whalsay men don't deliver any of their fish at that place. 3634. It is at the Out Skerries where other firms have establishments-both shops and curing places?-Yes; but we have nothing there. 3635. Do the Whalsay people fish for these other firms at the Out Skerries?-No. 3636. Where do their fishermen come from?-From Lunnasting, Delting, Nesting, and other places. 3637. They are not inhabitants of the islands?-No. 3638. Then the establishment at Out Skerries is a temporary one?-No. I think one curer has an establishment there all the year round, and a factor; but the fishermen don't live there all the year round. They live in huts during the fishing, and go home to their families when the fishing is over. 3639. You say that some of the men fish to one curer and some to another, as they find convenient: in that statement do you refer to the Simbister estate, with the exception of Whalsay?-Yes, with the exception of Whalsay. It includes Whalsay also, so far as the cattle, ponies, hosiery, and other things are concerned. There is no restriction on them selling these where they like; it is simply the fish they take in the island that we expect to get. 3640. In Whalsay, are the fishermen expected to deal only in your store for their fishing materials and the supplies for their families?-That is quite optional. They can take their supplies from our store; and suppose they take most of them there, because it is more convenient for them than to go anywhere else. 3641. In point of fact they have no option, because there is no other shop in Whalsay?-There is not, but they can go to Lerwick, and they do go there sometimes. I think the note I have given in as to Burra answers that question. 3642. Is there any restriction on the establishment of other shops in Whalsay?-There is no means for any person opening a shop there. There is no shop, and no building, and no right to build in the island without the proprietor's liberty. There is only the one shop there. 3643. What is the population of the island?-I don't think the census of last year would show that, because it is mixed up with other parts of the parish. 3644. Have you any idea how many fishermen are employed by you in the island?-Yes, I can tell that. We have twenty-seven fully-manned boats, each with six men and boys. These are the fishermen; but there are tenants who are not fishermen, and fishermen who are not tenants. 3645. That would give a total of 162 fishermen employed by you, but some of them may be members of the same family?-Yes. 3646. Are there many tenants who are not fishermen?-Not very many. 3647. Have there been any applications for liberty to establish a new shop in the island of Whalsay?-No. 3648. You have never, in your capacity as factor for Mr. Bruce, received an application for ground for that purpose?-Never. 3649. Would you have any objection to grant such permission if it were asked?-Although I am acting as factor for Mr. Bruce, the granting or refusal of such an application would depend entirely upon the proprietor. 3650. I suppose you cannot tell whether he would refuse it or not?-I cannot tell. In fact we have the only curing establishment there. We have the beaches, and all the preparations for curing, and there could be no other establishment in Whalsay. 3651. I am not speaking of an establishment for fish-curing; but suppose a merchant wished to establish a shop there for the sale of provisions and soft goods, do you think he would meet with a refusal from Mr. Bruce?-I cannot answer that question. 3652. In Whalsay you are only factors for Mr. Bruce, not lessees of the island?-We are not lessees. I act as Mr. Bruce's factor. 3653. Yet, notwithstanding that, the islanders are bound to fish for any one to whom the proprietor lets the fish-curing establishment?-Yes; on the understanding with the curer, that he pays the same price as other curers in the country pay for the produce of the fishing. 3654. You pay rent to Mr. Bruce for your booths and curing establishment; and in consideration of that rent it is understood that the tenants are bound to deliver their fish to you?-Yes. 3655. Have the fishermen refused, in any cases within your experience, to fulfil that obligation? Have they smuggled their fish away, or endeavoured to evade that stipulation?-I understand that before we came to the island they smuggled a great part of their fish away to other curers, but, so far as I can learn, I don't think they smuggle any of them away now. I believe we have got the whole procedure. 3656. How long is it since you got the island?-I think it is five or six years ago. 3657. Who was the merchant before?-The proprietor received their fish himself. 3658. Suppose a fisherman were to bring his fish to Lerwick, or take them to Skerries or any other station, and sell them, would the result be, that he would have to leave his farm?-I cannot say what the result would be if he were to do so, because we have never been aware of any single case where a fisherman went past us with his fish. 3659. But if he did so, would you consider yourselves entitled to remove him?-No, not to remove him; but we would consider ourselves entitled to complain to Mr. Bruce. 3660. And he would remove him?-If he thought proper. 3661. You say that in 1870, after deducting advances, you paid the men in that island £1222: would the number of men fishing for you at that time be about the same that you have now?-I think there were 155 in 1870. 3662. That sum of £1222 was the amount of cash balances due to them and paid to them at the end of the year?-Yes; and which, when paid, left them entirely clear in our books. 3663. Was their rent paid in account with you?-These were the payments to the fishermen. The tenants would pay their rents to me as factor separately out of that sum. 3664. But in what form are your accounts made up?-My factory accounts are kept entirely free from our fishing accounts. 3665. The payment of rent there would be made at the same time when you went to settle with your fishermen?-Yes. 3666. I presume you gave them a separate receipt for their rents, and entered the payment in a separate factory book?-Yes. 3667. Is the form of accounting with the fishermen in Whalsay the same as you use in your dealings with your other fishermen?- Quite the same. 3668. Have they pass-books at the shop?-Some of them have pass-books, and some have not. [Page 88] 3669. I suppose that in the name of each fisherman, there is an account in the books kept at the shop?-Every fisherman has a page for himself. 3670. In it all the goods furnished to him or to his family are entered on the one side?-Yes. 3671. Is there a credit side to the account?-Yes. When we settle with him, we give him credit for his share of the fishing. 3672. Is there a separate fishing-book?-There is a book kept by the fish factor, in which he enters the fish as he receives them. 3673. He is a separate man from the shopman?-Yes; he keeps a separate book, in which the green fish as they are received are entered in name of the company or crew. 3674. Is a bargain made with the fishermen at the beginning of the year?-Sometimes, but not often. Where there is no bargain made with them, the general understanding is, that the men get what supplies they require, and that they get also the current price of the season for their fish. 3675. That is the current price at the end of the season?-Yes. 3676. Are they entitled to one-half of the take?-Not in this case. They get the whole of their take. It is a different agreement altogether from that which obtains in the case of the smacks that prosecute the cod fishing at Faroe. In this case the boat and lines belong to the men themselves, and the whole of their catch belongs to them. At the end of the season their catch is added up and divided, and, after any company expenses are taken off, the rest is divided among the men. 3677. How are they valued?-The fish are weighed green and measured, and the weight is entered in the factor's book. They deliver to us twice or thrice a week, and at the end of the season the whole is added up and converted into money. 3678. How do you estimate the money value then?-Just according to the price of the fish for the year. 3679. But the price you pay is for cured fish?-No; the price of cured fish is what we obtain for them when we sell them ready for market. 3680. Then the price paid to the men is the price for green fish?- Yes; a different thing altogether. 3681. Do you pay the men according to the price of green fish at the end of the season?-Yes, a certain price per cwt. 3682. How much will a cwt. of green fish weigh when cured?-It is reckoned that 21/4 cwt. of green fish will make 1 cwt. of dry fish. 3683. Then, in fixing the price of green fish at the end of the season, the principal consideration is what the price of cured fish may be?-Yes, the price which cured fish bring in the market. 3684. You ascertain the price of cured fish, and calculate from that what price you are to allow to the fishermen for the green fish throughout the season?-Yes. 3685. Is the sale of cured fish going on during the autumn and winter, or are your sales generally later?-The sales are generally, made in the months of September and October. The bulk of the ling is sold in these months. 3686. Would it not be equally convenient to fix the price of the green fish about the time when your sales are made?-It is about that time that the price of the green fish is fixed, and we settle immediately afterwards. 3687. I understood your settlement was not made until later?-It is generally in November. In some cases we may settle in the beginning or December. 3688. But with some merchants the settling time is later, is it not?-They generally begin to settle about November, and I think they mostly all settle about November or December. 3689. I think some statements have been made to the effect that the settlement goes on as late in the year as February. I don't think those statements were made with reference to your firm, but rather had reference to others: do you know whether that is so?-I think we have settled with most of our fishermen now. 3690. But don't you know the practice of other firms?-It is sometimes not convenient to settle until further on in the season, and I think Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh has not settled yet. But there is a reason for that: he has been out of the country. 3691. In point of fact, is it not the usual practice that the settlement does not take place until January or February?-The settlements generally begin very soon after Martinmas, and continue until perhaps about the end of the year. In some cases they may as late as January or February. 3692. Is there any reason for that?-None; except that people cannot get all their work done at one time. They must take one district before another. 3693. Are your settlements later in some districts than they are at Whalsay?-In some districts they are later. 3694. They may be protracted up to the New Year?-Yes, frequently. 3695. Have you completed all your settlements now?-We have completed all our settlements, with the exception of Burra. We have not settled with the men there yet, but we shall commence to settle with them immediately. 3696. Are the fishermen consulted with regard to the fixing of the current price at the end of the season?-I think very seldom; but it is quite an easy matter to know that the merchant can afford to give after he has sold his fish, and every fish-curer is very anxious to give the highest possible price he can afford to the fisherman, for the sake of securing his services another year. 3697. But this rule cannot apply to Whalsay, because there the fishermen are bound to fish?-Yes; but we are bound to pay the fishermen there the same price as is paid by the other curers through the country. The curers very often pay a higher current price than they can afford, just from a desire to get the people's services in the following year. 3698. The fish-curers markets, I suppose, are over all the world?- Yes. 3699. Are they to a considerable extent in Spain?-Yes, for the cod. A great deal of the cod is sold there. The ling is sold in Leith, Glasgow, Ireland, and in London. There is not much of it goes to Spain. 3700. Is there any understanding among the fish-merchants in Shetland, after their sales have been made in September, as to what the current price is to be held to be?-That is scarcely necessary, because, when they have sold their dry fish, they know exactly how far they can go with their fishermen. 3701. Do you mean that each curer knows from his own sales?- Yes; each curer knows exactly. When we sold our fish this year at £23, we knew what we could pay our fishermen without losing money. We knew that we could not exceed 8s. per cwt. 3702. But, in point of fact, is there any communication between the Shetland fish-merchants on that subject?-It is quite possible that after the fish are sold, the fish-merchants may converse together on the subject if they happen to meet. 3703. Is a meeting held for the purpose of fixing the current price?-No. 3704. Has there ever been a practice of holding such meetings?- Not that I ever heard of. 3705. Is there any correspondence entered into between the fish-merchants for the purpose of ascertaining the average price?-I don't know that there is any correspondence entered into specially for that purpose; but it is quite possible that, when one curer is writing to another, the subject may be mentioned. 3706. Am I to understand you to say that there is no practice of meeting for the purpose of fixing the price, and that such a meeting never has been held, to your knowledge?-I cannot say what meetings have been held; but I am not aware of any meeting having ever been held for such a purpose. I have not attended any such meeting. 3707. Then is it quite correct to say, as you say [Page 89] here, that the price paid to the fishermen for their fish is the current price of the country?-Yes. 3708. Is it not rather the price which each fish-merchant estimates that he can afford to give?-The price which each fish-merchant pays makes the current price of the country; and, so far as I know, the price that the fish-curers in Shetland have got this year for dry fish has been £23 per. ton. They have all been sold at the same price to south-country merchants. 3709. You believe there has been no difference?-I don't think there has been any difference this year at all. 3710. But in one part of your statement you point out that the sum, left as remuneration to the curer for the season's work is not very large: does not that rather go to show that the fish-curer does not take into consideration so much the current price as the price which is actually paid to him for his fish?-It is the price that he receives for his fish which enables him to say exactly what price he can afford to pay to the fishermen. I think the curers this year have all been paid the same price for ling, and I believe it was considered a very high price. 3711. Is there generally much difference in the prices which different curers get?-Very seldom; sometimes 10s. or sometimes £1. If there is a great demand for fish, some merchants, by holding on later than others, may obtain an advance of that amount, and in that case they might give their fishermen a little more. Perhaps they do so, and get more of them to fish for them another year. 3712. But the fishermen who are bound to fish for a particular merchant don't get the benefit of such an increased price?-There are not very many fishermen bound to fish, so far as I know; only a few cases. 3713. To return to Whalsay: you say there are very few debts in the books there, and that the people are considered to be in good circumstances?-There are almost no debts due to Hay & Co. there. 3714. Therefore, in settling, there is universally a balance in favour of the fishermen?-Universally the balance is in favour of the fishermen, and sometimes they are pretty large balances. 3715. Can you speak to the prices at which goods are sold in the shop at Whalsay? Is it the market price in Lerwick?-We charge the Lerwick prices at Whalsay, with a small addition to cover the expenses of transit. 3716. What may be the percentage of that addition?-I cannot say; it varies. Perhaps it would be 21/2 per cent. additional. The men being free, we are desirous sell as low as possible, in order to secure their custom, because they are very near Lerwick, and they can perhaps supply themselves elsewhere. 3717. You say in your statement, 'The Shetland fishermen have been represented as ignorant and uneducated. This is a great mistake. They are as intelligent, shrewd, and capable of attending to their own interest as any similar class of men in Scotland.' I have no doubt that is quite true; but do you think they are equally independent in character with other Scotchmen?-So far as I am able to judge, they are. 3718. Don't you think they are a little shy about speaking out their minds to their employers?-I cannot say what they do with others, but they speak pretty freely to us. 3719. Do you think the Whalsay men would tell you if they desired to be released from the condition in their tack obliging them to fish for you, or that they would strike if they felt it to be an obnoxious condition?-The Whalsay men have told me repeatedly that they are far better off at present than they have ever been in time past. They are not in debt to the fish-curer, and their rents are well paid. 3720. I presume you would not allow them to get very deep into your debt at the shop?-We have never had occasion to restrict their advances very much. We could not allow them to get very deep; but, as yet, we have not had occasion to restrict their advances. 3721. Are the advances made to the fishermen during the course of the season generally made by way of supplying them with goods at the shop?-They can get any supplies they want at the shop, or money either if they require it, during the course of the season. 3722. If they want money, to whom do they apply for it?-To the fish factor there. 3723. What is about the extent of advances made to the fishermen in the course of the year?-It varies very much. Some of them, I suppose, have not 10s in the whole course of the year,-perhaps they go and deal with some other person; while others may have £5 or £6, or more. 3724. You say that some have not 10s. of advances: do you mean money advances?-They get any money they want. 3725. But how much cash is advanced during the year by your fish factor in Whalsay?-I have stated how much the produce came to, and how much we paid in money at the end of the year. [Exhibits statement.] 3726. That brings out the amount of cash advanced during the year to be about £362?-Yes. 3727. So that the amount of advances in goods or on account would come to about £920?-Yes; that was in 1870. I believe the proportion of money is greater for the past year, because we paid them a larger sum of money. 3728. Would the amount of goods taken this year be less or greater than in the previous year?-I think the goods would be less this year, because the men, having made a very good fishing in the previous year, had less occasion to take supplies from the shop; and therefore I think we would be giving them more money in the course of this year than we did formerly. 3729. You think the result of the good fishing in the previous year would be, that the men dealt less at your shop?-They had no occasion to take so large supplies. 3730. How were they supplied with meal and other necessaries?- They had better crops, and did not require them. 3731. I thought you said that was owing to the good fishing?-To the good fishing and the good crops. 3732. You don't mean to say that they came oftener to Lerwick for their provisions?-I cannot say how often they came to Lerwick. They are quite at liberty to come here when they please. 3733. But the fact that there was a good fishing would lessen the amount of dealing at the shop?-There was a good fishing and a good crop; they had got a large sum of money in the previous year, and many of them very likely had that money beside them, except what they had lodged in bank; and they could buy for ready money at the shop instead of entering it in the book 3734 Then one effect of a good fishing is, that the men buy at your shop for ready money rather than by running up an account?-Yes, frequently 3735. Do you know whether many of the fishermen in Whalsay and elsewhere have large deposits in savings banks or other banks?-I believe there are very large sums at their credit in the Union Bank, which has been established longest here. 3736. Of course you have no personal knowledge of that?-No; but if you had power to command a sight of the bank books, I believe the sum would astonish you. 3737. There is no savings bank here except the post office savings bank?-No. 3738. The Burra men are employed by you in the home fishing, and those of them who choose in the Faroe fishing?-Yes. 3739. But in Burra, as in Whalsay, the men are bound to fish for you in the home fishing?-The men are bound to deliver us their home fish. That fishing, however, is carried on now only to a very small extent. Most of the men in Burra are otherwise employed. 3740. How many boats have you engaged in the home fishing from Burra?-They vary. There are a few boats that fish in spring, and there are a few men [Page 90] who stop at home all summer, and fish then; so that at one time there are a good number, and at another time not half so many. 3741. Are these Burra men under an obligation which forms part of their verbal tack?-The men who stop at home are under an obligation, at least it is an understood thing that they are to deliver their fish to us. 3742. Is there any written obligation to that effect?-No; but in point of fact they could deliver them nowhere else, because we have the stations on the islands. 3743. Could they not deliver them for salting and curing in Scalloway?-Yes; but Scalloway is such great distance from the curing stations, that they are much better off as they are. 3744. Are there no curing stations at Scalloway?-There are; but Scalloway is such a great distance from Burra, that the men could not go there every time they came from the fishing. 3745. Is the island of Trondra in your hands?-Yes; it belongs to the Earl of Zetland. 3746. Have you a curing station there?-No. 3747. Do the Trondra people deliver their fish at Burra or Scalloway?-I don't know if there are any Trondra people fishing for us. They deliver at Scalloway any fish they get. 3748. There is no obligation upon them to fish for you?-No. 3749. And, in point of fact, you think they don't do it?-We get none of their fish at Burra. It is possible they may deliver some to our men at Scalloway. 3750. Was there an obligation signed by some of the Burra men some years ago, binding them to fish for you?-Some years ago, after a series of bad crops and bad fishings, the islands had got largely in our debt, and in order to get the sons to help the fathers to pay their rents, which we were bound to pay for them every year, we got them to sign an obligation. 3751. Was that about eight years ago?-I think it would be about that time. It was about the time when we were getting a renewal of the lease. However, that obligation was found to be unworkable and was laid aside, and has never been acted on. 3752. What were its terms?-I cannot recollect very well. The fishers at home were to be bound to deliver their fish to us. 3753. Some of the men did sign it?-Some of them did sign it; but some of them refused, and it was laid aside. 3754. Does the document exist?-Very likely it does. It is probably somewhere in the office, if it has not been destroyed; but immediately after it was signed it became quite a dead letter. 3755. Were not some of the men fined for delivering some of their fish elsewhere?-I have made a statement about that; but it was not for delivering their fish elsewhere. 3756. What men were so fined?-I think there were one or two of them; but I don't remember their names. 3757. Was Peter Smith one of them?-Very possibly. 3758. Do you remember whether the money was returned to him?-I think it was, so far as I remember. I think any fines that were imposed were returned. 3759. You found that the exaction of this fine did not tend to make the men more willing to deliver their fish to you?-The fines were not imposed for not delivering their fish. The object of the fines was to compel the sons to assist the fathers. 3760. But the fine was imposed upon the father?-Yes. 3761. Then the obligation we have been speaking of was an obligation binding not only the tenant, but also the members of his family?-Yes. So far as I know, none of the tenants delivered any of their fish to us except what we get at present. Any of the tenants who are fishing in small boats on the coast deliver all their fish to us still. 3762. Are you aware of fish being smuggled to Scalloway, and sold to dealers there?-I am not. 3763. If that were the case would you consider that you were entitled to remove the men from their holdings in Burra?-There are only a very few men who engage in the home fishing now. The best of the fishermen are engaged fishing for other people at Faroe. 3764. It is only when a man actually does engage in the home fishing that he is obliged to deliver his fish to you?-Yes. 3765. If he chooses not to remain at home, or not to employ himself in that fishing, there is no obligation upon him?-No. If he chooses to remain at home, and employ himself fishing in small boats on the coast, there is an obligation on him to deliver his fish to us, but on all the other people there is no obligation, and most of them fish to other people out of the island. I have mentioned in my statement, that of the men engaged in the Faroe fishing, I think only about one-fourth are employed by Hay & Co. 3766. There is no allegation that the men are bound to engage to you in the Faroe fishing, and you say there is no obligation upon them to sell their farm produce to you?-We never interfere with the farm produce. 3767. Are you aware of cases in Shetland-I don't speak of your own dealings alone, but of your own dealings and those of other merchants-in which tenants are held bound in any way to sell their farm produce, their cattle, or their ponies, to fish-curers who are factors or tacksmen?-I am not aware of any such cases. It may be the case, but not within my knowledge. 3768. Is there any system of a kind of mortgage of the cattle in security for debts at the shops of fish-merchants?-It is quite possible that if man wants an advance he may promise to sell the merchant or the factor, or whoever he is, a cow or other animal at a certain season of the year, in order to repay him that advance; but I don't know of any other mortgage of that kind in the country. 3769. The mortgage may not be very much worth in law; but have you known cases in which a fish-merchant, being the sole or principal creditor of fisherman dealing at his store had so mortgaged his cattle, and that it was marked as belonging to the fish-merchant?-It is quite possible that may be done some cases, but the landlord has a preference over such cattle, so that such a mortgage would be of no value. A man may give a promise to sell a cow two or three months hence, and on that promise get an advance of a few pounds of money; but it depends entirely on the man's promise whether the money is paid or not, because the landlord can step in, if the tenant is in debt to him, and take his animal. 3770. That is, if the tenant owes the landlord anything and has not enough to pay the landlord's claim?-Yes. 3771. You don't know of any particular case of that sort?-I could not mention any particular case. 3772. And you don't know of fish-merchants or tacksmen who are in the habit, to a large extent, of squaring their debts in that way?-No; we don't do it. 3773. The fishermen in Burra are supplied with goods at your shop in Scalloway?-The statement I have given in contains an answer to that question. They not confined to deal at our stores. They can deal with any other curer or shopkeeper they choose. 3774. But, in point of fact, they generally deal at your shop in Scalloway?-They generally deal there, and in Lerwick too, if they want anything. If they want money, they generally come here. 3775. The Burra men deal at your shop on credit, and there is a settlement with them once a year?-Yes; the same as with the others. 3776. Is the book there kept in the same way as at Whalsay?-In the same way. 3777. Is it kept in the same way as the books for your other customers in Scalloway?-In the same way. Their supplies are charged against them at the end of the year, and we bring the book in here and settle with them. 3778. Is there a separate book for the Burra men at [Page 91] the Scalloway shop?-We keep a separate book for the Burra men's accounts in Lerwick. 3779. For their shop accounts?-For their shop accounts; and the fish factor has a separate book, which he marks the fish he receives from the men. 3780. What is the purpose of keeping a separate book for the Burra men here?-There are a good many names, and it is to keep them apart from others. At the end of the season we may be settling with them when the other books are in use in the office. 3781. You settle with the Burra men at Lerwick, and not at Scalloway?-Yes. 3782. But the shopkeeper at Scalloway sends in his accounts here before you settle with them?-Yes. The men call there and see the state of their account when they like, and then we get in a list of their debts to the shop. There is nothing entered to their credit there, but a list of the advances they have got from the shopkeeper at Scalloway is sent here. 3783. Their credits are all kept here?-Yes. 3784. Are your other fishermen in that quarter settled with here or at Scalloway?-They are settled here, for the most part. 3785. In this statement you have not told us anything about the amount of balances generally paid to the Burra men?-I have not, because we have not settled with them this year yet. I daresay, by looking over the books, I could tell you what we paid them last year and the years before. At this moment we are due the Burra people extremely little, because all the men who have been fishing in the smacks during the summer have been settled with, and got their money; and for the people who stopped at home and fished here, after we deduct their rents, we have very little money to pay them. 3786. You charge the rent in the account against them at Burra?- Yes. 3787. You do so because you are the tacksmen yourselves?-Yes. 3788. Then, in general, does any money pass at all in settling with the Burra men?-Yes; there are considerable sums in some cases. 3789. In settling with those of them who are Faroe fishers do you deduct the rent in their accounts also?-When any of the tenants are fishing in our smacks, we deduct the rent from what they have to receive. 3790. Do those men who fish at Faroe get their supplies at the Scalloway shop the same as the others?-They get their supplies there or here, as they find convenient. 3791. Have they generally an account in both shops?-Generally they have, except where we have occasion to restrict their advances. 3792. But if a man has an account in both shops, might there not be some difficulty in restricting his advance?-In that case we close the account at Scalloway, and give the man what he requires here; and then we can restrict his advances if we see it to be necessary. 3793. Have you often found it necessary, after bad fishing seasons, to make considerable advances to men in the way of provisions?- Yes, we have found that necessary, because the men could get supplies from nowhere else, and we were obliged to give them meal and other things in order to keep their families alive. 3794. Are you speaking of Burra and Whalsay, or of all your fishing stations?-Most of the shops that we have in the country are obliged to give large advances in the case of bad seasons. Three years ago the crops were very bad; the people had not seed to sow their land with; and we brought in a pretty large quantity of seed-corn and potatoes, which we supplied to the people in Yell. 3795. That was on the Gossaburgh estate, of which you are tacksmen?-Yes; and they have since then paid it up in full. 3796. Do you act in the same way with fishermen are not bound to fish for you?-If they were under any engagement-if they signed an obligation to deliver their fish to us-then we would do so. 3797. Whether they were on an estate under your management or not?-Yes. 3798. Have you sometimes made such engagements with them?- Occasionally we have. 3799. Was that with individual men?-Yes, with individual men when they wanted advances. 3800. That is to say, at the end of the fishing season, when you found on settling up that there was a balance against a man, and that he continued to want further supplies from your shop, you would enter into an engagement with him to fish to you next year?-Yes. 3801. Would that engagement be a verbal one?-Sometimes written and sometimes verbal. 3802. In that case the advances would be in the form of goods supplied at your shops?-Both money and goods. We would give him money if he asked for it. 3803. But the bulk of the advances would be in goods?-No. Money would frequently be given when they wanted a special advance. 3804. In a case of that kind, are your shopkeepers instructed to make the advance to the men in either way?-If a man wants an advance of £1 or £2 we make it to him ourselves, and the people when they want goods, go to the shop for them. 3805. At what time are these advances generally made?-During the winter or the spring seasons, before the fishing begins again. 3806. And during the autumn, before the settlement for the years fishing has come round?-Yes. They frequently get money during the summer. 3807. I suppose the settlement with your men in Lerwick takes place in the office and not in the shop?-Yes, in the office. 3808. When the men get their payments in money, are they at liberty to go where they like to spend them?-Yes; they get the money in their hands, and go away from us with it. 3809. Whether they are Burra men or Whalsay men or strangers?-Yes. We settle with the Whalsay men at Whalsay; but all the money that we give at the settlements here, the men go away with it out of the office. 3810. Is the settlement with the Whalsay men made in the shop?- No; they are settled with at the manor-house at Simbister. 3811. Where is the settlement made at Gossaburgh?-The settlement with the Yell tenants is made at the house of West Sandwick. 3812. Have you shops in Yell?-None. 3813. The fishermen there, however, are bound to deliver their fish to you?-Some of the Yell fishermen deliver their fish in summer at Fetlar, and others again deliver them at Northmavine. 3814. What is the extent of the Gossaburgh estate?-I suppose the rental is about £400 or £500, and I think the number of tenants is about 120. 3815. Are the whole of these men bound to fish to you alone?- Not the men sailing out of the country. It is only the men remaining at home and fishing there during the summer who are bound to fish to us. 3816. Who is the proprietor of the Gossaburgh estate?-Mrs. Henderson Robertson. 3817. In speaking of the rental, you refer to the rent paid by Messrs. Hay & Co. as lessees, which is about £500 a year?-Yes; I think it is between £400 and £500. 3818. What will the average rental of the holdings be?-Perhaps from 30s. to £5 or £6. There is one party who pays £65 or £70, but he is not a fisherman. 3819. What is the gross rental paid to you from the estate?-It will be seen from the valuation roll. I could not tell the gross rental off-hand, because it is a peculiar tack. We pay a certain fixed sum for it, and then we pay all the burdens on the estate, and it varies somewhat. It is more in one year than in another. 3820. Are the tacks under which you hold Burra and Gossaburgh in writing?-Yes, they are both written tacks. 3821. Do these tacks contain any reference to your [Page 92] rights with regard to fishing?-The tacks state that we are at liberty to let the lands, remove the tenants, and take new tenants, and that we are to pay certain sums for the ground. I don't remember whether there is anything specially mentioned about the fishings. I think in the Burra tack there is something about them it gives us right to all the fishings in the island. I am not sure that the original proprietor had not a Crown charter which gave him a right to the whole fishings, including oyster fishings and others; and I think we have the whole of these rights. 3822. Perhaps you will show me these two tacks, so that I may make an excerpt of any clause relating to the fishings?-I will do so. There is no clause in either lease relating to the obligation of the tenants to deliver their fish to the tacksmen. 3823. You say in your statement 'We have other curing stations at different parts of the islands, and employ a number of men and boys from all quarters during the summer months:' that refers to the home fishing?-To the home fishing solely. 3824. There are curing stations at places quite separate from any of the four properties you have been speaking of?-Yes. 3825. Where are they?-We have a curing station at Dunrossness; we have another station at Fetlar; and we cure to some extent at Scalloway, and also at Lerwick. 3826. At all of these stations have you shops from which you supply the men?-We have a shop at Scalloway, and another here. We have a factor at Fetlar, who supplies the fishermen with what they require; and we have a man at Dunrossness, who keeps supplies there also. 3827. At Dunrossness have you ever come into conflict with Mr. Bruce's people with regard to the sale of goods or the purchase of fish?-I think not. 3828. Is it understood there that you are to purchase from people who are not upon his lands?-We purchase from people who are not upon his lands, that is, from the Simbister or any other tenants, who are quite free. 3829. But not from the Sumburgh tenants?-They never offer us any of their fish, and we never ask them. We never interfere with Mr. Bruce's fishings. 3830. Do you ever purchase from the Quendale tenants?-No, I think not. 3831. You say fishings of all kinds succeed best when the men are paid by shares. When they are secured in monthly wages, there is no inducement for exertion. That is with reference to the Faroe fishing?-Yes. 3832. Do you form that opinion from your experience of both systems?-Yes, because on some occasions we have had to pay wages to the men; but that has been very seldom. 3833. I think in another part of your statement you say that, when an agreement to pay monthly wages has been made, the men sometimes, if the price has been high, have repudiated their bargain, and asked to be paid according to the current price at the end of the season?-Yes. 3834. Has that happened often?-No; very seldom. The men generally prefer to go on shares. There have been one or two occasions when we had to guarantee them monthly wages in order to induce them to go out to the fishing, but at the same time, if their share of the fish exceeded that monthly wage, they got it. 3835. Is it your opinion that it would be a wholesome change if the men were paid by wages, or that it is better for both parties that things should remain as they are?-I don't think it would be a good change to pay them by wages. 3836. Would it not tend to form more provident and careful habits among the fishermen if they knew exactly how much they were to receive?-I think it would be very much against the fishings if such a system were adopted. The men would not get nearly so many fish, and they would not earn so much money, if they were paid by wages, as they do at present. Some of the men who are fishing at the haaf earn as much £15 or £20 as during the summer, and they would not get any one to pay them wages of that amount. 3837. How much would that be per month?-Perhaps about £5 per month. No one would engage them at that figure. 3838. In the home fishing the boats generally belong to the men?-I think, for the most part, they do. 3839. Is it a common practice for the fish-curer to advance the money for a boat, or to supply the boat to the men and receive payment from them by instalments?-It is generally the understanding, that if a crew get a new boat, they pay up for it in three years. In some cases they are able to pay up for it in one year when there is a good fishing. I may mention one case in Dunrossness, the year before last, where six mem came to us and wanted a boat and lines. We gave them the advance, fitted them out, and supplied their families during the season, and at the end of the season they had earned with that boat and lines £200. The agreement was, that they were to pay for the boat in one year if they could; and if not, they were to get credit for three years. They paid up for this boat and lines clear, and had money to get at the end of the season. 3840. When an arrangement of that sort is entered into, is a certain sum deducted from the men's earnings at the end of the year in respect of the boat?-There is an account kept for the boat. If they pay one-third share the first year, it is taken off as a whole, and not taken off each individual. 3841. They are jointly and severally liable for the price of the boat?-Yes; they have a company account. The boat is charged to that account; and when they settle, there are two-thirds carried down to the debit of each man, and the rest is paid up. 3842. Then, in every case of that kind, there is a boat account separate from the accounts of the individual members of the crew?-Yes. 3843. And if any of the men have gone away from the country, or have got deep in debt before the boat is paid up, the other members of the crew remain liable for the whole amount?-They are liable in point of law, but it is very seldom they pay anything beyond their own share. 3844. When that comes to be paid out of the share of a man who has an individual account, is his share of what remains due on the boat generally entered to his debit in his own account each year?- No, not separately. We keep an account against the boat and the crew, and we give them credit for the whole of their fish when we come to settle with them. Then we take off one-third the price of the boat, along with the cost of any other supplies they may have had in company, and divide the balance and enter it to each separate man's credit, leaving two-thirds of the price of the boat at the debit of the boat account. 3845. The balance that remains in favour of the men after that comes into their separate accounts?-Yes. 3846. So that the boat account has a priority in the settlement over the individual accounts of the men?-Yes. 3847. Where such a boat account exists, is it the case that the individual men are generally, or always, dealing at the shop of the merchant who advances the boat?-I cannot say. The men are at liberty to deal where they like. Getting an advance of a boat does not compel them to take their supplies from the same merchant. 3848. But is there any understanding or practice according to which the men do deal at the merchant's shop?-I cannot say. The men that we deal with are at liberty to take their supplies either from us or from any other shop in the country. 3849. Are your shopkeepers allowed to make any intimation to the men that they are expected to deal at your shop?-They are never told to do so, and they never do it, so far as I am aware. 3850. Would they be checked or reprimanded if they did it?-We never had occasion to reprimand them, because we never said a word about it ourselves. Our shopkeepers never did it by our orders, and I don't think they ever did it of their own accord. [Page 93] 3851. In agreeing to open a boat account with men in that way, is any preference given to men who deal at your shops, or who undertake to deal there? Would you more readily agree to open an account with such men than with others who did not deal with you?-That is never taken into consideration at all. 3852. But when a boat account is opened, are they always expected to deliver their fish to you until it is paid off?-That is always part of the understanding, that they shall fish to us as long as they're due a balance on the boat. 3853. And when the balance is paid, then they are free?-Yes; they are at liberty to renew the agreement with us, or to go anywhere else they like. 3854. Do you find that, at the end of the period when the balance is paid off, the men are generally ready to continue to fish for you?-Sometimes they fish for us, and sometimes they shift and go to another curer. 3855. There is no general rule about that?-No. 3856. You say in your statement, that the men are quite safe with the arrangement to get the current price at the end of the season for their fish: 'They know the competition between curers all over the islands is so keen, that they are secured to get the highest possible, price that the markets can afford. Any curer that can offer a little advantage to the fishermen over the others is certain to get more boats the following year; and this is carried so far, that men with limited capital, in their endeavours to obtain a large share of the trade by giving credit and gratuities, in one way and another leave nothing to themselves, and the end come to grief:' is that a common thing in the islands?-It is not common, but it does happen occasionally. 3857. Has that any connection with a statement which was made in the evidence given in Edinburgh, about the necessity which a merchant was under, to have a large amount of bad debts in order to succeed in business?-I daresay it has. 3858. I suppose that refers to the same sort of dealers men with limited capital, who push their business by giving the fishermen an advantage in that way, and who were said to come to grief from having too few bad debts?-Yes. 3859. Do you suppose the gentleman who gave evidence to that effect, and which you have criticised in another part of your statement, was referring to the same cases that you are there referring to?-I am not referring to any particular case in that statement. It is only afterwards that I mention evidence. In this case, I say that a man with small capital who gives too large advances to the fishermen, which they cannot repay, is very likely to be unable to pay his own creditors. 3860. When you speak of him giving too large advance, do you mean in the shape of supplies of going out of his shop?-Yes; and giving too many gratuities to the fishermen, so that they have all the profit, and he has none. 3861. What do you mean by gratuities to fishermen?-Fees, and other inducements to fish, besides the regular current price. 3862. Is that both in the home and Faroe fishing?-Not in the Faroe fishing. I refer to the home fishing only. 3863. Then in the home fishing there is sometimes an arrangement to give fees to the fishermen in addition to the current price?- Yes. For instance, the skipper of a boat, being the most experienced man of the crew, generally gets a small fee; and there are other gratuities paid, which differ at different stations. 3864. These gratuities are given in order to secure the fish of a large number of fishermen?-Yes. 3865. Have you cases in your mind at present, which these gratuities, and the excessive advances in goods, have led to the failure of people entering into the trade for the first time?-In making this statement I had particular cases before my mind; but such do happen occasionally through the islands. 3866. You don't think the existence of such cases inconsistent with your denial of Mr. Walker's statement with regard to bad debts?-I have referred to his statement on that subject, simply for the purpose of pointing out the absurdity of it. 3867. Of course if you speak of the debts as being absolutely bad debts, the statement is absurd, as you point out but suppose that a man starting business in Shetland gets a number of fishermen into his debt to a certain amount, has he not a hold, over these fishermen, so as to compel them to deliver their fish to him in future?-He has no hold over them whatever for that purpose. He has just this hold over them that if he chooses, he can go into the court with them and prosecute them; but after they have fished to him for some time, and find that they can get no further supplies from him, they are very likely to go away and offer their services to some one else. 3868. But suppose that at the end of the season a merchant has 100 fishermen who are in debt to him to the extent of £2 or £3 or £4, and whom he can prosecute at once for recovery of that money, do you think the fishermen have no inducement to continue to deliver their fish to him, rather than allow him to prosecute?-It may induce some of them to do so, but some of them may be frightened and leave him, in case he were to prosecute them. We generally find that when a man gets into debt, to us, we never see him again. 3869. Do you mean in debt to that extent, or to larger extent?- When he gets into our debt to the extent of £6 or £8, he very soon leaves us, and we never see him again. In many cases they know very well that the prosecutor might have to pay the law expenses and would get no return. 3870. May that not arise from the fact that you deal more leniently with your debtors than other merchants?-I don't think we do. I think other merchants carry on their businesses on much the same principles as ourselves. 3871. Does it not strike you that the statement you are contradicting about the value of bad debts to a Shetland business, although it might be exaggerated in the terms which it is put, has nevertheless a certain amount of truth in it?-I know quite well, that if a man with small capital lays out that capital in buying goods to supply fishermen, and delivers these goods to the fishermen, and then has to pay for the goods and has nothing to pay them with, he must shut his shop and become bankrupt. 3872. But if he has sufficient money to carry on for a little,-or if he gets his bills renewed for a certain time, and manages to get the fishermen bound to him by the fact that they are in his debt, and by the fear of being prosecuted for that debt,-may he not have a very good season next year, and be able to get a large supply of fish, which he can sell at a profit, and so gradually make his way?- Fish are not like ready money. You may have a pretty large number of men fishing to you, but you cannot convert their fish into money until perhaps the end of twelve months. You only get your fish sold once a year, and you won't get any person in the south to give you goods on credit for twelve months. Besides, a fish-curer must always have a certain amount of debts standing in his books against fishermen, and stock which he cannot make available. 3873. Do you mean shop goods?-Yes, he must have shop goods, and he must have debts in his books to a pretty large amount before he can carry on extensively. 3874. I am assuming always that the man, although his capital may be limited, has a certain amount of capital which will carry him on for a couple of years?-Well, then the end would be sure to come. 3875. But he may manage to make a good business, and to carry it on successfully; if he gets a certain number of fishermen under an obligation to fish for him; or if he can induce them by offering premiums and gratuities to fish for him rather than for others,- can he not?-But in the meantime he is giving them supplies; and while they may have got into his debt to the extent of £5 or £6 each man this year, on the understanding [Page 94] that they are to fish to him next year and pay off their debt, yet when he comes to settle with him he may find that they have not only not paid up their old debt, but that there is something more added to it, as he has been giving them supplies all the time. 3876. But, in a case of that sort the fish-merchant will probably try to keep the supplies which he gives to his people down to as low a point as possible; and if the season has been a good one for agricultural produce, they may not require very extensive supplies in the second season?-Perhaps so; but generally men who have got into debt the first year, require supplies afterwards; and if you stop the supplies at any time after the fishing has begun, the man stops work, and when one man in a boat's crew stops work it throws the whole idle. 3877. Therefore you think the fact of men getting into your debt has no effect in securing their services as fishermen to you for the future?-No. It is a certain way of throwing away money, and getting rid of their services. 3878. Have you had any experience as to the mode of settling with men who go to the herring fishing?-Yes. 3879. Is your firm engaged in that fishery?-It has been quite a failure here for the last two or three years. 3880. What is the mode of dealing with the fishermen there? Is it the same system that is pursued at Wick?-The herring fishing here, for the most part, is carried on in the same small open boats as are used at the haaf. At Wick they have large boats for the purpose. Here each man has a certain number of nets of his own, and they use their own boats and nets. 3881. When is the bargain made about the division of the produce; or are the men engaged upon wages?-For the past few years the herring fishing here has been so trifling, that scarcely any person took the trouble to make a bargain with the men about it. If they caught any herrings and delivered them, they generally made a bargain for them about the time they commenced. 3882. Were they to get so much per cran?-Yes. 3883. Is that the same practice that is followed at Wick?-The same practice, I think. At Uyea Sound I think there were as many as sixty small boats that went to that fishing; but for the last two or three years they have not cured a single cran of herrings, so that the thing was not worth our attention. 3884. Are you aware what the general arrangement between the fishermen and the curer in the herring fishing is-I don't speak of Shetland alone, but at other places?-I understand the boats and nets at Wick and other places belong to the fishermen; but the men there are largely indebted to the fish-curers, who have to make large advances to them before they can carry on the fishing. 3885. But the bargain made at the beginning of the season is for a price per cran?-Yes. 3886. And that is due when?-It is not settled, believe, until the end of the fishing. 3887. But the price is fixed at the beginning?-Yes. 3888. Would not that be a more advantageous arrangement for all parties in the home fishing or in the Faroe fishing than that which at present exists?-I don't think the fishermen here would agree to it. We have on several occasions made an agreement with individuals of both descriptions of crews, at the beginning of the season, to give them a certain price for their fish; and if it happened, as it frequently does, that the price rose towards the end of the season, we had, when we came to settle with them, to pay them at the increased price. 3889. You have already mentioned that; but, assuming that the fishermen would agree to it,-and I have no doubt you could compel them to agree to it if there was a bargain to that effect,- would it not be a more reasonable and wholesome arrangement altogether for both parties?-We would certainly be willing to agree to it, and I think the other fish-curers would, and take their chance. 3890. In that case you would take your chance of rise or fall in the market?-Yes. 3891. And there would be none of the fishermen but what would have some idea, as the season went on, of how much his earnings would be?-So they would; but if our fishermen had made such an arrangement, and they came to know that other men were getting higher price from other curers at the end of the season, it would make our men dissatisfied, and we would have to throw our agreement aside. If we did not do that, our men would leave us, and not fish for us another year. 3892. Do you mean that that arrangement could not be entered into by any individual fish-curer unless there was a general arrangement to do so among the curers in the islands?-Yes; the whole of the curers would require to agree to it. 3893. But, would it not be more advantageous all parties, on the whole? I think you say that in your opinion it would be?-We would be very well pleased to have a fixed agreement at the beginning of the season, and very well pleased also to pay the men altogether in cash when we settled with them. In that way we would keep clear of bad debts. 3894. Would not such an arrangement obviate the objection you have to a change on the ground that the fisherman's exertions would be less if he had no inducement to work,-because, if that arrangement were carried out, the fisherman would be induced to use all his exertions in order to get as large a take of fish as possible?-He has the same inducement now. 3895. That is so; but at present he does not know until the end of the season how much he is to get for his fishing during the year?- They are generally satisfied that they will get the full value of the article. 3896. But the policy of the Legislature in some other departments seems to be, that the working man shall know week by week how much his earnings are, and how much he is spending upon goods: could not that be done here?-No; it is impossible here, because one week, or one fortnight, or perhaps three weeks, may elapse in the summer when a man does not earn one sixpence. 3897. But if there was some system of paying fixed price of so much per cran or so much per cwt. for fish delivered, the fisherman would be able to calculate more nearly what his income was going to be during the year than he is now, and be able to regulate his expenditure accordingly?-The price of fish has varied very little for many years, and a fisherman can know pretty nearly what he is earning. The following is a statement of the prices that have been paid for the last six years; from which you will see that the variation has been extremely small. PRICES of Fresh Fish paid at Burra, compared with the Rates paid at other Stations in Shetland, for six years, 1865 to 1870 inclusive. YEAR BURRA ISLANDS OTHER PLACES Spring Summer Summer Ling Cod Ling Cod Ling Cod s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. s. d. 1865 7 0 7 0 7 0 7 0 7 6 6 6 1866 8 0 7 6 8 0 7 6 8 6 7 6 1867 6 0 7 0 6 0 6 0 6 0 6 0 1868 6 0 6 6 6 6 5 0 6 6 5 0 1869 7 0 6 6 7 0 6 6 7 0 6 6 1870 7 0 6 6 7 3 6 0 7 3 6 0 3898. Then, upon the whole of that matter we have been speaking of, you don't think the introduction of a system similar to that which prevails in the Wick herring fishing would be beneficial either to the one side or the other, although you would be willing to adopt it?-We would be quite ready to adopt it. [Page 95] 3899. But, as a matter of opinion, you don't think it would be advantageous?-As far as my own opinion goes, I do not think it would be in any way advantageous either to the fish-curers or to the fishermen. 3900. You have a few sentences in your statement with regard to the hosiery trade, in which you say you don't believe it would pay the expenses and servants wages: is that your opinion?-Yes; if we were to buy for ready money. 3901. What is your reason for forming that opinion?-The people get so much higher prices for their articles when they take goods, that we could not buy for ready money and compete with the people in the trade. 3902. Do you deal in the same goods as those merchants who deal in hosiery?-Yes, to a certain extent, but not to such a large extent as them. They keep goods for the purpose of exchanging for hosiery, while we only keep some for supplying the fishermen. 3903. Are you in a position to say whether your prices for tea and soft goods are higher or lower than the prices of the persons who purchase hosiery?-I think tea and groceries and other things, sell for very much the same all over town. 3904. Is it the same thing with soft goods and cotton?-Yes, I think they are very much the same. 3905. If hosiery were paid for in cash, do you not think the people might come to your shop and buy goods to greater advantage than they get them for at present?-I suppose they would go to any place in town where they got the goods best and cheapest. I have said in my statement, we would be quite ready to buy the hosiery ourselves for cash; but I believe we would get a very small portion of the trade, because, when the people were getting perhaps 1s. in cotton or in other things for an article, we could not afford to give them any more than 9d. or 10d. in cash, and therefore they would not come to us. 3906. But suppose they were to get 9d. or 10d. in cash, would they not be able to buy their cotton goods to greater advantage?-I don't think it. They could not go to the hosiers' shops and buy cotton goods marked at 1s. for anything less than that. They might perhaps get a small discount, but it would be very little. 3907. Does it not appear to you that the practice of paying in kind must raise the prices of the goods that are so given in exchange for hosiery?-There are a great many people both here and throughout the country engaged in the trade; and when the girls have articles to sell, I suppose they find out the shops where they can make the best bargain, and go there, so that there is competition amongst the hosiery merchants as well as in other trades. 3908. Do you think it is the case that the profit charged upon drapery goods in Lerwick is greater than it is in other places, in consequence of the practice of purchasing hosiery with goods?-I am unable to give an opinion upon that, because I cannot say what are the profits upon goods elsewhere; but I believe the difference between our prices and the prices charged by the hosiers for the same class of goods would be found to be very little if it was examined into. 3909. You are not aware that you sell cheaper, than the merchants who purchase hosiery?-I don't think we sell very much cheaper than they do. 3910. Do you think you sell any cheaper?-Not very much. 3911. Did the obligation which was entered into eight years ago by the Burra men refer to the home fishing only, or was there any obligation in it with regard to the Faroe fishing too?-I think it referred to the home fishing chiefly. 3912. And not to the Faroe fishing?-It speaks for itself. 3913. Can you show it to me?-I think I can. I have not seen it for several years, but it must be somewhere in the office. If I can get it, I will be ready to show it. 3914. Is it not the case that the supply of men for the Faroe fishing is now generally sufficient without any such obligation, and that sometimes there is an excess in the supply of men who are willing to go to that fishing?-No; on the contrary, the men are very scarce and it is difficult to get the smacks manned up. I question very much whether we shall be able to get them all manned up this year. 3915. What is the cause of their reluctance to go to that fishing?- They made a bad fishing last year, and they are very unwilling to go again. 3916. Did the liberty money or fines which were imposed in Burra apply at all to tenants refusing to go to the Faroe fishing?-I think not. These fines were imposed with the view of getting the sons to assist their parents who were in debt, and to enable them to pay their rents, by making their earnings come through our hands. When the people went elsewhere, their earnings did not come through our hands, and we had not that check upon them. 3917. Are you quite certain the fines had nothing to do with the Faroe fishing at all?-It is many years since that I can scarcely say, and the Faroe fishing has not been carried on for many years. Perhaps that attempt was made by us about the time when the Faroe fishing commenced; but it was with the view of keeping the sons at home, and to enable their fathers to remain in the islands and to pay their rents, because the sons usually went away in summer, and remained a burden on their parents during the winter. 3918. Do you remember whether at any time there was a proposal on the part of the Burra islanders to rent the island from the landlord directly?-I heard there was such a proposal. 3919. In what form was the proposal made?-It never came through my hands; but I understand the men wrote to Mr. Mack, in Edinburgh, who acted for the proprietors, offering him a higher rent than we had paid before. 3920. How long ago was that?-I could not condescend on the number of years. It was about the time that our tack was out. 3921. That would be about the time when the obligation you spoke of was suggested or entered into?-I think it was perhaps about the same time. 3922. That offer was refused?-Yes. Mr. Mack knew very well, that while some of the tenants would pay their rent punctually, others, when left to themselves, would have nothing to pay it with when the rent time came round, and of course he would not treat with them. He thought it better to get a fixed sum, payable half-yearly, which the tenants could not guarantee him. The rent of Burra is paid by us half-yearly, one half at Whitsunday and the other half at Martinmas; while the tenants, of course, if they were left at liberty, would only pay once a year. 3923. Is it the usual practice in Shetland to pay rent only once a year?-Yes; to pay it at Martinmas, 3924. That arises from the fact that the tenants generally depend upon the produce of their fishing for the money with which to pay their rent?-Yes; they realize their earnings about that time. 3925. Is it the case that the inducement to your firm to lease Burra in the way you have explained, was mainly for securing to yourselves the service of the fishermen?-We had had a lease of Burra for a very long time, and had transactions with the people all along, and they were due us a very considerable sum. They are not due us so much now, but at that time they were due us a very heavy sum; and if we had given up the tack, much of that money would have been lost. That was one inducement to us to renew our lease. 3926. But did you expect to recoup yourselves merely by the rent payable by the fishermen, or by their being obliged to fish for you?-By their being able to pay their debts through the fishing. 3927. In other words, they would not have been so likely to have continued to fish for you if you had not remained the tacksmen?- If we had not remained the tacksmen, the island would have been let on tack to some one else, and they would have taken our place. 3928. Do you mean that a lease would probably have [Page 96] been given to some other fish-merchant?-Yes; there is no inducement to any one else to take a tack of Burra. 3929. Is that because it is the general practice in Shetland for the landlord or the tacksman to be entitled to receive the fish?-No; but the tack-duty of Burra is so near the gross rental, that there would be no inducement to a person to take the island on tack, and to collect the rents and pay them over to the proprietor. 3930. You say that very few people in Burra engage in the home fishing now?-Yes; comparatively few. 3931. So that the Burra islands cannot be so profitable an investment for your firm as formerly?-It is not. 3932. Does the gross rental from it exceed the tack-duty by any considerable sum?-No; only by a very small sum. 3933. How much?-Unless I had the rental here, I could not speak definitely; but I could show you the gross rental of Burra, and I can tell you the tack-duty afterwards. 3934. Can you do the same with regard to Gossaburgh?-Yes. 3935. Is there any practice in the home fishing of selling the smaller fish without passing them through the books; that is, the small fish caught near the shore at Scalloway, or elsewhere on the coast?-There are haddocks and small fish caught there; and through the winter the men just take them into Scalloway every day as they catch them, and sell them for goods or money as they choose. 3936. These transactions don't pass through your books?-No; we don't see what fish of that kind have been purchased, except from the factor's book at the end of the year. We then see how much fish he has purchased from all quarters. 3937. The factor purchases these fish, and pays for them in such goods as the men may want at the time?-Yes; on the spot. 3938. These are separate transactions, and are settled at once?- Yes. 3939. In that case, is the price for the fish higher or lower than in any of your other dealings with the fishermen?-I think that, within the last few years it has generally been less, where they settled at once, than it came to be at the end of the season, when we came to arrange the men's accounts. 3940. How does that happen?-Because generally at the end of the season the price comes up, and people buying fish on chance are not inclined to give the same price for them which they would give at the end of the season, when they know what they are worth. If we buy fish from the men just now, we cannot tell what they will realize in summer, when they are dry and sent to market. 3941. Then, if the fish-merchant were to pay for all his fish as they were delivered, would that have a tendency to make him more cautious about giving a high price to his fishermen?-I think it would. 3942. Do you think that men curing their own fish would be at a great disadvantage as compared with large curers?-I think they would, because they have no means for curing. 3943. You are aware, I suppose, that that is one of the statements made by the fishermen, when they come forward with complaints about the existing system: that they want to have liberty to cure their own fish, and dispose of them in the market as they please?- I have heard so. For some time, in Dunrossness, the men did cure their own fish, but they never could make them in a marketable state. They were always objectionable, and they never could bring so high a price in the market as fish prepared by regular curers. If each boat's crew were to cure their own fish, they would be at a great disadvantage, because they have not the means of curing them properly: they have no vats, no covers, no mats, and no qualified curers for the purpose. They would likely employ children for that purpose, and members of their own family. 3944. When the men cure their own fish, how is that generally done?-I suppose they cure them in turns, and turn them out on the beach until they are dried. They are often very insufficiently salted, or over-salted; and when they are dry, they are not fit for the market. 3945. In your operations you have a complete apparatus for the purpose?-Yes; and we require qualified men-people who understand the process of curing-to attend to them. 3946. Therefore, in your opinion, a fisherman curing his own fish would realize a much less price for them than you could give him?-Yes; and very often they would be altogether in an unmerchantable state. 3947. You are still factor on the Simbister estate?-Yes. 3948. Part of that estate, in the neighbourhood of Channerwick, was at one time let to Robert Mouat?-Yes. 3949. I believe he had right under his lease to receive delivery of all the fish caught by the tenants?-No. The lease expressly states, that if the fishermen deliver their fish to him, he is bound to pay them the current price of the country. The expression is, 'If the fishermen deliver them;' that is all that is said about it. 3950. Is the lease in your hands?-Yes. 3951. You will show it to me, in order that I may take an excerpt of that clause?-Yes. 3952. Do you remember the case of a John Leask, a fisherman at Channerwick, whom Mouat had threatened to turn out of his farm, and who came to you some time about March 1870 in consequence of that threat?-I don't remember that. I don't know the man; but it is possible he may have come to me. There were two or three of them who come to me complaining about their treatment by Mouat. I showed them the clause in the tack, and told them that if they fished to him he was bound to pay them the current price of the country, but that I saw nothing in the tack to compel them to deliver their fish to him. 3953. Were you aware that for many years previously the tenants in that district had been under the idea that they were bound to fish for the tacksman?-I had no concern with it before I got the factorship, three years ago. It is only three years since I was appointed factor. 3954. Who was your predecessor?-Mr. Bruce generally settled with the tenants himself, or Mr. Spence. 3955. Is it consistent with your own knowledge that there was such an understanding upon that part of the Simbister estate?-The men told me that Mouat insisted on getting their fish; that is all I know about it. 3956. You don't know of it yourself, except from these applications which were made to you by the men?-No; I had nothing to do with Mouat or his tack previously. 3957. Did you communicate with Mouat in consequence of the statements the fishermen made to you?-I don't remember that I communicated with him in writing, but I may have told him that the men were complaining about being forced to fish to him. 3958. Did you also tell him that he was not entitled to require them to fish to him?-It is quite possible I told him that, but I had very few conversations with him on the subject. 3959. If there was such an understanding among the men, I suppose it would be naturally enough accounted for by the fact that in former times such obligations were usual or universal in Shetland?-Perhaps it would be. 3960. I presume such obligations were universal formerly?-I think that formerly more of the proprietors cured their own fish than is the case now. 3961. But in the old times it was part of the tenant's duty to deliver his fish to his landlord?-Yes. 3962. And I fancy, that although you say fishermen are generally free, yet any complaints that are made about them being bound arise from the remains of that old system still prevailing?- Perhaps so. 3963. There is no doubt that there was such an understanding and such an obligation formerly?-No. 3964. And in one or two cases there is such an obligation still?- Yes; but I think there are very few of the proprietors now who have any personal concern [Page 97] with their fishings. I think there are only two or three of them. 3965. Is Mr Bruce of Sumburgh one of the parties to whom you refer?-Yes. 3966. Does he purchase fish from the tenants on his estate?-He purchases fish over all. I suppose the free men can come to him and offer their fish as well as his own tenants. 3967. Does any other proprietor in Shetland deal in fish in the same way?-I think Mr. Grierson takes some part of his tenants' fish, but only a part. 3968. Are there any others?-I think in Unst, although the proprietors are not actually fish-curers, yet their tenants fish to parties whom they appoint., 3969. Do you refer to Major Cameron?-Yes; and Edmonstone too. Spence & Co. are the principal fish-curers in Unst. They are lessees of Major Cameron's property, and, I think they receive fish from Mr. Edmonstone's tenants also. . Is there anything further you wish to say with regard to the fishings?-With reference to Burra, some years ago there was a letter written to Mr. Mack, Edinburgh, who had the management of the property for the Misses Scott, and a copy of it was sent to us without a signature. It was a letter remarking, very strongly on the management of Burra at the time; and as there may be something said about it, I think it better to read it- 'COPY LETTER to Mr. Mack, dated the 5th April 1869. 'James S. Mack, Esq. 'MY DEAR SIR,-Having had occasion to visit Burra officially a few days ago, it was suggested to me to bring under your notice some of those grievances of which the people complain, so that on any renewal of the lease of the Islands taking place, you might be able stipulate more advantageously for the poor people. 'From the statements submitted to me, it would appear- '1st, That every householder is bound to pay one pound sterling annually for every son who, being a common fisherman, ships in any Faroe-going fishing smack not belonging to the lessees or the agent of the North Sea Company, otherwise he must remove from the island or expel any such son from his home. '2d, That every tenant is bound to uphold, at his own expense, his house and offices, and whenever required to remove, to leave them in a state of good repair without any indemnification. '3d, That every fisherman is bound to deliver his fishings to the lessees at such a price as they may be disposed to give. While the price given is never than one shilling per hundredweight the average paid for green fish in the Islands; and in the case of herring, not less than five shillings per cran below the market price is a common thing. '4th, That all oysters dredged must be delivered to the lessees at Scalloway, under the penalty of expulsion; from house and land; while the price paid in is one shilling per hundred, other merchants paying in money per hundred. To evade this obligation a regular system of deception is practised most offensive to the moral sense, and, as a consequence, few of the oysters go into the hands of the lessees. '5th, And that every person on the Islands is bound not to sell any article to a neighbour, under the penalty of instant expulsion from the island. If, for example, you were living on the isle, any fisherman who sold you a tusk or cod incurred the penalty of expulsion. And as the system of barter is common in Shetland, if any woman got in exchange for her hosiery tea or sugar or meal from any merchant-as the lessees purchase no hosiery-she exposes her family to the loss of house and land and expulsion from the island if she is known to sell any of the goods she has received in return for her handiwork to any neighbour, however needful or anxious such neighbour may be to purchase for money the article thus obtained. 'These, as represented to me, form some of the grounds of complaint against the system adopted and enforced by the lessees, and, as grievances, they are felt all the more keenly because of the perfect contrast which is found to exist between the Burra people and surrounding Islanders. 'In Trondra, under the hands of your lessees as factors, the people can sell their labour and their goods to any buyer, so being they pay the stipulated rent. 'In Hildesay, Luija, and Havera the tenants fish, cure, and sell to the proprietor or others at the average price of the county, paying their rents in money. 'The natural result of all this is the production of a feeling of bondage most unfavourable in its influence towards the lessees themselves, and most pernicious in its influence over the tenants under them. 'Not only are the obligations under which the Burra people bend, introducing discord into families, restraining the energies of the fishermen, and tending to a deeply rooted aversion towards the lessees and their service, but producing systems of chicanery and deceit subversive of moral principle and destructive of all efforts in the proper training of the young. 'Having had these matters forced upon my attention, I am constrained to yield to the pressure, and submit them to your consideration-notwithstanding my great personal respect for the lessees-as requested, and that, in the hope that if you can now or hereafter mitigate the evil under which the tenants groan, in connection with the renewal of the lease, should such be contemplated, you will cordially do so, and thus confer upon them a lasting benefit. 'Before closing, I may add that a suggestion was made to submit the case to the consideration of the Fishery Board; but, as the constitution and functions of that board are unknown to me, I have deferred until obtaining any suggestion you may be pleased to make for the future guidance of the poor people who, through me, now solicit your sympathy and aid. 'Having fulfilled my promise to write you, I have to express the hope that this confidential communication may receive your kind consideration, while any suggestion you may make for the improvement of the circumstances of the people will be cordially welcomed by.' That letter was sent to us to report upon, and we made some notes on it at the time, which I may read also- 'NOTES on a Letter of Complaint addressed to, Mr. Mack, S.S.C., Edinburgh, dated 5th April 1869, as to the Management of the Burra Islands under the present Tack. 'The writer of this letter, if he is stating honestly the reports that he has heard on his visits to Burra, seems to have considered it quite unnecessary to inquire whether they were true or false before committing them to paper; and apparently from a desire to make out a case of oppression, he has been ready to receive all that could help to it without separating the chaff from the wheat. 'The first head is, that every tenant is bound to pay £1 per annum for their sons who do not fish in vessels belonging to the tacksmen, or those of the Fishery Company under their management. In answer to this, it always been felt a great hardship to pay rent year after year for old men who were deeply indebted and earning little or nothing, but who had grown-up sons living, at home in idleness all winter and going out of the Islands to fish to strangers in summer. In order to get them to assist their parents, intimation was given at the commencement of the tack that such a charge would be made; but the result is, nothing has been recovered from them, and several of the Lerwick fishing vessels are manned up year after year with the best fishermen in Burra, and their fathers remain hopelessly in debt. Perhaps Mr Mack's correspondent would say, rather than impose such a condition on the young men, we should roup up their fathers and turn them out of the Islands as paupers, when the sons would be compelled by law to assist them? 'The second charge is, that the tenants are bound to uphold their houses at their own expense. This complaint, unlike the others, is quite correct, but the obligation is not felt by the tenants to be very oppressive. [Page 98] Had the proprietors to pay the expense the case would be different, and this, added to the public burdens, would pretty well exhaust the whole rents. Such things, however, are never considered by would-be philanthropists; and if matters are made easy for the tenants, landlords may starve. Burra is not the only place in Shetland, or out of it, where tenants are bound to uphold their own houses. 'Third, The tenants hold their farms on the express condition that they shall deliver their fish to the factors; but it is quite untrue that the price allowed 'is never than one shilling per hundredweight below the average price paid for green fish in the Islands; and in the case of herring, not less than five shillings per cran below the market price is a common thing.' It is so far from the truth as scarcely to be worth denial; and if the author of this statement had been desirous to get at facts, he could without difficulty have discovered that his informant, was practising a deception on him, and that the Burra people had not this evil to groan under. 'The lessees have no hesitation in referring to the tenants, themselves and to all other parties in the locality to whom the circumstances are known. (See annexed note of the prices paid in Burra and throughout Shetland for the last four years.) As to the obligation on the tenants to deliver their fish to the factors-if they were free to cure and sell as they chose, who would advance them, with boats and fishing materials, and support their families during the progress of the fishing? and would the proprietors get the rents paid half-yearly as at present? or would they not rather find the principal part of it standing as arrears in their books at the end of the first year of freedom? And in the event of a short fishing or bad crop (both frequent occurrences), without any one to assist them till the return of better seasons, is it not evident, at least to those who know about tenants in fishing districts, that the Burra people would soon be little better than paupers? 'Take the last year as an instance, when the heavy debt due by the tenants to the lessees was increased upwards of £200. 'Mr. Mack's correspondent should suggest a remedy for all these evils, to be inserted in the next lease; or, as he seems to hint that the Fishery Board may be induced to interfere and make things straight now, it might be well to place the Islands under his management for a year or two by way of trial. The lessees could have no objections if the balances due to them were paid. 'The oyster fishing is the fourth grievance, and the statements in it are as little in accordance with facts as the rest. A few years ago, when oysters came to be asked after for export, the scaaps in Burra being of limited extent, an attempt was made to preserve them for old men and others in the quarter who were unable to prosecute the spring fishings; but in the course of a year or two people came from Scalloway and other places and carried them away in boat-loads. Seeing this, the factors told the Burra folks as far as possible to secure the oysters for themselves, and they have since been selling them in large quantities here and there without let or hindrance, and it is said the supply is now about exhausted. The tack conveys right to the whole fishings of the islands; and had the matter been of any importance, the lessees might have interdicted strangers, and limited the fishing for the benefit of the tenants as first intended; but this cause of offence seems to be set at rest now for the remainder of the lease. 'The fifth statement appears to be, that people living in the Islands, not fishing themselves (suppose ministers or the schoolmasters, as these are the only parties in the Islands no way connected with the fishings), cannot get fish to purchase for their own use. This is quite absurd; no such restriction was ever heard of or imagined, either by proprietors; tacksmen, or tenants. 'And next, as to tea sellers, had not the Excise interfered to put down the practice, every other house in Burra would have been a shop in a small way to sell, not only tea, but other goods of a less harmless description that had not always passed through a custom-house. The tacksmen plead guilty to using their best endeavours to assist in shutting up these shops, but they deny that they have ever interfered with the Burra people directly or indirectly in the sale of their cattle, hosiery, or produce of any kind, except fish. Nor have they ever placed a shop in the Islands for sake of the tenants custom, as they might have done, but left them free to sell such produce and obtain their supplies where they liked. 'Trondra is referred to as a free island; but does Mr. Mack's correspondent suppose the people are in better circumstances on that account? And is he aware of the amount of arrears due to the landlord? the tenants' earnings, in most cases, being spent as fast as they are made. If the tenants in the other islands mentioned are free also, it is not generally understood to be the case, and it happens at this very time two tenants from these islands have taken farms, and are about to remove to the land of bondage-Burra.' 3971. Is it the case that no other shop than yours is allowed in Burra?-Yes. 3972. You say that if shops were allowed there, every other house would be used as a shop, and every person would set up for selling tea and other goods?-Yes. What I referred to there was, that the Burra people were in the habit of bringing home a quantity of uncustomed goods from Faroe, and going round the country and selling them elsewhere. We set our face against that, and endeavoured to put it down. 3973. Has there been a tendency to that in the Faroe fishing?-Not lately; because some of the people were severely punished for it. 3974. But formerly there was a tendency that way?-At first there was a good deal done in that way, but now I don't think there is anything. 3975. You are not aware whether there is any smuggling in the Shetland Islands at present?-Two or three years ago, there were some of the crews severely punished for that, and I don't think there is any smuggling going on now. 3976. That was one of your reasons for prohibiting shops in Burra?-Yes, it was one reason. 3977. But the effect of that prohibition is that the people have to go to Scalloway for goods?-They can go out of the island and get their goods where they like. 3978. Have you information at present from which you are able to state what proportion of the Burra islanders keep accounts with your shop in Scalloway?-Not at present. Their names may be in the books, but they may get very small supplies from us, and they can get supplies from other people as well. 3979. There are other shops in Scalloway?-Yes; there are several other shops there, and the men may take some goods from us and some from others. 3980. You say that now the oyster-beds there are really exhausted?-Yes. Oysters were got in pretty large quantities in Burra for a number of years, but now they are exhausted; they were taken up in such quantities and sent away. 3981. Are there any oysters got at Scalloway?-Very few. You can get a hundred or half a hundred occasionally. 3982. Are the men bound to deliver to your firm what oysters they take up?-No; they have not been doing it. 3983. Then they are free to dispose of the oysters to any person they like?-They are free to dispose of them, but there are so few to get now that it is no object to go in for that. 3984. Have there been no disputes about oysters there?-Not that I know of. The Scalloway people carried away a great many oysters from Burra. 3985. You have prepared a note showing the number of families in Burra, and also the total sums paid in cash to your fishermen at settlement at your other stations besides Whalsay?-Yes. The number of families in Burra is 108. There are 318 males on the island, and 867 females-in all 685. I may mention also that [Page 99] of the Burra men who go to the fishing, in summer in smacks, 19 went in vessels belonging to Hay & Co., and 73, in vessels belonging to other owners. The cash paid to fishermen at settlement at other stations besides Whalsay was as follows 1870, Fetlar & E. Yell, . . £138 19 3 " Dunrossness . . 521 13 111/2 " North Roe . . 539 9 01/2 1871, Fetlar & E. Yell, . . 310 6 61/2 " Dunrossness . . 395 19 3 " North Roe . . 757 17 01/2 In the statement which I gave in, I stated that the arrears of land-rent due on the Simbister estate were £57; but since the statement was prepared, that sum has been lessened by £8, which has been paid. 3986. Do you pay your balances to the Whalsay men by cheques on the Union Bank?-Not altogether. To some extent we pay them in notes and gold and silver. 3987. In 1870, you gave cheques to the amount of in sums of £5 and upwards?-Yes. 3988. Below that sum they would be paid in cash?-Yes. In the past year I gave cheques to the amount of £465. 3989. Some of these men, I suppose, would leave their money at the bank?-I daresay they did. 3990. Is there anything else that occurs to you to state with regard to the fishings?-Nothing. 3991. You are now out of the trade of engaging men for the Greenland whale fishery?-We are just about out of it. 3992. You have intimated to your correspondents in the south that you are not to act for them any longer in that matter?-Yes. 3993. Your commission there was 21/2 per cent. upon the wages and oil-money of each man, and that commission was paid to you by the shipowners?-Yes. 3994. Do you consider that that was an inadequate remuneration for the trouble you had with the men?-Yes. It was not only an inadequate remuneration, but we were supposed to be taking advantage of the men in settling with them, and that has led us to give up the agency. It was thought that we did not actually settle with them in cash, but that we gave them goods for their wages 3995. You have added to your written statement on this subject an abstract of your dealings for the last three years with the men engaged in some of these whaling vessels, which shows that during that period the average amount of wages and oil-money paid annually to each man was £11, 13s. 6d.; the supplies given to the man before sailing and to his family during his absence were on an average £1, 7s. 2d-leaving a balance of £10, 6s. 4d, which was paid in cash?-Yes. That balance was actually paid to the men in cash, in presence of the marine superintendent, by one of our clerks. Perhaps I may be allowed to refer to the report made by Mr Hamilton to the Board of Trade on this subject, which was communicated to the previous Commissioners on Truck, and which is printed in the appendix to their report. 3996. Have you any explanation to make with regard to that report?-The only explanation I have to make is to contradict publicly the whole statements contained in it; and I hope the result of your examination here will prove to the author of report, and to others, that they should not hastily jump at conclusions, and condemn people unheard. 3997. Do you contradict the whole of the statements in that report, without exception?-Yes, I contradict them publicly, and I say that, they are not in accordance with the facts. 3998. The report says: 'Almost every fisherman in the islands is in debt to some shopkeeper:' is that incorrect?-It is not the case that the whole fishermen in the islands are in debt. 3999. Is it not the case that the majority of the fishermen employed by you are in debt to your shop?-It is not. In the case of Whalsay alone, I paid £1374 to the men when I settled with them. None of them are in debt, and they have usually large sums of money to get. 4000. That is to say, they are not in debt in December when they are settled with?-Yes; and during the next year, if they have occasion to get supplies from the shop while the fishing is going on, they get them, but they are not in debt, because they are getting fish daily; and their account, although not settled, is running in their favour. We would probably be in their debt if we were to settle with them at any time during the season. 4001. But before the spring fishing begins, do they not generally run up an amount of debt at the merchants shops?-Not generally. I think the men generally take money to pay for anything they want. 4002. Is it the case that cash payments at these shops are more frequent about this season of the year, when the men have had their settlements lately over, than they are subsequently?-I think so, because they have money to pay for the articles they buy. 4003. Will the returns made by your shopkeepers of sales at the shops, or the accounts kept with the fishermen, show that?-The shopman's cash-book would show what the daily drawings were. 4004. Do you mean the daily drawings in cash?-Yes, the money. 4005. And you think the daily drawings in cash are probably larger at this season than at other times?-I should think so, because the people have more money in their hands. 4006. Then, if there is any truth in this statement, it must apply, in ordinary seasons, to the period after the fishing has begun?-Yes, it must apply to that; but the statement Mr. Hamilton makes, as to paying seamen's wages, is utterly untrue. 4007. It is true, I suppose, that agents are employed in Lerwick to secure the services of men for ships in the Greenland fishery?- Yes. 4008. Then the portion of that sentence which, I presume, you deny, is that the agents get little direct profit from their agency?- No; they do get little direct profit-only 21/2 per cent. on the wages and oil-money of the men. 4009. These agents are all shopkeepers, and most of them are proprietors of land themselves, or act land agents for others: is that so?-Yes, that is true. 4010. There are only three or four such agents in Lerwick- yourselves, while you continued to act in that way, Mr. Leask, Mr. Tait who has now retired, and Mr Tulloch, of A. Laurenson & Co.?-Yes; Mr Tait has been succeeded, I believe, by Messrs. Leisk and Sandison. There are no others that I know of. 4011. Mr. Hamilton says: 'The owners merely find the money to pay the wages of the men engaged. The agents manage everything else. The agents are, of course, interested in getting employment for those who are in their debt.' Is it the case, as a rule, that the men engaged for these Greenland voyages have been in debt?- No. It has been so difficult for many years now to get the men forward; that we have been very willing to take any man who would come, without regard to what part of the country he belonged to. 4012. But are the men so engaged frequently in debt to the shopkeeper who engages them?-No. I think you will see that from the copy of the letter which we wrote to one of the shipowners. 4013. Is it not true in point of fact, as stated here, that the agents supply the men's outfits?-We go to the custom-house with the men after they have been engaged, and we pay them their first month's advance in cash, and that first month's advance is repaid us by the owners of the ship. We cannot open an account in our books with any of these men unless we take the risk of the debt, because the terms of their agreement are that when they come back from their voyage, nothing is to be deducted from their wages except that first month's advance, and their monthly note, if they have one. 4014. But, as a matter of fact, are these men supplied with their outfit by the agent who engages them?-The men are quite at liberty to take their money, and get their outfit where they like. [Page 100] 4015. Still, as a matter of fact, they are supplied with their outfit by the agent, are they not?-No. We have supplied them to a very small extent; the extract I have produced from our books shows the full amount we have supplied them with, not only for their outfit, but for their whole supplies during the season. 4016. Then, during the absence of these men do their families come to your shop frequently for supplies?-We cannot give them any supplies unless they have their monthly note, and if we give them any supplies, then we credit that note. If a man leaves a monthly note to supply his family during his absence with one-half of his wages, then his family can get supplied to that extent. 4017. You supply them, if they wish, to the amount of that note?- Yes, either cash or in goods. Many of the people, if they are living in the country, take these monthly notes and hand them over to some of their friends in the country, who transmit them to Lerwick and get the money for them. 4018. In that case, these notes are not taken out in the shape of goods from your shop?-No. 4019. Are you aware whether these monthly notes are ever taken out in name of the agents?-It is very possible they may be, when the men want that to be done. 4020. Has that occurred in your dealings with them?-I think so. In some cases we get the monthly notes, and pay the value of them to the families as they become due, either in money or in goods. 4021. Whether is it more frequently in money or in goods that you have paid these notes to their families?-Some of the members of their families come into town with the monthly notes when they are due and they get the money. 4022. Or goods?-Or goods. If they want anything before the monthly note is due, they get goods, but it is very seldom that that is done. However, the result of our transactions with these men appears from the excerpt I have produced, which shows that the advances made did not come to 30s, while at settling we paid the men upwards of £10 each, in cash, taking them as a whole. 4023. When that sum of £10 is paid to them, is there a standing account against them at any of your shops?-No; the men are quite clear. For instance, in the case of the 'Labrador' for the past year, the men's wages and oil-money came, to £221, 7s. 4d., and we had not an account standing against any of them in our books. 4024. Do you state that in all cases referred to in that excerpt from your books, the sums stated as having been paid in cash were paid in full, and that at the time when they were paid there was no account due to your firm by the men?-Yes; there was not one farthing due when these sums were paid. 4025. Because it might very well happen that you had an account against them, although the cash was paid at the time in presence of the superintendent?-I understand what you mean, but the accounts will show that the men were all clear at the date of the payment. 4026. Is that at the date when the final releases were signed?-No. The final release is only signed when they get their second payment of oil-money. The second payment of oil-money is comparatively trifling, only a few shillings to each man; and they have before then been paid up their whole earnings to within 10s. or 15s. or 20s. 4027. Does the abstract account you have given in apply to the state of things at the date of the final discharge of the men?-I think it is taken from our books after the account of each ship was closed, except in the case of 1871, because we had not got their second payment of oil-money for that year, when the excerpt was made. 4028. Are all the accounts closed for 1870?-Yes. 4029. You mean that the men have got payment of the whole of their oil-money, including the second payment, for that year?- Yes; and we have now got the whole of their oil-money for 1871 also. 4030. Has the final release for 1871 be signed?-I suppose so; but I don't settle with the men personally. It is one of our clerks who does so. The part of the report to the Board of Trade which I wish particularly to refer to is this: 'It is true that the Board of Trade rules provide that "the balance to be paid to the man is the balance due on account of his voyage, deducting only such advances and allotments, as shall have been stipulated for in the agreement; and the value of such stores as may have been supplied to him personally during the voyage by the master." But no time is fixed for settlement, and the consequence is that it is the interest of the agent to delay it until he gets the man in debt to him again; and when he does pay to the man the balance of wages due to him before the superintendent, the man has no option but to hand it all back to the agent at once to whom he is indebted in an equal or greater amount; and I need hardly point out that it is clearly most important in the interests of the man, that he should not merely nominally, but actually receive his wages in cash, and be able to spend them as he likes.' That part of the report is not correct.' 4031. Is it not the case that the releases of the seamen are very frequently signed many months after the ship has arrived and discharged her men?-I have explained the reason for that in my statement. The men always go home whenever the ship arrives, and come back to settle as they find it convenient for themselves. 4032. But is it the case that it is often six or eight months afterwards before the settlement is made?-It is the case that the owners don't perhaps send down account of the oil that has been boiled until this time of the year, and sometimes after this time; but we pay the men before then nearly up to what we suppose the amount of oil will be. Any small sum that is left out is sometimes not paid until the ship comes out again in the following year. 4033. The time for engaging men for the Greenland voyage is in February or March?-Yes; in the end of February or beginning of March. 4034. And you state that in your business, as agents, there is no account running with any of these men during the period after the termination of the voyage, and before the last payment of oil-money?-There is no account running with them from the time when they settle finally until they engage again. 4035. Then, at the engagement, a new account is generally opened for the outfit?-No; we have nothing to enter against them when they engage again, but just the money we pay them at the custom-house. We charge them with the month's advance which we pay them there; that is the only entry we have against them. In one or two cases there may be more-perhaps a few shillings; but in the case of the 'Labrador,' which I have already referred to, we had not a sixpence marked against any man in the vessel. 4036. What is the main reason for taking the advance notes in name of the shipping agents?-I suppose the men prefer it, because it is just as convenient for them to hand the advance notes to the shipping agents as to any other one in Lerwick. 4037. But if the advance note is taken in the name of any of the man's friends, that would entitle them to get payment of so much of his wages from the shipping agent?-Yes; but the advance note must be addressed to an agent, because the owners of the ship are here to cash it, and the agent must pay it to somebody, either to the man's wife, or to any other one that she transfers it to. 4038. But what I asked was, whether these advance notes were not taken payable, not to wife, but to the shipping agent, himself?-I think not; it is either to the wife or to some of the man's friends. 4039. I understood you to say that sometimes they were made payable to the shipping agent?-They are payable by the shipping agent. It is the agent who has to pay them. 4040. But you say they are never made payable to him as well as by him, so that he has really the control over them, if they are handed to him?-He has [Page 101] the control over them He advances the money either to the wife or to any person that she sends for it. 4041. But, in point of fact, they are not made payable to him as well as by him?-They are made payable to his order. 4042. Do you say that these notes are not so taken by the shipping agent, that he gets the benefit of them and the control over them, and that the wife has no control over them whatever?-It is quite possible that may be done in some cases, but I cannot say. 4043. But that has not been done in your practice?-I shall send for one of the forms of these notes, and that will explain the matter better to you. 4044. I understand these advance notes and allotment notes are negotiable; at least they are indorsed by the seaman's wife as a receipt?-I suppose when they are brought to the merchant they are indorsed by her, and he pays the value of the note to anybody who brings it. 4045. Can the seaman himself indorse the note beforehand?-In many cases the seamen don't get any of these allotment notes at all, especially on these short voyages to Greenland. 4046. But on a long voyage, does the seaman in point of fact indorse the note?-A married man, I suppose, will take out these advance notes to his family. 4047. And he indorses them?-I think so; but not in every case. 4048. Does he, in some cases, indorse specially to the ship's agent?-Not to my knowledge; but I have not had that matter through my hands lately, and I cannot speak to it with certainty. 4049. Do you not attend to that part of your business yourself?- No; Mr. Goudie, one of our clerks does it. 4050. Then, the contradiction you have made of the statement in the report to the Board of Trade has been made on behalf of your firm?-Yes. 4051. You have no knowledge of the way in which other agents in Lerwick have dealt?-No; but I believe these agents, as well as ourselves, are very glad to get any men they can meet with to engage for the fishing. There is sometimes great difficulty experienced in manning the ships, and we cannot pick and choose. 4052. The commission of 21/2 per, cent. is matter of private bargain between you and the shipowners?-Yes. 4053. So that, if that is an insufficient remuneration, it might by private agreement be increased?-I suppose it might; but if the owners can get people to do their work for 21/2 per cent., they will not increase it. 4054. However, the principal thing you wish to state upon that point is, that at the time when you engage these men for a Greenland voyage, none of them are, in point of fact, in debt to your firm?-None of them. That is stated in one of the letters we wrote to one of the owners in Peterhead. 4055. There have been special regulations issued by the Board of Trade applicable to the discharge of seamen in Orkney and Shetland from the whalers, which are intended to allow a longer period for signing the release?-Yes. 4056. These regulations provide-'(1.) The agreement shall be entered into before the Superintendent of a Mercantile Marine office, and shall show the advance of wages made, and the allotments to be paid during the ship's absence; there shall also be a stipulation in regard to the travelling expenses of the men on their return home, in the event of their being taken past their own island. (2.) The master of the ship shall keep a separate store book for the Shetland and Orkney men, containing a distinct account for each of the men, in which, on the ship's return, he shall show the wages, and estimate the amount of oil and bone money, etc., to which they are respectively entitled; the account to be signed by himself and the seaman whom it concerns, in proof of its accuracy. At the foot of the account he shall state his opinion of the character of the man to enable the agent to prepare the certificate of discharge and character. (3.) When the men are landed the master shall deliver the book to the agent in order that the account of wages etc., may be prepared therefrom; and the balances due to the men shall be paid to them in the presence of the Superintendent at the Mercantile Marine Office, to whom the store book is to be produced by the agent. The balance to be paid to the man is to be the balance due on account of the voyage, deducting only such advances and allotments as shall have been stipulated for in the agreement, and the value of such stores as may have been, supplied to him personally during the voyage by the master'?-It has been found to be impossible to comply with that regulation about settling with the men when they are landed, because the moment they are landed they hurry to their homes, and only come back to Lerwick to settle as they find it convenient for themselves. 4057. And in point of fact the settlement is delayed for weeks?- Yes, for weeks, and sometimes for months. 4058. Are the balances contained in the statement you have produced the balances referred to in the regulation I have read?- They are the actual cash balances due to the men, and the actual amount paid to the men in cash. 4059. The deductions in the second column are supplies made by you in goods?-Yes. 4060. Is it not an infringement of the Merchant Shipping Act of 1864, to supply goods even to that limited extent?-These supplies may have been made on monthly notes; and there is nothing in the Merchant Shipping Act to prevent us from giving credit to men going to Greenland the same as to any person at home, provided they come back and pay us. We know them, and could trust them to come back; but I don't think that, in any case, we have given them any credit. 4061. If you did not give them credit, how did you find it necessary to deduct these supplies?-In that case the supplies may have been given under monthly allotment notes. 4062. What you mean is that the £1, 7s. 2d. which you state as the average of the deductions may have been paid either in cash or in goods?-Yes. I think I have explained that in the paper I have given in. 4063. You say in one of the letters you have quoted, that 'the supplies mentioned in the account consist mostly of meal, given to the men's families to account of their half pay notes, and on which the profits cannot pay cellar rents and servants' wages'?-When a half-pay note not due until the end of the month, and the wife sends in and wants some meal in the meantime, she gets the meal, and we deduct it from the half-pay notes when we pay them. 4064. Then the half-pay notes are not generally paid cash?-They are generally paid in cash, but before they are due we give them goods to account. 4065. Am I to understand that these notes are paid mostly in meal or mostly in cash?-They are paid partly in meal, and rest is paid in money when the notes are due. If a woman has 20s. of a half pay note, she gets perhaps 5s. in meal, and then she gets the rest of the money in full when it is due. The second column in the abstract I have produced, shows the actual goods advanced, and the actual money. 4066. Have you now got one of the forms of the advance note?- Yes [produces it]; that form is addressed to us. 4067. That is to say, you are to pay it?-Yes; and the woman, when she gets the money, signs her name on the back of the note. 4068. Is it not the case sometimes that in the lines issued to Lerwick seamen the order is to pay is in favour of the ship's agent himself?-Not that I know of. 4069. Has there been no indorsation by the seaman or his wife, in any case that you are aware of which was equivalent to an order to pay to the ship's agent himself?-That could only have had the effect of reserving the agent's claim against the shipowner. 4070. No, it would enable him to retain the money which he would be bound to pay at settlement or at the end of the month when the allotment note became due to the wife or sister, or other relation [Page 102] of the seaman. Have you known any case of that kind?-There may have been such cases, but I have not been aware of them. 4071. The third article of these regulations by the Board of Trade goes on to say-'The superintendent is not to allow any deduction to be made in their account for stores supplied by the agent or by tradesmen to the seaman's family during the seaman's absence, nor is he to permit the insertion in the account of deductions for any transactions in money or goods that may have taken place before the commencement of the voyage.' I suppose that refers to the form of note now shown to me?-Yes. In fact he is not to allow anything to go into the settlement, except what is provided for in the agreement. 4072. Are these supplies, which are stated in the note, not an infringement of that rule of the Board of Trade?-No. As I mentioned already, I suppose the greater part of these supplies have been made on allotment notes. 4073. But although made on the allotment notes, yet they are supplies made by the agent to the seaman's family, and they are deducted from his wages at the end?-Yes; but these allotment notes are provided for to be included in the settlement with the seaman when he returns. They are made a legal claim against his wages. 4074. Does the rule not imply that the allotment notes are to he paid in money?-The man's family can get them either in money or in goods, as they choose. The woman may perhaps not wait until the end of the month to receive her £1, 2s. 6d. she may want a part of it in the early part of the month, or in the middle of the month; and she comes and gets either money or goods, as she chooses; and then at the end of the month she gets the balance. 4075. When she gets the goods in the middle of the month, she gets them on credit?-Yes; and she pays for them out of the £1, 2s. 6d. when she gets her allotment note settled; but I think that has occurred only to a very small extent. I think there are very few of the seamen who take these allotment notes at all. The young men don't require to take them; it is only the married men who require them. 4076. If it is the case that very few take them, then the whole of these supplies are not on allotment notes?-I think a good many of them have been given on allotment notes. 4077. But so far as they were not on allotment notes, in what way were the supplies furnished? Has it been upon accounts opened with the men for their outfit before starting?-I think that has very seldom been the case. They may occasionally get a few shillings worth when they go out; but we take care to give as little credit in that way as possible. 4078. Were the deductions you have stated here [showing] allowed by the superintendent in settling with these seamen?-No. These deductions, as I have said already, are in the form of allotment notes. 4079. But you have told me that only some of them were in the form of allotment notes; in what way were the rest of the deductions made?-The superintendent does not allow any deductions, unless what are specially mentioned in the agreements. If these men got a few shillings of advance before they went away, it is possible that may have been included, they come back and pay it after the settlement at the custom-house. 4080. Then, this total of £10, 6s. 4d. [showing] paid in cash does not show the amount that was actually handed over in presence of the superintendent?-I think it does, or near about it. 4081. But not altogether to a penny?-Perhaps not so near as that, but I took the book and went over it carefully, and picked out all the cash the men had got, and all the goods, and separated them. 4082. In settling with the men before the superintendent, you are entitled to deduct the amount of allotment notes issued is that so?-Yes; and the first month's advance, and any advances the men may have had on board the vessel during the voyage. 4083. Does the £270, 1s., 7d., mentioned in your abstract of accounts, represent the whole of the deductions that were so allowed by the superintendent?-Perhaps not exactly the whole; I shall send for the book, and it will explain it better. 4084. There may have been something due for supplies furnished in addition to what was allowed by the superintendent, and for which the seaman settled with you after receiving his cash?- Perhaps that may have been so, but I have not been in the habit of settling with the men myself. 4085. Perhaps your clerk, who settled with the men, can explain it better, as he has been in the way of carrying through the transactions?-Yes. 4086. But what I understand you to say is, that you cannot state that sum of £1, 7s. 2d. represents the whole amount of advances which on an average each received from you?-The only thing I can state just now is, that out of an average of £11, 13s. 6d., which each man was entitled to receive each year over a period of three years, we only paid them £1, 7s. 2d. in goods 4087. But you cannot state that that £1, 7s. 2d. all fell under the category of deductions allowed by the regulations of the Board of Trade?-No; not unless I were to go over every man's account, and pick out what had been given to him under allotment notes. 4088. And you cannot state that the sum of £10, 6s. 4d. was the sum which actually passed in cash at the settlement before the superintendent?-It is the actual sum which passed into the men's hands in cash. 4089. Do you say that there was not a larger sum than that which passed between the men and your clerk before the superintendent at settlement, part of which was returned to you afterwards, in payment for supplies?-I don't know about that, because I have not been in the habit of going up to the custom-house with the men; but I went over the books myself, and I found that £10, 6s. 4d. was the amount in cash which the men got out of the sum of £11, 13s. 6d., in whatever way it was paid to them. 4090. You cannot say whether it was paid before the superintendent or not?-No; I cannot say. 4091. Is there anything else you wish to state?-No; I think everything has been referred to. Lerwick, January 8, 1872, JANET EXTER, examined. 4092. Where do you live?-At Satter, in Sandwick parish. 4093. Are you in the habit of knitting?-Yes. 4094. For whom?-For Mr. Robert Linklater. I knitted for him first. 4095. Does he supply you with wool?-He gives us worsted to knit. 4096. You don't knit with your own worsted?-No. 4097. What do you knit?-Mostly veils. 4098. How often you come to Lerwick with them?-Generally at the end of every month. 4099. Do you keep an account with Mr. Linklater?-We get no lines, and I have not a pass-book. 4100. Why have you not a pass-book?-Because he thought there was no use giving us a pass-book when he marked all the things down in his own book, and he would not give it. 4101. When you go to him with your veils, how are you paid?- Very poorly. We just get 8d. for a veil. 4102. How is that paid to you-in money or goods?-In goods. I have asked for a payment in money, but he would not give any. He gives us tea for 9d. and 10d. a quarter. 4103. Would you give your veils for less if you could get money for them?-Yes, for a little less. 4104. For how much less?-Not much. 4105. Are you not as well off getting the goods as you got money?-No; I would be better off with the money. 4106. Why? Do you not want to buy the articles [Page 103] which Mr. Linklater sells to you?-No. Sometimes we need a little meal. 4107. Have you no other means of getting meal than from your knitting?-No. 4108. Do you not work out of doors?-We work in the field and in the turnips. 4109. But it is yourself I am speaking of. Do you live with your father and mother?-Yes. 4110. Have they got a bit of ground?-Very little; a peerie (small) bit. 4111. But you think you would be better with money, and you want to buy meal with it?-Yes, I want to buy some meal. I dropped knitting to Mr. Linklater and went to Mr. Sinclair. I asked a little money from him, and I got 2s. or 3s. So far as I saw, there was more justice in him than in Mr. Linklater. 4112. If you were only paid for your knitting in dresses and goods of that sort, what did you do when you wanted to buy meal?-We had to take the goods home, and give the cotton and tea for the meal we wanted. 4113. To whom did you give the cotton and tea?-Just to any person who would give us meal for them. 4114. Is there a shop in your neighbourhood?-Yes. 4115. Have you given goods there in exchange for meal?-Yes, sometimes. 4116. Does the shopkeeper there take your goods from you in that way, in exchange for any articles you want?-Yes, sometimes, when we require anything. 4117. What is his name?-Mr. Gavin Henderson, at Ness, Sandwick. 4118. Is it a common thing for Mr. Henderson to take goods from you?-No. 4119. He generally wants to be paid in money?-Yes. 4120. Is that the only thing you have done with the goods except using them yourself?-No. When I met any person that I could get a little meal from in exchange for them, I have given them for that. 4121. Have you ever given away your goods to any other person than Mr. Henderson for money or meal?-Not very often. 4122. Have you ever done it?-Yes. 4123. To whom have you given them?-Just to any person thereabout. 4124. You have given them to any neighbour who wanted the goods, and happened to have meal?-Yes. 4125. When was that?-It was about two or three years back. 4126. You have not done it for the last two or three years?-No. 4127. How was that? Have you been better off?-Yes, a little; but not much. 4128. You have been getting some money from Mr. Sinclair during the last two or three years?-Yes; a shilling now and then. 4129. And that would help you?-Yes, it helped a little. 4130. How much do you get in a month for your knitting?-I will get a shilling and a sixpence at a time. 4131. But what is the value of your knitting? What are your earnings in a month?-I will make about eight or nine veils in a month; and when they are made of the finest worsted I get 16d. for them. 4132. Then you will be earning 12s. or 13s. in a month?-Yes. 4133. And you will get a shilling of that in cash now and then?- Yes. 4134. Do you spend the rest in dress?-Yes, and cotton. 4135. How much of that will you give away in the course of a year for meal and money?-I could not say. 4136. You will get about £6 or £7 worth of dress in the course of a year: do you require all that for your own use?-No, I don't require it all. 4137. You give some of it to the rest of your family?-Yes. 4138. Is that all you have got to say?-Yes. Lerwick, January 8, 1872, JANE SANDISON; examined. 4139. You have come in from Sandwick parish to give some evidence about the way in which you are paid for your hosiery?- Yes. 4140. Do you knit for any person in town?-Yes; have knitted for Mr. Robert Linklater for four years. 4141. Do you knit with his wool?-Yes. 4142. And are you paid in goods?-Yes. 4143. Do you ever get money?-No. 4144. Have you ever asked for it?-I asked for it one time, and he said he expected money from me, and not I from him. 4145. That was for goods you were to get?-Yes. 4146. But you gave him hosiery instead of money, and you got his goods?-Yes. 4147. Have you ever disposed of any of the goods you got in that way, in order to provide yourself with provisions or to pay rent?- Yes. 4148. To whom have you sold them?-I have sold them to several persons for oil to see to knit. 4149. Do you burn oil in your lamps?-Yes. 4150. To whom did you sell them for oil?-To several persons. 4151. To neighbours?-Yes. 4152. Tell me anything you gave away in that way?-I have given tea. 4153. How much?-Sometimes two ounces for bottle of oil. 4154. When did you do that last?-Last year. 4155. Did you do it often?-Three times. 4156. Did you ever give away your goods for anything else?- Sometimes we gave them away for wool to make into worsted. 4157. Who did you buy wool from?-From any one that I could get it from. 4158. Give me the names of some of the people from whom you got oil and worsted in exchange for your goods?-I gave some tea to Mitchell Sandison for wool. 4159. Did you ever sell any of your soft goods in that way?-No. 4160. It was always tea?-Yes. 4161. Is it a common thing among the knitters in your quarter to give away tea for anything you want?-Yes; for anything we can get for it. 4162. Did you ever pay for meal with it?-No. 4163. Did you ever pay your rent with it?-No. 4164. Did you ever get money for tea?-No. 4165. It was just oil and wool that you got in exchange for it?- Yes. Lerwick, January 8, 1872, JANE HALCROW, examined. 4166. You come from Sandwick parish?-Yes; from North Channerwick. 4167. Do you knit for Mr. Robert Linklater with his wool?-Yes. 4168. Are you paid in goods?-Yes, 4169. Did you ever ask for money?-Yes, once. 4170. Did you get it?-No. 4171. What did you want the money for?-I wanted it for several purposes. We might perhaps require to pay for our board if we were staying a night or two in town; and that was the purpose I wanted it for at that time. 4172. Did you want any of it for provisions to take home?-Yes. [Page 104] 4173. Are you not content to get the goods you want in return for your hosiery?-We are not very well content sometimes. 4174. Why?-Because if we were getting the money, we might make more of it in some other shops. 4175. Did you ever get the money to make more of it?-We never got money from Mr. Linklater. 4176. But did you ever go to Lerwick with money in your pocket, and make more of it than when you came with hosiery?-Yes, often. 4177. What money was that? Had you earned it by working at other things than knitting?-Yes. 4178. How did you make more of it than you would have done by spending it in the hosiery shop?-I went to other shops where there were better articles. 4179. Where did you go?-Sometimes to Mr. George Tait's. 4180. Does he not buy hosiery?-No, he never buys hosiery. 4181. Where else did you go to?-To Mr. Thomas Nicholson. 4182. But he buys hosiery?-Sometimes; if it is very good. 4183. Tell me anything you bought at Mr. Tait's or Mr. Nicholson's which was cheaper than you would have got it for at the shops where you sold your hosiery?-It was only trifling things we bought out of their shops, because we never had money to buy things of great value from them. 4184. What were some of these trifling things?-Perhaps we were requiring neckties, or ribbons, or flowers; we might get them from them, but we scarcely ever went there to buy anything like dresses. I remember once buying a dress at Mr. George Tait's and I got a splendid bargain of it for money. 4185. Did you get it any cheaper than you would have got it from the shops where they buy hosiery?-Yes; he reduced the price because it was to be paid money. 4186. If you had offered money in Mr. Linklater's or Mr. Sinclair's shops; would you not have got the dress as cheap there?-I don't think it. 4187. Have you any reason to know that you would not?-Yes, I have reason to know that, because if we were buying anything out of their shops we would not get any reduction on the price 4188. Even although you were offering money?-Yes. 4189. Have you gone there with money?-Yes, I have gone with money, but very little. I scarcely ever go to their shops with money if I have it. 4190. Have you ever exchanged any of the goods that you got for your knitting?-No, I have never done that. 4191. You have always wanted them for your own use, or for the use of your family?-Yes. 4192. Have you taken goods from other people which they had got in exchange for their hosiery?-No. 4193. Have you known anybody who did so?-No; I cannot say any person who has done it. 4194. Is that all you came here to say?-I think a very proper thing would be that we should have a little money, if not the whole, for our knitting. It would be a good thing if we could get even the half of it in money. 4195. Did you ever try to get one-half in money?-I only asked for money once-it was a very trifling sum, only 6d.-and I was refused it. 4196. Was that when you had sold your knitting to Mr. Linklater?-No; I was knitting to him at that time with his own worsted. 4197. Did you ever sell anything that you had knitted with your own worsted?-Sometimes I would sell a little. 4198. Were you always paid in goods in the same way?-Yes, always in goods. 4199. Did you ever try to get payment of it in money?-No; because they always said they never gave money; so there was no use asking. Mrs AGNES MALCOMSON or JOHNSTONE, examined. 4200. Do you live with your husband at Victoria Wharf, Lerwick?-Yes. 4201. Do you sometimes knit?-I do. I generally knit for myself and sell what I have made. 4202. To whom do you sell it?-I cannot mention any one of the merchants that I have sold to more than another. I sell it to any one. 4203. Do you sometimes sell to strangers?-I don't do much in that way. 4204. It is to the merchants in Lerwick that you sell principally?- Yes. 4205. And you get payment for your knitting by taking goods in the usual way?-Yes. 4206. Do you sometimes get a little money?-No, I never get any money. 4207. Have you asked for money, and been refused?-Yes, I have asked for money to pay for the dressing of shawls. It is generally half shawls that I knit. 4208. Have you not been able to get money when you asked for it?-I once got 6d. for that purpose, or rather it was thrown at me. 4209. What do you mean by that?-I mean that it was given in that sort of way. 4210. Would you rather be paid in money than in goods for your knitting?-Yes, much rather. 4211. If you could get money, would you be content to take a rather lower price for your work?-I would indeed. 4212. What is the price of the half shawls you knit?-They vary in price according to the quality of them. 4213. What is the ordinary price you get?-I have got 28s. for a half shawl, and I have got from that down to as low as 12s. 4214. Suppose you were selling a shawl for 16s. in goods, would you be content to take 14s. if you were paid for it in cash?-Yes, I would be quite content to do with that. 4215. Why?-Because I would be able to make more of the 14s. in cash than of the 16s. in goods. 4216. How would you do that?-I would go to the ready money shops, as we call them; and I would do as much with my 14s. in cash as I would do with my 16s. in goods. 4217. Where would you go in Lerwick to make as much of 14s. in cash as the 16s. worth of goods which you would get in one of the other shops?-I don't like to mention the names of these shops publicly, but I will give them privately. [Witness gives the names of two shops.] 4218. Are there more shops than one where you could do that?- Yes; there is one shop especially, but there are others also where I could make as much of 14s. as I could of 16s. in goods. 4219. Have you tried that often?-Not very often, because I have not had it in my power; but when I could do it I tried it. 4220. Have you sometimes, when you had ready money, gone to such a shop as Messrs. Hay & Co.'s?- Not very often. 4221. Have you ever gone there?-Long ago, when I was young, I went there very often, but I have not gone for many years. 4222. Then you cannot tell whether you could make more of your 14s. at a shop like that, than you could at Mr Linklater's or Mr Sinclair's?-I think I would make more in Messrs. Hay's if I had the cash than I would in Mr. Linklater's. 4223. Would you often find it convenient to have the money with which to buy provisions?-Yes, a person like me who has a family would often find it to be convenient. Those of us who have our husbands earnings to live upon are not limited to that; but I have to find the most part of the clothing out of my knitting, or out of my other industry. 4224. Do you employ your time in other ways as well as in knitting?-Yes. I keep a lodger occasionally. I have two or three children at school, and a [Page 105] baby at home to attend to, besides sometimes one, and sometimes two lodgers. 4225. And it would be handy for you to have the money with which to pay school fees?-Yes. 4226. Have you ever been obliged to exchange the goods you got for money for other things you were more in want of?-No; I have never been so hard pushed as that, but I know some people who have. 4227. Were these acquaintances of your own?-Yes; I know them quite well. 4228. Have you ever taken goods from them, and given them money or provisions in exchange?-Yes; I have given a few groceries occasionally, but very few. I have also bought groceries from a knitter, such as tea, which they had taken out in exchange for their work. 4229. How did you pay for that? Did you give the woman money for it?-Yes, I gave her money to help her through for a time. 4230. What was she to do with the money?-That was no business of mine; I don't know. 4231. Did she not tell you what she was to do with it?-No; she did not say, and I did not ask. 4232. Did she come and ask you to take the tea off her hands?- Yes. 4233. Who was that?-I will give the name privately. There was more than one of them. [Witness gives two names.] 4234. Then you think it would be better for the knitters that they should be paid in cash?-Yes, it would be better for all the Lerwick knitters especially. 4235. Why for the Lerwick knitters especially?-Because they are most dependent upon their knitting, especially in the winter season. Lerwick, January 8, 1872, ROBERT MOUAT, examined. 4236. You are a blacksmith at Olnafirth Voe?-Yes. 4237. You get the principal part of your work from Messrs. Adie, and the fishermen and tenants in that district?-Yes. 4238. In dealing with Messrs. Adie, do you run an account with them?-No; I generally pay in cash for what I get in the shop. 4239. Are you aware whether the prices that you pay in cash are the same as are paid by the fishermen in the neighbourhood?-I am not quite sure about that, but I suppose so. 4240. Can you tell me the prices of any of the articles which you get from their shop? For instance, what do you pay for meal?- The meal that Messrs. Adie sell now is 1s. 5d. per peck, whereas I can get the same meal in Lerwick for 1s. 2d. now. Five months ago, when I lived in Lerwick, I could get it for 1s. 3d. 4241. What do you pay for tea?-There are three kinds of tea; we pay about 3s. 4d. per pound for one kind, about 4s. for another, and I think 3s. is about the lowest. 4242. Is there any other article that you get in any quantity in Messrs. Adie's shop?-I think these are the principal articles we get there. 4243. Do you deal for soft goods there?-A little. 4244. For boots?-No; I have not gone there for boots. 4245. What kind of soft goods do you get?-Winceys and cottons. 4246. Can you tell the prices which are charged for these things, compared with what you would get them for in Lerwick?-No. 4247. Is it commonly supposed that there is more than one price for goods at that shop? Have you heard the fishermen who settle up only once a year, complain that you get your goods cheaper than they did?-I have not heard them say so. It is not long since I went to that place, and I am not very well acquainted with the fishermen there yet. 4248. Where were you before?-I was born in Northmavine, and I was connected with the fishing there. 4249. How long is it since you ceased to fish there?-About fifteen years ago. After leaving Northmavine I came to Lerwick. 4250. Do the fishermen at Voe run an account at the store, which is settled at the end of the fishing season?-I think so. 4251. What reason have you for supposing that? Have they told you so?-They have not told me, but I have been aware of such cases since I went there. 4252. Does that mode of settlement affect you in your trade?-It affects me in this way, that I get a little more custom from the fishermen about the time when they settle, than I do during the rest of the year. 4253. Is that because they have money to pay you with?-Yes. 4254. Do you not give them credit in the rest of the year if they have work to do?-I give them some credit; but I have only been five months there. . Lerwick: Tuesday, January 9, 1872. -Mr. Guthrie. WILLIAM GOUDIE, examined. 4255. You are a fisherman at Toab, in Dunrossness, on the property of Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh?-I am. 4256. Are you under any obligation, by the terms on which you hold your land, to fish for any particular fish merchant?-Yes; we are under an obligation to fish for Mr. Bruce, younger of Sumburgh. 4257. Is that obligation part of a verbal contract or lease which you have with him?-It is generally known that we must not break that rule. 4258. You have no leases on the Sumburgh estate?-No; but we had an offer of a lease. The offer I had is here. [Produces paper.] 4259. The document you hand in is a printed copy of 'Rules for the better management of the Sumburgh estate?'-Yes. 4260. When did you get it?-Last year, at settlement, so far as I remember. That would be in the spring of 1871. 4261. When is your settling time?-There is not always one settling time. Some years it is later, and some years earlier. 4262. Have you settled this year yet?-No. 4263. Was anything said to you about that paper when it was handed to you?-No; it was just handed over to me in Mr. Bruce's office. 4264. Have you signed any copy of these rules?-No. 4265. You have not accepted them as binding upon you?-No. 4266. Do you prefer to continue to hold your land year by year?- No; we should like a lease. 4267. Have you any objection to these rules?-We [Page 106] thought they were not altogether so much on our side of the leaf, as we say, as we should like. 4268. You are not going to accept them?-I don't believe we shall. 4269. But under your present tenure, as you hold your land at present, you say you are bound to deliver all your fish to young Mr. Bruce?-Yes; the fresh fish. 4270. In what way are you so bound? Did you agree to any obligation of that kind?-No; but before I became a tenant, the rule had been issued that all his tenants had to give their fish to him in a fresh state. 4271. When did you become a tenant?-About five or six years ago; and the rule was in force before I came. I have broken the rule very little so that I have not been called in question. 4272. But you took your land knowing that that was a condition of your having it?-Yes. 4273. Have you had to pay any fines for delivering any of your fish to other parties?-No, I have paid none. 4274. Do you understand that such fines are to be levied if you fail to deliver your fish to Mr. Bruce?-I have not heard of any fines; but it has been reported that the tenants would be warned if they did so. I have heard that reported publicly: that they would be warned, or might be warned, on that account. 4275. Did you agree, when taking your lease that you would be liable to pay a fine if you delivered your fish to any other merchant?-No, I was never called upon to agree to that; but it was generally known that we had to give all our fish to him, fresh. 4276. Who told you that you were to give your fish to him?-That was known publicly all over the district before I became a tenant. I understood from my father and brothers and neighbours that they had had to do that, and I became a tenant on the same terms. 4277. Were your father and brothers tenants on the Sumburgh estate before you?-Yes; before I had land from Mr. Bruce. 4278. Before you took the land, were you living on the estate?-I had lived on the estate, for twenty-five years. I was born and brought up on it; then I was absent for eleven years, and then I came back to it. It was during the time I was absent that this rule came into force. 4279. Is there any obligation upon the tenants there to dispose of their cattle or other produce to any particular person?-Not so far as I know. 4280. There is no obligation upon them at all, except as to fish?- Not so far as I know. 4281. How are you paid for your fish?-We are paid so much per hundredweight of fresh fish, just as the price may be yearly. It is not always the same price. 4282. But there is one price for the whole fish of the year?-Yes, for the same kind of fish. There is one price for ling, and one price for saith. 4283. That price is fixed when?-Nearly the time when we settle. We don't know exactly what price we are to get until about that time. 4284. When is that?-It is not always in one month of the year. It has sometimes been as late as March before we settled for the fish we had caught in the previous spring. Sometimes it may have been a month earlier. 4285. Has it ever been earlier than February?-Not so far as I remember. 4286. When were the last of the fish delivered that were settled for at one of these settlements?-Last year, so far as I know, Mr. Bruce settled up for all the fish that had been weighed to him up to the time of the settlement,; at least, most of it was settled for then. 4287. That includes the small fish you catch in winter?-Yes. 4288. Are you bound to deliver them to him, the same as the large fish you get in summer?-Yes. 4289. Then it is both the haaf fishing you are speaking of just now and the small fishing in winter?-Yes. All the fish we catch where I live are ling, cod, tusk, and saith. 4290. But the fishing that you go to in summer is what you call the haaf fishing, or the summer fishing?-Yes; in a sense it is the haaf fishing, though the saith fishing is with us properly the haaf fishing. Some go farther off in bigger boats and with longer lines, and fish for ling and cod; while there are others, in smaller boats and nearer the shore, pursuing the saith fishing. That is the only difference between the kinds of fishing with us. 4291. But the obligation and the settlement for the price of the fish that you have been speaking of applies to both the haaf fishing and the fishing in the smaller boats near the shore?-It applies to all the fishing. 4292. There is no Faroe fishing there?-Some of the men go to it. 4293. But Mr. Bruce does not fit out boats for the Faroe fishing?- Not so far as I know. 4294. And you are under no obligation to him with regard to it?- No. 4295. You say you don't know of any case of fines being imposed for delivering fish to other merchants?-There is no case of that kind that I remember of. 4296. Do you know of any increase of rent being imposed upon that estate in consequence of liberty being given to fish for other merchants?-No. There was liberty asked and granted at one time, before most of those who are here were able to fish. That was under old Mr. Bruce. 4297. How long ago was that?-I don't remember the time. It was when I was a boy. Some of the other witnesses may know about it. 4298. Are you under any obligation to buy your goods from Mr. Bruce's shop?-Not strictly speaking. 4299. What do you mean by 'not strictly speaking?'-In one sense we are not bound, yet in another sense we are bound. There is no rule issued out that we must purchase our goods from there; but as we fish for Mr. Bruce, and have no ready money, we can hardly expect to run accounts with those who have no profit from us. That confines many of us to purchase our goods from his shop. 4300. Are there other stores in the neighbourhood from which you could get your supplies as good and as cheap?-Yes. Messrs. Hay & Co. have a store near us. Some things might not be equally good, but there are other things there which are as good and as cheap. 4301. What other stores are there in your neighbourhood?-There is no store exactly near us until we come to Mr. Gavin Henderson's. 4302. How far is his shop from your place?-It is above a mile. 4303. Is Messrs. Hay's within a mile?-Yes, it is less than that. 4304. Are there fishermen in the neighbourhood of Mr. Henderson's shop, and living on Mr. Bruce's estate?-Mr. Henderson's shop is not on Mr. Bruce's property. 4305. Has he no fishermen living beyond Henderson's shop?- There are some nearly as far north on the east side, but not so far north on the west side. Mr. Bruce's property extends a little farther north on the east side than on the west side of the island, and Mr. Henderson's place is on the west side. 4306. You live on the west side of Dunrossness?-Yes, rather; but we are on the south point, so it does not much matter. 4307. But are fishermen who live nearer to Mr. Henderson's store virtually bound, in the same way as you are to deal at Mr. Bruce's store?-The whole of Mr. Bruce's tenants are on equal terms,-all in equal bondage. 4308. But are there men for whom it would be more convenient to deal at Henderson's store, as they live nearer to it?-Yes. 4309. Are they in the habit of dealing at Mr. Bruce's store for the reasons you have stated?-So far as I know, they are. 4310. The same reason of a want of credit elsewhere, [Page 107] would apply to them as to you, and compel them to go to Mr. Bruce's store?-I don't say that they don't have credit; but we cannot expect to run a heavy account with a man who has no profit from us, when we are uncertain whether we will be able to clear that account or not. Therefore, as a rule, we do not run heavy accounts for such things as meal, for instance, when our crops are a failure, with any man except Mr. Bruce. 4311. That would be just as true of a man who was two miles nearer to Henderson's store than to Mr. Bruce's?-Yes. 4312. And for that reason he may find it necessary, and probably does find it necessary, to go to Mr. Bruce's store, and pass Henderson's, although it is much nearer?-Yes, he has that to do. 4313. Are you satisfied with the quality and the price of the articles which are sold at Mr. Bruce's store?-With the qualities we have no reason to grumble; with the prices we do. 4314. Is that a general feeling in the district?-It is over all, so far as I know. 4315. Have you compared the prices of any particular articles at that store with what you could get them for elsewhere?-I have compared some of them,-not many. For instance, I have tried to compare meal, to see what I lost by having it from Mr. Bruce's shop instead of from other places. 4316. What conclusion did you come to with regard to that?-I concluded in my own mind that the difference was not below 3s. on the boll of meal. It might be more, but I don't think it was less, in this way, that we have our meal weighed to us, not always, but generally, as 112 lbs. to the quarter boll. 4317. Of which store are you now speaking?-The store at Grutness, on Mr. Bruce's property. The meal is weighed at 32 lbs. to the lispund or quarter boll. Mr. Irvine, the storekeeper, told me there was a difference made when the lispunds and half-lispunds and pecks were summed up. I asked him whether there was a difference in the price between that and 35 lbs. to the quarter boll, and he said there was a difference; but I never knew what it was. 4318. Are you speaking just now of a difference in weight?- There is a difference in weight, besides the difference in price. He said he made a difference in the price on account of the short weight, but I never knew what that difference was. 4319. In what quantities do you buy your meal at Grutness store?-Sometimes in a boll, and sometimes in half a boll. Many of the men seldom get a boll, but take their meal in quarter bolls, and sometimes in an eighth of a boll, that is a peck, or 8 lbs. 4320. Is the boll you are speaking of the same as the boll by which you would buy in Lerwick, or at Hay's or at Henderson's shop?- When we get a boll unseparated, as it comes home, it is just the same, so far as I know; but when it is weighed out, 32 lbs. to the quarter boll, we are always under the impression that we lose on weight. 4321. How is that?-I cannot tell how it is. 4322. Why should there be a loss on weight if the meal is weighed out to you?-It is 32 lbs. to the quarter boll there, while in other places it is 35 lbs. 4323. Where is it 35 lbs?-In Lerwick, and, so far as I know, in Messrs. Hay's, at Dunrossness. 4324. Is the statement you are making just now, that you understand you get only 32 lbs. to the quarter boll at Grutness, while at other places you would get 35 lbs. to the quarter boll?- Yes, I make that statement; but I also say that Mr. Irvine said there was a little difference made in the price for that. He said, that when it was summed up, so many lispunds being put into the boll, there was a difference made on the price to cover the difference between 32 and 35 lbs. to the quarter boll; but I never knew what that difference was. 4325. What is the price charged at Grutness for quarter boll of 32 lbs. of meal?-It is not always one price. 4326. What is it just now?-I don't know. I only had one boll last year, and he could not tell me the price of it. I never knew the price of his meal until a neighbour who settled with him before me came back; and then I tried to enter the price of my meal according to what that neighbour said he had paid for it at settlement. 4327. Then, in point of fact, you don't know anything about the price of meal there?-He tells us the price of it when we settle. 4328. But you have had no settlement this year yet?-No. 4329. Had you a settlement last year, in the course of which you became acquainted with the price of meal?-Yes. 4330. Was it charged at the same rate throughout the year previous to your last settlement?-Yes; one year's meal is always one price. 4331. Is there never a variation in the price of meal during the year to which the settlement applies?-Not so far as I have known. 4332. Can you tell the price at which you settled for your meal at last settlement?-I don't remember exactly, but there are men present who can tell that. 4333. Have you got any account of your last settlement?-I have an account, but, not knowing that it would be called for or required, it slipped past me. 4334. Were you not cited to bring all accounts, receipts, and pass-books?-Yes. I made a careful search for that account, but I could not find it. I have some accounts here, but I could never keep an exact account of how I stood with the shop, because I did not know the prices of the goods until the time came for settlement, or until I heard the prices from a neighbour who had been settled with. I then tried to enter the value of my goods, and to post up my account, before I appeared at the settlement; but when an unlearned man like me posts up his account in that way, he has but a poor chance. 4335. But don't you get an account of your dealings at the shop at the time when you are settled with?-We don't get a copy of our shop account. 4336. Do none of the men get a copy of their account at that time?-I cannot speak for others. 4337. Have you never had a pass-book?-No. 4338. Have you never asked for one?-Not so far as I remember. 4339. Then you have perfect reliance on the honesty of those who act for Mr. Bruce in his shop?-Not exactly. I mark down the articles myself which I receive, and I have compared that account with Mr. Bruce to see if the same articles were in his account when we settled. I could not until then, or until I had heard from a neighbour a day or two before what he had paid, enter the value of my articles; but I have compared the articles themselves with him, and found the accounts run pretty straight. 4340. You have some accounts relating to previous years with you? Let me see one of them as a specimen?-[Produces small note-book] 4341. Is this account made up by yourself?-It is account kept for my own satisfaction, to let me know whether there has been anything marked against me which I have not had. 4342. This is only a memorandum: was it taken at the time when the goods were got, or was it written up from memory?-When I came home from his shop to my own house, after I had received the goods, I marked them down. I had not the book with me when I received the goods from him; but I generally mark my account after I come home, or a little time after I get to my own house. But I do not receive any copy of an account from him of his own handiwork. 4343. Then that memorandum is merely a private note of your own, made as you got the articles?-Yes. 4344. It does not contain the prices?-No; I did not know the prices when I made those entries. I put the prices against some of them when I settled, and some of them by learning the prices from neighbours when they settled, while for some articles they told me the prices when I got them. 4345. Did you find that the quantities marked in [Page 108] your private memorandum were the same as those charged against you at the shop?-Pretty nearly. There was no difference worth mentioning. 4346. What opportunity had you of comparing them? Was the account at the shop read over to you, or did you read it yourself?- I read over what I had marked down, and he saw if it was the same as what he had. When I come in to settle, Mr. Irvine asks me, 'Have you an account, William?'-I say, 'Yes,' and he says, 'Will you read it over?'-I have asked him to read the account which was in his book, but he told me to read mine. When I read my account, he says, 'Yes, yes, yes,' checking off the articles as I mention them. The last time I read over my account in this way, there was one peck of meal entered against me which was not in my own. I said I would not swear I was right, and he said he would not swear he was right. 4347. In what way are you dissatisfied with the meal which you get at Grutness?-It is 3s. a boll dearer than we can get it elsewhere, because I have compared one year's account, which I have in this memorandum-book, with the market price in Lerwick, and I find that I am inside the limits of difference when I say that it is 3s. a boll dearer at least. 4348. I see that this memorandum-book of yours contains an account for several years back?-Yes. 4349. You get the prices for the goods at the time of settlement, and mark them in your memorandum-book at the time?-Yes; or from a neighbour who had settled before me, and who knew the price of his meal. 4350. Were the whole of these entries in your memorandum-book made about the time of settlement when the thing was fresh in your memory?-Yes, I could not have made them before because I did not know the prices until then. 4351. But it was done at the time or shortly thereafter, when you remembered the prices which were charged against you at settlement?-Yes. 4352. For what year is this account [showing]?-I think for 1869. 4353. The goods were supplied in 1868 and settled for in 1869?- Yes; about February or March 1869. I cannot say to a month. 4354. And you have compared the note of prices there with the prices in the books of a merchant in Lerwick for the same time?- Yes; at least he said his books were for the same time. I looked at my book and he looked in his, and he told me what the difference was. The merchant was Mr. John Leslie, Lerwick. 4355. Was it only meal that you compared in that way?-Nothing else. I am not sure of the barley meal; but I compared the oatmeal with him. 4356. I see from the book that during that year you got 61/2 lispunds of oatmeal which are all charged at 7s. a lispund?-Yes. 4357. When did you make your comparison with Mr. Leslie?- Last night. 4358. Is there any other article you get at the store which you think could be got cheaper elsewhere?-Yes; but I could not prove these things so distinctly, as I have not compared them. 4359. What articles are there that you have that belief about?- Mostly everything. 4360. In the obligation which you understand you are under to deliver your fish to Mr. Bruce, are your sons and the other members of your family included?-If they fish while living on his property, they must fish to him. 4361. Have you known any cases of tenants being challenged because their sons sold their fish to other parties than Mr. Bruce?-There are no cases of that kind which I can distinctly bring before you. 4362. Is there anything else you wish to state with regard to the way in which matters are conducted in the fishing trade?-No; but if I have liberty here to say anything in regard to Mr. Bruce himself, I should like to be allowed to say a word. Mr. Bruce has dealt with me and many other fishermen in a most honourable and gentlemanly way. He has helped us when could not help ourselves: whether he was in the knowledge that he would profit by it or not, is not for me to say; but he has often helped us when we required it. 4363. Do you think that under the present system of dealing you have the advantage in a bad season?-I believe we have in a very bad season. 4364. If you were not obliged to deliver your fish to the landlord, I suppose he in turn would not be so ready to advance you supplies from his store when you require them and are not able to pay for them?-We believe so. 4365. Is it common for fishermen in that district to be considerably in debt at the store after a bad season?-Yes, after a bad season. 4366. Do you generally get a balance in cash at settlement time, or is it often the case that by that time you have got the whole value of your fish paid to you in goods?-Some men have usually a good bit of money to take, while others have not much, just as they have had accounts at the shop, or have had money of their own with which they could purchase goods elsewhere. Some of them may have almost the whole value of their fishing to take in cash at settlement, while others who have families to provide for, and little land, and lean crops, have often very little to get, and are very often in the landlord's debt. However, in an ordinary year, they are not back much. At the present time, so far as I know, the bulk of the men are clear, and most of them, I believe, would have money to get. 4367. Are your boys obliged to act as beach boys to Mr. Bruce's curers?-Yes. 4368. Is that part of the obligation under which you hold your land?-I did not know that by experience until last year. 4369. How did you know it then?-My boy had the offer of a certain sum to work to another man; and when I told Mr. Irvine and Mr. Bruce, they were very angry that I should have done such a thing. Therefore, for fear I should be turned off, I did not allow my boy to take the wages which he had been offered, but kept him at home, and told Mr. Irvine and Mr. Bruce that I would keep him. I said I know I must be obedient, and my boy will work for you if you want him. 4370. Where did that conversation take place between you and Mr. Bruce and Mr. Irvine?-In Mr. Bruce's office,-the month or the day of the month I cannot state. 4371. Were you sent for, or were you there to settle?-It was before we settled,-perhaps in January. 4372. Were you sent for about it?-No; I wished to know if my boy should take the wages that he had been offered. 4373. Why did you wish to know that?-Because I did not expect they would give me the same amount of wages if he acted as a beach boy. At the same time, they do not pay the boys ill; they pay them tolerably well. 4374. But why did you go to see them? Had you been told before that your boy ought not to engage except to them?-I had known that. 4375. How did you know it?-It is publicly known that the proprietor will want the boys of the tenantry to work for him. 4376. Had your boy been engaged before then?-He had wrought as a beach boy the previous year. 4377. By whom had he been offered a higher wage in that month of January?-By Messrs. Hay's man at Dunrossness. 4378. What was he to work at?-He was to work among the fish at the livers or oil, as a beach boy to Messrs. Hay. 4379. What wages was he offered for that?-10s. for the season. 4380. When you got that offer, did you go to Mr. Bruce's office to see about it?-Not immediately; it was a while after. 4381. Had you any communication from Mr. Bruce or Mr. Irvine which led you to go to them about it?-No; but I knew that I was not safe to let him go to Messrs. Hay without telling them about it. The reason why I knew that was, because there had been a boy agreed by a man I was fishing with to go to the [Page 109] fishing, but the boy was kept back from the fishing, and the man had to look out for another boy. We had two boys and two of ourselves to make up our boat's crew; and the boy that my fellow-fisherman told me he had agreed with was kept back, and he had to go and search the parish for another to fill his place. 4382. Are cases of that kind common in the district?-Not very common, but they do happen sometimes. 4383. When you went to Mr. Bruce about that matter, did you tell him your boy had received an offer from Messrs. Hay & Co?- Yes. 4384. What was said to you?-I am scarcely prepared to state in public what was said to me. 4385. You are bound to state the truth.-I don't mind stating the truth; and if I have to go for the truth, let me go. Mr. Bruce said he did not believe that my boy had got that offer, and he was somewhat angry. I dreaded the consequences, because I might have no shelter if I went contradictory to his will, and I did not know where to go if I should be turned off. 4386. But Mr. Bruce only said he did not believe you: that was all he said?-Yes. 4387. How did he show his anger?-I saw it in his face, and I knew it by his voice and tone. 4388. Did he say anything to you about the boy?-He just said in an angry tone what I have stated. He said he did not believe he had got any such offer, and that it was all a fiction to pull money out of him. 4389. Did he say that you should not allow your boy to go?-No, he did not say that. 4390. What else did he say?-I remember nothing more that I could state. 4391. What was the end of it?-I told him I would not allow my boy to work to another man, but that while I was a tenant I had to be obedient, and I was determined to be obedient. There was no use for being troublesome and disobedient if I wished to remain a tenant, and I did not allow my boy to go until I settled. I then asked them calmly if they wanted my boy. Mr. Irvine said 'Have you not agreed your boy to another party?' I said, 'No; I have kept my word that he should not work for any other man if you required him, seeing I am a tenant.' They then agreed my boy, and he worked for Mr. Bruce that year. 4392. What wages did he get?-He has not been settled with yet. I said it was perhaps better for them to state a certain wage for him; and Mr. Bruce said that he would not have less than £3, but he did not say how much more. 4393. When a boy acts as a beach boy in that way, how are his wages paid?-Generally the boy's wages are fixed before he begins to work, but Mr. Bruce does not fix their wages until they have wrought for a season. Then the factor sees how they have wrought, and what he thinks they are worth. That, I know, has been done. 4394. But how are they paid? Is it in goods or in money?-If they don't take goods from the shop, they are paid in money at settlement. 4395. They can either take goods in their own names at the shop, or they can be paid in money at the settling time?-Yes. 4396. Is it usually the case that a separate account is opened in name of a beach boy?-Yes. 4397. What is the usual age of a beach boy?-From 12 to 14 or 15, and so on. 4398. Do you know whether, at the time of settlement, a boy has usually any balance to receive in cash?-I should think that in general they have something.4399. But is it not the practice that an account is run, and the greater part of the wages is really settled for in goods?-I could not state that exactly; because my own boy wrought to them, and he had next to nothing from them. He received his wages in money at the settlement without a grumble and without a gloom. 4400. Had he no account at all?-I think he had a pocket knife. 4401. Are the wages of a beach boy generally handed over to his parents?-So far as I know, that depends partly on the boy. Generally his wages do very little more than purchase clothes for him, and anything else he may require. 4402. Then generally the balance against him will amount to nearly the whole amount of his wages, and there will be little to get out?-I should think so; but I cannot speak positively on that point. 4403. You do not know that from your own experience?-No. 4404. Is it usual for beach boys to have got more goods supplied to them during the season than the amount of their wages at settlement?-I can say nothing about that. 4405. Have you had anything to do with taking whales on the coast?-Yes, with driving whales ashore. 4406. Have the fishermen in your quarter anything to complain of about that?-When we get the whales flinched, and the blubber brought up above high water mark, it is sold, and the third part of the money is taken by the proprietor. 4407. Do you think the fishermen are entitled to get the whole?- We think so. 4408. Who sells the oil?-There is a note sent up to Lerwick to publish the sale. An auctioneer comes down and it is generally sold on the spot, and the third part of the money is deducted. 4409. Who receives the money in the first instance? Is it the auctioneer?-I don't know; but I should say it is the landlord. 4410. He accounts to the fishermen who are interested for their share of the proceeds?-Yes. 4411. Is there any obligation to spend the money you get on these occasions in the landlord's store?-No. 4412. You can do as you like with it?-Yes. 4413. Is there anything else you have got to say?-We all believe, so far as I am aware, that liberty alone will never remedy our case. Even suppose we had liberty, yet if we have no lease of our land, the landlord can do with the land as he pleases, and render our case worse than before. 4414. Then it is a lease that you want?-Yes, a lease of a proper kind; but if the land rent can be raised to any figure the landlord thinks proper, what can a lease do for us, or what can liberty do for us. It cannot remedy our case. 4415. Then what you want is, that the landlord may be prevented from raising his rent, and from turning you out of your farms?- From raising it above measure, or above its real value. Another thing is, that I can be turned out of my land at forty days warning, after I have prepared it for winter. 4416. If you make a bargain for a lease for a certain number of years, as they do in Scotland, then you could not be turned out until that lease expired?-That is what we need, and the land let at a reasonable figure. 4417. But that must depend upon the terms of your own contract?-That may be; but the landlord sees plainly that he may not have the power of the fishing; and if he has full power to rent the land as he pleases, and can lay on the land what should come from the fishing, then that would render our case more desperate still. 4418. Do you mean that you have to pay part of your land rent from the fishing?-Our rents depend solely on the fishing. Some men may have a cow or a horse to sell, to help them to pay their rent; while there may be ten who would have nothing of the kind to sell, except their fish. On Mr. Bruce's property, so far as I am aware, the bulk of the tenants have to pay their rents from their fishing. 4419. Do you mean that your farm does not pay its own rent from the crops which it yields?-Yes; we cannot afford to sell any crop with which to pay our rent. If we were to sell the crop for that purpose, we would be deprived of what we have to live upon. The farms are very small, and we require the whole of the crops for our own use. In some years they have not been sufficient to keep us for half the year. 4420. Then the state of matters is, that you live principally by your fishing, and that your farm is an extra source of employment, or an extra means of [Page 110] living for part of the year?-Yes; some years, when there has been a good crop, it may serve us almost or altogether for the whole of the year; then the fishing pays the rent, and we may have some balance over to help us otherwise. In a poor year I have had experience of it, when our crops could only serve us for six months, and then we had to buy meal for the other six months. In that case the fishing had to do the best it could to pay both the land rent and the meal. 4421. Then your difficulty is, that you are both fishermen and farmers?-Yes; if the land was let at its real value, at what it was actually worth, and we had a lease of it, and were allowed at the same time to make the best of our fishing, we all believe that our circumstances would be improved. 4422. Suppose that were the case, there would then be no obligation upon you to deal at any shop, but you could go where you liked for your goods?-Yes; and we could make the best of our fishing at the same time. 4423. You could sell your fish to whom you pleased, making your own price?-Yes. 4424. Would it be any advantage to you to cure your own fish?- We believe it would; and we know it, because there are some of our neighbours who do it. There are people here who can speak to that. 4425. Don't you think the curing is better done when it is done upon a large scale, than when a fisherman cures his own fish upon the beach, with insufficient materials and apparatus, and perhaps not with the same skill as people who are engaged in doing that and nothing else?-With regard to the skill, none of them can show us how to cure fish better than we could do ourselves. 4426. None of whom?-None of those who now cure them, and who have the large fishings. We know how to cure them as well as they do. We see how they are curing them now, and many of us have cured fish before, so that we know quite well about it. 4427. Do you get as good a price for your fish when you cure them yourselves as when they are cured by fish-curers?-We have not had a chance to cure them ourselves. 4428. But you say you know about it by experience?-Yes. There are neighbours curing their own fish near where I live. Laurence Shewan is one. 4429. Is he a fisherman like yourself?-Yes. 4430. Does he cure his own fish?-Yes. 4431. How long has he done so?-I never remember him doing anything else. There are others who cure them besides him. 4432. Is he better off than his neighbours, in consequence of having liberty to cure his own fish?-There are other circumstances as well which doubtless render him better off, but that must improve his circumstances too. 4433. Where does he live?-At Gord. John Shewan, Scatness, also cures his own fish himself. Laurence Shewan's fish were purchased this year by Mr. Gilbert Irvine, and put into Mr. Bruce's store; and I heard Mr. Irvine say that they were very good fish. 4434. Have you ever compared with any of your neighbours their profits by curing their own fish with you own takings by selling your fish green?-I have not; but there are other witnesses present who have done so. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, LAURENCE SMITH, examined. 4435. Are you a fisherman at Trosswick, and a tenant of land under Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh?-Yes. 4436. How far is Trosswick from Toab, where William Goudie lives?-It is between two and three miles farther north. 4437. Have you heard the evidence which Goudie has given?- Yes. It is all correct, so far as I know. 4438. You have heard his description of the way in which the fish are delivered, and the way in which you hold your land, and the way in which you purchase goods at the shop at Dunrossness, and settle for them. Is that all correct?-It is. 4439. You deal in the same way with Mr. Bruce and his shopkeeper?-Yes. I have very little concern with the store at Grutness, because Mr. Bruce has another store at the place where I deliver my fish, which is called Voe. 4440. What is the shopkeeper's name there?-Henry Isbister. 4441. Is that shop near Boddam?-Yes, it is just at Boddam. 4442. Is that store managed in much the same way Goudie has described with regard to the store at Grutness?-No, not exactly in the same way. Most of the things which are kept there are much the same as in other places. 4443. Do you mean that the quality of the goods is the same?- Yes, it is much the same as elsewhere. 4444. And you don't complain of the prices there?-No, not of the things that I deal in myself. 4445. What are these-meal and tea?-No; I deal very little in these things there, because it has pleased God that I could mend myself in another way. 4446. In what way?-By going to another store. 4447. Then you are not obliged to deal with that store at all?-No, I am not obliged to go to that store unless I like. 4448. Is that because you have ready money with which to buy at another store?-Exactly. 4449. You have always got some money in your hands?-Yes. 4450. Do you sometimes buy in Lerwick?-Yes. 4451. But you also buy at Mr. Bruce's store at Voe?-Yes; some trifling things, such as rope or iron hoop, or the like of that; and these are sold at much the same prices there as I can get them for at other places. 4452. Do you pay for them in ready money?-No. 4453. They are put into your account and settled for at the end of the year?-Yes. 4454. Where do you get your provisions?-I get them sometimes at Gavin Henderson's, and sometimes at Lerwick. 4455. What do you pay for meal by the boll at Henderson's?-I could not exactly say, because I don't have to run an account for that. Generally I pay for it at once. 4456. Then, at settling time with Mr Bruce, do you generally get a large balance in cash?-Whether it is large or small, I get it in cash at the beginning of the year, at the settling time. 4457. Do you sometimes get advances in the course of the year while the fishing is going on?-Sometimes I do, if I require them. 4458. Have you often asked for advances of that kind?-I have. 4459. Have they ever been refused?-Never. I always got them when I had money coming to me. 4460. Do you mean that you always got them when he was due you money?-Yes. Sometimes, even if he had been due me a little money, he might not perhaps have had money beside him to supply me with; but when he had it I always got it, whether I had it to get or not. 4461. What has been the amount of money due to you for fish during the last two or three years?-I have a few receipts here which will show that. [Produces accounts.] 4462. This account [showing] is for 1870; and it contains rent, £6; roads, 4s. 6d.; poor-rate, 9s.: is that the tenant's half?-Yes. 4463. Then there is a charge, 'To share of rent of hill:' is that the scattald which you hold along with your neighbours?-Yes; and which the neighbouring landlord is not taking a rent for at all. It all runs scattald together. 4464. Is the neighbouring landlord Mr. Bruce of Simbister?-Yes. 4465. On his land, does the rent of the scattald come [Page 111] into the rent of the farms?-There is no rent paid for the scattald at all on his land. It is used in the same way by all the tenants. 4466. When was the additional payment charged against you first for scattald?-Two years ago. 4467. Then there is cash for kirk seats, 3s.: why do you pay your kirk seats through your landlord?-I have paid them all along through him. 4468. Then there is-To account in Boddam shop, 18s. 61/2d.; to account in Grutness shop, 1s. 9d.; and then on April 25, by cash, £6, 14s. 7d.: that shows that you had not settled until April 25th?- Yes. 4469. Are you often as late as that in settling?-No; that was the latest I ever knew. 4470. Was it your fault that the settlement was so late?-No; I should have liked to have settled sooner. 4471. Do you know any reason why you could not have settled sooner, even in November, when the fishing was over?-I don't know any reason for that, except that they did not want to do it. That is the only way in which I can account for it. 4472. Have you asked for a settlement to be made with you at that time?-I have not; because I thought there was no use doing it. 4473. There are entries here-by saith, by ling, by cod: were these for small fish caught during the winter?-There was a company of men who were pursuing the herring fishing; one part of the company were trying to prosecute the saith fishing for a time, until the others saw whether there were any herring to be got, and my proportion was one-twelfth share of the fish caught at the time. 4474. That was an extra thing altogether?-Yes; and each man's proportion was put in his account. 4475. Is the amount of cash paid you, £6, 14s. 7d., a usual sort of sum for you to get at settlement?-No; it is sometimes smaller. Sometimes it is nothing at all, and I have been in debt. 4476. Has that happened often?-Yes, it happened frequently for some years before that. I have no accounts for these years. 4477. I see that in 1865 there is marked a balance of £2, 1s. 5d. Was that a balance which was due by you the year before?-Yes. 4478. Then 1864 had been a bad year, and Mr. Bruce had advanced you money above the price of your fish for that year?- Yes. 4479. Was that money advanced to you after settlement?-No; it was a balance that had been carried over some years before. 4480. When that balance was existing, did you consider yourself obliged to deal in Mr. Bruce's shop rather than at another?-I was obliged so far to deal at his shop, because I could not think of going to another man and asking credit from him, when I saw no way of making provision to pay him. I could not expect any man to supply me in my necessity when I had no possible way of repaying him. 4481. But you were already in Mr. Bruce's debt?-Yes, at that time I was. 4482. Would you have been bound by that, supposing you had not been bound by the terms on which you held your land, to deliver your fish to Mr. Bruce, and to deal at his store?-No, I don't believe I would, if I had been at liberty to deal elsewhere at any other time. 4483. Have you ever paid any fines or liberty money for yourself or for any of your family?-None whatever. 4484. Have you understood that you were liable to pay such fines?-I understood that I was liable to pay a fine or to receive a warning if I did not fish for my landlord. 4485. But would you have been liable to pay anything besides being afraid of being removed?-I don't know anything about that. 4486. In 1865 you had got cash advances to the amount of £10, 7s. 2d., and your account at Mr. Bruce's store that year was only about 30s?-Yes. 4487. I suppose in that state of matters, you are pretty well content with the state of things as they are?-I might be well enough content with the state of things as they are, only I am bound to fish for him alone, and for no other man. 4488. But you are not bound to deal at his store?-No; I don't believe he compels any man to be bound to his store entirely. 4489. Is there really any compulsion, either direct or indirect, to deal at his store?-No; not so far as I know. 4490. Even although you are in his debt, you are not bound to deal at his store?-No; I don't believe he would oblige me to do that. 4491. But you have as much credit to deal at another man's store as at his,-I mean you get an account opened as readily at another man's store as at Mr. Bruce's?-Yes. 4492. When you are in debt to Mr. Bruce, is it as easy for you to open an account at Mr. Henderson's store, and to get goods on credit there, as to get goods Mr. Bruce's shop?-I might find it as easy, only I don't know whether Mr. Henderson would be inclined to give it to me. 4493. Do you think Mr. Henderson would not be as willing to give it to you as Mr. Bruce's man at Voe?-I think he would not, if he saw no way by which I was likely to pay him. 4494. Mr. Henderson, I understand, does not buy fish?-He does. 4495. But he knows that you would not be at liberty to sell your fish to him?-Yes, he knows that. 4496. Do you think you would get a better price for your fish if you were selling them to him?-I don't believe I would get any worse. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, HENRY GILBERTSON, examined. 4497. You are a fisherman at Dunrossness?-I am. 4498. Have you a piece of ground of your own?-I am not a landholder. I live with my sister and brother-in-law. 4499. I have received a letter from Dunrossness, dated 30th December and signed Henry Gilbertson: was that letter written by you?-No. There is another person of that name living at Dunrossness. 4500. How do you distinguish yourself from him?-I am a fisherman, and he is a tailor. 4501. Is he a relation of yours?-He is my cousin. 4502. You have heard the evidence of William Goudie to-day: do you know from your own experience that it is in the main correct?-So far as my experience goes, I could not say that he has deviated a single word from the truth. 4503. Were you, when young, employed as a beach boy?-No. I would not go, because if they had bound me to that, I would have left the island, as I did. 4504. Did you leave in order to avoid being employed as a beach boy?-It was not exactly for that; but I was past being a beach boy before Mr. Bruce took the fishing. 4505. You have now come back there, and employ yourself as a fisherman in Mr. Bruce's boats?-Yes. 4506. Are you settled with at the end of the year?-Yes; in the same way as the landholders are settled with. 4507. Do you run an account at the store in the same way, also?- Yes, sometimes; but I am under no obligation to do so, because I am a man who can get credit at any place. 4508. Do you consider yourself at liberty to fish for any person you please to engage with?-Not at all. Although I sit as a lodger in my brother-in-law's house, I am under the same obligation to fish for Mr. Bruce as one who is a landholder. 4509. How is that?-Because if I did not do so, my brother-in-law would be warned out for my offence. 4510. How do you know that?-Because I have evidence to prove it in the case of a brother of my brother-in-law's, who dried a few hundredweight of fish for himself, and for that offence his father was warned out, and had to pay a fine of 31s. 6d. before he got liberty to sit. [Page 112] 4511. What was his name?-James Harper, sen. 4512. Was that long ago?-Six or seven years ago. I could not say exactly to a season back or forward. 4513. Did you know of that case at the time from Harper himself?-Yes, I was acquainted with the circumstance, and the day before I came here the man told me he had to pay the money. 4514. So that has served you as a warning, since you came back to live with your brother-in-law, that you must fish to Mr. Bruce?- Yes. 4515. Do you think you would be better off if you were at liberty to deliver your fish to any merchant you liked?-I would. 4516. In what way?-Because I could make more of them. 4517. Would you get a larger price for your fish?-Yes. I would perhaps get a larger price; but then I would have a great advantage too by curing them for myself. 4518. Do you think that would really be a great advantage?- Decidedly; and I can prove it by the case of a man who has prosecuted the fishing with me this very season, Laurence Leslie. I was one of the crew with him. 4519. Don't you think he was particularly fortunate last year, and that very often your fish might be spoiled in curing, and would not bring so good a price?-We have all cured our fish before, and we never lost anything worth speaking of in that way. 4520. Where have you cured your fish before?-In the same place where I now live. 4521. Was that before these restrictions were laid upon the tenantry?-Yes; one year before and one year since the restrictions were laid on. 4522. Then you have done it since without being challenged?- Yes; but it was by their own good-will that they allowed me to do it. 4523. You had some favour shown you?-Yes. 4524. How did that happen?-They just told me they would not disturb me, as I was a young man, and could either stop or go as I thought fit. 4525. If you had been a tenant, you think you would not have had the same liberty?-No, I would not. 4526. You say you can get the same credit at any other store that you can get at Mr. Bruce's: do you mean that you can open an account and get your things without paying for them until the end of the season?-Yes. 4527. Can you do so at Gavin Henderson's store, for instance?- Yes; or in Lerwick. 4528. But does the merchant with whom you would open an account of that sort not know that you fish for Mr. Bruce, that you are bound to deliver all your fish to him, and that you may at the same time be running an account at his shop which would have a preference at settlement over any account you might open in Lerwick or at Henderson's?-I generally give them to understand how I am circumstanced, and they advance me accordingly. 4529. Do you generally have a large balance in cash to receive when settling with Mr. Bruce?-I have only prosecuted the fishing there for three years; I have settled for two of these years, and for this one I have not settled yet. 4530. Do you get an account when you settle with him?-Yes; I have got a copy of it for one year. [Produces it.] 4531. Do you get that as a matter of course when you are settling with Mr. Bruce?-I asked for it, and he did not refuse to give it to me. 4532. This account is for the settlement which took place in April last?-Yes. 4533. It shows-June 27, 1870, to cash for self, £1; Sept. 16, to cash for self, £1; Dec. 22, to amount to credit of Paul Smith: what does that mean?-It was a small sum I advanced a brother-in-law of mine to help him to pay his rent. It was entered from my account into his, and was the same as cash. 4534. Jan. 6, to cash for self, 10s.; to fine for swine, 2s. 6d.: what was that fine for?-The landlord has a law that if you allow your swine to go at large, and the officer for that purpose catches them outside your house loose, he imposes a fine of 2s. 6d. upon you for each offence. 4535. Is that law in the regulations of lease, or is it just an understood thing?-It is understood to be a law that he has made. 4536. But you are not a landholder?-No; but the swine belonged to me. 4537. Then there is, to a ticket and medal for 1871, 3s.: that is for the Fishermen's Society?-Yes. 4538. March 15, to account per Henry Gilbertson, 3s. 4d.: what was that?-That was a small balance that was advanced by him for me to the other Henry Gilbertson. 4539. To 11/2 bushels salt from Scatness, 1s. 6d., by amount from boat's account, £19, 4s. 31/2d.: that was the amount of your earnings?-Yes. 4540. How many others were there in the boat?-There were six. 4541. Then, to account in Grutness, £3, 8s. 21/2d., to cash, £10, 15s. 81/2d.; in all £19, 4s. 31/2d.: that was the whole of your account for that year?-Yes. 4542. Have you anything to say about the prices of the things you get at Grutness store?-They are rather above the figure usually paid for the same things in other parts of the country. 4543. Have you compared the prices there with the prices at which you can get the same articles elsewhere?-Yes; for instance of meal. 4544. Have you bought meal there?-Yes. 4545. Was it entered in the account you have shown me?-Yes; but all my account at the shop, whatever it was for, was entered in that account in one slump sum, so that the price cannot be distinguished from that. There are no details given there of the shop account. 4546. Were the details of that account read over to you?-Yes; or I read it over. 4547. Did you find it to be correct?-Yes, generally. 4548. But you think the meal was charged higher than it could be got for elsewhere?-I am sure of it. 4549. Do you remember what price it was charged at?-Yes. 4550. Did you take a note of it at the time?-I took a note of the quantity at the time; but I did not know the price until settlement. 4551. Have you a pass-book at the store?-[Produces pass-book.] That is what I keep for myself. These [showing] are the entries for 1870, the year to which the account applies. When I knew the price of an article when I received it from the store, I put it down in ink; but I did not know the price of the meal, and I put it down in pencil when I came to settle. 4552. Here [showing] is half boll oatmeal, 11s?-Yes; and these are the ranging prices in Lerwick for the same year: March 1870, per boll oatmeal, 17s. 9d. May, 18s. 6d.; July, 20s.; August, 21s. 4553. Where did you get these?-I got them from a merchant in Lerwick this morning, Mr. John Robertson, sen. The note containing them is in his own handwriting. 4554. Did he refer to his books before telling you what the prices were?-Yes, he turned up his accounts for that year. 4555. And these are the prices at which he told you he sold meal here?-Yes. 4556. For cash or for credit?-I cannot say. 4557. Have you ever been directed by Mr. Bruce or Mr. Irvine to look after men who were supposed to be selling their fish to other curers?-I have. 4558. You shake your head in a very serious way at that: did you not like the job?-I did not. 4559. When was it that you were told to do that?-At last settlement. 4560. That would be in April 1870?-Yes. 4561. Were there some men who were supposed to be inclined to sell their fish to some others?-Yes. 4562. Was any particular man named to you, or was it just a general direction to look after them?-There was just a general direction given to us to inform them of any men who did so. [Page 113] 4563. Did you keep a lookout for that?-No; I have not gone to look yet. 4564. Have you seen any of the men endeavouring to sell their fish to other people-to Messrs. Hay & Co. for instance, or to Mr. Gavin Henderson?-I have seen them selling to Messrs. Hay & Co. 4565. Were these the small fish caught in the winter, or were they part of the catch of the boats that went to the summer fishing and the haaf fishing?-They were the small fish caught in the winter. I never saw any of the summer fish sold by any of Mr. Bruce's tenants to Messrs. Hay & Co. 4566. I suppose there is a greater inclination to sell the small fish caught in the winter for ready money than the summer fish?-Yes. 4567. Why are the men readier to do that?-Because, when they sell their fish to Messrs. Hay & Co., the merchant knows what he intends to give for them; and daily and nightly, when the fish have been delivered, they go to Hay & Co.'s store and get the value for them, and there is no more about it. 4568. They settle for them at once?-Yes, 4569. In money or in goods?-Generally in goods; but Messrs. Hay's man will give them a shilling or so; whereas, if they had to go to Mr. Bruce's store with them, they would not know what they were to get until the settlement, neither would they get the goods at so low a figure. 4570. They get the goods cheaper at Hay & Co.'s?-Yes, a little. 4571. Is there any other article than meal the price of which you have compared with what it could be got for at other stores?-Not particularly, because I have not had much dealings at the store, as I generally dealt with other merchants. 4572. Is there anything else you wish to add to what you have said or to what the other men have said?-Nothing particular. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, JOHN HARPER, examined. 4573. Are you a fisherman at Lingord, Dunrossness?-I am. 4574. Do you hold land there under Mr Bruce of Sumburgh?- Yes. 4575. Do you hold it subject to the condition of delivering your fish to Mr. Bruce in the same way that the other men have spoken to?-Yes. 4576. You have heard the evidence of William Goudie, Laurence Smith, and Henry Gilbertson?-Yes. 4577. Have they described correctly the way in which you deal at Mr. Bruce's shop for goods?-Quite correctly, so far as my experience goes. 4578. Do you deal in the same way?-Yes; but I deal very little there. 4579. Where do you get your goods?-I get them at different places, but my chief dealings are at Gavin Henderson's. I have also some dealings at Mr. Bruce's store at Boddam, kept by Henry Isbister, which is close beside where I live. 4580. Do you generally receive a large balance at the end of the year in cash?-Yes, I am always paid in cash. 4581. How much of a balance in cash did you get last year?-I cannot remember exactly; and I have no copy of my account. 4582. Was it £5 or £6, or more?-I think it was £5 or £6, and the rest of my earnings went to pay my land rent and shop accounts. 4583. Have you made any comparison as to the prices of goods at the Boddam shop and the prices at which you could get them elsewhere?-I have not made a strict comparison, but the Boddam shop and the other shops do not differ much in most things. 4584. Have you anything to add to what has been said by the other witnesses?-We would be very happy to have the liberty of curing our fish ourselves. 4585. Have you tried that?-Yes; I have tried it in former times before I was taken under Mr. Bruce. 4586. Where was that?-At the same place where I am fishing yet. 4587. You had your liberty then?-Yes. 4588. Do you think that in those days you made a larger profit on your fish than you do now?-I did; but there would be a difficulty in doing that now, unless we had the power of using the beaches to dry our fish on. If we did not have that power, we could make nothing of it at all 4589. In those days the price of fish would be quite different from what it is now? It would be much lower when you used to cure your own fish?-In the former part of the time when I used to cure them it was lower than it is now, and indeed it was rather lower all through. I don't know exactly what those that cured their own fish this year have got for dried fish, but I think I got 10s. 6d. per cwt. of dried saith of my own curing during the last year when I cured them. 4590. What is the price now for cured fish?-I have heard that it is 12s. 4591. I suppose there was not much difference in those days in the price of cured fish?-No; but it did differ according to seasons. Every season was not exactly alike. 4592. Would that be twelve years ago?-Yes. 4593. In what way have you calculated that you would make more profit upon the fish of your own curing than is paid to you by Mr. Bruce?-I have just made a calculation in my own mind according to the quantity of fish I caught then and what I catch now. It is merely a calculation of my own, and I do not say it is exactly correct. 4594. Did you make that calculation lately?-No; only I have always been of that opinion since I was obliged to deliver my fish to Mr. Bruce. 4595. Have you not made a note of the value of your green fish, the expense of materials for curing, and the value of the labour that you would require to put upon them, in order to ascertain whether you would get as much for your cured fish as you do for your green, or more?-I have paid some attention to that matter; but of course, in any case where a man dries his fish for himself, he must expect to have a little more work than he has when delivering them green. There would thus be extra expense for my own labour. 4596. There would also be the price for salt, and other things required, in the curing?-Yes; we would have to calculate all these things. 4597. Would you not be at a disadvantage from not having vats and other apparatus suitable for curing?-There would be rather a disadvantage in that way now, but there was not such a disadvantage formerly, because we had these things; and when we were stopped from curing for ourselves, we had to dispose of them as we had no use for them. 4598. Did each fisherman commonly possess these things?-Yes, at that time. 4599. Or was it each boat's crew who owned these implements?- Yes. 4600. Each boat's crew had a supply of apparatus for curing their fishing?-Yes, for their own use. They generally had a vat and other instruments according to what they required. 4601. Do you think they were as skilful in the use of these instruments as the curers are now?-I don't think they were very much behind, because the curer who cures the fish we catch now was formerly a fisherman, as I am myself. Further than the experience of years may have taught him, he knew nothing better about it than I did, for I cured fish when I was a beach boy, and I was also the head in it all through, until I was stopped from curing. 4602. In forming that opinion with regard to the profit which you would have by curing your own fish, have you taken into account the risk of having your own fish spoiled in the curing?-Of course we must run that risk. 4603. Then you might gain something in one year, but in another you might lose to some extent in the [Page 114] curing?-That is quite possible; but still, in the experience I formerly had, the loss was nothing to speak of. 4604. For how many years did you cure your own fish?-For a good many, perhaps five years. There is one thing I should like to state which has not been mentioned already; but I don't exactly know how far it will fall within your inquiry. That is about the days' works which are required from us in addition to our land rent. 4605. What do you mean by days' works?-It is labour imposed upon the tenants by the landlord. They must work three days' work in summer. We don't exactly work these days' works in summer where we live; but we are bound to carry a boat of peats to those who live near Sumburgh, which stands in place of our three days in summer. Then we have to work three days in harvest, and three days in vore ( spring). Thirty hours, if I remember right, is what they exact; and we get nothing for it, not even a supply of victuals. We have to carry our victuals with us when we are to do our work there. 4606. Is not that really part of the rent which you pay for your land?-We don't suppose so, because our land is valued, and we have to pay for it in cash, or it is taken off our account. 4607. You mean that you have to pay your rent in cash, and to give the days' works besides?-Yes; and we have to pay a poultry fowl for each merk of land. 4608. Is not that really just part of your bargain for the land?-It is the way we have done hitherto. 4609. If you were agreed, would not the landlord commute these services and payments into a money payment. You might make a bargain to give him so much money, and thus get rid of these things?-I have never disputed these things; but I believe they have been spoken of to him, and he does not appear willing to relieve us of the burden, which we think is rather hard one. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, GEORGE LESLIE, examined. 4610. Are you a fisherman and tenant under Mr. Bruce at Mill of Garth, Dunrossness?-I am a fisherman, but not exactly a tenant. 4611. You don't hold land?-It is much the same. The land is held in my father's name, and I live with him. 4612. Are you bound to fish to Mr. Bruce, as being one of your father's family?-Yes. 4613. You have heard the evidence of William Goudie and the other witnesses from Dunrossness. Do you think it is generally correct?-I think it is generally correct; but Laurence Smith did not appear to know much about the shop at Boddam, except for ropes and iron, and so on, which is much about the same price as elsewhere. 4614. Can you say anything more about that shop than he did?- The tea, cotton, canvas, and moleskins are all much higher there than at Henderson's. I have no note of the price at Henderson's; but I have notes of the prices at Boddam in my pass-books. 4615. What is the price of moleskins at the Boddam shop?-I don't know if I have the price of any moleskins here. 4616. Is this [showing] your pass-book at the Boddam store?- Yes. 4617. Is it kept by the shopkeeper there?-It is kept by Isbister. I took it back and forward every time I got goods, and had them entered there. That book is for 1868. 4618. I see it is for Hans Leslie, and not for George Leslie. Is your father's name Hans?-Yes. 4619. This book only comes down to February 1869. Have you not kept a pass-book since then?-Yes; but it is not settled yet. 4620. Is that account from March 1867 to February 1869 [showing] not settled?-Yes, it is settled; but the account for 1870 is not settled yet. I have it in another pass-book, because this one had fallen aside. 4621. And you have now another one in the hands of the shopkeeper?-Yes. 4622. Do you know the prices which were charged against you for goods in 1870?-No. I have seen them in the pass-book when I had it at home; but don't remember what they were. 4623. But the settlement for 1870 is past?-Yes; it was 1871 I was thinking of. 4624. But there is nothing in this book for 1870?-No. This [producing another book] is the book for 1870 up till the settlement of 1871. 4625. Have you no pass-book in your possession later than that?- No. 4626. Show me some of the things in that book which are charged higher to you than you could have got them elsewhere?-I say that tea and cotton are generally charged higher. I have had very little cotton from that shop, but I have asked the prices, and found them much higher than at Henderson's, so that I took what cotton I wanted from Henderson's shop, and not from the shop at Boddam. 4627. Were you quite at liberty to deal at Henderson's shop if you liked?-Yes; we were at liberty in the way that some of the other men have described. If we did not have the prospect of paying what we were due, then we did not want to run into debt to a number of men. 4628. Have you generally ready money that you can go to Henderson's with?-No. 4629. What is the reason of that? Is it on account of the long settlement?-That is a thing which has something to do with it, and sometimes I have not had money to get at settlement; but when I asked for an advance from Mr. Bruce, I always got it. 4630. I see from this book that cotton is 1s. a yard at the Boddam shop: I suppose that was the price then?-It has sometimes been 1s., and it has sometimes been higher. 4631. I see there is tea at 10d. a quarter: is that the best tea they sell at that store?-They seldom have any but one sort. 4632. Do you generally get all the articles you want at the Boddam shop?-Yes. 4633. Would you like to have a greater number of things to choose from than there are there?-No. We do not take anything there except what we cannot do without. We wish rather to take it at another place. 4634. Only you cannot always get credit at another place?-I never was refused credit, only I did not like to run a heavy account with another man who was having no profit but upon his goods. 4635. Would you have been more ready to deal with Henderson if you had been at liberty to sell your fish to him too?-Yes. 4636. Is there a fair price charged for soap at the Boddam shop?- There is not very much difference of price upon it. The soap generally is pretty fair at Boddam. 4637. I see here an entry of 11/2 lines, 3s. 5d.: are these lines for your fishings?-Yes. 4638. Is the price of lines there as moderate as at other places?- The lines differ in quality. Sometimes we have them as good there as in other places, and at other times not so good. 4639. But what about the price of them? Are they as cheap there as at other places?-If the quality is as good, they are. [Produces another pass-book.] 4640. Is this the book in which you enter the fish as they are delivered?-Yes. 4641. Who enters them there?-Myself. It is example of how we mark down the fish. That book contained an account which I had running with Gavin Henderson in 1867, and I afterwards used it as a fish book with Mr. Bruce. 4642. You enter the fish in this book, and Mr. Bruce's factor enters them in a book of his own besides?-Yes. 4643. Do all the boats' crews keep books in which they enter their fish in the same way?-So far as I know they do. [Page 115] 4644. Is that the only way you have of checking the amount of fish you get?-Yes. 4645. At the end of the year you see the quantity you have delivered as it is entered in the landlord's book, and you see that you get credit for it in your account with Mr. Bruce?-Yes. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, ROBERT HALCROW, examined. 4646. You are a fisherman at Lasettar, in Dunrossness, and you hold land from Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh?-Yes. 4647. You are bound to deliver your fish to his factor, and you settle at the end of the year in the same way as William Goudie and the other men have described?-Yes. 4648. You have heard all their evidence?-Yes. 4649. Is there anything you wish to add to it or correct in it?- Nothing. 4650. Do you know anything about the knitting which is done by the women in Dunrossness?-There is a little knitting done in my family. It might be more agreeable to some people to be paid in cash than in goods; but others again say that if they did not get the same price in cash for their hosiery as they get in truck, they would not be gainers. 4651. Do they want the goods they get for the hosiery?-Yes; and they might not get the same price for their knitting in money as they get for it in barter. 4652. Do you know the price which they get in goods from the merchants in Lerwick?-Yes. 4653. Would they not get the same goods at a lower price in money, at any of the shops in your neighbourhood?-I am not aware of that. 4654. You have never heard them say that?-No. With regard to the evidence which has been given by the other men, I may be allowed to say that perhaps I have had a little more experience than some of them, but the statements which they have given have just been what I would have made myself. 4655. How long have you been on the property?-For eleven or twelve years. 4656. Did you receive a notice, when young Mr. Bruce became tacksman, that you were expected to fish for him?-I did not receive any notice; but I was missed; he passed over me. 4657. Why was that?-I was taking in uncultivated ground to build a house upon, and I did not pay rent then. 4658. Were you aware that a notice of that kind was given to the tenants?-Yes. 4659. Is there any one here who received that notice?-I don't think any one received the notice individually, but there was a public notice that they were bound to fish for Mr. Bruce, and that they would be removed if they did not do so. 4660. How was that notice given?-By a bill placed in a public place for the tenants at large to see. 4661. Did you see it?-No, I did not see it. With regard to the Boddam shop, I have had dealings there, and also with Gavin Henderson; but there are things I require which are not kept in the Boddam shop at all. 4662. What articles do you want that you cannot get there?-I want some kind of clothing which they do not keep, and several other things; but the things they have, such as tea, tobacco, cotton and canvas, I find to be somewhat dearer than at Mr. Henderson's or in Lerwick. 4663. How much dearer is the tobacco?-It will be a penny or twopence a quarter lb. 4664. Have you bought tobacco at both places?-Yes. 4665. What have you to say with regard to the tea?-It is from 4d. to 8d. dearer per pound. 4666. Have you tried it at both places also?-Yes. 4667. Do you think you get the same quality at both?-It is the same quality. I have had to pay sometimes 9d. and sometimes 10d. per quarter for tea at the Boddam shop; and when I went to Mr. Henderson's shop, I got the same tea for 8d. 4668. So far as you could judge, was the tea at both places of the same quality?-Yes, so far as I could judge, it was. Then for the cotton I would pay 2d., and sometimes more than that, per yard more in the Boddam shop than in Gavin Henderson's, or at other places. 4669. But if the prices are so much higher at the Boddam shop than elsewhere, why do you go there when you say you are not obliged in any way to take goods from the Boddam shop? Why do you not go to Gavin Henderson's for them?-I am obliged to go to the Boddam shop and take my goods there if I have no money in my pocket to buy them elsewhere. 4670. Does that often happen?-Perhaps not very often with me, but it happens as a general thing among many of the men. I believe there are as many men who have to go to Mr. Bruce's store, and take their goods there, in consequence of the want of money to pay for them at other places, as there are who can go and open accounts with other merchants and pay them yearly. 4671. Is there anything else you can say about that?-There is nothing more concerning that; but I have one thing more to say concerning our bondage, or our liberty, in fishing to Mr. Bruce. I have never had any help in paying rent or purchasing meal for my living, or such things as I required for clothing, except from what I could earn myself. I have sometimes had little clear money to get, and sometimes I have been from £2 to £6 behind in my accounts with Mr. Bruce, but he never charged me anything for that. I was fishing to him, and obedient to him, and he never interfered with me until my earnings paid up my debt account; but he would give me supplies although was in his debt, and if I got money from him, even when I was in his debt, I was at perfect liberty to go where I liked for the goods I wanted. If I ran up an account at any other shop, he gave me money and I settled it; and then at settlement time, if I had any money remaining to come to me, I got it in cash after he had deducted the value of any goods I might have got from his store. 4672. But when you were in his debt at the end of the year, in the way you have stated, were you obliged to go to his store for your provisions, and your supplies of cotton and clothing?-I would be obliged to do so, unless I could work at any other trade, or do any other thing during the winter by which I could earn money to purchase things at other stores. I may work outside, or do a little mason work, in order to get some money; and he will not bind me so much as if he were to see me earning nothing, but he would allow me to keep that money, and go to other stores with it, and purchase what I required. If I have a cow or a horse to sell, I can sell it, and he will never inquire or push me for the balance. I can get my money for it, and go to other stores for my meal and several things. 4673. If you sell a beast off your farm, while you are in debt to him, he does not object to you applying the price as you like?-He has made no objection; but when a man is in debt to him, he expects to get the first offer of it. 4674. He expects that a man who is in his debt will offer his cow or his pony to him first?-Yes, he looks for that; he has always expected it. 4675. When that is done, who fixes the price?-He will state his price; and if the owner is dissatisfied with it, he will give him a chance of offering it at public sale. 4676. And when it is offered at public sale, what is done then?- The sale is generally in Mr. Bruce's own hand, and the purchaser gives him the money; and then the owner who disposes of the animal will go to him if he is in want of supplies, and he will probably get them. 4677. Are there sales in your district at certain times?-Yes. [Page 116] 4678. Where do these take place?-At Dunrossness, near the church; twice a year, in the spring, and in the fall. 4679. Is it at these sales that you have a chance of selling your beasts, if you do not agree with Mr. Bruce about the price?-Yes. 4680. And at these sales is there perfect liberty to any person to bid?-Yes. 4681. You can sell them to any person who bids a higher price than the laird offers?-Yes; but the conditions of sale are that the purchaser has to pay the money to Mr. Bruce. 4682. Is that one of the conditions and articles of roup which are read over at the commencement of the sale?-Yes. 4683. Does that condition apply to every lot that is sold, or only to lots that belong to men that are in Mr. Bruce's debt?-It applies to every lot that is sold. On all the properties there, on Simbister, and Mr. Grierson's estate and Sumburgh estate the cattle are called in; people who have cattle to sell are asked to bring them in to the sale. 4684. But nobody is obliged to expose their cattle at these sales unless they please?-There have been cases where we were obliged to dispose of them: for instance, if a man was very deeply in debt, he would be so far forced to bring his cattle and sell them; and the money went into Mr. Bruce's hands, and was put to the man's credit. 4685. You mean that it was credited to the man's account that was settled at the end of the year?-Yes. When young Mr. Bruce first began to take charge of the Sumburgh estate he wished to have all the tenants clear; and for that purpose he published a sale, and forced one of the tenants to bring his effects there, in order that his debts might be paid off. At the sale, Mr. Bruce himself appeared and gave a far higher price than the current price for the material which was being sold, in order to bring the man out of debt. 4686. Who was that man?-Malcolm Irvine, Lasettar. That is the only case of that kind I am acquainted with; but I believe there are more cases of the same kind throughout the parish, where Mr. Bruce paid a higher price for the articles than the market value of them, in order to bring the men out of debt. Of course, that was a favour to the men. 4687. Then, these sales are always fair transactions?-I think they are fair, so far as we can discern, because they do not differ in any way from other sales throughout the island. The terms and conditions of roup are the same at them all. 4688. Is there anything else you wish to say?-There is only forty days' warning given before Martinmas. No doubt that may be well enough for tenants in a town like Lerwick, who hold nothing except a room to live in, but it is very disagreeable for a tenant holding a small piece of land as we do. As soon as our crop is taken in, we must start work immediately, and prepare the land for next season. We have to make provision for manure, and collect our peats, and prepare stuff for thatching our houses, and perhaps by Martinmas we have expended from £6 to £10 worth of labour and expense on our little farms. In that case, it is a very hard thing for us to be turned out of our holdings after receiving only forty days' notice, and perhaps only getting £1, or £2, for all that labour. Now, what I would suggest that instead of that short notice we should be entitled to receive a longer notice, perhaps six or nine months before the term, that we are to be turned out. 4689. Do you think you would be more at liberty to dispose of your fish, and to deal at any shop you pleased, if you were entitled to that longer warning?-I don't think the warning would alter anything with regard to that; but if I knew that I was to be turned out at Martinmas, I would probably start fishing earlier, and I might have a larger price to get for them instead of working upon my land. 4690. But you can be punished more easily by your landlord for selling your fish to another man, when he can turn you out on forty days' warning, than if he could only do it on six or eight months' warning?-I think it would be much the same with regard to that. 4691. You don't think that would make any difference as to the fishing?-It might make a little difference, because if I received my warning in March, and knew that I was to leave at Martinmas, if I saw that I was to have a better price for my fish from another, I would not fish to my landlord at all; but I would go to any man I would get the best price from. 4692. Do you think you would be better off if you had your fish paid for as they are delivered?-I don't think that would serve me any better. It would serve young men who are not landholders better; but I don't think it would serve landholders better than to allow the price to lie, and to settle once in a season, because sometimes our crops are so scanty that we have only perhaps two parts or three-fourths of a regular supply of meal for our living; and if I got the price of my fish paid to me every time when I came ashore, or on the Saturday night, we might perhaps live comfortably for awhile, but then at Martinmas, when our rents were due, and our fishing earnings were spent, we would be in a hard case, because where would our rents come from? 4693. Do you think you would be likely to spend your earnings as you got them?-In some cases that would be so, because occasionally we have to live on a very small allowance of provisions, perhaps one-half or three-fourths, and we suffer from that. I think it is better if the money for our fishing is preserved for a time in our landlord's hands; because, in the first place, we like to have our rents paid. 4694. Would it be any advantage to you to have the price of your fish fixed at the beginning of the season?-It might and it might not, because here in Shetland we are paid for our fish according to a currency. The principal curers in the country arrange what the price is to be, and, so far as I know, they have it in their own power to make the currency whatever they think fit. 4695. Do you think the current price is fairly fixed?-I cannot judge of that, nor can any one outside, because I don't know what has been realized for the fish in the south. It is a matter which rests upon their own conscience, whether the merchants fix a fair current price or not. 4696. But you think they have the fixing of it?-Yes, they do fix it. 4697. Do you think it right that they should have the fixing of it, and that you should have nothing to say to it, when it is according to that price that you are paid?-We have no experience in the matter, or else we should have a voice in it. 4698. If you were at liberty to cure and sell your own fish, would you not have something to say in fixing the market price at which the fish were to be paid?-I think we would. 4699. Supposing the price of your fish were settled at the beginning of the season, and that you knew then what it was to be, do you think you would manage your purchases during the season better than you do now, according as you took a large or a small quantity of fish?-I don't think so. 4700. If you were only taking a small take of fish, you would see, as the season went on, that you could not have a large balance at the end of the year?-I don't think that would matter much for me. It might do for a family in which there were two or three men but for a man who held a certain tack of land, and had to support a family, I don't think it would be any advantage. In my case, there is only myself earning anything, and it takes the greater part of my fishing, year by year, to pay for my meal and land rent. 4701. I suppose what you mean is, that you are obliged to live at a certain rate of expenditure, and that you cannot reduce that rate any lower, however poor your fishing may be?-No, I cannot. 4702. So that you must take the bad years and the good years, and make up in a good year for what you have gone behind in a bad one?-Yes, that is what I mean. [Page 117] 4703. Therefore the present system suits you as well as any other?-It does. 4704. You could not economize more, although you knew what you were to receive at the end of the year?-I don't see that I could. 4705. And you could not manage your money any better, although you had it in your hands, and could spend it in Lerwick, or in any other store, except that at Boddam?-I don't see that I could. I have not taken any meal from Mr. Bruce now for three years, but I have taken a good deal of things out of his stores. 4706. Have you got your meal from your own ground?-No. During the past season I had to buy very little; but since I came to the place I am now in, I have sometimes had to buy seven, and eight, and nine months' provisions, besides what my own labour upon my farm could yield. 4707. Where did you buy your meal then?-At that time I had some from Mr. Bruce, and some from other places. 4708. But I am talking of the last three years, when you did not buy any of it from Mr. Bruce?-I have had it from Lerwick, and also from a store at Sand Lodge. Lebidden is the name of the place where the store is. 4709. Whose store is that?-Thomas Tullochs's. 4710. Why did you buy it from these stores rather than from the store at Boddam?-Because I could get it cheaper; I would pay some money for it at these other stores. 4711. What did you get it for there?-I don't recollect the price. 4712. I suppose the price varied?-Yes. 4713. And you got it at that price by paying it at the time you got it?-Yes; I got it at as low a price as it could be got anywhere. Besides, I took weaker qualities of grain as being cheaper than what Mr. Bruce had, such as second flour or third flour, and so on, when Mr. Bruce, would have had nothing but barleymeal and oatmeal. 4714. Does he only keep one quality of meal at Boddam store?- He keeps more than one quality, because he has had grain from his own farm to supply his fishermen and tenants with; and he has also had Orkney meal there, which was cheaper than Scotch meal. 4715. But you say that you could get weaker qualities than what Mr. Bruce kept. Do you mean that the qualities were inferior?- Yes. 4716. Were they inferior to any that Mr. Bruce had?-Not to what grew on his own farm, but to any that he had at that time, or what he generally kept. 4717. But I am talking of the last three years during which you have had none from Mr. Bruce. Were the qualities at the other stores inferior to what Mr. Bruce kept?-When I was having none from Mr. Bruce I did not know exactly what qualities he had. 4718. But you knew that what you were getting was cheaper than what you could get at his store?-Yes, I knew that. 4719. Is there anything more you wish to say?-No; I think that is all. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, LAURENCE SMITH, recalled. 4720. I believe you saw the bill, which was put up when Mr. Bruce came, to which the witness Halcrow referred?-Yes, I saw it. There was a man sent round among the tenants with a letter, and he read it to them. 4721. Who was the man?-He is dead: it was John Harper, Virkie. 4722. To whom was the letter addressed?-To the tenants generally. Sometimes when he came to a town, he called the tenants together and read it to them; and when he met one of the tenants by himself, he just read it over to him. 4723. Were the tenants called together at Trosswick, where you live?-Yes. 4724. Was the letter read over to the whole of them at once?- Yes. 4725. Did you hear it?-Yes. 4726. Do you remember its terms?-I do not; but the letter was from old Mr. Bruce, and the substance of it was, that he had given us over into the hands of his son. 4727. As tacksman?-He did not say whether it was as tacksman or not, but he said that the penalty of our not fishing to him would be that we should get our warning. 4728. Was it stated in the letter that young Mr. Bruce was setting up as a fish-curer?-I could not exactly say, but it was known to the tenants that he was going to do so. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, HENRY GILBERTSON, recalled. 4729. I believe you were at Fair Isle three weeks ago?-Yes; three or four weeks ago, with a smack belonging to Mr. Bruce. 4730. Was that for the purpose of delivering supplies of provisions to the people on the island?-It was for the purpose of landing two men on the island, one of whom was to be a farmer, and the other was a mason to build dykes. 4731. Had you been there before?-Never. 4732. Did you meet with any of the people while you were there, and talk with them about the way in which their shop was supplied?-Yes, I met almost all of them, and I got some information about how they deal at the shop, because they inquired at me at what prices the articles were sold in Shetland. 4733. Are the people there supplied with provisions and goods from the shop at Dunrossness?-No; there is a shop on the island which is supplied from the shop at Dunrossness. 4734. Do you know anything: about the prices of goods at the shop on Fair Isle?-There was a man belonging to the island-I don't know his name-who told me that he had paid 1s. 4d. per quarter for tobacco. There was a general complaint that the prices were above the currency charged in Shetland. 4735. Did the people seem to think that there was a better way in which they could be supplied?-Yes; they seemed to think that if they had their liberty to sell their fish, to the best advantage, they could supply themselves from Orkney or Shetland with goods at a cheaper rate than they could get them for in Mr. Bruce's store in Fair Isle. 4736. Do you think anybody would be willing to go to Fair Isle to buy fish and sell goods?-There were plenty would do so if they had the chance. Mr. James Smith, of Hill Cottage, Sandwick parish, used to go there, but he was stopped from doing so by Mr. Bruce when he bought the island. 4737. Did the people on the island speak as if they were worse used than they had been formerly?-They spoke as if they got their articles cheaper from Mr. Smith than they could get them now. 4738. How long were you on the island?-I was there for eight days, and I was in almost every house. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, HANS SMITH, examined. 4739. You are the master of a smack which sometimes visits Fair Isle for Mr. Bruce?-Yes. 4740. Do you take a quantity of goods to the shop there from the shop at Dunrossness?-Yes, sometimes from the shop at Dunrossness, and sometimes the [Page 118] goods are ordered from the south; and we get them from the steamer at Lerwick, and take them direct to the island. 4741. Do you know anything about the prices at which these goods are charged at the shop on the island?-No; I could not speak positively about that. 4742. Do you know whether the people on the island are satisfied with the supplies which you take to them?-They are satisfied with them so far; but they object to the price realized for their fish as being lower than what is paid in Shetland. I think that is about the only thing they object to. Of course they also think that the prices for the goods are dear; but still they are not so much dissatisfied with that. 4743. I suppose it involves a little expense to get the goods carried from the mainland to Fair Isle?-Of course it does. 4744. There is a risk from the weather in taking them there?-Yes; there is a risk of damage, and there is not a safe harbour there. 4745. Does any one trade to Fair Isle except your smack?-No, not regularly. There are some people who go in occasionally, but there are no others who go very often from Shetland. There is one boat belonging to James Rendall, of Westray, in Orkney, that goes occasionally. 4746. Is it within your knowledge that other traders are not allowed to go to Fair Isle to sell their goods there?-Yes; I believe the people are not allowed to buy from them. They do not exactly stop them; but I think they tried to do it. 4747. Have you known that being done at any time when you were at the island?-I think I have been there twice when James Rendall was there; and he chiefly sold in the night time when I was asleep, and I did not know what was going on. 4748. Why was that?-I don't know. I never asked him why he did it. The people are scarcely allowed either to sell to him or buy from him. 4749. Was it not because the factor forbade him to sell to the people at all that he dealt with them during the night?-Of course the factor forbade him from dealing with them, and he would have noticed if Rendall had dealt with them in the day time. I don't think the people were so much stopped from buying from him as they were stopped from selling to him. They were not allowed to sell any cattle or horse, or anything they had, to him. 4750. How do you know that?-Because I saw it myself. I have heard the factor and the people talking about it, and I know they were not allowed to sell. 4751. Have you heard the factor forbidding them to sell their cattle to Rendall?-Yes; they have told me themselves that it was £2 of a fine if they sold anything to him. 4752. Whom have you heard the factor forbidding to sell to Rendall?-I have heard the factor talking to lots of them about it. There was one, Thomas Wilson for instance; he was forbidden. 4753. Do you know that he wished to sell cattle to Rendall?-Yes; I know that he had a cow last year for which Rendall offered him £5, 10s. on the island, and he was afraid to sell her to him. The factor told him he had better not sell her. 4754. Was it in your presence that he told him so?-Yes; and Wilson came over to Shetland with us; I don't remember what he got for the cow here, but I think it was £4, 1s. 4755. You brought the cow over to Shetland yourself?-Yes. 4756. Who was the factor?-Jerome Wilson. 4757. Did he tell Thomas Wilson that he must not sell his cow because he was in arrear of rent, or in debt?-No; he was not in debt; he had some cash to get at the time of settlement. 4758. How do you know that?-Because he told me himself. I went home with him to his house, when he settled last summer,-I think in June or July. 4759. Do you know of your own knowledge that the cow afterwards sold for £4, 1s. in Shetland?-I think that was what it sold for. 4760. Did you see it sold?-No; but Thomas Wilson told me about it. I was at the sale that day. I was not present when the cow was sold, but Wilson told me about it at night. 4761. Do you buy hosiery from the Fair Isle people?-The factor, Mr. Wilson, buys it for Mr. Bruce. 4762. Do you sometimes bring it over here?-Yes. 4763. You don't know anything about the way in which the people are paid for it?-I don't know. 4764. Is Jerome Wilson likely to be in Shetland soon?-I don't know whether he is or not, but I don't think it. He just buys up the hosiery, and then sends it over to Mr. Bruce. I think the people get goods chiefly for it; but I am not sure. I have seen it sold, and seen them getting goods for it. 4765. Have you seen anybody else buying it on the island? Have you ever bought any of it?-No; not much. 4766. But you have bought a little?-I have bought a pair of stockings; that was all. 4767. Did you pay cash for them?-Yes. 4768. What do the people do with their money in Fair Isle?-I am sure I don't know; they have not much to do with it there. 4769. They cannot purchase goods with it?-They can purchase goods; because when we are going in with the smack, they are always going out and in, and they are glad to get as much money as possible. There are none of the people out of the island just now that I know of. 4770. When will you be going back to it?-Not until the month of April, or the 1st of May. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, ROBERT MALCOLMSON, examined. 4771. You are a fisherman and tenant on Mr. Bruce's lands at Northtown of Exnaboe?-I am. 4772. You have heard the evidence of William Goudie and Laurence Smith?-Yes. 4773. Does it give a fair account of the way in which you deal in fish and purchase goods with Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh?-Yes, it gives an accurate account of it, so far as my experience goes. 4774. Were you a beach boy when you were young?-Not to Mr. Bruce. At that time the men had their liberty and cured their fish for themselves. 4775. Do you know anything about the way in which beach boys are dealt with now?-No. 4776. None of your family or friends are beach boys?-None. 4777. Have you known of any case in which a man was turned out, or threatened to be turned out of his ground for selling his fish to another than the proprietor?-Yes; I know one case. That was the case of Thomas Harper, James Harper's son, who was referred to before. 4778. That was a good many years ago?-Yes. 4779. Is there anything you wish to add to what has been said by the other men?-Nothing, so far as I remember. 4780. Do you think you would make any more of your fish if you were allowed to cure them for yourself?-We generally think so. 4781. Have you ever made any calculation about that?-According to hearsay from other quarters, and contrasting our case with theirs, we have a rough idea that we would make more on the whole. 4782. Do you think there is any disadvantage to the men in having such long settlements as you have at Dunrossness?-In some cases there is. 4783. Do you think it would be better for you to be paid for your fish as they are delivered?-In some cases that would do very well, but in other cases it would not. Some men and some families would, so to speak, go beyond their income; and at the end of the season, when their rent was due, they would have nothing to [Page 119] give to their landlord. They would not have saved any money for the rent. 4784. But is it not the case that fishermen nowadays save a good deal of money?-Some do, and some do not. 4785. Have not a good many of your friends large deposits in the bank?-No; that is not the case with many. 4786. Are you sure of that?-I would not be positive; but so far as I know, it is not the case. 4787. I suppose a man does not speak very much about his bank account down about Dunrossness, when he has one?-No; but I don't think it is very common for them there to have one. 4788. Do you know anything about the price of meal at the shop where you deal?-I have an idea of it, but only at settling time. 4789. At which shop do you deal?-At Grutness store. 4790. Do you run up a large account in the course of the year?- Generally I do. 4791. Does your account take off most of the price of your fish?- Yes, the most of it. 4792. You only get a small balance at the end of the year?-Yes, if I have it to get; but if not, Mr. Bruce is kind enough to make me a small advance as I need it. 4793. Of course that is on the footing that you are to fish to him next year?-We understand so. 4794. Do you think you would get your meal cheaper at another store than at Grutness, if you had liberty to deal at another store?- I think so, according to what other people say. 4795. Have you inquired the price of meal at Messrs. Hay's shop there?-I have not inquired about it myself. 4796. What do you pay for your meal at Grutness store?-It varies according to the quality and the current price of meal. 4797. Do you pay the same price for it all the year round?-Yes. 4798. Is that generally the price which prevails at the end of the year at settling time, or is it an average of the prices that have prevailed during the whole year?-When it all comes to be summed up, it is generally a little in advance, on the whole, of what we could buy meal for at another shop,-for instance, at Hay and Co.'s. 4799. Is the quality of it as good as you could get at Hay & Co.'s?-The quality is good. 4800. Is there anything else you want to add to the statements of the other witnesses?-No. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, THOMAS AITKEN, examined. 4801. You are a fisherman at Eastshore, in Dunrossness?-Yes. 4802. Are you a tenant of land under Mr. Bruce?-I am only tenant of a room, not of any land. I hold a house there. 4803. Are you bound in any way to fish for Mr. Bruce?-Yes; I signed an agreement to fish for him when he took the fishing in his own hand at Grutness, eleven or twelve years ago. 4804. Were you a landholder at that time?-No; but I was living in my father's house, and I was bound to fish for Mr. Bruce like the rest. 4805. What was the document you were asked to sign?-The general tenor of his statement was, that he was to give the current price, and I was bound to fish for him while I was living on his estate. 4806. Have you any objection to adhere to that bargain?-I am of the opinion that, if I had had my freedom, I might have made a little more from my fish than I have done. 4807. But would you not have your freedom simply by removing to another place?-Not in Dunrossness. 4808. You mean not on his land?-No, nor on Mr. Grierson's land. I would be bound to fish for Grierson under the same rules if I were to remove to his property. 4809. Do you live with your father still?-No; my father is an old man, and he has ceased to hold land. 4810. Do you consider yourself still bound to fish for Mr. Bruce, even although your father does not hold any land from him?-Yes; I consider I am bound while I am living on his estate. 4811. Have you any copy of the agreement which you signed?- No. 4812. Where did you sign it?-In the shop at Grutness. 4813. Who asked you to sign it?-Mr. Bruce's factor, or his farmer who was in Sumburgh at that time who was sent round among the tenants with a letter from old Mr. Bruce, intimating to them that his son was to take the district into his own hands, that they were to fish for him, and that any one refusing to fish was to leave. 4814. That is the letter which Laurence Smith has spoken of?- Yes. 4815. But did you sign anything?-Yes, I signed a paper, stating that I would rather stay and fish for him than that I would flit. 4816. Was that after the letter had been sent round among the tenants?-Yes. 4817. How long after?-A few days perhaps,-not more. 4818. Were you asked to go to the shop and sign it?-Yes. 4819. Were any others asked to sign it?-I believe there were. 4820. Was it the factor who asked you to sign it?-Yes. Gilbert Irvine was the factor; he asked me to sign it, and I signed to him. The paper was there, ready for us to sign. 4821. Was it read over to you?-Yes. 4822. What was the substance of it?-The substance of it was just what I have stated-that if we would fish to Mr. Bruce on these terms, we could stay on the land; and if not, then we would have to go. 4823. Were there many people who signed it at the same time with you?-No. 4824. Was there anybody else who signed it at the same time?-I could not exactly say. I don't think there was anybody in the house when I signed it, but there were a great many names to it before I went in. 4825. Was it signed by landholders only, or by those who had merely a room?-There were very few at that time who merely held a room. There are not many yet who do so; but the document was signed generally by the fishermen who fished there. 4826. Was the thing you signed an obligation to fish for Mr. Bruce so long as you occupied a room or a house on his ground?-Yes; I so understood it. 4827. But if you ceased to occupy that house or room you would be free?-Yes; and we could go to another place. 4828. You settle every year in the spring?-Yes. 4829. Do you generally have a balance in your favour?-Not very often. I have no land, and therefore I have to rely upon my own fishing, or what work I can do for him when I am called upon to work. 4830. Are you bound to work for Mr. Bruce as well as to fish for him?-I am not bound to work for him; but if I am in debt to him, of course he will call me out to work. 4831. But he will pay you for it?-Yes; but I am not quite satisfied with that pay. It is only a penny for one hour's work. 4832. Does that go into your account?-Yes. 4833. Have you got any pass-book at the shop?-No; I have no pass-book there. I see the articles which I receive from him entered into his book, and I told the price of most of the things when they supplied to me; but the principal thing which I get from the store is meal, and I never know the price of it until the day when I come to settle, or until I hear it from any person who has settled before me for the same year. [Page 120] 4834. Do you know what price you paid for it at last settlement?- I paid the same price for it as the other witnesses you have examined-22s. for Scotch oatmeal, and 20s. for barley-meal. 4835. Do you think you could have got your meal cheaper than that elsewhere?-Yes, I am under that impression. 4836. Have you asked the price of it elsewhere?-Yes; Mr. Hay's factor at Dunrossness had meal which was cheaper at that time., 4837. That was in the spring of last year?-Yes. 4838. How much cheaper was it?-I cannot remember exactly; but if I had had money, I could have purchased it cheaper at many places besides that. 4839. Did you not get advances of money in the course of the year from Mr. Bruce?-Yes. 4840. Could you not have got as much as you asked?-I did not want to ask more than I thought I could stand to. I did not want to get far in debt to him. 4841. Did you get a balance at last settlement paid to you in money?-Yes; if I had a balance at the end of the year, it was paid to me in money. 4842. But did you get a balance last year?-I was about clear then. 4843. You were not much more than clear?-No. 4844. Do you remember how much you got at that time?-I asked for £1 of advance from him at the settlement, and he gave it to me. 4845. Do you mean £1 more than the balance due to you?-Yes. 4846. Were you in debt at the previous settlement in 1870?-Yes. 4847. Were you also in debt in 1869?-Yes. 4848. Was the balance also on the wrong side for you in 1868?-I don't think it. 4849. Do you think you had something to get in 1868?-If I remember right I had. 4850. Do you remember how you stood in 1867?-I think that I was clear. 4851. But you had not much to get?-No. 4852. You are a married man and have a family?-Yes. 4853. Is there anything you wish to add to what you have heard the previous witnesses say?-Nothing further than just that I am not satisfied with my wages. 4854. Have you not something to say yourself in fixing your charges?-No. 4855. How is that? You need not work unless you know what wages you are to get beforehand?-No; but there is no general work there to work at. Mr. Bruce is the only man who has work to do and when a man is in necessity he must work. 4856. Can you not get land of your own?-No; I am not able to hold any land, because my family are sickly, and are not able to work upon it. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, HANS MAINLAND, examined. 4857. You are a fisherman at Northtown of Exnaboe, on the land of Mr Bruce of Sumburgh?-I am. 4858. Have you heard the evidence of the previous witnesses?- Yes. 4859. Has it generally been a correct description of your way of dealing with the shop at Sumburgh, and with Mr. Bruce for your fish?-So far as regards the store, I have never been obliged to take anything from it. I always went and bought my goods for ready money from any place where I could get them cheapest. 4860. Why was that?-Because as a general rule, I heard the people complaining that they were obliged to take their goods from the store, and that they were dearer there than they could be got elsewhere. 4861. Had you any difficulty in getting the balance due to you at the settlement at the end of the year in cash?-No. 4862. You always got money?-Yes. 4863. Was money also advanced to you in the course of the year before settlement, if you wanted it?-Yes, if I asked for it. 4864. What amount might you get advanced before settlement?- If I had asked it, I would have got perhaps £10 or £20. Of course I had a little money in Mr. Bruce's hands, so that I was not requiring to draw any money from him that was not due to me. 4865. Is there anything you wish to add to the evidence which has been given already?-There is one thing I should like to say with regard to the present law on the subject of leases. Mr. Bruce has the power of turning out men who have made a great many improvements on his estate, and perhaps, they may be turned out without receiving any compensation whatever. I am one of those who have done it great deal for it. I have expended upwards of £100 worth of labour and material on his ground. 4866. Before laying out that expense could you not have made an arrangement with the landlord that he should repay you for it if you were turned off?-So far as I am aware, he has never been prepared to give any rules or regulations to that effect. 4867. Has he not offered you a lease?-He has offered us a lease; but I don't think there is any party in Shetland who would accept of it. 4868. Have you ever applied for a different lease?-I have never applied for a lease at all. There was no use doing so, so far as I knew. But I think that when a party lays out money in improvements on master's estate he ought to be paid for it. 4869. But a man who lays out money upon another man's, land knows quite well before he begins that he will not be paid for it, and he takes the risk of the landlord being kind enough and able to repay him part of these expenses. It may very well be that the landlord is a poor enough man as well as the tenant, and that he cannot afford to put improvements upon his land; and yet the tenant goes and spends a lot of money on it, expecting the landlord to repay him for improvements which the landlord himself would not have made, if he had had the land in his own hands?-That may be quite true; but so far as I have understood, Mr. Bruce has always taken a great interest in having improvements made upon his land. 4870. That, however, is hardly a question into which I can enter here unless you think it has some bearing upon the system of payments at the shop, or the system of payments for the fish?-It has no bearing upon these questions at all, so far as I am aware, except perhaps in this way, that for four months in the winter season the fishermen are lying at home to a great extent, idle. The fishing commences about 1st May, and it finishes in the end of August. Then they have to gather in their summer crops; and during the winter season, and the early part of the spring, they have very little to do; while a person of an active turn of mind does not like to remain idle for such a length of time. They want to be doing something, and they will engage to any one who has work to give them. 4871. Have you anything more to say about that?-I have nothing more to say except this, that when person is a tenant at will, and liable to be removed after having made improvements on the estate of any proprietor, he ought to receive compensation for these improvements. 4872. Would it be possible for fishermen in Shetland to carry on the business of fishermen alone without being tenants?-Not so far as my judgment goes. 4873. Why?-Because the small earnings from the fishing could not support him, neither could the land itself support him in the way it is laid down present. 4874. And I suppose, if the holdings of land were larger, a man would have no time to attend to the fishing?-No, he would not. If the holdings were larger, of course the men would have to occupy the whole of their time with the ground. 4875. Don't you think that, with an improved system of agriculture, you would find enough occupation on [Page 121] holdings of the present size for the whole year?-Not in my opinion; they are too small for that. 4876. Not even by following out the rules and regulations which Mr. Bruce has offered you?-No. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, ADAM LESLIE, jun., examined. 4877. You are a fisherman at Toab, in Dunrossness?-I am. 4878. Have you heard the evidence of the previous witnesses?- Yes. 4879. Does it fairly describe the system under which you hold your land and fish for Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh, and the way in which you deal at his shop?-Yes, I think it does. 4880. Is there any addition you wish to make to the evidence which has been given, or any correction upon it?-No. 4881. Have you a pass-book at the shop?-No. 4882. Do you deal at the shop at Grutness for the goods you want for your family?-In part I do. 4883. Do you find that, at the end of the year, you have generally a balance in your favour, or is it against you?-I cannot say that it is much against me. 4884. Do you get payment of that balance in money?-Yes. 4885. Do you also get advances in money, in the course of the year before settlement, if you want them?-Yes; whenever I ask for them. Our place is far away from the bank, and sometimes Mr. Bruce may have run out of money by so many people having gone and asked it from him; but if I go to him and ask him for money, and he does not have it, he tells me when to come back and get it. 4886. In that case, when you get the money, do you spend it generally at Mr. Bruce's shop, or do you go and deal at some other store with it?-I generally go to some other store. 4887. Do you find that you get your goods cheaper at another store than at his?-I am under that impression, but I never compared his goods with those of other merchants. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, GEORGE WILLIAMSON, examined 4888. You are a fisherman at Eastshore, Dunrossness, and a tenant on Mr Bruce's land?-I am. 4889. You have been there for thirteen years?-Yes. 4890. Do you remember a time when the fishermen got their freedom there?-That was before I came to the place. 4891. Were they understood formerly to be bound?-Yes, in old times they were bound; but, just about time when I came there, old Mr. Bruce gave them their liberty, and they were all free. 4892. Was there an understanding previously, that they were bound to fish only to him, or to his tacksmen?-Yes: but, two or three years before I came they got their liberty. 4893. Was there any payment made for that?-Each landholder had to pay 15s. a year for his freedom. 4894. Was that just an addition to their rent?-Yes. 4895. The rents were raised, and the fishermen had liberty to do as they liked about their fish?-Yes. 4896. From whom did you learn that?-It was given out by Mr. Bruce, and by all the tenants. 4897. But you said you were not there at the time?-I was not. 4898. Then you learned that when you came from common report?-Yes, just from common report. 4899. Was your father a landholder there?-No. I removed from Mr. Bruce of Simbister's ground to that place. 4900. Have you held your ground at the same rent for the thirteen years you have been there?-No. The rent has been raised a good deal since I came, in addition to the 15s. 4901. During all your time have you been free to deliver your fish to any person you chose?-I was free to do so until twelve years back, when I became bound to deliver my fish to Mr. John Bruce. 4902. That was by the letter which has been spoken of already?- Yes. 4903. You have heard the evidence of William Goudie, and the other men who have been examined?-Yes. 4904. Was it generally correct as to the way in which you deal about your fish?-So far as I could judge, I have not heard a wrong statement made to-day; and there has been nothing left for me to add to it. 4905. You agree with them that you can get money when you ask for it?-Yes. 4906. Is the bulk of the price of your fish paid to you in money or in goods?-I take goods according as I require them. I have meal and other things; and whatever is over, after paying my account at the shop and my rent, is cheerfully paid to me, the same as I would pay it to my son. There is not a freer man at paying money to his tenants than Mr. Bruce is. I have been £6 in debt, and asked him for advances, and he has given them to me. 4907. Was that after settlement?-Yes. 4908. And, of course, that was given to you on the understanding that you were to be fishing for him next year?-Yes; I was fishing for him by sea, and working for him by land. 4909. If you had not been fishing for him, would you have got an advance of that sort?-But I was fishing for him, so that I cannot tell that. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, JAMES FLAWES, examined. 4910. You are a fisherman, and tenant under Mr. Grierson at Rennesta, near Quendale?-I am. 4911. Are you under any obligation to deliver your fish to Mr Grierson?-Yes. 4912. Is he a fish-merchant and fish-curer?-He is a fish-merchant, and he has men under him for curing his fish. 4913. Is your obligation a written one, or is it part of a verbal lease of your land?-When young Mr. Grierson got the fishing, he read out a statement to his tenantry at large, in the schoolroom at Quendale. 4914. How long ago was that?-Twelve years ago. That statement which he read gave the tenantry to understand that he was to become their fish-merchant, or the man they were to deliver their fish to; and that they were all bound to give him every tail of their fish from end to end of the season, as long as they held their land under him. If they did not do that, they knew the consequences: they would be turned out. 4915. Was that all stated to you in the schoolroom on that occasion?-Yes; it was all read off by Mr. Grierson himself. 4916. Were you present?-Yes. 4917. Did he state that you would be paid for your fish according to the current price at the time of settlement?-Yes; that was stated also at that time. 4918. Was it stated how that current price was to be ascertained?-It was to be the currency of the country, particularly the prices paid by three or four merchants who dealt in the same kind of fish that he received from his tenants. 4919. Did Mr. Grierson name the four merchants whose prices were to rule?-The four merchants who generally agree together are Mr. John Robertson, [Page 122] Messrs. Hay, Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh, and Mr. Grierson. 4920. How do you know that these merchants agree together as to the prices?-Because the tenants of the whole of them generally get the same price for their fish. 4921. Do not all the tenants in Shetland generally get the same price for their fish each season?-No; there is a difference. 4922. Do you know that the tenants of these four parties always get one price?-Yes; generally it is the same price that is given to them all. 4923. Do you know that the tenants on other estates get a different price?-Yes, I know that. 4924. Can you mention any case in which that has happened?- Yes. There are a few merchants in Sandwick parish who get fish from a few boats there-James Smith, James Mouat, and Thomas Tulloch-and they always give a little higher. 4925. Do these merchants keep shops as well?-Yes, they have shops too. 4926. Do the men who fish for them deal at their shops?-I understand they do. 4927. Can you tell me how much Tulloch and Smith have paid for their fish?-In some years they give 6d. per cwt. more than Mr. Grierson and the other merchants I have mentioned, and for some kinds of fish 9d. more. 4928. What price did you receive for your fish at last settlement?-Last year, I think, we got 7s. for ling, or 7s. 3d., I could not exactly say which; 5s. 6d. for cod, and 3s. 6d. for saith. 4929. Do you know how much the fishermen got from Tulloch and Smith?-I could not exactly say, but they got a little more. 4930. You knew that at the time?-Yes, I knew it at the time from the fishermen who were giving their fish to them. 4931. Do you know how much more they got?-I think it was 9d. more on some fish, and 6d. more on others. It might be a little more; but, I think, I am safe to say that. 4932. Do you know anything about the prices of goods at the stores of Tulloch and Smith?-No. I never bought anything from them. 4933. Young Mr. Grierson, whom you mentioned as having taken the fishing in 1861, is now the proprietor of the estate?-Yes. 4934. Does the obligation which was then imposed upon you extend to the sons of his tenants, as well as to the tenants themselves?-It extends to all. 4935. Do you know of any case in which any man upon the land has delivered his fish to another fishcurer than Mr. Grierson, and has been challenged or turned out for that?-I know one. 4936. Who was that?-Thomas Johnston, Garth, Quendale, son of John Johnston. He was out of a chance of fishing for Mr. Grierson at his station, but he got a chance to fish for Messrs. Hay, and because he went and fished for them, he could not come back to his father's house, but had to remain all winter and vore ( spring) with the man he fished for. Then he came back next spring and fished for Mr. Grierson again. 4937. Who prevented him from coming back to his father's house, if he had chosen to do so?-He was told by Mr. Grierson, that if he went and fished for another person, he would have to stop away, and that if he came back, it would be his father's warning. 4938. How long ago was that?-I don't recollect exactly; perhaps two or three years ago. 4939. How do you know that that warning would have been given to John Johnston?-Because it was part of the arrangement with Mr. Grierson from the very outset. 4940. But how do you know that Thomas Johnston was told he must leave the land and that his father would be turned out if he came back?-Because he told me so himself, and he evidenced it by staying away. 4941. Was it not more convenient for him to live near the station where he was fishing for Hay & Co., than to remain in his father's house?-He had to leave his own house and go away down to the west voe to fish. 4942. But was it not more convenient for himself to go there?- Yes, it was handier for him to live near the place where he was fishing. 4943. Are you sure that was not the reason why he left his father's house?-But the man he fished for did not live at that station: his house was away upon the west side. 4944. Was he not upon Mr. Grierson's land?-No, not that man. 4945. Do you know the case of any other man being challenged or threatened because he sold his fish to another fish merchant than Mr. Grierson?-Yes, I know of another case-James Shewan on the ground of Brough, belonging to Mr. Grierson's estate. 4946. How long is it since that case happened?-It was last year. 4947. What do you know about it?-Shewan did not have a chance of fishing at home for Mr. Grierson, and he also took a chance at the ness with Messrs. Hay & Co. They fished from the west voe then. 4948. What was the consequence?-The consequence was that Shewan had to pay £1 of liberty money. 4949. When was that?-This year. 4950. Was it before last settlement?-No; it was at this settlement. 4951. Is the settlement over at Quendale for last season?-Almost. There were a few boats not settled with when we came up. 4952. How do you know that Shewan had to pay liberty money this year? Did he tell you that he had had to pay it?-Yes. 4953. Did you see him pay it?-I did not. 4954. Was it added to his account when settling?-I cannot tell you whether it was included in the settlement, or whether he had paid it some months before. 4955. When did he tell you about it?-He told me when he had settled. 4956. How long ago is that?-It is not very long; perhaps it week or two since. 4957. Is James Shewan a tenant of Mr. Grierson's?-Yes. 4958. Was it not it part of his bargain, on taking his land, that he should deliver his fish to his landlord?-Yes. 4959. And was not that £1 which he paid just a penalty for breach of contract?-Yes; but then he did not have a chance of fishing for Mr. Grierson. There were no men on Mr. Grierson's estate who could fill up a boat with him, the men that he had previously been going with having joined another crew; and therefore he had to go to some other place where he could earn something. 4960. Were Mr. Grierson's crews all filled up at that time?-Yes. 4961. Could Shewan not have brought his share of his boat's fish to Mr. Grierson and delivered them to him, although the rest of the men were fishing for Hay and Co.?-He might have done that; but I don't know very well about it. 4962. That would have been very inconvenient I suppose?-Yes, very. 4963. Do you know of any other case of the same kind?- No. 4964. Or of any case of a person being told that he must fish entirely to Mr. Grierson without being threatened?-We knew quite well from the statement which was made to us before, that if any one transgressed the rule, the penalty would just be our forty days warning. 4965. Do you deal at the Quendale store?-Yes. 4966. Who is the storekeeper there?-Ogilvy Jamieson. 4967. Is the shop at a convenient place for your people and for most of the fishermen round about?-Yes, it is very convenient. 4968. Does Jamieson receive your fish as well as attend to the shop?-Yes. There is a factor under [Page 123] him who receives the fish, but Jamieson is over all, both over the shop and the fish. 4969. What is the name of the factor who receives the fish?-It is sometimes one man and sometimes another. 4970. Do you run an account at the shop?-Yes. 4971. Are you expected to deal there, or have you freedom to deal where you like for what you want for your families?-We are quite at liberty to deal anywhere we choose, if we had only the means in our possession to do it. 4972. How is that you have not the means?-Because we have not got the money. 4973. Does Mr. Grierson advance you money in the course of the year before settlement when you ask for it?-He does. 4974. Can you not take that money and deal with it at any other store that suits you better than Mr. Grierson's?-We do that very often. 4975. Then, how is it that you say you have not the means of dealing where you choose?-What I mean by that is, that we don't have the chance to do it so often as we would like to do it; and we don't like to be always running to him for money for the small things we require. It is only in particular cases when we require a pound or so to help us that we ask it from him. 4976. What other shops are there convenient for you?-The only shop that I can make better out of than Mr. Grierson's in our district is Mr. Gavin Henderson's at Scousborough. 4977. Is that near Dunrossness kirk?-It is to the north and west of it. 4978. Do you prefer to go to Henderson's store because the goods are cheaper and better there?-Yes. 4979. Are they both cheaper and better?-We generally think so. 4980. Can you give me any particular case in which you have found them to be so?-I have never made an exact comparison of the things to find out the precise difference; but when we are to buy a suit of clothes for instance, we think we can make as good bargain at Henderson's shop as we can do at any shop in Shetland. 4981. Have you bought a suit of clothes both at that shop and at Mr. Grierson's?-I have never bought a full suit of clothes at Mr. Grierson's, but I have done so at Gavin Henderson's. 4982. What is the price of meal at Quendale store?-I could not tell exactly, because I have not had any there during the last two years, my little farm having supplied me with all I wanted. 4983. What is the price of tea at the two stores?-The prices of tea at both these stores are much the same. There are three different prices of tea at the two stores, but we rather think that Henderson's tea is generally better for the prices charged than Mr. Grierson's is. 4984. Have you tried the moleskins also?-Yes; and if I were buying with ready money out of Grierson's shop, I don't think the difference between them would be worth mentioning. 4985. But is there a difference according as you buy with ready money or pay at the settlement?-Yes. If I buy a pair of trousers for ready money, I get them down 1d. per yard. The cloth is marked 3s. per yard, and I get 1d. off the yard. Then if I buy a shirt of 3 yards, and if I pay ready money for it, I get reduction of 1d. per yard on 9d. or 10d. 4986. Do you get your goods cheaper at Henderson's shop even with that discount?-Yes. If I go to Henderson's shop without the money, he will not take any more for the goods than he would do even if I had the money with me. 4987. Will he give you the goods as cheap as at Grierson's?-Yes; as cheap as if I had bought them at Grierson's with ready money. 4988. Is there any other reason why you would prefer not to deal at Mr. Grierson's shop for your goods?-We would have no great objection to deal at his shop if we were paid a little better for our fish. It is our opinion that we are not paid for our fish altogether as we might be. 4989. But you get the currency of the country?-Yes; and we sign for that. 4990. Do you think you should get more than the currency of the country?-We cannot exactly judge of the state of the market, but from what we hear and from what we see in the papers, we think the merchants take rather too much profit, and that we would be a little better if we received the money for the sale of our fish ourselves. 4991. Do you think you would be better off if you had a price fixed for your fish at so much per cwt. at the beginning of the season?-That would depend upon circumstances. 4992. Taking a number of years together, do you think you could make a better bargain for yourselves in that way?-I think so. The three men I mentioned in Sandwick parish generally give an agreement to state something like what they will give, and they seem to stand by it pretty well whatever the price may be. 4993. Would the fishermen not object to that sort of arrangement?-I don't know. I don't think the fishermen in general would object to any agreement by which they might know what they were working for during the season, although I really cannot say that they could make any more decided efforts for catching fish than they do under present circumstances. 4994. But even although the price were fixed at the beginning of the season, the fishermen would still have an inducement to exert themselves as much as possible in order that they might have a large catch?-They would; but I say that I don't know how they could exert themselves to do more than they do already. 4995. Still, they would have exactly the same reason for exertion?-Yes. 4996. Do you think if the price were fixed at the beginning of the season, and it turned out that the current price of fish was much higher than that fixed with the men at the commencement, they would try to get out of their bargain, and demand the higher price that was current?-There comes the difficulty. We who catch the fish would always like to get as high a price for them as we can; but if we make an agreement, we must stand by it. However, if the merchants could afford to give 6d. or 1s. more according to the state of the markets, and did not give it, we would rather look down upon them for taking such a large price, and not giving us part of the advantage of it. 4997. But you ought to recollect that in another year you might have made a bargain for the same price, and the price received by the fish-curers might be less, so that there would be a loss to them?-Yes; but, I think the men in general would be prepared to run the risk of the rise and fall in the markets in that way, or, if they made a bargain, they would stick to it. 4998. Have you known any case in which men engaged to fish on such terms, and finding the price higher than that which they had bargained for, asked that higher price from the fish-curer?-I cannot say that I have known any case. 4999. You don't know whether that has ever occurred in Shetland?-No, I don't know anything about that. 5000. Do you know anything about the employment of beach boys?-A little. I had a boy employed this year at the beach. 5001. Is there considered to be an obligation upon the Quendale tenants to allow their sons to be employed as beach boys?-Yes, whenever called for. 5002. Is that obligation enforced?-Yes, it is just the same as with all the rest. The landlord says, 'If I call for your son to cure fish for me, and you object to it, then I can lay whatever penalty I choose upon you, and either remove you or impose a fine.' 5003. Do you know of any case where that has occurred?-No; because the tenants know exactly what the consequences would be, and they are frightened to do anything in opposition to their landlord's wishes. We are all poor people together, and not very well able to bear fines or removals. [Page 124] 5004. What are the wages for a beach boy?-An active beach boy for his first year at Quendale will get 30s. for about five months in the year. That is his whole wage. 5005. Could he get more in any other employment in Shetland?- In some cases Messrs. Hay's factor would give more for beach boys than they would get beside us. 5006. What is the age of a boy who would get that wage?-From twelve to fourteen or sixteen years; and if a boy goes two or three years to the beach, his wages are raised every year. 5007. How are their wages paid?-If they take goods from the shop, these are marked down against them. 5008. Are they marked down in the father's account, or in a separate account in the boy's own name?-In a separate account in the boy's own name. 5009. Has your son been long in that employment?-I have only had one of my sons at it for one year. 5010. Is he to be employed this year again in the same way?-Yes. 5011. Had he a balance in his favour when he was settled with?- He has not been settled with yet. He was employed for the year which has just come to an end; but I don't think he will have very much to get, as he had no clothes to speak of when he began, and he was very glad of the chance of winning a little, so that he might get a suit of clothes. 5012. Has it been a common case within the last two or three years for the fishermen who are employed in the way you have described to have a balance in their favour at settlement, or have they usually had balance against them?-During the last two or three years a good many of Mr. Grierson's fishermen have had a very good balance to come to them to account, but I and some others have been behind and could not get clear. 5013. Are there many of that sort?-There are few. 5014. Is it worse for a man of that kind to leave and get free of his obligation to fish than for a man that has cash to receive to do so?-Under Mr. Grierson's arrangement there is no difference between the two kinds of men as regards getting their liberty to fish to any other man, because none of them have any such liberty. 5015. The obligation to fish depends on the holding of land; it does not depend on the amount of debt due to Mr. Grierson?-No, it does not depend upon that. 5016. Are there many men there who fish for Mr. Grierson and who do not hold land?-Yes, there are a good few. 5017. Are they under any obligation to fish for him?-They are all under one obligation from head to foot. 5018. How does that happen in the case of men who do not hold land?-Because they are all on Mr. Grierson's ground. 5019. Would the party they live with be warned if they were not to fish for him?-That was in his first arrangement. 5020. Is that arrangement still in force?-I never knew of any alteration being made upon it. 5021. Have you been told anything about that obligation since it was read over to you in 1861?-No; there have been no cases in which it has been broken except the two I have mentioned, and we saw what happened. 5022. But you have not been spoken to about it at all?-No. 5023. Or reminded about it?-No, we have never been reminded about it; but we signed then to fish for Mr. Grierson, and we have heard of no other arrangement. 5024. How do you supply yourselves with fishing materials?-We generally take them from Mr. Grierson's shop. 5025. Are you under any sort of obligation to take them from there?-We are just under the same sort of obligation to take them from his shop as we are to take anything, because we generally cannot get them anywhere else. We never ask money to go and get them anywhere else, although it is our opinion that if we could go elsewhere, we would get them a little cheaper-that is, our fishing lines. 5026. Where would you go for them?-We could buy them in some shops in Lerwick a little cheaper. 5027. But you would have a long way to carry them if you were to buy them here?-Yes; but we don't think much of our travel sometimes when we can make good bargain. 5028. Have you anything more to say about the state of matters in your neighbourhood?-I have nothing more to say at present; only, if I am at liberty to do so, I should like to say on Mr. Grierson's behalf that, as a landlord, he has been very favourable to me and to many of the tenants. He has supplied us with goods and helped us, when we were not very well able to help ourselves; and he has continued to do that in my case to the present time. If I am in debt to him, he never charges me for that debt; but I am at liberty to sell any animal off my farm if I choose, without him asking anything about it. 5029. Are you a little behind just now?-I am a good bit behind just now. 5030. But you could still get an advance of money if you needed it?-Yes. The shopkeeper told me when I was settling, that if I wanted from 1s. to £1, I could get it from him any time I asked for it. 5031. Do you get all your things at his shop?-Not altogether. When I have a little money beside me, I can get them from any quarter. The fact is that I sometimes go there with money, and get the things cheaper than if I were getting them on credit. For instance, if I ask for a quarter pound of stick tobacco, I will get it for 1s. if I pay for it with money; while if it is marked down to me, it will be 1s. 1d. Now, we do think that is very unreasonable, as they have a profit both on our fish and on our goods, and we are very much dissatisfied about it. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, GEORGE GOUDIE, examined. 5032. You are a fisherman and tenant on the estate of Mr. Grierson of Quendale?-Yes; at Garth. 5033. Have you heard the evidence of James Flawes?-Yes. 5034. Is it generally a correct statement of the obligation you are under to fish to Mr. Grierson, and of the way in which you settle for your fish?-So far as I know, it is. 5035. Do you get money paid to you when you want it in the course of the season?-Yes. 5036. But is the greater part of the price of your fish got out in goods from Mr. Grierson's shop?-Yes, the greater part. 5037. What balance did you receive at last settlement?-I had no balance to receive. It was against me. 5038. Had most of the men a balance against them at last settlement?-I suppose the greater part of them had. 5039. Have you got a note of your settlement?-No. 5040. Did you get any receipt or pass-book or account?-No. 5041. Is your account read over to you at the settlement?-Yes, if we want to have it read. The shop account, if we want it, will be read over to us. 5042. If it is not read over, how do you know whether it is correctly charged or not?-The men who do not keep a note of their accounts for themselves cannot know whether they are correct or not even by hearing them read over. 5043. Are you generally content to trust to the shopkeeper for the accuracy of your account?-Yes. 5044. Do you know anything about the quality of the meal that is sold there, and the price of it?-Yes. 5045. Have you been getting meal from the shop [Page 125] during the last year or two?-Yes. Mr. Grierson's meal last year was from 2s. to 3s. per boll above what Mr. Gavin Henderson charged for his. 5046. Was the quality of Henderson's meal as good?-Yes; quite as good. 5047. Have you tried them both in your own house?-Yes. 5048. What was the price of the one and of the other?-Mr. Grierson's bear-meal was 14s. per boll-that is Shetland grain; and Gavin Henderson charged 12. for Shetland meal also. 5049. Does Mr Grierson's shopkeeper charge the same price for meal all through the year?-Yes; for the same kind of meal. 5050. All the meal of the same kind in your account is charged at the same rate throughout the year?-Yes. 5051. But at Gavin Henderson's, it is charged to you according to the price at the time you buy it: the price varying at different periods of the same year?-Yes, it varies a little; but Mr. Grierson's meal also varies when the price elsewhere varies. 5052. Then you may have meal charged at different rates in the same account?-Yes. 5053. Is there any other article, the price of which you have compared with what you could get it for elsewhere?-Yes, there is tobacco. If we buy a single ounce we pay 31/2d., and 2 oz. 6d., at Quendale store. In Gavin Henderson's we can get a single ounce for 3d., and 2 oz. are charged 6d. also. 5054. Is there anything else you can speak to?-No, I don't think there is anything else. 5055. Is there anything else you wish to say in addition to what James Flawes has said?-No. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, CHARLES EUNSON, examined. 5056. You are a fisherman, and a tenant of Mr. Grierson's at Waterbru?-I am. 5057. Is that near Quendale?-It is about a mile and a half away. 5058. Have you heard the evidence of James Flawes and George Goudie?-Yes. 5059. Is it generally correct with regard to the system of dealing at the shop and for your fish?-I think so. 5060. Is there anything you wish to add to it?-Nothing with respect to that; but I had a little experience once with regard to liberty money. Before the time when Mr. Grierson and Mr. Bruce took the fishings into their own hands-for they were both in company when they started with that-we had enjoyed our liberty all along, and had never been obliged to fish for our proprietors; but at that time we were taken in hand along with the rest of Mr. Grierson's tenants, and we had to fish for them. That lasted only for three years, and then the contract was broken, and each started on his own account. 5061. Was that before or after the statement which was made by Mr. Grierson at Quendale?-It was three years after it. When the contract was broken, Mr. Grierson had no place handy for us to land our fish at and deliver them to him, as we lived farther from Quendale than the rest of his tenants; and therefore at that time again we got our liberty and fished for whom we chose. He exacted nothing for that, and things went on in that way, I think, for three years; but at the end of that time Mr. Grierson took a station at Voe, on the east side of the parish, where he had had no place previously, and he told us that we would be obliged to deliver our fish to him, like the rest of his tenants. During the three years before we were put under that obligation, we had been fishing at the Ness, and had been at considerable trouble and expense in forcing a beach, and making other things right for curing our own fish. We were unwilling to lose the whole of that, and we applied to Mr. Grierson to allow us to continue to fish at the Ness; and he told us that if we paid three guineas of liberty money, he would allow us to fish there. We offered to pay that liberty money for one season, but it was a bad season; there were not many fish, and the price was low; and we went to Mr Grierson and asked him if he would take our fish. He consented to take them in a dry state; and he deducted 6d. per cwt. for the three guineas for every cwt. we delivered to him; so the result was that we had to pay him about £1 and upwards. 5062. In what year was that?-It is four years ago; it must have been in 1867. 5063. Then these fish would be settled for at the annual settlement?-Yes. 5064. Did you get any account of that year's settlement?-No; I would have got it if I had asked for it, but I never asked it. 5065. Who did you settle with that year?-With Mr. Grierson himself. 5066. You did not settle with Mr. Jamieson?-No; he had not come to the place at that time. There was another man there in the place which Mr. Jamieson now has, but we did not settle with him. 5067. Do you know anything about the price or quality of the meal at Quendale store as compared with other places?-It is a great deal better now than it used to be eleven or twelve years ago; it was not very satisfactory then, but it is not so bad now. The difference between the meal there and at other places is still something, but not so much so as it was. 5068. Do you get meal there?-Yes, frequently; and frequently at other places. 5069. I suppose you get it there, or at other places, according to the state of your account at the time?-Yes; or rather according to my interest. Mr. Grierson has never refused to give me anything reasonable that I asked him. He has been very generous in that way all along. 5070. Have you any boys on the beach?-I have one boy who has been engaged this year for the first time for Mr. Grierson. 5071. Had you any desire to have him engaged elsewhere?-I would not have minded much if he had never gone to the beach at all; it is not a very good berth for a boy. In the previous year they asked me if I would allow him to go to the beach, and I said I would rather not, as I required his services myself; but this season they asked me for him again. Perhaps they would not have taken him against my will, but Mr Grierson might have thought I was rather obstinate if I refused again, and so I let him go. I did not like to refuse when Mr. Grierson asked me. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, LAURENCE LESLIE, examined. 5072. You are a fisherman, and a tenant on Mr. Grierson's land at Hillwill?-I am only a fisherman, but I pay a little rent along with my father. 5073. Are you any relation of the witness Laurence Leslie who was previously examined?-No. 5074. You have heard the evidence of the previous witnesses from Quendale?-Yes. 5075. Is it generally correct?-I think it is. 5076. Is there anything you could add to it?-I don't think so. 5077. Although you are not a tenant, do you consider yourself bound to fish to Mr. Grierson?-Yes, I am bound to do so. 5078. You could be free from that obligation, however, by leaving the ground?-Yes. 5079. Do you run an account in your own name at Mr. Grierson's shop?-No. I get a little from the shop sometimes, but I buy what I want where I think most convenient. 5080. Do you get payment in money from Mr. Grierson?-Yes. 5081. Can you get all your payment in money from him if you like?-Yes. [Page 126] 5082. Do you get that money in the course of the year, or at the end of the season?-Just when we settle once a year. 5083. You don't get advances in the course of the year?-No; I don't seek any before the end of the year. 5084. Then you have always cash in hand?-Yes. 5085. You are a little ahead of the world?-Yes. 5086. Have you any beach boys in your family?-No; but I was a beach boy myself about fifteen years ago. 5087. That was before there was any obligation on the Quendale people to fish for their landlord?-Yes. 5088. At that time how was the arrangement made with beach boys?-I wrought for five months, and I got 10s. 5089. Was that paid to you in goods or in money at the settlement?-I got it in money at the settlement. 5090. Was that the usual way of settling at that time?-Yes. 5091. Is it the usual way still that a beach boy gets payment of his wages in money?-I believe so. 5092. Does he not run an account at the store?-I don't know anything about that myself. 5093. Have you anything to add to what the other men have said?-My wife sent up a shawl to a sister of mine in Lerwick to have it sold, and she sold it to Laurenson & Co. I came up to Lerwick some time afterwards, in the course of the spring, to take down a boat, and I went to the shop to get payment of the shawl. I was not requiring cottons or drapery goods, but I was requiring a pair of trousers; and when I went to the shop, I was shown a piece of tweed which I fixed upon to take, but the merchant refused to give me the cloth for the shawl, because it was a money article, and I had to take soft goods and other things which were of no use to me. 5094. Would he not have given you the cloth in exchange for the shawl at a somewhat higher rate than he would have given it to you for cash?-He would not give it to me at all, and I had to take the cottons and stuff that were of very little use to me. 5095. Did you take these home?-No. 5096. Have you had any other dealings of that sort?-No. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, JOHN BURGESS, examined. 5097. You are a fisherman, and a tenant under Mr. Grierson at Hillwill?-Yes. 5098. Have you heard the evidence that has been given by James Flawes and the other witnesses from Quendale, with regard to Mr. Grierson's fishing business, and their dealings at his shop?-Yes. 5099. Is that evidence correct, so far as you know?-Yes, 5100. Have you anything to add to it?-Nothing. 5101. Do you know anything about the engagement of beach boys?-Yes. 5102. Are there some of them in your family?-Yes; I have had a son employed as a beach boy for two years. His wages for the first year were 30s., and for the second year, 35s. 5103. Was that wage fixed at the commencement of the year or at settlement time?-It was not fixed until settlement. I did not know what he was working for until then. 5104. Was he running an account at the time in the shop books?- A small one. It was very little he was requiring, and he got the balance in money. 5105. Was there any obligation on him to go as beach boy to Mr. Grierson?-Yes. 5106. Could you not have engaged him anywhere else?-No; I wanted to keep him at home beside myself, because I was requiring him, but Mr Jamieson told me he was requiring him at the beach, and I must just let him go; and therefore I preferred to put up with a little hardship to myself and my family, and allowed him to go to the beach. 5107. When did Mr. Jamieson tell you that?-When he came and asked me to allow my boy to go. 5108. Was that before the commencement of the first year which he served?-Yes. 5109. Did you make any objection when Mr. Jamieson asked you for him?-Yes, I objected a little. I said I would be glad to keep him at home; but Mr. Jamieson said I would better just let him go, and I did so, without any more hesitation. 5110. Do you know anything about the difference in the price of meal at Mr. Grierson's store, and at others?-No; I have had very little to do with the store. 5111. Do you not deal there?-I deal for a few small things, but very little. 5112. Do you buy most of your provisions and other things from other stores?-Yes, for the most part. 5113. Where do you get them?-From Mr. Henderson's. 5114. Are you quite at liberty to go there for them-Yes. 5115. Can you get advances of money from Mr. Grierson in the course of the year for the purpose of buying goods at Henderson's and other stores?-Yes. If I was asking for advances, I would get them; but I don't ask for any until settling time, and then I get the balance, whatever it is, freely. 5116. Have you an account against you at that time?-Yes. 5117. Have you any pass-book?-No, I don't keep any pass-book. 5118. Is your account read over to you at settlement time?-Yes. 5119. And you see that it is correct?-Yes; so far as my judgment leads me. 5120. But you say you don't get many goods at the store: is that because you can get them cheaper elsewhere?-Perhaps that is sometimes the reason, and sometimes I don't require the things which are there. I always take my fishing materials, lines and hooks, and other things of that kind, from the store. 5121. Are these things reasonably priced?-We suppose they are much the same as in other places in the neighbourhood. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, HENRY LESLIE, examined. 5122. You are a fisherman, and a tenant under Grierson at Gord?-I am. 5123. You have heard the evidence of Flawes and the others?- Yes. 5124. Do you agree with it, so far as you know?-Yes. 5125. You know the facts which have been stated by them to be true?-Yes. 5126. Have you been a long time a tenant on that estate?-Yes; for fifty years at any rate. 5127. At the commencement of that period, were you free to fish to any one you liked?-No; there has always been a bond on that estate to fish to Mr. Grierson, or to any one to whom the fish were let. That has been the case all my time, and I have been more than sixty years there. 5128. Have you fished to anybody else during any part of that time?-No; it was always to him. There were three years when Mr. Bruce and Mr Grierson were in company together. 5129. But before that you were not free?-No; I never knew a time when we were free all the time I have been there. 5130. Who did you fish to before that?-To Mr. Grierson and to his father. I fished to the present Mr. Grierson's grandfather, and I was at the beach to him. 5131. Was he a fish-curer and fish-merchant also?-Yes. [Page 127] 5132. Was that property ever set in tack to a fish-merchant?-Yes; but that was before my day. 5133. Has the obligation to fish always been a part of the condition on which you held your land?-Yes. 5134. Were you present at the time when young Mr. Grierson intimated to the tenants that he was taking the fishing into his own hands?-Yes; I and every man and boy on the estate were all assembled in the same room, and we all heard the same agreement read 5135. Was not that the beginning of the present state of things under which you are now bound to fish?-Yes. 5136. Then you were free before that?-No, we were not free; but we wrought upon a different scale. 5137. Were you bound at that time to fish for Mr. Grierson?-Yes. 5138. Is there anything you wish to add to the statement which the other men have made about the present state of things?-I have nothing to add to what the other Quendale men have stated. 5139. Have you been getting meal from Mr. Grierson's store?- No; I have got none there for the last two years. I required none during that time. 5140. Have you had plenty to supply you from your own ground?-Yes; or I had bought it at a roup when other people were going out. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, PETER MOUAT SANDISON, examined. 5141. You are inspector of poor in the parish of Fetlar and North Yell?-I am. 5142. You were formerly engaged in the fish-curing trade?-I was, for a considerable time. 5143. Have you heard the evidence of any of the witnesses who have been examined here to-day?-I have. 5144. Was the mode of paying for fish, and the way in which the accounts of the fishermen were settled at the end of the year, much the same in Yell when you were engaged in the business as you have heard described?-Yes, the settlement was much the same. 5145. Was it made about the same season of the year?-It was generally made about 20th November on towards the end of the year. 5146. Does the fisherman who is employed there by a merchant usually open an account in that merchant's books for provisions and soft goods and other things which he wants for his family?- Yes, he does, almost invariably. 5147. In your experience, is that account pretty nearly even on the two sides, or is there a balance due on the one side or on the other at the end of the year?-That, of course, depends a great deal upon the party who is running the account. There is a difference in men as well as in merchants and fish-curers. Some have larger families and require a great deal more supplies than others. Some have smaller families, and the produce of their own farms can serve them for a longer period in the year than others. From various causes the amount of their supplies is very different; but for the last three years I should say there have been only about 20 to 25 per cent of them who have not had money to get at settlement. 5148. It has been said that it is an important thing for the success of a merchant to get his fishermen into debt to him, so that he may secure their services for the succeeding year: would you consider that a safe policy to pursue on the part of a merchant?-I was a fish-curer and merchant for twelve years myself, and I am always considered it to be the best policy to have clear men 5149. Did you find that, as a rule, the best men were clear in your books?-Decidedly. I never found that debt afforded me any hold whatever upon a man. 5150. Then you found the case to be rather the reverse of what I have stated?-Yes; and the reason why I think it was the reverse is, that no man was in debt who could help it, and generally a man who was in debt was found to be an extravagant, careless man, or there was something wrong with him. Whenever a man got a certain depth into debt, he did not care how much deeper he went; and if I refused him further supplies at the shop, then he just went to another merchant. 5151. Or he might go south?-Occasionally he did, but not often. These kind of men don't go south. 5152. But if he went to another man, you could charge him for your debt?-Yes; my only recourse was to summon him; but what was the use of doing that. I would only have lost the expense of my summons, because he had nothing that I could take from him; or if he had anything, his landlord generally came in with his right of hypothec. 5153. Could you not arrest the proceeds of his fishing in the hands of the other merchant to whom he had gone?-No; I think that is not legal. I have tried it, but I could not succeed. A considerable number of the men who left me one year went to another fishcurer, who happened to be their own proprietor. He had not been curing fish previously. I summoned several of them; and with one of them especially I had a case in court in Lerwick for a considerable time. It was ultimately decided that the merchant, as proprietor, should pay the expense to which I had been at; but as to the account, I did not get one penny of it. I got my expenses and nothing more. I give it up as hopeless case. 5154. Had these fishermen been obliged to leave your service and go to fish for their proprietor?-Yes; at that time they were obliged to do so. 5155. He had regarded it as part of the obligation under which they held their land that they should fish for him?-He had not been carrying on the fishing previously; and he allowed the men to fish for me, or, least, for the firm which I was conducting; but when he took the fishing into his own hands, he required his men to fish for himself. 5156. I suppose he agreed to pay the expenses of the case you mentioned because he felt it was some hardship to you to deprive you of the services of these men?-It was his lawyer and mine, I think, who agreed together about the expenses. 5157. Was the proprietor to whom you refer Mr. Henderson?-No. 5158. Was it Mr M'Queen?-No. 5159. Was he a proprietor in Yell?-Yes. 5160. How many fishermen did you generally employ?-At one time I employed 90. 5161. Would the whole of these men have accounts in your shop books?-Yes. 5162. Can you give me some idea of what amount of the proceeds of their fishing would be paid for by their account for goods?- The lowest amount that I ever had in an account for goods, when I settled with a man, was 21/2d. for a whole twelvemonth-the man got the rest in cash; and the highest, if I remember right, was somewhere about £10. 10s. 5163. What balance would remain due to that man?-Some years, of course, he would be in debt; but in other years he would have something to get. 5164. Was it a very good year in which the man had taken ten guineas worth from your shop, or was that about the average amount of their shop accounts?-I am talking about the average accounts for the twelve years during which I was carrying on the business. In the last year when I carried on the business on my own account, the most money I paid to any man for fish was £22. 5165. What would be the amount of that man's contra account for goods?-I think about six guineas. 5166. Would that be a fair specimen of the accounts?-No; that was an extra year. There was an extra quantity of fish taken, and an extra price paid for them; and that man's boat, I think, was the highest fished boat an the whole station. 5167. But would that be a fair specimen of the amount of goods which a man took throughout the season?-No. [Page 128] 5168. Do you think it would be more, or less, an average?-It would be more than the average. I should say that about £3, 10s. would be a pretty fair average in our quarter, taking young men, tenants, and non-tenants all together. 5169. Is it the practice in the trade in Yell to give the fisherman a state of his account at the end of the year?-No; it is not the practice. 5170. Or a pass-book?-We always wanted them to keep a pass-book, but they would very seldom do it. They could not be troubled with it. Sometimes they would take a pass-book and bring it for a few times, and then, perhaps, they would not bring it again for month. 5171. Does that arise from their own carelessness; or is it from a notion that the shopkeeper cannot be troubled entering the goods in a book as they are got, because he is too busy to do so?-I never knew that to be the case; but I have heard many of the men say they had confidence in their merchant, and that they would not be bothered to keep a pass-book. 5172. When that was the case, did you, at the settlement, read over the accounts to the fishermen item by item?-Yes, in most cases; but some men won't be at the bother of even hearing their accounts read over. They just say, 'We know you won't cheat us,' and they hear the sum-total. 5173. Then it is their own fault if they do not know what their account contains?-Of course it is. 5174. Is it the men who make the settlement with you, or their wives?-The men, generally. 5175. Then they don't know what they have got out of the shop, if it is their wives who have been dealing there?-Probably not; but there is a whole day given to the settlement with these men, and they have plenty of time to examine into their accounts if they think there anything wrong. 5176. Did you do anything in hosiery?-I did. 5177. When you bought hosiery goods, did you usually send them to the south?-Yes. 5178. Did you send any to merchants in Lerwick?-I generally sent knitted goods to the south; and the worsted I sent to Lerwick. 5179. You bought worsted yourself?-Yes; yarn made by the country people themselves with their own wool. 5180. What is the usual price for Shetland worsted?-From 2d. to 7d. per cut. 5181. That comes to how much per pound?-We never take it by the pound; we always take it by the cut. 7d. a cut would, I suppose, be about 2s. 6d. per ounce, or 40s. per pound. 5182. Would not that be very fine?-Yes. 5183. Would it be the finest Shetland worsted that is made?-I think it is. I have never bought any finer than that, and I have not been aware of any being bought finer. 5184. Then you sold that to merchants in Lerwick at some per centage of profit to yourself?-Not one cent. I never, in all my experience, got a cent for worsted beyond what I paid for it, and I never asked it. 5185. Do you think the worsted you have mentioned is the finest and dearest worsted that is sold out of the island to any merchant?-I do. 5186. Did you ever know of any worsted being sold out of Yell as high as 80s. or 90s. per pound?-I may be making a mistake the weight. I was guessing 4 cuts to the ounce; but perhaps I may be below the mark. The 7d. worsted I know is very fine; but never weighed it, and I may be making an unintentional mistake in that respect. 5187. The 7d. worsted might be lighter than you suppose, and therefore a pound of it might be more expensive?-Yes. 5188. Is it a common thing to have worsted so fine as that?-No; it is the exception. 5189. The average will be a good deal lower?-I should think 3d. would be about the average. 5190. In dealing with people in Yell, you keep an account with the fisherman?-Yes. 5191. Is there any separate account kept for supplies with the wife and family?-Yes; there are separate accounts kept with them. I don't suppose there are many families in the north in which each member, after arriving at a certain age does not keep a separate account. 5192. Is that in consequence of their being employed in the fish trade, or from their having hosiery of their own making to dispose of?-I don't think it is; but the husband or father is generally at the fishing, and he supplies the heavy goods that are required for the family-meal and such like-so far as he is able. Then the wife has wool, which she either spins into worsted, or perhaps may sell. She comes to the merchant herself with it and makes her own bargain. Perhaps she may be due a little when she comes with this day's supplies for stuff that she has been buying, and anything she is due may be put to her own account; the next day she may have a little over, and that is credited to her account. Then the girls, as soon as they are able to knit, go to the shop on their own account too with their knitting and with their spinning, and the merchant upon his responsibility opens an account with them, if he thinks proper; and they go on with these accounts until perhaps they are married. 5193. Then hosiery is generally paid for in Yell with goods?- There is seldom anything asked for except goods. 5194. The account for goods is added up on the one side, and the account for hosiery on the other, and it is squared up now and then?-The value of the hosiery is generally given in goods at the time when the hosiery is sold. 5195. In Yell the hosiery is always sold; it is not made to order?- No; there is no making to order in Yell. 5196. Is there a separate book kept for those dealings with the females from that in which you enter your dealings with the fishermen?-I think in most cases there is a separate book. At any rate I kept a separate book, but I cannot speak for others. 5197. It has been said that that book is called the women's book: is that so?-That was the name I gave to it. 5198. But you don't know whether other merchants give it that name?-No; but I gave it that name because I had no other entries in it except the accounts had against women. 5199. I understand it was only the home-fishing that you engaged?-Yes. 5200. You had nothing to do with the Faroe fishing?-No. 5201. Do you think it would be any advantage for the merchants or for the fishermen if the price to be given for the fish were fixed at the commencement of the fishing season?-I think that would be an advantage to the merchants, but not for the fishermen. 5202. How would the merchants benefit by that?-Because they would then have no bargain to make with the fishermen. 5203. They would have to make a bargain at the commencement of the year?-Yes; but suppose the bargain were to be, that the fish were to be paid for at 8s. per cwt.; in that case the fishermen would require to own his own boat and his own lines, and furnish them himself, and the fish-curer or merchant would have no risk and no loss, but would just pay exactly for what he got. But in the case as it at present stands, the merchant has to furnish the boat and lines, and salt, and everything connected with the fishing, and he has the chance in North Yell, as is very often the case, of losing £5 or £10 or £15 worth of lines in one day in the deep water. The lines are often left there, and the men cannot get them. 5204. In what why does the merchant furnish the boat to the men?-He buys the boat, and hires it, as well as the lines, to six men. 5205. What is the amount of the hire?-£6 per season for boat and lines. 5206. And that sum is deducted from the credit side of the fisherman's account?-Yes. The six men come forward to me as a fish-curer, and they wish me to [Page 129] employ them for the fishing. I do so, and I give them a boat which, if it is a new boat ready for sea, will cost £20. I also give them new lines, which, along with the boat, will cost altogether from £35 to £40. They agree to pay me £6 of hire for that for the time they use it, and to deliver the fish caught by them with these lines and in that boat to me. No price is fixed for the fish, but it is the general understanding that they are to be paid at the highest currency of the country. Well, they go to the fishing, and perhaps the very first day, as I have known to be the case, they may have lost £15 worth of lines; and as soon as they come ashore, they come to me, and I have to give them other £15 worth. 5207. Do they not pay for the lines they have lost in that case?- Not one penny; I take the risk. The sum which I charge covers all risk, and that is all I get. 5208. Then the fishermen have not much inducement to be careful of the lines or of the boat?-Oh yes; because if they lose lines, they lose fish; and if they lose the boat, they stand a chance of losing their own lives. I have not been a fisherman myself, but I should fancy that no fisherman would willingly lose lines if he could help it. 5209. Is it not the case that fishermen sometimes buy the boat from the curer, and pay for it by instalments running over a certain number of years?-Not in Yell. 5210. You have had no experience of that system of dealing?-I cannot say that I have. 5211. Do you think it is of great importance to a fish-curer here to have fishermen bound to fish for him? Does it tend greatly to ensure his success in the fishing trade?-I don't know very well how to answer that question. I had fishermen bound to me during the period of my lease-about sixty of them I suppose. 5212. Was that a lease which you held of an estate in Yell?-Yes; Major Cameron's. 5213. Did you lease the whole of Major Cameron's property in North and Mid Yell?-Yes. 5214. Were these men all bound to fish for you?-They were leased over to my brother, and I wrought out the business for him, but the men were never compelled in any way. About one-third of them were south-going men, and I should think about one-sixth of them fished to others. 5915. You did not enforce the obligation which you understood them to be under?-No; I never enforced it in any case but one. 5216. Had you always enough men to man your boats with?-We had men belonging to other proprietors, and other proprietors had men belonging to us, and none of us ever enforced that obligation except in one case, and that was merely in order that we might put out a boat to sea. There were five men engaged for the boat, and we could not get another free man, so we had to take one. 5217. Was that long since?-Yes; it was in 1855. But I know of men who have been offered this year and last year to get their money every Saturday night, or every day when they landed fish, and they would not accept it. These were men who were thoroughly clear. 5218. Was it wages they were offered, or a price for the fish they delivered?-A price for the fish they delivered. Suppose they delivered 20 cwt. of fish to me, I would pay them for these fish. 5219. How was the price to be fixed in that case?-It would be fixed at once. 5220. Would it be fixed at the beginning of the year?-Yes. 5221. Is it long since you proposed that arrangement to any man?-It was at the settlement of 1870. 5222. Did you offer to pay certain men in that way at that time?-I did not do it, because I was not in the fishing at that time, but I was present when it was offered. It was the parties for whom I was curing fish at that time who offered the money. 5223. Was that Spence & Co.?-Yes. 5224. The offer was made to men in Yell?-Yes. 5225. And the men declined that offer?-Yes; they declined taking it. They said if they had as much money as would carry them through the year, they would rather not take any more, but that they could trust to the merchants. 5226. Was that offer made to many men?-To all their men in Yell. There were 30 boats, with six men in each boat, and that offer was made to the whole of them at Cullivoe. The same offer was repeated this year, and they still would not accept of it. They accept of not take their cash until the end of the year. 5227. Was that because they wanted to have something at the end of the year with which to pay their rent?-I suppose that would be one of their reasons; but they were afraid that if they got their cash every Saturday, or every fortnight, or every month, they would spend it carelessly and thoughtlessly, whereas they did not have the money, they could not spend it. 5228. Are there any leases in Yell now?-Scarcely any. 5229. Have there been leases introduced lately?-No; but there have been some offered-on Major Cameron's estate, and on Mr. Irvine's. 5230. Do these leases contain any conditions as to fishing?-No. 5231. Were the conditions such as would interfere with fishing, or do you know anything about that?-Mr. Irvine's leases were not such as to interfere with the fishing in any way, and I think there were three persons who accepted them. With regard to the other leases, I do not say they were such as would interfere with the fishings. There was a certain amount of work required to be done on the farms during the year, but I think all that was required could have been done when there was no fishing being prosecuted. At that season, what I would call the fishing was not going on. 5232. But the tenants have not accepted that offer?-There are two on Major Cameron's property who are under lease, I believe, or who understand they are under leases. I am not aware if the lease has ever been signed; I think not. 5233. The poor-rates in your parish, I understand are not so high as in some parts of Shetland?-I suppose not. They are 3s. for 1872-1s. 6d. on the proprietor and 1s. 6d. on the tenant. 5234. Can you say, from your experience as an inspector of poor, that pauperism is promoted in any degree by the system which prevails of settling only once a year?-No; I should not say it was increased in any way by that. 5235. Does not that system of long settlements induce people to be a little careless about their money, and improvident?-There are a certain class who, if they had money, would spend it. That class are pretty well looked after by the fish-curer; they are only allowed advances in such small proportions as enable them to get through the year, and to be as little in arrear as possible at the end. If these same parties had the money in their hands, I am certain it would not last them so long as it does in the fish-curer's hands. 5236. That is to say, he will only allow them a certain amount of supplies from the shop?-Yes; so much a week or a fortnight. 5237. Or cash if they want it, but to a limited extent?-Yes; I should think that cash would be given to a free man. 5238. But not to a bound fisherman?-Not unless it was for a necessary purpose-to purchase something, for instance, which the merchant cannot supply. 5239. If a man is bound to fish to a proprietor or tacksman in Yell, is that man bound to deal at the shop of his employer?-By no means. 5240. By a free man, do you mean one who is not in debt?-Yes. I don't mean to say that cash would be absolutely refused even to a man who was in debt, but it would not be given to him unless it was for a necessary purpose. 5241. Can you explain how beach boys are generally employed in Yell?-Yes, I ought to have a pretty good idea of it. [Page 130] 5242. Is an account opened at the shop at the same time that the engagement is made in the beach boy's name, from which he can get supplies if he wishes them?-Yes, sometimes. 5243. So that when he becomes a beach boy, he is virtually independent of his father?-Not always. The fish-curer would prefer not to open an account with him until the end of the season, because generally, when a beach boy gets an account opened, he will overrun it if he possibly can. Therefore we prefer not to open an account with the boys themselves, but to deal with their fathers, which we very often do. In the case, however, of an orphan boy, or a boy who has got extravagant or helpless parents, we open an account with himself. 5244. Is there any difficulty in procuring the services of beach boys?-I never knew of any difficulty. I have cured fish since 1859, and I never had power over one, and I never wanted to have it. 5245. You had not power over them even where you had the fishermen bound to you?-No; they have not been bound for the last seven years while I have been curing. 5246. Is it seven years since those fishermen on Major Cameron's estate were bound?-Yes. 5247. At that time did the obligation apply to their families?-No. 5248. Then the boys were not obliged to be engaged to you as beach boys?-No; we took any boy who was most convenient for ourselves, without taking into consideration whose tenant his father was. 5249. It has been said that there is an inclination on the part of the fish merchant to get the beach boys into his debt, so as to secure their services in the following year: is there any foundation for that statement?-I have heard it said, but I never could believe it was the case. 5250. Are the boys always quite ready to engage for that work?- They are always very anxious to engage for it, because always before they enter on hard labour they are able to take a turn on the beach, and they get something for that. 5251. But what they get for it is generally settled for in goods at the end of the year?-No, not generally. If a boy runs an account himself, it is settled in goods; but if it is an account with his father, it is settled in cash. 5252. May the proportion of the boys who have an account of their own be about one-half or about one-third of them?-I should say that for the last three years three-fourths of them have got an account of their own; but then they were not boys. Although they get the name of boys, they were old men and women. 5253. You mean that women are employed in that part of the work?-Yes. 5254. What are their wages?-In 1870 the parties under my control had from £4, 10s. down to 35s. according to age and ability; and in 1871 the people employed were all boys except one man: the boys had from 25s. to 35s., and the man had £3. 5255. Are you still in the fish-curing business?-Yes; I cure their fish for Spence & Co. 5256. Have you a shop now?-No. 5257. Then you simply manage their curing business?-I merely dry their fish for them. 5258. And the persons you have spoken of just now are still employed by you for the purpose of curing?-Yes. 5259. How are their wages paid?-As I was curing Spence & Co.'s fish, if they chose to go to Spence Co.'s at Uyea Sound in Unst, they got supplies there in an account, but only about one-fourth of them did so. The others got their supplies perhaps in the neighbouring shops. I cannot say where they got them, but they got cash from Spence & Co. at settling time. 5260. Was that cash advanced during the season, or was it all paid at settlement?-It was all paid settlement. If they asked for an advance, they would get it, but I was not aware of any being advanced. 5261. But such advances as were made by Spence and Co. were made by taking goods from their shop?-Yes, so far as I know. I also bought kelp for Spence & Co. 5262. Is there much done in kelp there?-Yes, good deal. 5263. What is the nature of that trade? Do you employ a number of people to gather the sea-weed?-It is women who do that. They form themselves into companies of two or three or four; they gather the seaweed and make the kelp, and then bring it to a merchant to sell. I had a lease of Major Cameron's kelpshores, but I transferred that lease to Spence & Co, and afterwards I bought the kelp and delivered it over to them. 5264. Did the women pay anything to the proprietor for leave to collect the sea-weed?-No; but I paid 20s. a ton, or rather Spence & Co. did. 5265. You paid that money for the exclusive right of purchasing from these women?-For the exclusive right of manufacturing kelp., We can employ people to collect it if we choose, but we think it better just to allow the women to do it themselves, without being forced in any way; and then we paid them 4s. per cwt. in cash for it, while we paid 20s. a ton to the proprietor and taxes. 5266. What taxes are there on the kelp?-Poor-rates, both as proprietor and tenant. 5267. Then 4s. per cwt. is the whole payment which these women receive for gathering the kelp and manufacturing it?-Yes. 5268. They manufacture it and bring it to you?-Yes. 5269. Are they paid entirely in cash?-They have been paid almost entirely in cash this year, but not altogether. 5270. They have the option of running an account for it at the shop?-Yes, if they choose to do so; but if they ask cash, they get it. 5271. Are you aware of any restriction being imposed upon tenants in Yell with regard to the disposing of their cattle or other stock on their ground?-I have known an instance or two of that during my experience in North Yell, but very seldom. 5272. Has that been done when they have been in debt to the merchant?-Yes; if they were in debt, almost beyond redemption. 5273. Then the merchant has interfered as a creditor merely?-Not the merchant, but the proprietor. 5274. Was it for his rent that he interfered?-Yes. 5275. In these cases was the proprietor a merchant as well?-Yes, in some cases. 5276. And he has interfered both for his rent, and for the account due to him as a merchant?-I cannot say about him being a merchant. I always understood it was done for rent. I have known of cattle being taken according to law for a shop account. 5277. You mean that they were poinded?-Yes, by a Sheriff's warrant. 5278. But is there any practice in Yell of a man marking his cattle as belonging to a merchant to whom he is in debt?-No; I never knew that done. 5279. Or coming under an obligation not to sell them to any one except that merchant?-I could quite believe that a tenant would offer his cow or his pony, or whatever it might be, to the proprietor; but I am not aware of any one being compelled to do so in North Yell. I have myself marked a cow of a defaulting tenant when I was acting as my brother's agent, and as lessee of Major Cameron's property, but that was for the rent. 5280. Did you mark it and allow it to remain on the ground?- Yes; I allowed it to continue in the tenant's hands until I might think fit to remove it. 5281. Was that man in debt to you as well?-He was in debt as a tenant only for rent. 5282. Was he not also in debt for goods supplied?-No; because he was not a fisherman; he was a sailor. 5283. Would you give a higher price for kelp than 4s. a cwt. if the women had taken payment of it in goods?-No; there was an understanding at one time that parties would get 6d. less if they took it in cash, [Page 131] but for the last two years, in my experience with Spence & Co., and formerly with myself, the women have been quite at liberty to take cash or goods, and 4s. was the price. According to the terms of my lease, I was bound to pay nothing less than 4s. to the parties who made it. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, JAMES BROWN, examined. 5284. You are a tenant under Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh at Toab, Dunrossness, and you fish for him?-Yes. 5285. You have heard the evidence that was given by William Goudie and the other fishermen to-day?-Yes. 5286. Do you know it to be correct with regard to the system of fishing there, and the obligation to fish for Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh?-Yes; so far as I can remember, it is correct. 5287. Did it happen some time ago that you had sold fish to another than Mr. Bruce?-It was supposed so. 5288. What was done in consequence?-My house was offered to be let to another tenant. It was publicly advertised at Messrs. Hay's shop at Dunrossness. 5289. The you see the ticket put up?-No, I did not see it. 5290. But you knew of it?-Yes. 5291. And in consequence of what you heard about it, did you go to Mr. Bruce?-Yes. 5292. What did you say? Did you ask why your farm was to be let?-Yes. He told me before I had time to speak that he was forced to offer my house to another tenant. I said there was surely a cause for that, and he said that the cause was that I was selling fish to another man. 5293. To whom did he say you were selling fish?-To Robert Leslie. 5294. Was that the case?-No; I proved it not to be the case. I told him I would bring proof of that if he required it, but I was never called upon to do so. 5295. You satisfied Mr. Bruce that he was under a mistake, and you still hold the same ground?-Yes. 5296. Had you reason to believe that you would really have been turned out of your ground for selling your fish to another than Mr. Bruce if you had done so?-I had every cause to think so. 5297. Why?-Because at the commencement, when he took the fishing into his own lands, there was a letter read in my hearing, to the effect that we were to deliver our fish to him. 5298. Is that the letter which Laurence Smith spoke of to-day?- Yes, the same letter. It was read by John Harper in my hearing. 5299. Do you know whether the meal is dearer at Grutness store than you can get it elsewhere?-Yes; I have got a little there. 5300. Have you bought it cheaper elsewhere?-Yes; I have bought it in Lerwick, and I found it cheaper there than at the store. It was in 1869 that I bought a boll of meal at Lerwick, and I paid £1, 3s. for it, while their meal that season was 24s. 5301. Was there any difference in the weight of the boll at Grutness?-I could not prove that. I had a running account there, and I sometimes got a boll, sometimes half a boll, and sometimes a peck; but when I came to settle, it was all run up into bolls, and I paid 24s. a boll for it. 5302. Had you any reason to suppose that you did not get the same weight in a boll from the store that you got anywhere else?-I made an objection to that, and I was told there was a little deduction made when I got 32 lbs. for a quarter boll instead of 35 lbs, but what that difference was I never knew. 5303. Who told you that?-Gilbert Irvine, the factor. 5304. Did he tell you that he only gave you 32 lbs. for a quarter boll?-I saw the weight myself. What we call a quarter boll is 35 lbs, and what is called a lispund is 32 lbs.; so that there should be a difference between what we call boll weight, and 32 lbs. for the quarter boll. 5305. Then you suspect or believe that you only got a lispund instead of a quarter boll?-Yes; I am under that impression, whether I am correct or not. 5306. Had you not the means of satisfying yourself about that?- Perhaps I might if I had inquired, but I never made any strict inquiry about it. Lerwick, January 9, 1872, HENRY SINCLAIR, examined. 5307. You are a tenant on the Simbister estate at Levenwick?- Yes; and I was formerly bound under a tacks-master. 5308. That was Robert Mouat?-Yes. 5309. You were bound to fish for him?-Yes. 5310. Who told you that you were so bound?-He told me himself. 5311. Did anybody else tell you that?-No. 5312. Was it understood in the neighbourhood that you were bound to give all your fish to him?-Yes; all my neighbours understood the same. 5313. Did you at any time deliver your fish to another?-Not one tail. I delivered them all to him during his tack. 5314. Was there one time when he gave you warning to leave?- On one occasion, when we had a good fishing, he sent away 7 cwt. of wet fish and kept it off us. My son was fishing with me at the time, and he went to Mouat; and they rather cast out about it at Mouat's house, and he told my son then that we should not be allowed to sit. 5315. Then it was because of a quarrel about the quantity of fish entered in the fish-book that you got your warning?-Yes. 5316. You were not warned out because you gave your fish to another dealer?-No; that was not the cause of it. Then, Mouat would not give me half of the land to sit in, in case my son sat beside me. 5317. Do you mean that he wanted your son to fish for him?-No; he thought that because they had cast out, if I got any land at all, my son would stay beside me; and that upset my son and made him lose his senses, so that he is now in the Asylum. 5318. How did that upset your son?-Because he was of a quick spirit, and he was grieved that we should have been put out of the land. 5319. But you were not put out of the land?-We were. I went to the sea, and Mouat took my wife to a piece of the hill-side and showed her there where we should build our house on a piece of the open hill. 5320. Did you build your house there?-Yes. He said that if we would not build our house there, we might lie at the back of a dyke. 5321. Did you fish for him after that?-Yes. 5322. Were you bound to do so?-My son would not fish, but I was still upon the land, and I just fished for him. 5323. Did you get your provisions at Mouat's store at Sandwick?-Yes; I could do nothing else than go to him, and he has brought me to poverty. 5324. Did you get your meal and other things there?-Yes; I had to go there for them all. 5325. Did you run an account with him, and settle it when you settled for your fish at the end of the year?-Yes. 5326. Had you ever a balance to get in money?-I had money in his hands when I was put out of the land. 5327. Up till the time when Mouat left the place, were you getting money from him year by year?-I was just getting out of the shop what I required, for I never got into debt to him. 5328. If anything was over did you get it in money [Page 132] at the settlement?-No; but the worst thing he did was he last time when he was going about looking for cattle which he could pick out and put away. 5329. Did he pick out any from you?-Yes. He took the last one I had, and he promised to give me a cow for it next week, but it has never come yet. 5330. Did you get any meal at Mouat's store?-The greater part of it was fit for nothing but the pigs. 5331. Could you have got it better at any other place near you?- Yes; but we could not get money from him, and therefore we had to take the meal from his store. 5332. Would he never advance you money for your fish?-No. 5333. You are not under that obligation now, but you can fish for anybody you like?-I am not fishing now; I am too old. 5334. But the people thereabout can fish for anybody they like?- Yes. Brae: Wednesday, January 10, 1872. -Mr. Guthrie. JAMES HAY, examined 5335. Are you a fisherman at Mossbank?-I am a fisherman, but I have not been at Mossbank. I live at a place called Firth, about a mile from Mossbank, to the south and east of it. 5336. Have you a bit of land there?-Yes; a small farm. 5337. Who do you fish for?-Mr. Thomas Adie. I go to the ling-fishing in the summer time. 5338. What bargain do you make with Mr. Adie about selling your fish to him?-I have never had any bargain made when I commenced to fish 5339. You just make up a boat's crew, and you are paid for your fish at the end of the season according to the current rate?-Yes 5340. Is it the understanding with all the boats' crews that they are to be paid at the current rate?-Yes. 5341. When is the price of your fish paid to you? At Martinmas when we settle. 5342. Have you an account in Mr. Adie's books for supplies to yourself and your family in the meantime?-Yes. 5343. Do you deal at his shop for all your provisions and your purchases of cotton and other things?-I do, for the principal part of what I need, but not altogether. 5344. How far do you live from Mr. Adie's nearest shop?-About 71/2 miles; his shop is at Voe. 5345. Do you always go there for what you want-Yes; generally I do that, unless sometimes, when I am needing some small things, I may go to another: but I am not bound to go to his shop unless I choose to go. 5346. Then why do you go so far?-Because I generally fish to Mr. Adie, and I have the greatest part of my dealings with him. I have not been accustomed to shift very much, unless it might be an inconvenience to me, and sometimes I have gone to another shop. 5347. How long have you fished for him?-For about fourteen or fifteen years. 5348. When you settle in November or December, have you generally a balance of cash to receive?-Sometimes I have and sometimes not. 5349. Does that depend upon the season?-Yes. 5350. When it has been a good season, you have generally something to receive?-Yes. 5351. How much did you get at last settlement in cash?-I think I got about £19 in money. 5352. What was the amount of your account for goods furnished at the shop?-I had more things in Mr. Adie's hands then than my summer's winnings; I had cattle in to sell. 5353. Had you sold cattle to Mr. Adie as well as your fish?-Yes. I had sold a young stot and a cow; I think they came to about £8. 5354. Were they sold at a public auction?-Yes. 5355. And bought by Mr. Adie there?-Mr. Adie. became good to pay me for them. I could not say exactly who was the purchaser. 5356. The price of these animals was included in the £19 you got in cash?-Yes; I paid my shop account, and then I got that money. 5357. Then, deducting the price you got for your cattle, there is £11 remaining as the price you got for your fish?-Yes; but I owned the boat myself, and I had the other men's hires to get in. 5358. Were these accounted for to you through Adie's books?- Yes. There were five of these hires to be paid; there were six of us in the boat altogether. 5359. What would be their share of the hire?-I think the hire of a boat is 50s. 5360. Then each of them would pay about 8s. 6d.?-Yes. 5361. So that would be 44s. off for boat-hire, leaving little less than £9 as the price of your fish, after deducting your shop account?-No; my share of the summer winning was more than that. 5362. But I am asking you what you got in cash at settlement?-I think it was about £19, or perhaps a little more. 5363. And £8 was taken off for the cow and about 44s. for the boat-hire?-The price of the cow and stot and my summer's earnings were all summed up together, and came to a certain amount; what I had got from Mr. Adie came to a certain amount too, and when I paid that off I had about £19 to get in clear money. 5364. But after taking the price of the cow and the value of the boat-hire off the £19, there would be something like £9 remaining: was that £9 due to you for anything besides your fish? Was anything due to you by Mr. Adie, except the price of the cow and the boat hire, and the price of your fish?-I don't remember anything else. 5365. Then £9 would be something like the price of your fish?-I don't remember. 5366. Have you a pass-book?-I have one but I have not brought it with me. 5367. How much was your shop account?-I think it was about £17. 5368. Then your fish would be worth about £26 altogether: was that the value of your take of fish last year?-No; my fish did not come to that. I think my sixth share came to about £18; but then, as I owned boat of my own, and had the expense of her to pay I was paid a little more than the others, so that I might have more than £18 to get. 5369. How do you square up your account at the shop and your account for fish at the end of the year?-At the end of the year I may have more things put into Mr. Adie's hands than my fishing. For instance last year I had that cow and stot, and perhaps some other things, and these and my fishing are all put together to my credit. Then my out-takes and things I have been requiring from Mr. Adie are put too, and the amount they come to is stated to me. 5370. Is that read over to you, or have you got it [Page 133] already in your pass-book?-Sometimes I have a passbook, and sometimes I don't require one. Sometimes I don't fash with it; that is the truth. 5371. Why is that?-I thought there was very little need for it, because Mr. Adie and I never disputed about these things, and when I had a pass-book I was not very particular about keeping it. 5372. Do you get money advanced to you in the course of the season if you want it?-I never was refused it when I asked for it. 5373. Is there generally something due to you for fish at the end of the season?-Sometimes I have been due Mr. Adie, and sometimes I have had a little in his hand; but, taking one time with another, we are generally square, and I am happy to say we are square in the meantime. 5374. Is there anything you think could be mended in that way of settling your accounts?-I don't know, I am sure. 5375. Was there anything particular you came here to-day to say about it?-There is one thing I would say, that we fishermen never know what we are to have when we commence our fishing. We work away as if we were blind. We don't know what the price is to be until the time of settlement, and then we must just take what currency is given, and we can get no further, and can make no more for ourselves. 5376. Do you think you could make any better arrangement than that?-I don't know, I am sure. 5377. Do you think you would be better off if you made a bargain for a fixed price to be paid to you at the delivery of your fish?-I might be better off with that in one season, and I might be worse off in others; but if I made my bargain for that, I could not grumble, although the fish could be paid better. At settlement I must stand by my bargain. Then, if the price of fish was less, the merchant might lose; so that I don't know which way would be best. 5378. But in that way you would know what you were working for?-Yes; and I would have no reason to grumble if I had made a bargain, even although I could have made a better thing of it in another way. 5379. Have you ever been asked to make a bargain of that kind?- No. 5380. Have you ever proposed it yourself?-I have turned it over, and said that it was a hard thing for a poor fisherman like me to fish and not know what I was fishing for, when other seamen knew what they were working for; but I never came to any conclusion about it. 5381. Do you think, if you were paid in that way in the course of the season as the fishing went on, you could make a better use of your money by purchasing your goods at other places than Mr. Adie's shop?-I could not say much about that. 5382. Could you buy your goods as well and as cheaply nearer home?-I don't think it, because the merchants appear to be all much about the same in our neighbourhood. They have all one price for their articles. 5353. Are the merchants about you all engaged in the fishing business as well as in the shop business?-Not all of them; but some of them are. Mr. Pole engaged in it; he is the principal merchant near us. 5384. Are there some of them who are not engaged the fishing business at all?-There is Robert Murray at Swinister; he is not much engaged in it. His shop about half a mile from where I live. 5385. Would you be as well served there, and as cheaply, as you are at Mr. Adie's and at Mr. Pole's?-I don't think would be any better. 5386. Would it be any advantage to you to have your money at your own command?-I might think so. A man is always glad to have some money to lay his hands upon. 5387. In answering my question in that way, do you mean to say that your money is not at your own disposal?-What I have to get when I settle I get without a word, and it is at my own disposal; but I would not like to take money from a man when I was due him anything. I would like always to pay my debts; and what I had over when I would know was my own, and I would make the best of it that I could. 5388. Does that mean that what money you get before settlement is not your own, and is not at your own disposal?-When I was standing in need of anything and wanted a little money, which I did not have myself, I could go to Mr. Adie when I was fishing for him, and ask him for £1 or £2, and he would give it to me, and then when I settled I would pay it back to him. 5389. That is to say, it would be charged against you at settlement?-Yes. 5390. But do you mean to say that if you get £1 or £2 in that way, you would not be at liberty to spend it as you pleased, and to buy goods with it at any shop you liked?-No. I could go where I liked with it, if I got it from him, because, of course, I would pay it back to him again, and he would not care what use I made of it. 5391. Would you rather have more cash advanced to you during the season than you have in an ordinary way at present, and not get all your goods at Voe?-I could not exactly say about that; I might. If I was paying down cash for the goods, I might get them a little cheaper than by marking them down. 5392. Would you get them cheaper for cash at Mr. Adie's own shop at Voe?-Well, money is a thing that every person is always glad to get hold of; and he might give me 1d. or 2d. down upon an article for ready money, which I would not get if he were to mark it down in his book. 5393. Do you know that you get a discount of 5 per cent. there for cash?-I have got it before. I have got 5 per cent. discount when I settled. 5394. Was that on goods that were entered in your account?-Yes; I have got that. I am not perfectly sure if I will get it this year, but I know that I have got it before. 5395. If you get that when you settle at the end of the year, would you get anything more if you were to pay in cash?-I am not able to say. 5396. You just think you would like to have your money in your hand as you deliver your fish: is that the notion you have?-I don't know whether it would be better to get it in my hand then, or to wait until I got it all at once at the conclusion. 5397. Are there some advantages in both ways of dealing?-I believe there are. 5398. Perhaps you would spend it too fast if you had it in your own hands?-I don't know about that. I would not like to spend it if I had it, unless it was for something that I really required to spend it on. 5399. Are you under any obligation to go to Mr. Adie's shop for the goods you want in the course of the year?-None that I am aware of. 5400. You have never been told it of course; but is it a great deal more convenient for you to go there than to deal at another shop?-No; it is not more convenient. I could go to it shop somewhat nearer; but still I don't think I would be any better; and as it has always been my custom to go there, I just continue to go. 5401. Is it only because it is your custom to go, or is it because you are in the way of delivering your fish to Mr. Adie, that you go to his store?-Mr. Adie has been very obliging to me many times by helping me when I could not help myself, and therefore I always felt a warm heart towards him, and went to his store. 5402. But is it the way with fishermen here, that they got to the shop of the man that they sell their fish to?-I am not able to speak to that except for myself. 5403. Do you not know what your neighbours do? It depends on the circumstances that my neighbours are in. If they are indebted to the man they are fishing to, of course they will go to that man, and perhaps have very little to go to him with. 5404. Are those neighbours of yours who are so indebted also likely to engage to fish for the same merchant during the following season?-Yes. When man is short of money, and has not enough with [Page 134] which to pay his land rent, he may go to the man he is fishing to, and he will help him with what he requires, but the understanding in that case is that he will serve him at the fishing for the rising year. That is generally the way it is done. 5405. Do you mean that when a man gets advances at a merchant's shop, it is understood that he must fish to him in the coming year?-Yes; that is generally understood. 5406. Have you had to do that yourself?-No; I have never been so hard up as that in my time. 5407. You have never been behind at the settlement?-Not very often. Sometimes I have been, and I have got advances from Mr. Adie without a word; but I was intending to fish for him in the coming year before I asked them. 5408. And you would make as good a bargain with him as with any other fishmaster?-I have always thought so. 5409. So that you did not fish to him because you were under any compulsion?-No. 5410. Were you under any obligation to do it because you were in his debt?-No. I have never been so deep in his debt but what, if I had it to do, I could have made some effort to get myself clear. 5411. Therefore the answer you previously gave only meant that there might be some men among your neighbours so far in debt that they were obliged to fish to a particular merchant?-Yes; when he supplied them with goods. 5412. Do you think there are many of those men among your neighbours?-I have no doubt there are more that way than there are the other way. 5413. Do you think that arises from the length of time that passes before you can get your money, or is there anything else you can think of that might mend that state of matters?-I cannot say. 5414. Is there anything else you want to tell me about the way in which dealings are carried on here?-No. 5415. You know you are on your oath, and you bound to speak the truth, and nobody can hurt you for anything you say to-day?-I trust that I shall say nothing but the truth, so far as I know. 5416. From whom do you hold your land and house?-From Mr. Bell of Lunna. 5417. Are you not bound by the terms of your lease to fish for any particular person?-No; he did not bind me to do that. I got liberty to serve myself and to fish for any one I pleased when I took the land from him; only if I went to Skerries I would have had to fish for John Robertson, who had a tack of Mr. Bell's land; but if I fished in any other way, he did not stop me from fishing for any person. 5418. But if you went to Skerries, and fished there during the summer, you would be bound by your bargain to fish for Mr. Robertson?-Yes. 5419. How do you know that that is an obligation upon you?-I was told so by the proprietor when I took the land. 5420. Was that told you by Mr. Bell himself?-Yes. 5421. Did he tell you at the same time, that if you fished elsewhere than at Skerries, you were at perfect liberty to fish for any one you liked?-Yes. He told me I was not bound to fish for Mr Robertson unless I fished at Skerries; but that if I fished at Skerries I must fish for him. 5422. Are there people in your neighbourhood who go to fish at Skerries?-There is one boat which generally fishes there. 5423. But they might go elsewhere if they chose?-I cannot say for that. 5424. Do you know of any person who has been threatened or turned off his ground on the estate of Lunna in your neighbourhood for refusing to fish to a particular person?-I do not. 5425. Are the fishermen there all free?-About us they are, so far as I know: that is about Firth, a mile from Mossbank. There are some of Mr. Bell's tenants who have fished along with me, and there was nothing said to them any more than to me because they did not fish at Skerries. Brae, January 10, 1872, ANDREW TULLOCH, examined. 5426. Where do you live?-In a town called Brough, near Mossbank. 5427. Whom do you fish for?-I have been fishing for myself for two years, and my fish have been sold to Mr. Leask and delivered at Lerwick. 5428. Do you cure for yourself?-Yes; I get a man to cure my fish. 5429. Do you engage a man to cure the whole fish of your boat's crew?-Yes; it is a small boat. There are three men and two boys in the crew. 5430. Do you think you make more of your fish in that way than if you delivered them green to a fishcurer?-I think so. 5431. Does Mr. Leask buy them from you cured?-Yes. 5432. He also cures fish himself?-Yes. 5433. When is the price fixed for your fish?-I think it was on 1st November last that we were paid. 5434. You take all your fish to Lerwick at once, once a year, and you get your money paid to you at the time?-Yes. 5435. Is it paid to you in cash?-Yes. 5436. Do you deal at any shop of Mr. Leask's?-No. I commonly deal at Mossbank, at Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co.'s shop. 5437. Do you deal for cash?-Yes. 5438. You pay ready money for what you get?-Yes. Sometimes I take things on credit too; but I am not compelled to do it. I need not do it unless I choose. 5439. Then you are perfectly free to fish for anybody you like, or for yourself if you prefer it?-Yes; and I think it is the best way to fish for myself. 5440. Is that a common thing in your neighbourhood?-It is not. 5441. Why don't the men in your neighbourhood adopt that system if it is the best way?-I don't know. I think for myself, and I suppose other people do the same. 5442. On whose ground are you?-I am on ground belonging to the estate of Busta. 5443. Are the fishermen on the Busta estate all free?-Yes. 5444. There is no tacksman over them, but the fishermen as a rule fish to anybody they like?-I suppose they do; at least, so far as I know, that is the case. 5445. In what way do you think you make more of the fish by curing them yourself than by selling them green?-When I cure them or get them cured for myself, and sell them, I think I can get the turn upon them; and I get cash, which enables me to buy my goods where I can get them cheapest. 5446. Do you get goods cheaper at the shop at Mossbank by paying cash than if you were getting them on credit?-No. 5447. Do you pay the same price for goods there in cash as if they were to be settled for at the end of the year?-Yes. 5448. Have you tried both ways?-Yes. 5449. How long is it since you began to cure your own fish?-It is only two years ago. 5450. How much did you make during the last two years for each man's share?-For the last year we had £8, 13s. each. 5451. Do you think that was more than the average of men who fished for other people?-Yes; taking the price of green fish, I think it was. 5452. Do you know what any of your neighbours got for their green fish?-They got 8s. for ling, and 6s. 6d. for cod and tusk. These were the prices I heard. 5453. Were you fishing during the whole season?-Yes. 5454. How many cwts. of cured fish did you take to Mr. Leask?-I think we had thirty odd cwt. of cured fish; one part of that was ling, and one part was tusk and cod. We had about nineteen cwt. of ling and we sold them at £23. [Page 135] 5455. When you say that the price for ling is 8s. a cwt., that is the price for green ling?-Yes. 5456. And 21/4 -cwt. of green ling make one cwt. dry?-Yes; that is what the fish-curers calculate upon. 5457. So that nineteen cwt. of cured fish would have been something less than forty-three cwt. green, and you got £23 for that?-Yes. 5458. But from that price you must allow something for the expense of curing?-Yes; it would be from £2 to £2, 10s. per ton for curing. 5459. So that you made some profit by selling your fish in that way?-Yes. 5460. Do you think that, when you cure for yourself, you have any benefit by having the money in your hands to buy goods with where you please?-I think so. 5461. Do you buy cheaper when you have the money in your hands?-Yes; we can buy cheaper in Lerwick than we can do elsewhere. 5462. Do you often buy things at Lerwick?-Some times I do. 5463. I thought you said you bought generally at Mossbank?- Some things I buy at Mossbank; but I buy at several places. 5464. If you were fishing for a particular fish-merchant, would you buy more at his shop than you do when you are fishing for yourself?-That is the general way. 5465. What is the reason for that?-Because a great many of the men have not money to go anywhere else. 5466. And therefore they are induced to go where they can get credit?-Yes. 5467. You think that is not such a good way of doing as curing for yourself, and having the money in your own hands?-It is not; but, at the same time, even when I was fishing to a particular fish-curer, I endeavoured to keep my credit; and if I had asked money from him to go on with, I would have got money as well as goods. 5468. It would not have been refused; but I suppose you would have got more advanced to you in goods than in money?-I could not say that. 5469. Suppose that in July, about the middle of the season, when about half of your fish had been caught, you wanted supplies: would you generally be allowed in the fish-merchant's shop to get any quantity of goods you liked on credit?-Yes. 5470. And would you at that time be advanced any amount of money that you chose to ask?-Yes; on a moderate scale. I could get money as well as goods. 5471. Suppose you were likely to get £20 as the amount of your fish account at the end of the season and that one half of the season was over, would they allow you to run up an account at the fish-merchant's shop to the amount of £10 or £12 to the end of July?-I don't know. I never tried the experiment. 5472. But you know the practice among your neighbours and in the shops where you deal: do you think there would be any objection to allow an account to run up to £10 or £15 for shop goods?-I don't think there would. . 5473. Would there be any objection to advancing you £10 or £15 in money?-I could not say that. 5474. Was that ever tried by anybody you know?-No; I never tried it myself, and I never heard of it being tried, and therefore I cannot say whether it would be allowed or not. 5475. But you have no doubt you would get £12 or £15 in goods?-I have little doubt that I would,-that is, if I were fishing for that particular fish-curer. 5476. What fish-curer were you employed by last?-When I was last employed by any one, it was Mr. Pole, Mossbank. 5477. At that time did you deal at his shop for your supplies?- Yes; for the most part. I dealt more with him then than I have done since. 5478. Your account was settled, at the end of the year?-Yes. 5479. What kind of account had you generally at settling time for supplies to your family?-I cannot recollect exactly how much it was; but sometimes it may have been £3 or £4. 5480. Then you will not be spending so much as that in the shop now?-No; I have not had occasion to do it for the last two years. 5481. Were you under any sort of obligation to deal at Mr. Pole's shop more than at another shop when you were fishing for him?- Not a bit. They did not prevent me from going anywhere I chose. When I chose to ask anything in their shop, I took it at their own price; but if I did not like it, they did not compel me to take it. 5482. Is there anything else you want to say on the subject of this inquiry?-For my part, I have little to say, because I am not so much concerned in it as some men are. I have my freedom and my liberty. 5483. You think that some other men are more interested in these matters than you?-Yes. 5484. In what way are they interested?-Owing to their circumstances; some of them have families, and they must go to the fish-curer and be supplied by him. They get most of their payment in goods, and they cannot get money. 5485. How can they not get money? Is it because they run up an account at the merchant's shop?-Yes. 5486. But they will get money if they ask it?-Yes; they might get money too. 5487. Why is it that they do not get money?-I don't know. What I mean is, that if they run up an account at the shop, they cannot have money of their own with which to buy things cheaper elsewhere. 5488. What makes them run up an account for goods? Is it because they cannot get money easily?-Very likely it is. 5489. But you say they would get money if they asked it?-If they were to ask for money, I don't see any reason why they should not get it as well as goods. 5490. And to the same amount?-I cannot say for that. 5492. Do you mean that the money which they would get if they were asking for it in the course of the fishing season would be regarded as a loan, and not as a payment for their fishing?-No. 5492. Suppose a man were to ask a fish-curer for an advance of money in July, would not that advance of money in July, would not that advance be looked upon as if he were asking for a loan of money?-No; that is not generally the way they would do. If I were fishing to a fish-curer, and giving him my fish, and if I were to ask for some money, it would just go to my account in the same way as if I was taking out goods until the fish were sold at the end of the year when I settled, and my fish would pay for that money as well as for the goods. 5493. But would it not be considered a favour to give money in that way?-I don't think so. 5494. Do you think the fish-curer would be bound to give you money if you asked for it in the beginning of the season?-Yes. 5495. And would he be as ready to give it to you as he would be to give you goods?-No; I don't think he could be expected to do that. However, I cannot say much upon that subject, because I never asked for much money, 5496. Did you think it would be asking a favour to ask for money?-I cannot say. 5497. Did you think the merchant would rather give you goods?- Of course he would expect us to take the goods, from the way of dealing which prevails. 5498. Do you mean that the practice is for the men to get goods advances rather than cash advances during the season and before the settlement?-That depends upon the circumstances of the men who are fishing. Sometimes they require money to pay their rent with, and that is generally advanced to them in money; but when they require goods they usually take them from the fish-curer by whom they are employed. 5499. Do you mean that they don't get money unless it is required by them for some particular purpose?-No; unless they have money to get on their own earnings. If they have money over at settlement time, they will get it in cash when the account is balanced. [Page 136] 5500. Of course they get it at settlement time; but before then can they get money from the man who employs them, unless for some particular purpose?-No. 5501. Any advances that are made then are made in goods?-Yes; unless they are required in money. Brae, January 10, 1872, JOHN HENDERSON, examined. 5502. You are a fisherman at Mossbank?-I am. 5503. On whose land do you live?-On Sheriff Bell's. 5504. Are you bound to fish to any particular merchant?-No; not unless I go to the Skerries. 5505. Who do you fish for just now?-For Mr. Pole. 5506. Are you settled with at the end of the year like the other men?-Yes. 5507. Do you deal at Mr. Pole's shop?-Very little. 5508. Where else do you go for your articles?-To any shop where I think I can get them cheapest and best. 5509. You are quite at liberty to go where you please?-I am. 5510. You can deal at Lerwick or at Voe, without running any chance of losing your engagement for the next season?-I can. 5511. Have you generally a good lot of cash to get from Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co., at the end of the year?-I have generally the principal part of my earning to get. 5512. Why don't you deal more at Mr. Pole's store?-Because, when I have money, and can go anywhere else, I can perhaps get my goods a little cheaper. 5513. Is it not handy for you to deal at the Mossbank shop?-It is handy, but it is no great hardship for me to go anywhere else if I think I can get my things a little cheaper. 5514. Can you tell me any articles that are cheaper in the one place than in the other?-Meal, for instance, is always higher in Mossbank than it is in Lerwick. Taking the meal from Mossbank at the retail price, there will be a difference of perhaps 8s. or 9s. per sack on that, and on buying a sack in Lerwick for cash. The sack is 280 lbs. weight, or 2 bolls, and that is a difference of 4s. or 4s. 6d. per boll. 5515. When did you try that?-I have tried it now for a good few years. 5516. Is that the difference if you buy it wholesale,-a sack at a time?-Yes. 5517. If you were buying a sack at Mr. Pole's store, how much would you pay for it?-I have never been under the necessity of buying a sack there. What meal I have bought at their shop has always been in small quantities: perhaps about a quarter boll weekly. 5518. What is the price of a quarter boll?-It is different prices: sometimes higher and sometimes lower. 5519. What did you pay for it last?-I have not had a quarter boll of meal from Mossbank this year at all, because last year we thought it too dear, and therefore we gave up taking it. 5520. Tell me any particular time when you bought meal at Mossbank, and found that at the same time, or within a short time after it or before it, you could have got the same meal in Lerwick for less money?-Not the past summer, but the summer before, I had meal from Mossbank, taking it in small portions as it was required, such as a quarter boll weekly; and at the same date, when I was getting these small portions, I got meal from Lerwick to my own house for about 10s. of difference on the sack,-only the meal that I bought from Lerwick was a whole sack, and ready money was given for it, while the meal bought from Mossbank was in small portions, and it was got on credit until the time of settlement. 5521. Do you think that difference was not accounted for by the difference between wholesale and retail prices?-For instance, would you not have got the two bolls at Mossbank, if you had bought that quantity there, as cheaply as you got them at Lerwick?-No; there would have been 5s. of difference if I had bought two bolls there. 5522. But there would be the expense of carrying the meal from Lerwick: that would be worth something?-That was 8d., and the shipping of it 2d. 5523. Is there any other article you think you have an advantage on in the same way?-Yes; there are different articles. For instance, lines are one principal thing we require, and for my sixth share, I would have nineteen lines in my bundle. 5524. Do you buy your own lines?-I do. 5525. Is it the practice with men fishing for Pole, Hoseason, & Co. to do so?-Some of them do, and some do not; some of them have lines of their own; some buy them and pay for them by instalments; and others hire them. Last year I went to Lerwick and bought my own lines; and my nineteen lines, when they were ready to go to sea, cost me £2, 1s. I heard some of the men who were in the boat say that their portion of the lines, of the same quantity, cost them 51s. or 52s.; that would be paid for at settlement. 5526. Could they have got them cheaper at Mossbank if they had paid for them there in cash?-I could not say for that, because I never inquired into it. 5527. Is there anything else you can mention which you can buy cheaper elsewhere than you can at Mossbank?-If a man has ready money, he will always get little discount wherever he may purchase his goods. 5528. Then I suppose it is the fault of the men themselves that they do not get their ready money from Pole, Hoseason, & Co., and use it as they like?-Mr. Pole won't refuse money to any man who has it to get; or if he knows he is an honest man, he will give him an advance of money, although he does not have it earned. 5529. But if a man could carry on to the end of the year, he would get all the price of his fish in cash?-Every penny. 5530. And then he could do with it as he pleased, and buy where he chose?-Yes; he could go to any place that was cheapest. 5531. Have you heard the evidence of James Hay and Andrew Tulloch?-Yes. 5532. Do you think that what they stated about the system of things here was generally correct?-I cannot say that there was much wrong in what they said; but I think there would not be a better plan than ready money if it could be obtained. 5533. Would not all the fishermen get ready money if they contracted to have a fixed price for their fish, to be paid to them as the fish were delivered?-They would. There is no fish-merchant who would not pay them the value of their fish in money if they have it to get; but how can they get it in money if they take it out in goods? They cannot expect that. 5534. But if the men made a bargain that they were to be paid in money for their fish every time they were delivered, they would not take it out in goods then?-No; they would have money. 5535. Is that ever done? Is the bargain ever made for a fixed price at the beginning of the season to be paid according to the weight of fish when it is delivered and every time it is delivered?-No; I never had that bargain, and I never heard of it. 5536. Have you ever heard of any different bargain from the common one of settling at the end of the year?-Yes; there is sometimes a difference in the bargains with regard to the lines, when men have lines of their own, and do not require to hire them. 5537. But in all those cases the settlement is at the end of the year 5538. Have you heard of any bargain for settling at another time than at the end of the year, and in a different way?-No. 5539. Did you ever know of men agreeing to fish for wages?-Not in the ling-fishing. [Page 137] 5540. Do you think free men would agree to that?-I don't know: some of them might. 5541. Would you agree to it?-I would just as soon run my own chance. Brae, January 10, 1872, GILBERT BLANCE, examined. 5542. You are a fisherman at Mid Garth?-Yes; in the immediate neighbourhood of Mossbank. 5543. Do you hold land under Mr. Bell?-No; the landlord under whom I held is dead, and the property is now under trustees. Mr. Sievwright, writer, Lerwick, is the factor for it. 5544. Are you under any obligation to fish to a particular fish-curer?-No. 5545. You can fish for anybody you please?-Yes. 5546. For whom do you fish?-For Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co., 5547. Do you deal at their shop for all your goods?-Yes. 5548. Do you find that you have generally a balance to receive in cash at the settlement?-No; I have generally had a balance against me. I have never had a balance in cash to receive except in two special years. One of these was one year when they were paying 8s. per cwt. for the green fish; and the other was the past year, when they were also paying 8s. 5549. Do you think you are as well served at Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co.'s shop as you would be if you took your money and spent it where you pleased?-I don't know much about the difference in that respect. 5550. Have you ever made any comparison between the prices which you pay for your goods at their shop, and what you would pay for them elsewhere?-No, I have never tried that. 5551. What is generally the amount of the balance against you at the end of the year?-It may range from £17 to £5. 5552. Do you get any payments in cash in the course of the year?-No; very seldom. When men are in debt there are no payments in cash; but if I need a little money, I can call upon them for that assistance. 5553. Do you mean when you want money for rent, or anything of that sort?-Yes, for rent. 5554. Do you consider that you are under any obligation to engage to fish for them in consequence of being in debt in that way?-I consider myself obliged to fish to them so long as I am indebted to them. 5555. Have you ever thought of engaging to fish for another company, or attempted to do so?-I have thought of it, but I did not think it was giving them fair play to offer my services to fish for another when I was indebted to them. 5556. Do you know many men, who are fishing to them, and who are indebted to them in the same way?-Yes; there are different men I know who are indebted to them, perhaps not to so large an extent, but still to some extent. 5557. Do they consider it fair to continue to fish to the merchants to whom they are in debt rather than to engage with another?-We hear them say very little about that. 5558. They don't complain?-No; we don't hear them complain much. 5559. Do you think you would get a better price for your fish if you were to engage with any one else?-We might make better bargains with other men, but we cannot attempt to do that in our present way of fishing. 5560. Is that because in the present way of fishing no price is fixed?-Yes; no price is fixed until the end of the year. 5561. Do you think the price fixed at the end of the year ought sometimes to be higher than it is?-We sometimes do think that, because, as has been already stated by the witnesses, although we are fishing for the whole season, we don't know what we are to obtain for our fish. That depends upon the market which the merchant has to make for the fish before he can pay the value of them. The price will range from 8s. to 4s. 6d., according to the markets they make. 5562. The fishermen, I understand, have nothing to do with fixing the price?-Nothing whatever. 5563. Have you ever cured your own fish?-No. 5564. Nor sold them?-No. 5565. Have you any reason to believe that the current price as fixed by the fish-merchants is not the fair value of the fish throughout the season?-Some of the fishermen think they don't get so much for their fish as they ought to get, but perhaps that may be a mistake on the part of the men. 5566. We are all apt to be a little discontented; but do you think there is any reason for that belief more than the natural tendency of the men to discontent?-I cannot say whether there is any real ground for that belief or not. 5567. You cannot tell any case in which you thought you got less for your fish than you ought to have got?-I could not mention any particular instance of that, because we never see the account of sales which the merchants make of the fish. 5568. Do you know when the fish sales take place?-I think it is some time about the month of November. 5569. How soon after that are you told what you are to get for your take?-When we come to settle, either on the last of November or the first of December.. 5570. You heard the evidence of the previous witnesses: do you think it was generally correct?-I think it was very correct, so far as I know. 5571. Has your experience with regard to the system of dealing been the same as was described by them?-It has been the same as the last witness described. 5572. But you don't know whether you got goods dearer at Pole, Hoseason, & Co.'s shop than you could get them elsewhere?-No, I don't know anything about that, because all we require, such as meal, lines, calico, and other things, comes from their shop. 5573. What price do you pay for meal?-We don't usually buy meal in wholesale, as the last witness did, but probably in pecks or two pecks or lispunds. 5574. Do you keep a pass-book?-No. 5575. Why not?-Because we trust to the honesty of the merchants. 5576. Do they not want you to take a pass-book?-They would have no objection to us having one, but many of us are not good arithmeticians, and we could not make much of them although we had them. 5577. When you were out fishing, have you sometimes sold your fish to others than Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-I have not been in the habit of doing that. 5578. Is it sometimes done?-Perhaps it is by some individuals. 5579. What is their reason for doing that?-I cannot say what their reason may be, unless it is to have immediate supplies. 5580. Or money?-Yes, or money; but it is commonly for something such as refreshments which they wish to take on their way to or coming from the fishing-ground. 5581. Where do you usually meet the people who buy your fish from you in that way?-Sometimes they are met in the course of our fishing operations at the land's end. 5582. On the land?-No; on the sea in a little boat. They will take any small portion of fish we may give them, and hand us refreshments in return. 5583. Do you get a larger sum for your fish in that way?-No; I never knew of any larger sum that was given in that way than the country currency. 5584. Is that practice what you call smuggling the fish?-I suppose so. 5585. Do you think it is much done?-It is not much done now. Formerly it was done to some extent, but not to any great extent. 5586. I suppose there were some factors or merchants in the country who did it good deal in buying fish on the sly in that way at one time?-I believe there was at one time, but not so much now. [Page 138] 5587. Did they give a higher price for the fish than the fish-curers give?-Yes. 5588. Was it a higher price than the currency?-Yes. 5589. Are there it few of these men still?-Yes. 5590. They do come from Lerwick?-No; they are just people living in the country. 5591. Do they buy the fish either green or cured?-They will take them more readily green than cured, because they cure them for themselves. The factor who buys generally cures for himself. 5592. Is the man who buys fish in that way generally a merchant who keeps a shop himself somewhere?-Generally he has a small bit of a shop. Brae, January 10, 1872, THOMAS MOUNTFORD ADIE, examined. 5593. You are a fish-merchant, and the principal partner of the firm of T.M. Adie & Co. Voe?-Yes, the business is conducted in my own name, but my sons have an interest in it. 5594. Do you employ a great number of fishermen?-Yes, a large number. 5595. Are the contracts which you enter into with them different in some of their details?-As a rule they are much the same. 5596. Although there may be some difference, the general rule is, that in the home fishing the fisherman delivers his fish to you at a price that is fixed at the end of the season?-Yes. 5597. Have you tried to arrange with your fishermen for dealings upon any different system from that?-I have not. 5598. Have you not on one or two occasions made different arrangements?-On one or two occasions I have made contracts with some of them for a fixed price. 5599. That price being fixed at the beginning of the season?-Yes. 5600. Has that generally turned out well?-It did not turn out well in these cases. The price advanced in the course of the season, and I had to pay the men the advanced price in order to satisfy them. 5601. Would the men have been discontented otherwise?-Yes. 5602. Is it long since that happened?-It is several years now; perhaps 12 or 14 years ago. 5603. Do you think it would be any advantage for the curer or the fishermen if that system were generally adopted?-My impression is, that the fishermen would suffer, for this reason, that fish in the summer season are always sold at a less price, and any one buying green fish must calculate what he can give for them according to the value of the article then. By delaying the settlement till the end of the season, the fishermen take the chance of the price either rising or falling, but the probability is that it will rise, because salt fish usually sell better in the winter season than in summer. 5604. So that if the price were fixed at the beginning of the year, you think it would generally be fixed too low?-Yes. 5605. But both the fishermen and the master would take into account at the beginning of the season the probability of the price rising in winter, and the fact that it generally does rise then, would they not?-It is scarcely likely that that would be much taken into account; because when a man buys an article he buys it at the price of the day, and not at what the price of it may become. There is no doubt that would be a more satisfactory way of dealing if it could be done but I don't see how it could be adopted, because no curer could offer to buy fish offhand at a price that would satisfy the fishermen. 5606. Is the probability that the fishermen would be discontented your principal reason for objecting to that system?-Yes. 5607. If it could be carried out, would it simplify your own business?-Yes, it would simplify my business very much. If the men had boats, and lines of their own, and did not need any advance, but had all their money to take, and I could pay it at the end of the week, it would simplify matters very much indeed. 5608. Under that system, however there would be difficulty in advancing the men?-We could not give advances to them at all; and if we did not make advances, they could not go to the fishing. 5609. Is the system generally followed in your establishment, that of advancing boats and lines to the fishermen?-Yes, whenever it is needed. There are solitary cases where men buy their own boats, having money laid past; but that is very rare. 5610. When they do so, do they pay the price by instalments, or do they pay down the money?-They pay for them by instalments on a particular principle of payment which has been adopted for the purpose. That principle is this: The boat is built by any carpenter the men choose to employ; the price is paid for it, and that is charged to their account. There is generally a hire of £2, 10s. paid every year for a six-oared boat; that is placed to the credit of the boat yearly, to enable the men to pay up for their boat, so that they may really have it of their own, because I consider it would be better for me if they had them. When the men buy their boats, I give them 3d. per, cwt. additional for each cwt. of fish caught to go to the credit of their boat until it is paid; and when once the boat is their own, they get that additional price into their own private accounts, and it is paid to them in cash whenever the price of the boat is paid up. 5611. Do you mean that you give 3d. per cwt. higher to these men than you give to men who hire a boat?-Yes. 5612. And you give that to a man who has a boat of his own to begin with?-If he has a boat of his own, he gets the 3d. 5613. Then, when you charge for boat-hire, you charge 3d. per cwt. in addition on the price of the fish?-No, we don't charge that, but they get 3d. per cwt. less. For instance, the price this year for ling was 8s. The crew gets settled for that; and if they had been buying the boat, we put 3d. per cwt. to the credit of the account for the boat, in order to enable them to acquire it for themselves. 5614. And you would give the same advantage to man who possessed his own boat originally?-Yes; if he possessed his own boat, he would be better entitled to it, because then I would be running no risk. In the other case, the men might lose the boat, and then I would have nothing to get for it. 5615. But when you charge the boat-hire, the men are obliged to take a smaller price for their fish in addition to having the hire to pay for it?-Yes, and even in that case we are worse off, because the boats cost much more than the amount of the hire will cover. We are better off giving them the 3d. to enable them to get a boat of their own. 5616. I suppose when the boat is their own the men take better care of it, and it will last longer?-Yes, very commonly. 5617. And I suppose they take better care of it even before it becomes their own?-Generally they do, although I have some men who take very great care of their materials even when they are hiring them. There are great differences in men in that way. 5618. Is that a system you have adopted yourself, in order to induce the men to become the owners of their own boats?-Yes, I don't know any other curer who uses it. 5619. That shows that you have no interest in having the men hiring out a boat from you?-No; very far from it. 5620. How long does it generally take for a man to pay off a boat when he buys it in that way?-Buying it in that way, if their fishing was anything good, the boat's crew would clear it in about five fishing seasons. 5621. It would then become their joint property?-Yes. 5622. How long does a boat generally last?-The [Page 139] greatest length of time they are used for is 12 years; but very often they give them up when they are 6 or 7 years old. Perhaps the boat is not good, and they won't risk it any longer. 5623. In that case, do they generally begin a new arrangement for the purchase of another boat?-Yes, for the purchase of a boat, if it is their own. If it is a hired boat, then it is thrown on the curer's hands to provide them with another. 5624. What is the usual rate for a boat-hire throughout Shetland? -I think £2, 10s. is a pretty general hire over all for such boats. 5625. I understand you settle with your own men yearly about December?-We commence settling about 12th November, and it takes us a considerable time to get over the whole of our men. 5626. Has each man dealing with you a pass-book?-No, not all, but the greater part of them have. 5627. But you wish them to have pass-books?-Yes; I should be very glad for them all to have passbooks, if they would only keep them regularly. When it is a careful man, his book is kept regularly, and there is very little trouble with him in taking down his account. 5628. I understand each fisherman employed by you has an account in your ledger, in which each year is balanced at the settling time?-Yes. 5629. That account on the one side contains the debt which he has incurred for furnishings to the boat, boat-hire, and the amount of his shop account, if he has one?-Yes; the boat-hires are generally kept under the head of a company account in name of the master of the boat, as for instance, Thomas Robertson & Co. 5630. Then you have two ledger accounts for your men-one for the boat's crew, and one for the account of each individual?-Yes; we very frequently have these accounts entered in the same ledger; but where the men are fishing at one of our stations, such as Papa, the company account is settled in the station ledger, which can always be referred to. 5631. But in that case the individual man has an account in another ledger?-He has his account in our general ledger at Voe. 5632. The boat-hire is generally charged in the company account; that is to say, all the members of the company are liable for the boat-hire?-Yes. 5633. Do a large proportion of the men whom you employ in fishing have shop accounts at your store?-Yes, a large number of them; in fact, the most of them have accounts with us more or less. 5634. That is, apart from the mere outfit which they require for going to the fishing, they are supplied with goods for their families, both soft goods and provisions?-Yes. 5635. Are these transactions generally carried on upon a system of credit?-Yes, it is credit for the most part; but some men who have money just pay down the money for what they want, and it is not entered in our books. 5636. Are you in the habit of giving a discount when they pay down money?-Yes, if the amount is worth discounting. 5637. Can you say what is the average amount of fisherman's share for the take of fish in any one year?-I was making a calculation of it this morning, and I think that, taking all the fishermen we have employed just now, their takes of fish for the whole year would average about £12, 5s. 5638. Are you able to say what deductions would fall to be made from that sum in the case of an ordinary fisherman?-There would be deducted from it specially his proportion of the boat-hire, and the yearly payment or hire for his lines. Some of them pay a yearly payment on their lines, while others hire them. There will be about 22s. deducted for that, and that is the only special charge that has to be deducted, except what he has got for his living. 5639. Are these special charges due by the individual fishermen or by the boat's crew?-For the lines in all my boats they are due by each individual, but the boat hire is due by them as a company. 5640. You spoke of the lines being got by the men either on hire or by making a yearly payment?-Yes, a yearly payment equal to the hire which they would pay if they were hiring the lines. For instance, the pay for the hire of one of these fishing lines is 8d. a year; but instead of taking that as hire, we credit it yearly to the men, and so soon as it has liquidated the value of the lines they become the fisherman's own property; whereas, if a man gets his outfit and goes to the fishing this season, and does not feel inclined to go another year, then he has only paid the hire, and the lines must be returned to me. 5641. But if a man begins to make a yearly payment by way of purchasing the lines, he is obliged to go on?-He is not obliged to go on if he chooses to give up the fishing altogether; but even in that case it is an advantage to them to have the lines, because they can always make use of the old ones in some way or other. 5642. In the case of hired lines and of that sort of purchase by instalments, where does the risk lie?-The risk lies with the fisherman in both cases. 5643. If the hired lines are lost, he pays for them?-Yes. 5644. And if they are lost while he is buying them, he pays for them also?-Of course; but if he is hiring a boat, and it is lost at sea, he is not liable for that boat. 5645. But he would be liable for the lines in that case?-Yes. 5646. I don't quite see the distinction between the two cases of hiring lines and buying them by instalments in the way you have described. Does it not come to be the same thing to the fisherman in the end in both cases?-No; if he continues to hire them, then, when the lines are unfit for prosecuting the fishing any longer, he must return them to me, and I can make something out of these old lines-perhaps 6d. a line; whereas, if he has been buying them by instalments, they belong to the man himself; and if the lines are of good quality, and he has taken care of them, he may be able to use them for a season or two after the whole payments have been made for them. I have some fishermen who have used their lines at the deep-sea fishing in that way for two seasons after the usual yearly payment has completed the value of them. 5647. The deductions you have now mentioned apply to every case, but at settlement there may be other deductions for the amount of furnishings supplied to the men during the season?- Yes. 5648. Is that the only other deduction which falls to be made in the ordinary case?-Yes. If the man has been running an account, of course that must be deducted. 5649. Are you in a position to say what the ordinary amount of a fisherman's account at your shop will be in the course of a season?-Perhaps the ordinary amount will be from £4 to £5. Some of them will be a great deal more than that; whereas there are some men fishing to me who won't have 3s. worth out of my shop in the course of a season. 5650. The amount differs according to the individual?-Yes, and according to his needs. 5651. Is there a large proportion of your fishermen who close the year somewhat in your debt?-Yes, a considerable number, but not nearly so many as there were some years ago. 5652. Has that been in consequence of a succession of good years?-I think so, but there has been a great change in the habits of the people. I think they are generally more careful now than they were. 5653. Are you able to say from your own observation whether men who are so much in your debt deal more at your shop than others?-With some of the men who fish for me, the greatest difficulty I have is to prevent them from dealing,-not to get them to buy goods, but to get them not to buy them. Of course there are black sheep in every flock, and I have men who, after receiving considerable supplies from my shop, and when I have found it quite unreasonable to allow them to go further, turned round upon me and said, 'Well, if you won't give me what I want I will go to [Page 140] some other body and fish for them.' Of course these are exceptions. 5654. They say that to you when they are considerably in your debt?-Yes; and when they think there is no chance of getting any more. 5655. Then it is not an advantage to a fish merchant or to any merchant, as has been alleged, to have a number of people in his debt?-Certainly not. The best fishermen are those who are not in debt. It is a very sad thing to have to settle with a man who has no money coming to him. 5656. Can you get as many fishermen to engage with you as you want, although they should not be in your debt?-Yes; I can get a man to fish for me more readily who is not in my debt than one who is in my debt. A man who is in my debt will, make all the excuses and trouble in the world, but with a man who is not in debt there is no trouble at all. He sees his way clearly, and it is for the purpose of saving something for his family that he goes to the fishing. 5657. Is it a common subject of complaint with your fishermen, that the price of the fish is not settled till the end of the year?- They do speak of that sometimes; and yet, since the question was mooted in consequence of reports being circulated through the country with regard to the investigation, which you are now prosecuting, they are all up in arms for fear any change should be made. 5658. Have they come to you objecting to any change being made?-Yes, a great number of them have done so. 5659. On what grounds?-Because they think that a change could not be made for the better. For instance, if an arrangement was made to pay them for their fish every week, three-fourths of them could not go to the fishing at all, because they have neither boats nor lines, nor could they get the necessary supplies to enable them to go. Then the price which they would receive for the fish would necessarily be smaller. They have had experience of that at the fishing stations where there was competition, this one trying to barter or smuggle a few fish, and the other smuggling a few fish. They get the very highest price for them which is given at that time; but then at settlement, even with some of my men who have sold a few fish, I have had to pay up the difference between the price they received at the station and the current price which was being paid at the end of the season. 5660. That was only in the case where a higher current price was given at the end of the season than was paid for the fish while the season was running on?-Yes. 5661. Have you been often asked to pay a difference of that sort?-I do it voluntarily. 5662. Was that for fish which you did not get at all?-No, not for what I did not get; that I had nothing to do with. 5663. But you did not get smuggled fish?-Yes, there are smuggled fish sold to me. My boats sell smuggled fish to another curer, and boats belonging to another curer sell fish to my factor. 5664. But why should you pay the difference to your own men upon any fish which they have smuggled to other curers?-It is not upon fish they have smuggled that I pay the difference, but there is a system among my fishermen of having what is called a bucht line. That is a line of his own, the fish caught by which are sold by him in order to supply himself with any small article he requires during the fishing. They settle for these fish at the fishing station; and if the price which is given at the settlement is larger than what they have got at the station, I pay them up the difference. 5665. Is that bucht a device for having a little cash in hand?-A bucht is the term which they give to one of these fishing lines. 5666. But is it a device for having some special wants supplied during the course of the season, and before the settlement comes round?-It is just a fancy they have; because if all their fish went one way, and they asked the money, they would get it. It is merely a thing that has been practised among them for many years, and the practice has been allowed to continue. 5667. Is that a practice in your business only, or is it generally done in Shetland?-It is only done by some. There are many of our men who do not do it, but some of them do it. 5668. Can you give me any idea of the amount of cash paid in advances to the fishermen in the course of the year and before settlement? Do you pay a large sum in that way at your stations?-I should fancy that over the whole of my fishings £200 would cover the whole amount that is paid in advances during the season. 5669. Your fishings are at Voe, Papa Stour, Stenness, and the Skerries?-Yes. 5670. At each of these places you have a factor and a shop for supplying goods?-Yes; we must have a store. 5671. Are these stores kept open all the year round?-At Papa and the Skerries they are: at Stenness the store is only kept during the summer fishing season. 5672. And the shop there only supplies the fishermen with what they need for their own personal use, and not with what they require for their families?-Just so; but sometimes those men who have their families in the neighbourhood get a little for them also,-a little tea, and such as that. 5673. You say the amount of the shop account will be from £4 or £5 on an average; so that, after making other deductions, that will leave something like £4 or £5 payable in cash to an ordinary man at the end of an ordinary season?-Yes; but there are a great many of them who have a great deal more than that to get. 5674. Of course the amount differs according to the seasons, and according to the individual; but do you think that would be a fair average?-I should say that about £6 might be taken as an average of the amount paid in cash. 5675. Does that apply to all your stations?-Yes, to them all. 5676. What is the number of fishermen upon your books altogether?-I should fancy about 400. 5677. Are these all employed in the summer fishing?-Yes. 5678. Is there any reason why the whole price of a man's fish should not be paid to him in money?-The only reason is that he has already got part of it in goods. Of course we cannot pay for it in goods and in cash also. 5679. But is there any reason why he should take it in goods unless he likes?-None whatever, unless he likes. There is no compulsion put upon any of the men. 5680. Don't you think he would be better off if he got the money, and paid for the goods in cash as he wanted them?-It is quite possible that he might fancy so; but I cannot see that it would make much difference. We always deduct the 5 per cent. from the goods the men have got, the same as if they were purchasing them for cash. 5681. So that you make no difference between cash payments, and paying for them in account in that way?-None in that respect. 5682. Why is it that you give that amount back in the form of a discount, instead of charging your goods originally at the same price?-Of course if a man buys a quarter of a pound of tea, or half a pound of tobacco we cannot take a discount off that; but we put the whole of the transactions together at the end of the season, and a discount is then allowed. If he bought the whole over the counter, he would pay the price down at once; but he has an advantage by these small items being added together, and the discount taken off, which he would not have if he paid for the articles separately. 5683. So that you really give a larger discount upon your credit dealings than, upon your cash dealings?-Yes; the fisherman has a greater advantage by having a discount upon these small purchases when they are all taken together, than he would have if he were paying for them separately. The discount upon two ounces of tobacco or a quarter pound of tea would be a mere bagatelle; but when the whole of his purchases [Page 141] in the course of the year are added together and the 5 per cent. taken off the whole, it comes to something. With our fishermen, as a rule, I consider that these accounts are perfectly good, and the same as if a man were purchasing for cash. 5684. What do you mean by saying that they are perfectly good?- I believe we are safe in making these advances to the men. 5685. That is because you have a security?-We have no security. 5686. Have you not the security of the fish?-Yes, we have that security, if he catches the fish. 5687. Is it upon that principle that you fix the prices at which you sell your shop goods?-Yes, generally. Of course, if we calculated upon it being really a bad account, we would require to charge larger percentage in order to cover the risk; but we would rather get clear of a man of that kind. 5688. Do you mean that, when a man is an unsafe customer, you put a different price on the goods which he buys?-I don't put a different price on them; but I try to give him as little as I can, although there are some of these men whom it is very troublesome to put off without giving them something., 5689. Is there a competition for employment among the men to be taken on as fishermen for the summer season?-Yes, considerable. 5690. Are there men sufficient to man any number of boats you wish?-Well, I might be too greedy, wish more than I could manage; but I have found no difficulty hitherto in manning as many boats as we could reasonably manage. 5691. You supply your men with groceries as well as soft goods?-Yes; groceries, soft goods, and meal. 5692. In fixing the prices of these goods, both the groceries and soft goods, do you allow it margin for profit, just the same as any merchant would do in Lerwick, or Wick, or any other town?-I should fancy it is much the same. Of course, groceries being an article of daily use, we charge a less percentage on them than we do on soft goods. Very often soft goods lie on our shelves for a considerable time, and get damaged, and become unsaleable. 5693. But I suppose that would be the principle on which the retail price would be fixed if you deal in only one kind of these articles, or if you were selling them in any other place than Shetland?-Of course; that is the principle on which business is conducted anywhere. I think that goods, for instance soft goods, are sold by us in retail fully as low as they are in the shops in the south; even as cheap as they are retailed in Edinburgh. That is easily accounted for; because they have much larger rents to pay in Edinburgh than we have here. 5694. Do you say the same with regard to provisions?-I think there is not much difference on provisions; only the difference for freight and insurance. Of course, at a place like Voe, the transport of bulky goods comes to be very expensive. For instance, at this season of the year, we cannot get a sack of meal from Aberdeen to my house under 5s. 5695. The meal generally is imported about the end the season?- Yes, generally. 5696. Did you hear the evidence that was given today by some of the witnesses about the price of meal?-Yes. 5697. Are you in a position to say whether the price of meal at Voe is higher than at Lerwick, or about the same?-It is higher than at Lerwick as a matter of course, because we have considerable more expense in bringing it here. We have to bring it up to Brae by water, then cart it across the isthmus, and bring it to my house in boats. When the weather is bad, we have to cart it all the way. 5698. Therefore the price of meal with you is considerably higher?-Yes; and of any bulky article which requires a considerable deal of handling and expense of transport. 5699. What do you suppose the difference is between the price of meal at Voe and the price at Lerwick?-I should fancy about 2s. per boll 5700. Will the difference be that throughout the year?-I think so; but sometimes in the spring we manage to get a vessel to bring it in direct; and then we can sell it as cheap as they do at Lerwick. 5701. Have your men ever made any complaint to you about the price being higher than it ought to be?-No. 5702. Is the price stated to them at the time when they get the meal, or is it generally fixed at settling time?-They know the price of every article when they buy it 5703. Do you calculate that the profit upon your provisions and soft goods, or the profit upon your fish sales, is the greater?-I cannot say. 5704. Have you the same percentage of profit upon both?-No; on the fish sales it is only 5 per cent. 5705. Is that just a commission?-Yes. 5706. That is to say, the payment to the men for the fish, the cost of fitting them out when you do so, and of your curing establishments, will come up to within 5 per cent. of what you sell them for to your buyers in the south?-Yes; and then we have to run the risk of the payments. The fish are all sold on three months bill. Our fishermen are all settled with this year, and I have not touched a sixpence for any of our fish yet. 5707. Does the 5 per cent. cover that risk?-Yes. Of course, if we discounted these bills, that would run off with 11/4 per cent. of it, but we just wait until the bills are due. 5708. Then, if you were under the necessity of paying your fishermen entirely in cash, and did not carry on your shop business, would you be obliged to charge a higher profit upon your fish, or to pay the fishermen less for the fish?-If I had no shop at all, and merely traded in fish, I would require to deal more in them than I do, in order to make a living out of it. 5709. But you can afford to take a smaller commission on your fish than you would otherwise do, by reason of the fact that you are carrying on another business at the same time?-Yes. 5710. You are making two profits, although one of them may be a very small one?-The one profit is entirely at the option of the fisherman. He is not obliged to buy the goods unless he chooses. 5711. Perhaps not, but he would likely require to pay that profit to another merchant, or certainly to pay some profit, and you would expect some of that to come to you?-Yes; every one expects some profit. I employ a good many hands about Voe curing fish. These are invariably settled with in cash, if they are able to do without any supplies during the week, but they are always settled with at the end of the week. 5712. Theirs is a weekly payment?-Yes. 5713. But they get supplies during the week?-Sometimes we are obliged to give them something, otherwise they could not work. 5714. And that is deducted from their weekly pay?-Yes. At the stations the curers are generally engaged at a sum for the season. 5715. In what form are the supplies given at your shop deducted from the weekly payments at Voe?-For instance, if the girls working at the fish have earned 5s. a week, and if they have got 2s. worth of goods, they have only 3s. to get., 5716. But in what way is it noted that they have got that advance in goods?-We keep an account of it in our book. 5717. Is there a ledger account for each worker?-We have what we term a jot ledger for these weekly accounts. We do not carry them into our regular working books. 5718. How many people are employed in that way?-I have known as high as sixty; they will run from thirty to sixty. 5719. Do those people ever ask you for cash in the course of the week?-Sometimes they do but not very often. The length of time between the pays is so very short that they don't require it, but if they are in need of cash they get it. 5720. Do they prefer to take their advances in goods?-They prefer to take their payment at the end of the week. [Page 142] 5721. But when they require goods in the course the week, do you give them to them?-Yes; goods and cash are much the same thing to them; for if we gave them money, they would just turn round and buy the goods. If they went anywhere else, they must lose a day's work in going to it. 5722. I suppose that is one reason why the system of fish-curers having stores for shop goods exists, because their shops are at such inconvenient distances from each other?-Yes; the people would lose so much time in travelling to other places in order to get their goods, that we require to keep shops for them. If their time is of any value to them at all, the fact that they have a shop on the spot far more than compensates them for any difference they may pay in price. 5723. But if there were no such shops as yours, would there not be a class of dealers throughout the island who would provide the goods that the people want?-I don't know; perhaps there might be such. 5724. Does a fisherman not incline rather to deal with the employer to whom he delivers his fish, than with another?-I think so. The fishermen and their employers are generally on a friendly footing, and the man is satisfied that the curer he is fishing to will do as fairly to him as possible if he is a deserving man. I consider he gets every advantage that he could naturally expect, and it is an object with the fish-curers in every way to encourage steady careful men. 5725. Will you give me a note of the number of men employed by you, of the total amount of cash paid to them, and of the total amount of their shop accounts for 1870, and also for 1867?-Yes. I found, on looking over my books last night, that the total amount of cash paid at the present settlement was £2015. That includes the Faroe fishing too. With regard to the employment of curers at the stations for a specific sum, I may mention that it would not do to pay them weekly, because for several weeks, and perhaps longer, if it is bad weather, these curers will have nothing to do at all. At the home fishing stations they are paid by a fixed sum yearly; and the reason for that is, that if we were to pay them weekly, they would be quite pleased for two or three weeks if they had nothing to do; but if it came a fine week, and there was a great quantity of work, they would throw everything up and go home, and our fishing might be left to perish. 5726. Are you engaged in the Faroe fishing to a great extent?-Not to a great extent; but I have five vessels. 5727. In that case, the arrangement with the men is somewhat different?-Yes, quite different; the men get half the fish, and they are paid the current price for the dry fish. 5728. You cure all the fish, and they get half the price of the dried fish?-Yes. 5729. So that the calculation is somewhat similar?-Yes. There is 5 per cent. taken off for selling and risk before the division takes place. 5730. When is the Faroe fishing at an end?-As rule, it is at an end in August. 5731. When are the fish completely cured?-It is sometimes nearly the end of September before they are cured. 5732. Is the division made then?-No; the owner of the vessel sells all the fish, and the division is not made until the settlement. 5733. In the case of a man who engages with you for the Faroe fishing, is it usual for an account to be opened in his name in the same way as with the others?-Yes; we are obliged to supply him with an outfit. The principle of that agreement is, that the men get one-half the value of the fish after deducting curing, and the expenses of converting the fish into cash. They are also allowed 8 lbs. of biscuit per week; the other provisions they have to furnish for themselves. 5734. These supplies are all entered to the man's debit in your book?-Yes. 5735. Is it usual for you to supply his family during his absence with goods on credit in the same way?-Yes; we are very often obliged to do that in order to keep them from starving. 5736. Is that done on a larger scale than in home fishing?-No; I don't think it is done on such a large scale, for the greater number of the hands going to the Faroe fishing are young men without families. 5737. In the Faroe fishing you have not only the 5 per cent. for selling, but you have the profit on one-half of the fish?-That is sometimes a very small profit, for the vessels will sometimes be £100 in debt in the course of a year. 5738. But that depends on the luck of the voyage?-Yes; we have one-half of the fish for the vessel. 5739. You supply the vessel entirely, and the men have nothing to supply except their fishing lines?-Yes; nothing except their fishing lines-2 lines, or 21/2, for hauling the fish with. 5740. Are these lines supplied by you as part of the outfit?-We have to put them on board the vessel, and then any of the men who require them can get them. Sometimes the men have lines of their own, and don't require to take them from us. 5741. I understand you were engaged at one time in the hosiery trade?-Yes. 5742. You used to buy the hosiery in the same way in which it is now bought in Lerwick?-Yes; always paid in goods, I gave that business up in 1870. 5743. Was there any profit made upon that trade?-No; the only profit I ever made by the hosiery was if we had any profit on the goods that we bartered for them. We never could realize the price, as a whole, which I had paid for the hosiery, and consequently we were obliged to give it up. We had very great difficulty in selling it. 5744. Did you sell your hosiery goods south?-I sent them south, and I had really to take anything they would give us for them. 5745. You do something in that way still, do you not?-Yes, occasionally. The principal thing we do is in purchasing goods from other merchants for sending them south when we get an order. Then we purchase what kinds of goods suit us. 5746. Do you buy them in Lerwick?-Yes, and in the country too. 5747. But you don't buy from the knitters yourself?-I don't buy from them. Sometimes they will make us buy them whether we will or not. We cannot get clear of them sometimes, but we don't want to buy them. 5748. Are the knitters anxious to get paid in money for their hosiery?-I don't know. Very likely they have been so long accustomed to getting goods for them, that they never think of asking such a thing as money. 5749. Do you think they would take a less price for hosiery if they were paid in money?-I don't think it. 5750. I suppose they want the goods in the country, and they think they get a profit by taking them?-Yes; for instance, if they have a pair of socks to sell, they won't sell them under 8d., and if you offer them 6d. in cash it is no object for them to take it. They would rather have 8d. worth of goods. In that way they are better off by getting the goods, because if they got 6d. in cash they would just lay it out in buying 6d. worth of goods. 5751. Do you employ beach boys extensively?-Yes, a good many; not at Voe, but at Papa Stour, Stenness, and Skerries. 5752. What is the usual wage for a beach boy?-The usual wage now is from £2 to £3, 10s. for boys. 5753. What is it for women?-Women don't usually work there. If we require to employ women on an emergency, then they are employed at the station at so much per day. There is no regular wage for them. 5754. Do the beach boys get accounts opened in their names at your shop?-We are obliged to do that in order to supply them with food. Sometimes we have to give them shoes and clothing to cover them. 5755. Do they generally get a balance of cash at the [Page 143] end of the year?-Yes; where they are careful, they have a considerable balance to get. Some of them will even have more than half their wages to get in cash. 5756. Are you tacksman of any estate or an owner of land in Shetland?-I am not tacksman of anything but the Skerries Islands. Mr. Bruce of Simbister is the proprietor. 5757. Are there any people living on these islands permanently all the year round?-Yes. 5758. Are they bound to fish for you?-Yes; and they have no wish to change. 5759. You pay rent to Mr. Bruce, and you take the risk of their payments?-Yes. 5760. In that case their rent enters your account as deduction against the men?-Yes. I manage Lady Nicholson's property in Papa, more as a factor for her than as a tacksman. 5761. Are the fishermen there free to fish to anybody they please?-Yes. 5762. But in point of fact they fish to you?-They all fish to me, for the very simple reason that there is no other one there for them to fish to. 5763. Do any of them cure their own fish, or try to do it?-There is only one native crew who cure their own fish at Papa. 5764. They prefer to do so, and you make no objection?-None whatever; and when their fish are cured, they just deliver them to my man there, and we buy them cured at the current price for cured fish. 5765. Do you think these men make as much of their fish as the other men do?-They do; but they have a great deal of labour with it. When the season is bad, it requires a great deal of attention from the whole of these men to attend to a few fish, and to get them dried, and perhaps it will be well on in September before they get over with it. They also run a risk their fish being spoiled. 5766. I suppose some fish are necessarily damaged in the course of curing?-Yes; it is a very important thing to be particular about that. They get damaged with rain, and they get damaged with sand and with the sea-breeze, and they require a great deal of attention. 5767. Is the rent which you pay for Skerries calculated so as to allow you a profit upon the rents of the sub-tenants?-No; I pay £110 of tack duty, and the gross rental from the tenants is only £68, I virtually pay the difference just for the station-that is, station rent for the store and premises which are put up there. 5768. Is it not also for the privilege of having these fishermen to fish for you?-I believe I could make more of these lands if I had them as grazing ground, without any fishermen there at all. There is only one of the Skerries I hold now; one of them has been sold to the Lighthouse Commissioners. 5769. If you could make more of the island as grazing ground, why don't you turn it into that?-If I were to do so, what could I make of the men? There are fourteen families, and if I turned them adrift it would be a fearful thing. 5770. Is it difficult for men to get land in Shetland?-It is very difficult now; there are so many requiring it, that almost every place is taken up. I have boats that go from the mainland to fish at the Skerries with the natives. 5771. Then it is useful as a station for them?-Yes. 5772. Is there anything else you wish to state with regard to the system of carrying on business, or with reference to the evidence that has been laid before the Commission previously?-Not so far as I am aware. Brae, January 10, 1872, CHARLES YOUNG, examined 5773. What are you?-I am a fisherman at Stenness. 5774. How long have you been there?-For twenty years. 5775. Do you hold land there?-No. 5776. For whom do you fish?-For Mr. John Anderson, Hillswick. 5777. Do you go to the home fishing?-Yes. 5778. How far is Stenness from Hillswick?-About three miles. I do not live at Stenness. I live in the south part of North Mavine, at Manaster, about twelve miles from Stenness. 5779. Do you go to Stenness merely for the fishing?-Yes. 5780. Has Mr. Anderson a station there?-Yes; only in summer and harvest. 5781. Has Mr. Adie also a station at Stenness?-Yes. 5782. How long have you fished for Mr. Anderson?-I have fished for about seventeen years for Anderson Brothers. I fished for two years at Ollaberry, and I fished for the time I have mentioned for Anderson & Co. 5783. How are you paid for your fish? Do you get most of your payment in goods or in cash at settling time?-I have got most in cash. 5784. What is the time for settling?-The settling time commences about 12th November, but for some years we have generally settled from 26th to 27th November. 5785. Do you generally get your supplies during the fishing season from Mr Anderson at Stenness?-Yes. 5786. Where is your family supplied? -I do not require much supplies for my family, I can buy them at any shop in the neighbourhood. 5787. Is there any shop at Manaster from which your family are supplied?-No. The most part of my dealing has been with Mr. Anderson, but I sometimes deal with Mr. Inkster at Brae, or any shop I may have occasion to go to. 5788. Are your family generally supplied by Mr. Anderson at Hillswick?-No; not as a general rule. 5789. Do you run an account with Mr. Anderson?-Yes. 5790. The two sides are balanced at the end of the year in November, and you generally get a good part of your payment in cash?-Yes. 5791. Do you get advances in money during the fishing season?- Not unless I require them; but if require them, I can get them. 5792. Do you ask for them as a favour?-No. 5793. Do you want the money for some particular purpose when you ask for it?-Yes. 5794. Do you always get it when you ask it?-Yes. I asked for £5 this year, about the beginning of the fishing, and I got it without any difficulty. 5795. Do you also get any reasonable quantity of goods you want?-Yes. 5796. Are the goods supplied to you at Stenness or at Hillswick?- To a certain extent at Stenness, and for the greater part at Hillswick. 5797. Do you go there for them?-Yes. 5798. Do you get both meal and clothing there?-Yes; I generally get them there in the summer season for the fishing. 5799. Is the meal there of good quality and reasonable price?- Yes; it is about the same as in other parts of the country. 5800. Would you have any advantage if you were going to another dealer for your meal and clothing?-I don't think I could have any. 5801. You think you get your goods as good and as cheap as you could desire?-Yes; they are as good and as cheap, there as at any other part of the island. 5802. Or at Stenness?-Yes; it is not much clothing they have at that place. It is only a temporary place, where they keep supplies for the men during the fishing season. 5803. Then the way in which you deal is very much the same as has been described by the witnesses from [Page 144] Mossbank?-Yes; I cannot say there is much difference. 5804. You are not obliged to fish for any person in particular?- No. 5805. You are a free man?-Yes. 5806. Do you generally get a balance in cash at the end of the year?-Yes. 5807. Would you rather be paid all at once in cash?-Yes. 5808. Why don't you manage to get that done?-I can hardly say; circumstances won't allow it. Sometimes the reason for it arises from the way in which we are placed as a crew of men. The curers will sometimes object to give it to one man in a boat's crew, unless all the men were alike. 5809. And all the men would not wish it in cash?-There are not many who would not wish for it in cash. 5810. Why could not the whole of the boat's crew get it in cash?- Because some of the men have got behind, and they cannot manage to go on throughout the rest of the season unless they get supplies from the curer. 5811. They are in the curer's debt at the commencement?-Yes, or perhaps they might be free men; but they have no opportunity of supplying themselves with anything until the end of the fishing. 5812. Therefore, when there are one or two men in boat's crew who are in that position, the curer objects to give cash payments to the others?-I cannot say that, because I have not seen it asked by the rest; but we have been conforming to the old practice that has been going on of fishing to the curers, and being paid by them at the end of the season. 5813. Do you want any change in the system?-The only change I would want in the system would be to know what I was working for. I should like to see a change in that respect. 5814. Would you like to have a price fixed at the beginning of the year?-Yes; before I commenced to fish, because according to the system we are proceeding on now we might go to the fishing, and at the end of the fishing season or at the end of the year when they settle with us, the merchants could pay us if they liked with 2s. a cwt. 5815. Do they not come under an obligation to pay you what is the current price at the end of the season?-It is not very often that we enter into engagements of any kind. The men who are free men generally fish for them, and they just fish upon an understanding that they are to be paid the country currency. 5816. But it is understood that they are to be paid the country currency?-Yes. 5817. And you would be entitled to get the country currency in any case?-Yes; but if the fish were going down as low as they might do, we would still only get the currency. 5818. Do you mean that the fish are sometimes higher earlier in the season than they are at the end?-No; what I mean is that the price varies very much. I have seen the price 4s. 6d. a cwt. in some years, and 8s. in other years; and if the price were to go below 4s. 6d., we would still only be paid according to that. But if we had a fixed price before we went to sea at all, I think that would be better. If there had been an average price fixed at the commencement of the season while I have been fishing, I would have been better satisfied in my own mind, because I would have known what I was working for. In that way the curer would have the advantage in some years, and in other years we might have the advantage. 5819. Do you think there would be any difficulty in getting the fishermen to stick to their bargain, if there was an arrangement of that kind made at the beginning of the season?-I fear there might be some difficulty with some of them. 5820. Some of them might think that if the price were to rise, they ought to get the full value of that rise?-I don't think any reasonable man could expect that, if he had made a fixed bargain to be paid so much. 5821. But you say that some of the men would make a difficulty about an arrangement of that kind; what do you mean by that?- The only difficulty I see would be a want of means to supply what they require in order to fit them for the fishing; but I think the difficulty might be got over. 5822. Do you mean that the men would get under weigh even if there was a fixed price?-I think so. 5823. When would you have that fixed price paid?-For my own part I would not care although we were not paid until the same time when we are paid at present. If it were paid weekly, I don't know how that system might work. 5824. Do you think that all the fishermen would like to have a price fixed in the beginning of the season?-I cannot say that the whole would like to have it, but for my own part I should like it and I know there are others besides me. 5825. Do you think there would be no difficulty in getting credit from the fish-curer in the same way as at present, if there was a fixed price?-No; the time for fixing the price might be the only thing that would be altered, and the settlement would still remain in November. We would then have a fixed price, and would know what we were working for. 5826. You have no objection to the system of advances?-I cannot say that I have. 5827. Are you quite at liberty to engage with any fish-curer you please, and to engage to fish for him through the season?-Yes. 5828. Has every fisherman the same liberty?-Every one, so far as I know, in this place. 5829. Even although he is in debt to the fish-curer?-No; in that case the fish-curer expects him to fish for him until his debt is paid. That is generally looked for, and in some instances I know that they had to agree to do it. 5830. Do you know that they wished to fish for another curer, but that they were obliged to fish to the man to whom they were in debt?-They did not wish to fish to another curer, but that fish-curer wished them to sign an agreement to fish to him for the rising season. 5831. Did they agree to do that?-Yes. They did not say anything about leaving the fish-curer, but only he wished them to agree. 5832. At what time of the year was that?-I have seen it done in the month of November, and also in December. 5833. Did the fish-curer ask them to do that at a time when they were wanting further advances of goods or money?-Yes, advances of money. 5834. And it was in order that he might have some security for these advances that he asked them to sign the agreement?-Yes. 5835. Is that a common thing?-I cannot say it is a common thing in my experience, but I have known it done in two or three different cases. 5836. Where was that?-At Hillswick. 5837. Have you known it done anywhere else?-No. 5838. Who were the men with whom it was done?-One man who told me twice over about it was Hugh Phillip; it happened with him in two different years. 5839. Has it happened with anybody else to your knowledge?- No. 5840. Was it not quite fair that a man should be expected to work for the curer until his debt was paid?-Yes. 5841. How does a man get into such an amount of debt as that? Is it from dealing with the shop?-I cannot say that the shop accounts are the cause of it, but it may arise from the circumstances of his family. The fishing here is the only thing a man has to depend upon, and sometimes, when it turns out bad year, he perhaps has taken a greater amount of supply from the shop for his family than usual. 5842. Was Phillip's account for shop goods?-It was for an advance of rent. 5843. That was what he was taking the money for but was he in debt before for shop goods?-Yes. [Page 145] Brae, January 10, 1872, WILLIAM GREEN, examined. 5844. You live at Sullem?-Yes. 5845. Are you a boat-skipper?-Yes. 5846. Where do you fish?-At Stenness. 5847. To whom do you deliver your fish?-To Mr. Adie. 5848. Have you done that long?-For six years. 5849. Do you settle with him at the end of the season?-Yes. 5850. Did you hear Mr Adie's evidence to-day?-I did. 5851. Did it give a fair account of the way in which the settlement is made?-Yes. 5852. Are you one of the men who generally have a balance in your favour at the end of the year?-Yes. 5853. Would it be an advantage to you to have a shorter settlement?-I don't think so. 5854. Why?-Because we fish during the year and at the year's end we settle with him. 5855. Are you quite content with the settlement as it is?-For my part I am. 5856. Do you deal with Mr. Adie's store at Voe to any great extent?-Yes. 5857. Do you take your goods from Voe to Sullem?-Yes. 5858. Is not that a long way to carry them?-It is. 5859. Could you not get them as good nearer home?-We could get them much the same but not better. If I want goods, Mr. Adie will either send them to me, or I may sometimes get the chance of a boat coming my way. 5860. How far is it from Sullem to Voe?-Perhaps from eight to nine miles. 5861. Are there shops nearer to you than that?-Yes; there is a shop at Brae, and there is also a shop to the northward. 5862. Can you get goods as cheap at these shops as at Mr. Adie's?-Much the same. 5863. Do you deal as much at these shops as at Mr. Adie's?-No; I deal more with Mr. Adie than with them. 5864. Is that because you have an account with Mr. Adie?-Yes. 5865. Do you know whether there is any difference between the prices in the shop at Voe and at other places?-I see no great difference. I have tried other places; and if there was any difference at all, it would be that I could get an article at Mr. Adie's perhaps a little cheaper than at other places. 5866. Then the only disadvantage you have in dealing at Voe is the distance?-Yes. 5867. And the only advantage you have is that you have an open account there?-Yes. 5868. Is that the only reason why you deal there-The boat we fish in belongs to Mr. Adie; we hire it from him. 5869. Is that any reason for dealing at Voe?-No but we fish to Mr. Adie, and we get goods from him as we require them, and at the year's end we make a settlement. 5870. There is a convenience in making a settlement at the end of the time, because you have not to pay for the goods in the meantime?-Yes. 5871. But if you got your cash every month or every six weeks, as you wanted it, would that not save you the trouble of going to Voe for your goods?-It might. 5872. Would you not consider that a great advantage?-No, not a great advantage. 5873. Do you think it is handier to make a settlement once a year and go to Voe for your goods?-Yes. 5874. Are you obliged in any way to go there unless you please to do so?-No, we are not obliged. 5875. How much do you generally get in cash at the year's end?- That varies according to the fishing. I have seen us get £8 or £9 after deducting our accounts. 5876. Do you require that money to pay your rent and other things that you want to buy?-Yes. Brae, January 10, 1872, WILLIAM POLE, examined. 5877. You are managing partner at Mossbank of the firm of Pole, Hoseason & Co, merchants and fish-curers?-Yes. 5878. You have other places in Shetland?-Yes. We have one in North Yell, at Greenbank; we have also two fishing stations-one at Feideland, and the other at Gloup. Feideland is at the extreme end of Northmavine, and Gloup is at the farthest north part of Yell. 5879. Have you heard the evidence of Mr. Adie?-Yes. 5880. Is the way in which you carry on your business at Mossbank substantially the same?-Yes, substantially the same. One difference is that we don't give discount on the fishermen's accounts in the way Mr. Adie seems to do. 5881. Is there any other difference that occurs to you?-The fishermen pay for their lines in some cases by three yearly instalments, and in the event of fisherman leaving us we are not bound to take back the lines from him, as Mr. Adie said. But that is quite a trifling difference. 5882. What proportion of dried fish do you estimate to be produced from the green fish, in settling with your men?-It takes 21/4 cwt. of green fish to make 1 cwt. of dry in the case of ling; and in the case of tusk it takes more. 5883. Is that a universal calculation in Shetland?-In some years it is a little less, and in some years a little more. 5884. Is that not a fixed standard? Is there a fresh calculation made every year as to the quantity of dried fish produced out of so much green?-There can be if it is wished. 5885. Do you not always go upon the footing that 21/4 cwt. of green fish make 1 cwt. of dry?-No; we can make a calculation in order to get at the quantity of green fish which it takes to make 1 cwt. of dry. 5886. On what principle do you act in settling with the fishermen?-In settling with them we pay them the current price paid in the country. 5887. But you calculate that current price on a certain principle with regard to the quantity of dry fish produced out of green?- Yes. 5888. In settling with them, do you always go upon the footing that 21/4 cwt. of green make 1 cwt. of dry, or does that enter into the settlement with the fishermen at all?-Of course that enters into the calculation; but then we can know exactly what quantity of green fish it takes to make 1 cwt. of dry. It is generally about 21/4 cwt. It may be a few pounds less some years, but it is very seldom more than 21/4 cwt. We always reckon upon it taking 21/4 cwt. green of ling to make 1 cwt. of dry; but then the price which we pay to the fishermen depends altogether upon the price which we get from the fish dry, and we pay them the current price paid in the country. 5889. How is that current price ascertained? Is it by the sales of each fish-curer, or by the sales of all the firms in Shetland?- Fish-curers have generally to pay the same price, whether they get the same price or not; but there is not often any great difference between the price got by one curer and that got by another. For instance, we reckon, one 21/4 cwt. green fish to 1 cwt. dry: that, at 8s. a cwt., comes to 18s., and we pay the fishermen for the cwt. of dry fish. Then the actual cost of curing is reckoned at about 2s. 6d. per cwt. dry. That does not include waste of curing utensils and management; so that the actual cost of curing the fish would be nearly £3 a ton, or 3s. a cwt. 5890. You may sell these fish for about 23s.?-Yes; but there is more to be taken into the calculation than that. We get £6 from each boat for the hire of the boat and the lines; but that sum cannot cover the cost to us, and therefore we have a loss upon the boat and lines, which has to come off the fish also. 5891. Is that loss universal?-I think it is, because there is no more paid for the boats now than was paid twenty years ago, when a boat wore half as long again [Page 146] as it does now, and when lines that run for two or three seasons would run for five or six seasons. 5892. Is that difference caused by deterioration in the quality of the articles?-No; it is caused by the boats going further out to the fishing. They require larger boats and larger sails, and then the lines are getting more used and more worn. 5893. I was asking you how the current price is ascertained at the end of the year?-It is just ascertained in the same way as the current price of any other commodity in any other place would be ascertained. 5894. Do you correspond with other fish-curers in order to find out the price?-Yes. 5895. Is there any meeting of fish-curers held at Lerwick or elsewhere for the purpose of fixing the price?-Not that I am aware of; not in the case of the haaf fishing. 5896. Is there any in the case of the Faroe fishing?-I am not sure about that; but I never attended one. 5897. Have you been asked to attend one?-No. 5898. Is there any rule with regard to the fixing of price current in the Faroe fishing? Do not the fishermen there get one-half the proceeds of the fishing, whatever the price may be, without reference to a price current?-It is always expected that the crew of one vessel will get the same as the crew of another. 5899. Do you mean the same as the crew of another employed by the same merchant?-No; by different merchants. That is always expected, and there is seldom any difference, although it does happen occasionally. 5900. Therefore you have heard of a meeting for the purpose of fixing a price current for the Faroe fishing?-I heard of such a thing taking place once, but not oftener; and I think it was only attended by three or four individuals. I think that was a year or two ago, but I am not certain about the time. Indeed, I am not certain about the thing; it only occurs to me that I heard about it. 5901. But the current price for the ordinary ling fishing can be easily enough ascertained, because you meet one another, and in your correspondence you may mention it incidentally?-Yes. 5902. Does it sometimes happen that the fishermen to one firm complain that they have not got so large price as their neighbours?-That has happened in my experience once or twice. 5903. Does that account in any degree for the desire which some fishermen seem to have for a price to be fixed before the season begins?-I don't think so. 5904. Do you think fishermen would be better off if a price were so fixed?-I do not. 5905. Why?-Because I think, under the present system, they are getting the very utmost the fish are worth to any merchant. 5906. But would it not be better for the fishermen? Would they not work as well, or better, if they knew the price they were to get?-I am not very sure about that; I cannot see in what respect they could possibly be better than they are. 5907. In your curing establishment do you employ beach boys at a fixed rate per annum?-Yes. 5908. Do they open an account in your shop-books in the same way as a fisherman who is engaged to fish to you for the season?- Yes, in much the same way. We engage them about this time of the year, and they require a few trifles about this time. Then, before they commence work on the beach, they require some clothing-perhaps some oilskins and boots or shoes. Then they require meal to keep them going through the season, and they are settled with at the end. 5909. What is the amount of the balance generally paid to a beach boy at settlement time in cash?-From 10s. to 30s. 5910. Out of wages amounting to from £2 to £3, 10s.?-Yes; we very seldom pay a boy more than £3. 5911. Have you any difficulty in getting beach boys?-We do find a considerable difficulty sometimes. 5912. Is the supply not equal to the demand?-Not in our case. For the past year for instance, it has not. 5913. How does that happen? Are their wages too low, or have they any other employment nowadays?-Nowadays the boys are being employed at the fishing sooner than they used to be. 5914. Are there many people employed in your curing establishment as day workers?-Yes; they are chiefly women, but there are a few boys and a few old people. 5915. How are they paid?-By the day. 5916. When are they paid?-Whenever they wish 5917. Is there a weekly pay-day with them?-There may be, if they wish; but sometimes, for their convenience, we do not settle weekly. The settlement may run for three, four, five, or six weeks, or perhaps whole season. 5918. How many days will these women be employed in the course of the season? Is it anything like constant employment?- Yes; at least during the summer. From the end of May till the end of September we will employ on an average about twenty women daily at Mossbank, and about ten at Greenbank. 5919. Do these women run an account at your shop for goods?- Yes. 5920. Is a considerable amount of their wages paid to them in goods?-Yes, a considerable part. 5921. Is there any understanding or rule that they shall take part of their wages in goods?-There is no such understanding. 5922. They are quite at liberty with regard to that-Yes. 5923. Will they get cash if they ask for it?-Yes, if they have it to get; but it is a convenience for them to get their goods from our shop. It saves them the trouble of going a greater distance for them. 5924. Is there no other shop there?-Not close by. The nearest shop is about a mile off, I think. 5925. Is there any expectation or understanding, when these women are engaged, that they shall open an account and take their wages, or the greater part of them, in goods at your shop?-No, there is no understanding; but we have every reason to believe that they will come to us, because they cannot manage otherwise. 5926. Are the goods which they take generally provisions or soft goods?-Chiefly provisions, but some soft goods too. 5927. In engaging these women, do you give any preference to those who deal at your shop?-No; but they mostly all deal there. 5928. Has each of them a ledger account in her own name with you?-Yes. 5929. Have they generally pass-books, or do they prefer to do without them?-They can get a passbook if they like, but they seldom do it. 5930. Are you a landed proprietor?-I am to small extent. 5931. Are any members of your firm owners of land?-No; not owners. 5932. Or tacksmen?-I am a tacksman of some; and we, as a firm, are factors for one or two small properties. 5933. Are any other members of the firm tacksmen or proprietors of land?-Not tacksmen. 5934. Or proprietors?-No. Mr. Hoseason, I think, is proprietor of one-fifth part of a rental of £3. 5935. On the land which you hold as owner or tacksman, are there many of the tenants who are fishermen and are employed by your firm?-Yes, there are a great many fishermen. 5936. Are they under any obligation to fish for you, and not for another?-Yes; we expect them fish for us in preference. 5937. That is part of the contract which they enter into for their ground?-Yes; but it is also understood that we are to give them the current price of the country. 5938. What are the properties of which you are tacksman?- Aywick, in East Yell. 5939. What is the number of fishermen on that property?-There are only four or five of them who fish to us. There are a good many others, but they do not [Page 147] fish to us. Some of these men go to the whale fishing, and we are not interested in it. 5940. They are not bound to fish for you if they go to the whale fishing or to the Faroe fishing?-No; not unless we require them. If we require them, they will give us the preference willingly. 5941. Is it part of the arrangement or understanding, that you are entitled to prevent them from going to the whale fishing or to the Faroe fishing if you please?-No; they are at perfect liberty to go to the whale fishing if they prefer it. 5942. But if they engage in the home fishing they are bound to fish to you?-Yes, if we wish it. 5943. What other properties are held in tack by you?-Sandwick, in North Yell. 5944. How many men are upon it?-There are seven or eight families, the heads of which are all fishermen, and they fish to us. There is another small property called Sellafirth, in North Yell, on which I think there are four or five men. We are also factors for George Hoseason of Basta, in North Yell. 5945. Are the men there bound to fish to you?-They all fish to us. They are not bound to do so; only, it is understood that they are to fish to us. 5946. How many of them may there be?-I think six or seven. These are all the properties of which we are tacksmen. 5947. Of what properties are you proprietor?-I am proprietor of small place in Delting, at Mossbank. 5948. Are there many fishermen on it?-No; only three or four. 5949. Are they also expected to fish for you?-No; there is only one of them, I think, who fishes for us. 5950. Are those fishermen in North Yell who fish for you, and who live on the land you have mentioned, in the habit of dealing at your shop at Gloup?-Yes; to a small extent. 5951. Are your books kept there?-No; Greenbank is the principal place where they are kept. Gloup is fishing station in connection with Greenbank. 5952. The shop accounts at Greenbank are balanced in the same way against the price of the fish?-Yes. 5953. Perhaps you will make up a similar statement to that which Mr. Adie has promised with regard to the amount of the shop accounts and the indebtedness of the men?-Yes. The systems pursued at Mossbank and Greenbank are a little different. At Greenbank we hire both boat and lines to the men; while at Mossbank the men almost all buy their lines, and hire the boat only. 5954. How many accounts do you keep at both places?-I think about 120 or 130 altogether, for the ling fishing. 5955. Are you engaged in the Faroe fishing?-Yes, to a small extent. 5956. Your dealing with regard to it is similar to what Mr. Adie has described?-Yes, quite the same. 5957. The men who go to that fishing deal at your shop in the same way as those who go to the home fishing?-Yes. 5958. Do they generally incur as large a shop account as the men who engage in the home fishing?-Not generally. 5959. Is that because they are young men?-Yes. 5960. But those who have families are in pretty much the same condition as the home fishers?-Yes; there is not any material difference as to the amount of their shop accounts. 5961. Is there anything you would like to add to what Mr. Adie has said?-No; I think everything I have to say has been stated already. 5962. You are not engaged in the hosiery business?-Only to a very small extent; we do not turn over £100 of hosiery in a year. There is one thing I should like to say about the difference in the price of our meal and the price of meal at Lerwick. I have heard it said that we average 8s. or 10s. higher than the price there. I may explain, in the first place, that there was a mistake with regard to the actual amount of difference; but at that very time the witness spoke of there was a considerable difference caused by a sudden rise in the price of meal in the market. At that time the meal rose several shillings on the sack. Parties who had their meal in before the rise could sell it without any increase of the price, if they thought fit; but we happened to bring in meal the very week the rise came on, so that we had to sell it at an advanced price. 5963. What was it?-I don't recollect exactly, but recollect that it was pretty considerable. The usual difference between the price of our meal and the price of meal in Lerwick is from 1s. 6d. to 2s. per boll 5964. Was the difference as much as 5s.?-No, it was not so much as that; but, from the cause I have mentioned, it may have been considerable. I made an arrangement with a party in Lerwick this year to send us weekly a price current of the meal in Lerwick, because sometimes our people do complain that they are charged more than they could get it for at Lerwick, and I wish to know how we really act in that way. I should be glad to send that price current for your inspection. 5965. Do you wish the prices in it to be compared with the prices at your own shop?-Yes. 5966. How are the prices at your shop to be ascertained?-Our books can show them. 5967. Are all the sales of meal entered in your books at the time they take place?-Not all; but when meal is given on credit, the price is entered in the ledger account opposite the name of the party. 5968. You have not got your books here?-No. I was not cited to attend to-day; but I wished to be examined, and I came forward. 5969. In what way do you arrange your ledger? Have you an account in it for each boat's crew?-Yes. 5970. Is there also a ledger account for each individual?-Yes. 5971. In that ledger account do you enter on the one side all his outfit and all the goods supplied to his family or to himself out of your shop, while on the other side are entered the proceeds of his fishing, and everything else that may be due to him?-Yes. 5972. In the case of the properties of which you are tacksman or proprietor, the rent, I presume, goes into the debit side of the man's account?-Yes. 5973. Is there anything else you wish to say?-No. Brae, January 10, 1872, Rev. DUNCAN MILLER, examined. 5974. You are a clergyman of the United Presbyterian Church at Mossbank?-I am. 5975. You have been there for a number of years?-Yes; this is my fourteenth year. 5976. You are well acquainted with many of the fishermen and with their families?-Yes. 5977. You are aware of the system which exists, of the payments for the fishermen's catch being settled at long intervals, and of accounts being run for shop goods with the merchants who buy their fish?-Yes. I think it is necessary to make a distinction with regard to the long accounts, because what I suppose is called the winter fishing is paid for immediately on the fish being landed. 5978. These are the small fish taken in the winter time?-Yes. 5979. But for the summer fishing there are these long settlements I refer to?-Yes. 5980. Have you formed any opinion as to the effects of that system upon the habits and character of the people?-I have. 5981. What conclusion have you arrived at on that matter?-I have arrived at the conclusion that these effects are very injurious. I think the men are brought to depend too much upon the shop and too much upon [Page 148] the merchant, and that in consequence they rely too little upon themselves. One result of the system therefore is, that there is a want of prudence amongst the men generally. I think the pass-book system affords a fatal facility for men getting into debt, and that many rush into it in that way who think very little of the debt they incur. Besides, I think the present system fosters, and has a natural tendency to produce a deceitful character in the people. For example, they are bound by their agreement to deliver their fish to the factor of the merchant for whom they fish, and the result is pretty much as has been stated in the examinations to-day, that a good many smuggle away their fish. They think the men who purchase them-I believe they are called yaggers-give them, a higher price, in many cases, than they would get from their employers, and therefore they dispose of fish which really belong to the proprietor of their boats; and all that is done in an underhand way. 5982. Have you any knowledge about these yaggers or factors who come about the country purchasing fish?-I have no knowledge of them except from the fishermen's own statements. 5983. Do you understand them to be strangers travelling about the country?-I understand them to be men-many of them, at least,- who have boats of their own. They have perhaps a single boat upon a station, and that gives them a right to be upon that station; and then they can buy as many fish as they please from the men belonging to other boats and other proprietors. 5984. Are they men who cure for themselves?-Yes; they cure for themselves to a small extent, and increase their means by purchasing from other boats. 5985. Do they occasionally reside in Shetland?-Yes. 5986. Are they fishermen themselves?-Yes; they are what are called small merchants. Possibly they are not able to furnish out a large fleet of boats, but they get one; and that one is little better than an excuse for giving them a right to be there, and to make purchases. 5987. Is the opinion you have arrived at with regard to the habits of improvidence that prevail among the fishermen the result of your own experience of particular cases.?-It is the result of general impressions, from a comparison of a multitude of individual cases that have come under my notice. 5988. Do the fishermen or their families with whom you come into contact, complain or make you aware that they run into debt to the shop to a larger extent than they ought to do?-Yes; many of them do. 5989. Do you find, as a rule, that the ordinary fisherman is in debt to his shop more than he is fairly able to pay at the end of his fishing season?-I think in my own neighbourhood that is probably the case, but of course Mr. Pole is more able to speak to that than I am. I don't know the state of their books, but I have a general impression that that is often the case. I think the majority of the fishermen round Mossbank are deeper in debt than they can hope to pay in one year. 5990. Would your opinion on that point be altered by discovering from the books, or from the fishermen themselves, that a considerable sum was paid to them annually in cash at settlement?-I cannot say for the present how they stand, but I have known when there was hardly a fisherman who was not in debt. 5991. Was that after a bad year?-No; it was for a succession of years. I remember about ten years ago of a very large home fishing in the way of sillock taking, when a couple of men in a boat were realizing upwards of £2 in a night. At that time a great many of them got themselves out of debt who were perhaps about £20, or from £20 to £30, involved, and I presume they have not been so much in debt since. I cannot say exactly how long that was ago but I think it was perhaps eight or ten years. 5992. You spoke of the men being too much dependent upon the fish-curer under the present system: would you explain, in what way that dependence is evidenced?-It is evidenced in a variety of ways. There is one way in which it is pretty evident, viz. that they never think of making any provision for the future. They know when they go to the work, that if their character is such that they can be expected to pay, or if they have property of such an amount as will pay their debt, they can get goods; and it is a kind of maxim, 'Well, there is plenty of pens and ink, and they can mark that down.' I have known that answer returned by men when they were accused of running too far into debt. 5993. Does that indicate a want of self-dependence?-Yes; a want of self-dependence, and too great a dependence upon the shop. 5994. It does not prove that they are under the control of the shopkeeper?-They are under his control. 5995. A man who is deeply in debt to a shopkeeper is of course under the control of his creditor to, certain extent; but in what way does that operate against the fishermen?-I think they become dispirited. They never think of paying their debt, and it paralyzes their energies. 5996. Do you think a fisherman who is in debt in that way is induced to engage for the season with the fish-curer on disadvantageous terms, or that he is induced to continue his dealings at the merchant's shop, when he might do better for himself otherwise?-Yes, I think that when he forms an engagement in that way his energies are paralyzed in prosecuting his calling, and that he will not fish with the same energy as if he were free men. He knows that whatever amount he may earn at the fishing, still his debt will hang about his neck. He will not be able to pay it. But I am not quite sure that I apprehend your question. I am speaking rather of the way in which the fact of a man being in debt paralyzes his energies. 5997. I was rather anxious to see how the fact of him being in debt operated to put him under the control of a fish-merchant so as to induce him to make a worse bargain than he would otherwise do, or to continue dealing at the merchant's shop, and to get his payment in goods, while he might be doing better with ready money?-The way in which I would understand the system operates injuriously in that case is, that if man is in debt to a merchant, the merchant, if he wishes the man to fish, has no more to do than to say to him, 'I will roup you off: you will be without the possibility of holding land, and your cows will be taken. You will get no manure; you cannot cultivate your land profitably without it, and you will just have to begin the world again a new man.' Now a man with a family, and probably a pretty large family, cannot afford to do that. 5998. Is there a feeling among the fishermen that they are in any way under an obligation, either a tacit understanding or an actual obligation-to deal at the fish-curer's shop for their goods?- There is a tacit understanding, at least, that they must do that; but I believe that is induced by the circumstance, that for large portion of the year their money is in the merchants' hands, and that again affords the kind of facility for running into debt which I have spoken of. 5999. Do you think that makes them incur larger debts than they otherwise would do?-I think so. 6000. Can you suggest any remedy for this state of things?-The remedy I would suggest is this: that the payments be as prompt as possible, and that they be cash payments. I am quite ready to state how I think the cash payments would operate. At present the fishermen's money is all in the merchants' hands; but he is requiring goods in the meantime, and he has no money to procure them with, and therefore he goes to the merchant and procures his goods. The merchant is under no constraint,-he can put his own price on the articles which he sells; and of course, where there is a credit system like the present, there are a large number of defaulters. These defaulters do not pay their own debts; but the merchant must live notwithstanding, and therefore the honest men have to pay for the defaulters. The merchant could not carry on his business unless [Page 149] that were done. He must have his losses covered; and system of that sort tells very heavily upon the public, because the merchant must charge a large margin of profit. Now I think the ready-money system would be more favourable for both parties,-because, suppose I were a merchant and dealing in ready money, I might turn over my capital three times a year, and I might have a profit every time, or three several profits; but if my money is lying out in debts, then it is perfectly clear that I must have as large a profit upon one turnover of my capital as under the other system, I would have upon the three, only I might have a little more trouble in turning it over three times instead of once. That is the reason why I think it would be beneficial to the merchant. On the other hand, I think it would be beneficial to the fishermen, because if the merchant turns over his capital three times, and has a profit on each time, then the profit which he could afford to charge would be less, and the men would get their goods cheaper. 6001. Are you in a position to state, as a matter of opinion, from your own experience, that the prices charged at the shops of these merchants are higher than they are at others where that system does not prevail?-I am not personally cognisant of that. I have bought some things at the shops here, and I thought they were charged higher; but I get my goods from Edinburgh-half a year's provisions at a time-so that I cannot testify from personal experience as to the difference in that respect. 6002. Is it not a very common thing in Shetland for families to get their supplies from Edinburgh?-I don't think it is general. 6003. I don't mean the families of fishermen; but is it not a common thing for people of a higher class to get their supplies from the south?-Yes, from Edinburgh or Aberdeen; but in my own case there is reason for sending to Edinburgh, over and above any difference in price. There are many articles I require which are not to be had here, and I have to send south before I can get such articles as are suitable for me. 6004. Have you anything to say with regard to the system pursued in the hosiery business here?-I don't think it is conducted with that amount of discrimination which it ought to be conducted with. In my neighbourhood there is very little done in hosiery; but the hosiery goods are just like a penny piece,-you know what they are; it does not matter whether the article is good or bad,-there is just a fixed price for it. That being the case, people don't put themselves to much trouble in order to procure a good article. 6005. Do you think the women would be better off if they were to get payment for their goods in cash?-I think so. I think it would be beneficial to have transactions in cash in hosiery as well as in everything else. 6006. Do you know any cases of women who have been making hosiery, and who have been in distress for want of money although they were able to get goods for their hosiery?-I know that they prefer money. I cannot say about their having been in distress. Many persons have come to my wife and have brought hosiery goods because they would get money from her for them. They often require money for purposes that goods will not answer, and in such cases they frequently come to Mrs. Miller and endeavour to get her to buy them. 6007. Is it a common thing in Shetland, that the women would rather go to a private party and get money for their goods than take them to a merchant?-Yes; there are a great many purposes for which money is required. Suppose a parent wished to pay his child's school fees, or anything of that sort, of course cotton goods would not pay for that; only the money would do. But the hosiery is a very unimportant branch of business in our neighbourhood. Hillswick, Northmaven: Thursday, January 11, 1872. -Mr. Guthrie. WILLIAM BLANCE, examined. 6008. You are a fisherman at Ollaberry?-I am. 6009. Have you a piece of land there?-Yes. 6010. Who is your landlord?-Mr. Anderson of Hillswick. 6011. For whom do you fish?-For Mr. Adie. I have fished for him in the summer season for the last six years. 6012. Are you at perfect liberty to fish for any person you like?-I have had that liberty since I came to Ollaberry. 6013. Have you not always had it?-Before that time I was south. It is only within the last six years I have been going to the fishing. 6014. Are the people at Ollaberry at liberty to fish for any person they like?-I don't know whether I can answer that question. 6015. Why?-Because I should like to speak only of my own experience. I have not been bound myself, and another man might tell me a true statement, or he might tell me a false statement. 6016. Then your own experience is that a man is free?-I have been free for the last six years while I have been at the Faroe fishing. During that time I have had my freedom 6017. Was it because you went to the Faroe fishing that you had your freedom?-I could not go to the ling-fishing. 6018. Why?-For certain reasons of my own. My own bodily ability was one. 6019. Does it require a stronger man to go to the ling-fishing than to the Faroe fishing?-It requires healthy people, I suppose. 6020. Are healthy people required more in the ling fishing than in the Faroe fishing?-Yes. 6021. Do you know whether your neighbours at Ollaberry are at liberty to fish to any person they please in the ling fishing?-They are supposed to fish for their landlord. 6022. Do you understand that that is a part of the bargain under which they hold their ground?-I don't know; but I believe it is, from hearsay. 6023. Were you told so yourself when you took your ground?-My landlord told me he wished my fish, and I told him I could not give them to him. 6024. And you went to the Faroe fishing instead?-Yes. 6025. Do you consider that if you went to the home fishing you would be at liberty to engage with any fish-merchant who offered you a good wage?-[No answer.] 6026. Why do you hesitate to answer that question? You must have some idea about it?-I would not consider myself at liberty until I inquired at my land-master. 6027. Is that the way with the other fishermen at Ollaberry too: have they told you that that is the obligation under which they lie?-They might have told me, but I forget. 6028. Do you believe that it is the obligation under which they lie?- If you hesitate to answer that question, I must ask you the reason why you hesitate so [Page 150] much?-Well, I believe it is the understanding that they must fish to the master. 6029. When did you receive your citation to come here?-On 9th January. 6030. Have you spoken to any one on the subject since?-Yes. 6031. To whom?-I could not read the writing, and I asked a man to read it for me. 6032. Who was that man?-Mr. William Irvine. 6033. Is he Mr. Anderson's shopkeeper at Ollaberry?-Yes. 6034. Did you go to the shop for the purpose of asking him to read it to you?-I had other errands besides that. 6035. But you were at the shop, and you asked him?-Yes. 6036. Did he read it to you?-Yes. 6037. Did you say anything to him about it?-I told him I did not understand it, and I would like if he would explain it. 6038. Did he explain it?-Yes. 6039. What did he tell you about it?-He said I need not be afraid to go, and that I should tell the truth. 6040. Was that all that passed?-I don't remember anything else. 6041. Had you much conversation on the subject?-Oh no. 6042. Did he tell you what you would be asked about?-The special thing he told me I would be asked about would be what had taken place between me and himself. 6043. What did he tell you about that?-He told me to take any books with me, as I was requested to take pass-books or documents. 6044. Did he tell you that the principal thing you would be asked about would be your dealings with the man you were fishing to?- Yes. 6045. That is Mr Adie?-Yes. 6046. Did he tell you you would be asked anything about your dealings with your landlord?-No; he told me nothing about that. I asked him if there was any use taking my land receipt, and he said he did not think there was. That was all that passed about it. 6047. Was that all that passed between you about anything?-All that I remember. 6048. I am asking you these questions, only because you hesitated so much in some of your answers. You said the people at Ollaberry were under an obligation to fish for their landlord?- As I supposed. 6049. In point of fact, do all the men there who go to the home fishing fish for Mr. Anderson?-I cannot say whether all of them do it. 6050. Do you know whether most of them do it?-I cannot tell. 6051. Are you acquainted with all the people in Ollaberry?-No; I have only been four years there. I am a stranger on that side, so that I don't know many of the people. 6052. Do you know most of the people within a mile or two of you?-I don't think I do. I could not mention them by name. 6053. But you have spoken to most of them?-I think I have. 6054. Do they all fish for Mr. Anderson in the home fishing?-[No answer.] 6055. Do you know, or do you not? If you do not know, say so?- I believe they do; but I don't know. 6056. Have you ever known any man who wished to engage to another fish-curer, or to cure his own fish, or sell his fish as he pleased, during the season in Ollaberry?-No; there are none of the men who do that. 6057. Do you keep a shop account with Mr. Adie at Voe?-My dealings are there, for the most part. 6058. Is there any shop of Mr. Adie's nearer to your house than Voe?-I cannot say. 6059. How far is it to Voe from your house?-I have heard it called thirteen miles; but I don't know. 6060. Are you married?-Yes. 6061. Have you a family?-Yes. 6062. Where do you buy your provisions?-I buy provisions in Voe, or in any other shop, just as suits my convenience. 6063. Do you sometimes buy them at the Ollaberry shop?- Sometimes. 6064. Anywhere else besides Voe?-Yes, I buy sometimes at other places. I have bought something at Mr. Anderson's shop at Hillswick. 6065. Anywhere else?-Yes, I have had some things elsewhere too. 6066. Where?-At Usiness, at Mr. Gilbert Nicholson's. 6067. Has he a shop of his own there?-Yes; shop is his own, so far as I know. 6068. But you get most of your provisions at Voe, and you keep an account in Mr. Adie's books all the year round, which is settled about the end of the year?-Yes. 6069. Is the settlement always before the New Year, or is it sometimes later?-Sometimes it is later, but it is generally before. 6070. Have you got a pass-book?-Yes. [Produces it.] 6071. Have you generally a balance of cash to get at the end of the year from Mr. Adie?-No. 6072. Are you generally in his debt to some extent at the end of the year?-Yes. 6073. How much were you in debt last settlement?-It was for something over £7. 6074. Have you always been in his debt?-Not always. 6075. How long is it since you had a balance to get?-I am not sure, but I think it is four years ago. 6076. I see from your pass-book that you have got a number of sums of cash paid to you. There are 16s., 8s., 2s. 6d. twice, 9d., 1s. 2d., and 3s. in cash, between December 23, 1870, and November 27, 1871: did you always get these advances of cash to account of the fishing that was going on during this season?-I always got the cash when I asked it. 6077. Did you get these advances to account of the fishing that was going on last season?-I was at the fishing last year. 6078. And you were delivering fish to Mr. Adie at the time you got that cash?-Yes. 6079. You were also to some extent in his debt?-Yes. 6080. Did he give you cash when you asked for it?-Yes. 6081. Did you get cash from him with which to pay your rent?-A little: £2. 6082. That is not marked in your pass-book?-No. 6083. Did you get it since the last entry was made in your book?- I got it before January. That is not all my account. 6084. Have you another book?-No. 6085. But there are some things which you have got which are not put in here?-Yes; I have gone to the shop when I did not have my book, and I have got what I asked. 6086. What goods you got in that way when you did not have your pass-book were all put down in Mr. Adie's book, and you remembered about them when you came to settle?-Sometimes, and sometimes not. 6087. If you did not remember them, did you trust to the honesty of the shopkeeper?-Yes. 6088. Is your account read over to you at settling time?-Yes, if I ask it to be done. 6089. Do you generally ask it?-Sometimes I do not, if I am in a hurry to get home. 6090. Then you have perfect confidence in their honesty?-I always think it would do more harm to them than to me if they were not honest. 6091. Does Mr. Anderson send any smacks to the Faroe fishing?- Not to my knowledge. 6092. Do you consider yourself under any obligation to ship in Mr. Adie's smacks for Faroe?-I do. 6093. Is that because you are in his debt?-Yes. 6094. Are there many other men who go in smacks for the same reason?-I cannot answer that. 6095. Have you ever heard any of your shipmates say they were in Mr. Adie's debt, and that they could not ship with anybody else?- Not so far as I remember. [Page 151] 6096. Do you know whether, in point of fact, many of them are in debt to Mr. Adie?-I don't know. 6097. Have you ever heard that they were?-I don't remember. 6098. When are you told the price you are to get for your fish at the Faroe fishing? Is it at the settling time?-We are told some time before, but not long. 6099. You leave the selling of the fish in the hands of the merchant entirely?-Yes. 6100. Is it the bargain that you are to be paid according to the current price at the end of the year for your half of the fish?-Yes. 6101. Before bringing out your half, there is a deduction of 5 per cent. for commission?-I don't know about that. I have heard of it, but I cannot say anything about it. I forget about these matters. 6102. Do you understand the bargain you make, and the way in which the settlement is made for your fish?-We get one half of the fish, and have to pay for salt and for the drying of the fish. 6103. Do you know of any other deductions that are made from your earnings?-Yes; there is a deduction made for part of the bait with which the fish are caught. 6104. Is there not something for lines?-We generally buy our own lines. 6105. Are these set down as part of your account in the shop?- Yes. 6106. But not in the pass-book?-Perhaps not. 6107. The book you have produced is for your own family requirements?-I generally take the book with me; and when I have it, I mark into it what I get out of the shop. 6108. Is it the boat's crew, or is it you individually, who are liable for the lines?-Every man takes lines for himself, if he chooses. 6109. Do you fish any when you come home from the Faroe fishing?-I fish a little, but nothing that can do me any good towards selling. I get no selling fish. 6110. You only fish for your own use, then?-Yes. 6111. In a small boat of your own?-Yes; or sometimes on the stones. 6112. Do you never sell any of the fish that you catch when you come home from Faroe?-No; I have not sold any for the last four years, so far as I remember. 6113. Would it not be easier for you to get your shop goods at Ollaberry, rather than to bring them fourteen miles from Voe?-If I want it, I can get anything sent down to Ollaberry. 6114. How far is it from your house to the shop at Ollaberry?- About half a mile. 6115. Do you get things there as good as at Voe?-Yes. 6116. And as cheap?-Yes, so far as I can judge. 6117. Would you get them always at Ollaberry if you were not fishing for Mr. Adie?-I cannot answer that. 6118. If you were not fishing for Mr. Adie, would you take the trouble of going to Voe every week or every month, as you wanted, to bring meal or tea or anything you wanted to buy?- No, I would not. 6119. Do you get your meal at Voe?-Yes; most that we use comes from there. 6120. I see it is not entered in your pass-book?-No; because the meal has generally been sent in my absence, and I carry the book about with me. 6121. How is it sent?-I have got some of it sent from Aberdeen to Ollaberry direct. 6122. How much was there of it at a time?-I don't remember. 6123. Was there a quantity sent at the same time to other people besides you?-No; it was only for myself and my family. I got a boll, or a sack, or whatever I wished Mr. Adie to send for. 6124. Mr. Adie got it sent from Aberdeen to you?-Yes, because I could get it cheaper from Aberdeen than from his own store. The money, of course, was his. 6125. Are there any other men fishing for Mr. Adie at Ollaberry?-I don't think there are. 6126. How did the meal come to Ollaberry from Aberdeen?-It came by the steamboat to Lerwick; and there are two vessels that come north, either of which it might have come by,-either the little steamboat or a packet which ran there. 6127. What did you pay for that meal?-I cannot say. 6128. Is it settled for yet?-My account is squared up. 6129. Was it this year you got it?-Yes; but I have got it in previous years in the same way. 6130. Do you know what you paid for it before?-I don't remember. 6131. When was your account squared up?-Fourteen days ago. 6132. It was not squared up in your pass-book then?-No, I had it with me; but I wanted to get home soon, and I did not ask Mr. Adie to look over the pass-book. 6133. You saw there was a balance against you then?-Yes. 6134. Did you not ask the price of the meal you had got?-No. 6135. Did you not hear it mentioned?-No. 6136. Are there any people in your house who knit?-Yes; my wife knits. 6137. Where does she sell her hosiery?-She sells it at Ollaberry, or Lochend, or at Hillswick, whichever place is most convenient. She buys the wool, and spins it herself. The articles which she knits are not very fine, and she sells them to any person who will buy them. 6138. Is she paid in goods or in money?-Generally in goods. 6139. Does she sometimes get money?-No; she seldom asks for it. 6140. Why does she not ask for it? Does she not want it?-No, not so far as I know. 6141. Has she an account in these shops?-She has an account in some of them. She has an account with Mr. Laurenson at Lochend. 6142. Anywhere else?-I don't know. 6143. Is that an account in your own name, or in hers?-It is an account of her own, so far as I know. 6144. Is it quite a separate dealing from anything you have to do with?-Yes. 6145. Have you ever had to pay your wife's account at Mr. Laurenson's?-No. 6146. Has she ever got money from that account for her hosiery to pay for your rent or for anything you wanted to buy?-No. 6147. Is it the practice not to sell hosiery for money in your neighbourhood?-I cannot say. I know that the general thing is goods. 6148. When is your wife's account with Mr. Laurenson settled?- It is settled when she is able to pay it. 6149. Has she generally something to pay for what she gets, or has she a balance in her favour?-It is seldom she has a balance in her favour. 6150. If she has such a balance, is it settled in goods?-I cannot answer that. If she wanted money she might get it, for anything that I know. 6151. Do you pay a subscription to the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society?-Yes; 8s. a year. 6152. Have you ever lost any lines or a boat?-No. 6153. Have you ever had anything to receive from the Society?- Yes; I was once sent home when I was shipwrecked. 6154. Was that all you have had to get from it?-Yes. 6155. Do you know of any people who have been turned out of their land in Shetland?-Not in our district. 6156. Do you know of any who have been turned out elsewhere?-Yes; Mr. Walker turned out some Delting, on Major Cameron's estate. 6157. What was that for?-Because he wanted the land. Some of them were very anxious to sit if they could have done so, but I suppose they could not comply with his terms. 6158. Were these men fishermen?-Yes. [Page 152] 6159. He did not want their service as fishermen?-Not to my knowledge. 6160. Do you know of any man who has been turned out of his ground for refusing to fish, or for selling his fish away from his landlord or tacksmaster?-Not that I remember of. 6161. Does your wife sell any eggs?-Yes. 6162. Anything else off your farm?-She has nothing else to sell. 6163. Where are your eggs sold?-We generally sell them in Ollaberry to Mr. Irvine. 6164. Have you an account there?-Yes. 6165. Is it settled at the end of the year?-If I am able to settle it; but if I am not able to settle, then it just stands. 6166. Are your eggs put down to your account?-No. 6167. Are you paid for them in cash?-Yes, if I want it. 6168. How do you pay your account there, if you never get money from Mr. Adie at Voe?-Generally in this part of the world we are not confined to one thing. People in this country have sometimes different ways of getting money. 6169. Do you follow some other trade?-Yes; I sometimes sew as a tailor. 6170. And you make a little money in that way?-Yes. 6171. Are you paid in money for your tailoring work?-Generally. 6172. Is that done for your neighbours?-Yes; but I generally work for Mr. Adie and I am paid in money for that. 6173. Do you go to Voe to work, or do you go there for it and take it home?-I take it home. 6174. Does the payment for that work go into your account with Mr. Adie?-If I don't want it paid to me, it goes into the account; but if I want money, I get it. 6175. When you want money to settle your account with Mr. Irvine at Ollaberry, is that where you get it?-Not always. 6176. You get it from a party for whom you have made a coat or trousers?-Yes. 6177. You say that your eggs don't go into the account with Mr. Irvine: are you always paid for them in cash?-Not always. We sometimes take goods for them; but if we wanted them to go in to our credit, they would go. 6178. Do you always take goods for them?-Generally. 6179. What is the price of your eggs?-For the last year or two they have generally been 6d. 6180. Can you sell them anywhere you like?-Yes. 6181. Could you sell them at Mossbank or at Brae if you could get a better price there?-So far as I know, we could. 6182. Nobody would make any objection to that?-Not so far as I know. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, THOMAS THOMASON, examined. 6183. You are a fisherman at Eshaness?-Yes; and I fish at the fishing station at Stenness. 6184. Have you a boat of your own?-I have a share of a boat. 6185. Who do you fish for?-I have fished for Mr. Anderson for a while, but I might fish to any one I choose. I have fished for Mr. Anderson for a number of years. 6186. Have you a bit of land?-Yes, on Tangwick estate-Mrs. Cheyne's. 6187. Who is the factor there?-Mr. Gifford of Busta. 6188. Are you quite at liberty to engage to fish with any merchant you please?-Yes, any one. I am at perfect freedom to fish to any man, and I have always been so. 6189. Do you keep an account with Mr. Anderson at Hillswick?- Yes; I always keep my own account myself. 6190. Have you a pass-book?-No. 6191. You have an account in his books?-I generally have. 6192. Do you generally get your supplies and provisions from him?-I do; but I buy my provisions where I think I can get them cheapest. I am not bound to get my provisions from him. 6193. Do you find they are as good at Hillswick as you can get them anywhere else in the country?-I find that I cannot get much profit or advantage by going even to Lerwick to buy my goods, more than by buying them at Hillswick. I could not get so much profit as would pay me for my trouble. 6194. Have you bought meal at both places?-I generally buy very little meal. 6195. Do you get enough meal off your own ground to serve you?-Generally I do. I have a pretty good farm-just as much as will hold us in meal. 6196. How far do you live from Hillswick?-About four English miles. 6197. When you go to Stenness, do you get your supplies there?- Yes; the supplies that are required for the fishing. 6198. You keep an account for these with Mr. Anderson at Hillswick?-Yes. 6199. And that is balanced every year?-Yes; I settle once a year-perhaps in November. 6200. Have you generally a balance to get in cash?-Generally I have. 6201. How much did you get last year?-I don't know; the amount differs yearly. 6202. But how much had you to get last year?-I don't know. Perhaps I had £20 to get from him. 6203. Was that the balance which was due to you?-Yes; I suppose I got £20 of cash from him last year. 6204. Was that the whole price of your fish, or was it the balance which you got in cash?-It was the balance I got in cash. 6205. Do you think many of your neighbours got much?-I don't know, for I don't interfere with any man's accounts. 6206. Are you a skipper?-Yes. 6207. Have you any idea whether any of your men are as well off at the end of the year as you are?-I think so. 6208. Are most of them as well off?-I think so. 6209. You don't hear them talking about having balance against them?-No, I don't hear much about that. It does not lie in my way to interfere with it. 6210. Do you think the fishermen are better off now than they used to be long ago?-I think they are a great deal better off. I know I am much better off than ever my father was. 6211. How does that happen?-Because my father was a bound man, and had to fish at a very low price before he could be a tenant; but being a free man, I pay my rent on a day, and I serve any man I choose, and make the best bargain for myself that I can. 6212. Would you be better off if you knew before settling time what you were to get for your fish at the end of the year?-I know the price of the fish about settling time. 6213. But you don't know it until settling time?-No. I might be worse off if I knew it sooner, because I might get a lower figure, as the merchant could not be sure then what he would get for his fish. The price of fish in the south varies yearly. 6214. Who fixes the price at the end of the season?-I am not able to answer that exactly. 6215. What is your bargain about it?-I have had no particular bargains with the fish-curer; but there is an understanding that I have to get the highest currency of the country. 6216. Do you know how that is settled?-I don't; or if I have heard it, I did not understand. 6217. You don't know how it is found out what the highest currency is?-No; I cannot answer that exactly. [Page 153] 6218. Who tells you what it is?-It is publicly known at settlement what is to be paid for the fish. We know what every man pays, and what the dry fish can realize. 6219. Is Hillswick the nearest shop you can go to for your goods?-It is the nearest shop that I can go to to get good goods. There are small articles sold nearer, but Hillswick is the only shop. 6220. Did anybody tell you to come here to-day to give evidence?-Nobody told me; but I heard that this was the day on which the evidence was to be given. 6221. Who told you that?-I don't remember now who told me. I think there was a lad from Hillswick who told me about it two days back. 6222. What was his name?-Arthur Sandison. 6223. What does he do?-He is the shopkeeper here for Mr. Anderson. 6224. And he told you to come here?-He told me this was the day when the evidence was to be taken, and that it was to be a public meeting. I understood something concerning it, and I came here voluntarily. There was no man who instigated me to come. 6225. Did Sandison not tell you that you had better come?-I don't remember him saying that I had better come or not; but, however, no man instigated me to come. I did not require to be cross-questioned to come; I just came freely of my own consent. 6226. You said the fishermen are better off now than they used to be: can you tell me any difference there is upon their condition?-I told you already that they were bound men before, but they are not so now with me. 6227. Is there anything else in which they are better off?-Yes; I think a free man is better in every point of view than a bound man. 6228. Do you think the men get a better price for their fish now?- I think they are getting double now for their fish what they were getting about fifty years back, or perhaps forty years. 6229. Do you know that from your father?-No; I know it from my uncle's accounts. He was a factor at Stenness; and I see from his accounts what the price at Stenness was then, and I know what it is now, and can see the improvement. 6230. Have you got his accounts?-I have. I have looked into them at home. 6231. What kind of accounts are they?-Factor's accounts. 6232. Do they show the price of the fish, or just the quantities delivered?-They show the price paid to the fishermen, and also the price of meal and other articles. 6233. What was the price of fish in those accounts?-It was as low as 4s. per cwt. for green fish. 6234. And it is now about double?-Yes. 6235. Do you remember the price of meal then?-Meal was sometimes very high. I remember seeing meal charged at 12s. per lispund of 32 lbs. This season it has been 5s. 4d. 6236. But sometimes it is higher?-Yes; the price of meal varies continually, just as it does in the south market. I don't think there is much advantage on that score. 6237. You don't think there is much difference on the price of meal, but on the price of fish there is a great difference?-Yes. 6238. Is there anything else you are able to tell me about the subject of this inquiry?-I don't think so. 6239. Have you any boys engaged at fish-curing work?-I had one boy engaged at it during the past season. He was in Mr. Adie's service at Stenness. 6240. Mr. Adie keeps a shop there during the fishing season?- Yes; to supply the fishermen with any necessaries during the time of the fishing. 6241. Does your boy keep an account at that shop?-He has only been employed for one season, and I kept his account and settled for him myself. He is quite a young boy-only thirteen years of age. 6242. Do you think it is better for you to do that than to allow him to have an account of his own?-He is not capable of keeping accounts yet. He has had no education for that. 6243. Had he no separate account in Mr. Adie's shop?-It was a mere trifle. 6244. Was he paid his balance?-Yes; it was paid at once in cash. Mr. Adie paid it to me. 6245. Is that a usual way of doing with the beach boys?-I think every one who had cash to get got it at once, and the man who was careful would get his cash at once. If I had £50 to get from the fish-curer, I would get it handed to me at once. I say that from my own personal experience; and that is always so with careful men. 6246. Then you are a successful man, and I daresay you have a large balance at your bank account?-I have too large a family to have a large balance there. I require a great deal of money for my family. 6247. Have you ever gone to the Faroe fishing?-I have only been a ling fisher. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, HENRY WILLIAMSON, examined. 6248. What are you?-I am a fisherman at Stenness. 6249. Do you hold some land on Mrs. Cheyne's estate?-Stenness is the station where we fish; and the farms we hold under crop, and where we live, are near it, at Tangwick. 6250. Your land is on the Busta estate, and you pay your rent to Mr. Gifford?-Yes. 6251. Are you free to fish to anybody you like?-Yes. 6252. For whom do you generally fish?-I have fished for Mr. Anderson for twenty-three years back. 6253. Do you get your goods at Mr. Anderson's shop at Hillswick?-Yes, for the most part, or anywhere else I choose. 6254. Is there any other shop in the neighbourhood where you get goods?-Yes, occasionally. There is a shop at Ollaberry; and there is a store of Mr. Adie's at Stenness, kept by a factor during the fishing season. 6255. Are there also some small shops in the country?-Yes. 6256. Do you sometimes get goods from them?-Yes; if I require them, and if it is convenient for me. 6257. But most of your dealings are at Hillswick?-Yes, because it is near hand. 6258. Is it as handy a place for you as any?-Yes. 6259. Do you keep an account there?-Yes. 6260. Is it settled at the end of the year, when you settle for your fish?-Yes. 6261. Have you generally a balance to get at the end of the year in cash?-Yes, for the most part I have. 6262. How much?-It varies very much, according to the fishing. We had a good season this year, and consequently we had a good return. 6263. But sometimes you have a balance against you?-I have not had that for some time back. When the fishing is good, of course a careful man will be able to save money. 6264. Is it five or six years since the balance was on the wrong side for you?-It is between twelve and twenty years since I was due anything; but I found no difference in the man I was serving, when I required money in advance then, than I do now when I have money of my own to get. 6265. Do you get cash in the fishing season when you ask for it?- Yes; whenever I asked for it, even when I had to ask for it in advance, I got it. 6266. Are you quite satisfied with the goods you get at the shop?- I am quite satisfied both with the qualities I receive, and with what is charged for the goods I require. 6267. Would it do you any good to have the price of your fish fixed at the beginning of the year, so that you would know what you were to get for them?-I am convinced that it would be a great disadvantage to the fishermen at large in Shetland; and that was partly [Page 154] what brought me here, when I heard there was to be a meeting. I knew little about it until I came here, but I thought I was called upon to come and give you my views upon it truly. I think the present system in Shetland has done better for the fishermen than any new system would do which could be brought in; and I think I know about it, because I have been at the ling-fishing for fifty-four years. 6268. Have you always had your price fixed according to the currency at the end of the year?-Yes. We only know our price some time before settling time, and I suppose we are paid according to the current price which rules in the south market. 6269. Do you think the price is always fairly enough fixed according to the sales which the fish-merchants have made?-I think so. 6270. Do other people not think so?-I don't know. I hear very little said about that; and as to that, I would not regard much what others said. I would have more regard to my own views. 6271. But have you heard complaints made about that?-I have no doubt I have heard them. It is a very common thing for us to hear people complaining. 6272. Is it the men who are bound to fish that are more apt to complain?-No doubt it is; but I am quite convinced, as I have already said, that any change in the system will not benefit the labouring men. 6273. Why?-Because I think they are fully as well served now as they could be. Those who are not able to pay at the time for what goods they require are dealt fairly with, and are never brought to a stand. 6274. Then you think it is an advantage for the fishermen, in a bad season, to be able to get an advance in order to carry them through until the following year?-I know it is, because, although I have never been one farthing in debt, yet there are many men with families who I know, if it had not been for the kindness of the merchant or his factor in giving them advances, would never have been able to carry through, because they had no means of their own, and their families did not support them. 6275. Are there many men you have known of that kind who have been carried through the season by the advances of the fish-merchant?-A great many in some seasons, but not at present. These have been fine years for Shetland. 6276. But some seasons ago, when the fishings and the crops were not so good, were there many such men?-About twenty years ago there were plenty of them. 6277. Were there many of them five years ago?-I don't know that there were so many of them then. There was a bad season a short time ago; but it is turned twenty years now since there were such bad times in Shetland, and the people were carried through then chiefly by the kindness of the merchants for whom they worked. 6278. They got advances on their accounts just in the same way as you would get your cash paid to you, if the merchant were due it to you?-Yes; and not only that, but I know that the curers often paid their rents for them in cash in advance, although I did not have much experience of that myself. 6279. Were these advances generally made in money, or in articles which the men wanted out of the shop?-Generally in goods. 6280. When a man wanted food or provisions, I suppose he would generally get them advanced to him out of the fish-merchant's shop?-Yes; or any place where it would be most convenient. 6281. But you say that in these bad years, when a man was behind, it was the fish-merchant who carried him through?-It was. They were carried through merely by the agency of the fish-curer. 6282. Did the fish-curer carry them through by giving them money with which to pay their rent?-No; the curers brought in sufficient meal to serve their purposes. 6283. And that meal was sold at the merchants' shops, and put to the account of the men?-Yes. 6284. Was that done with clothing too?-Yes, clothing, and whatever they required to get. 6285. But all that was done by these merchants in the confidence that the men would pay them, if they were able, by the next year's fishing?-No doubt they were repaid in some cases, but in some cases the repayment was very slow. That depended altogether upon whether the times turned out favourable. 6286. Do you know any of the men who were helped through in that way?-I have no doubt I know them, but I have no interest to say much about them. I don't want to enter into that matter at all. I am getting well advanced in life, and I don't want to speak about my neighbours' affairs. 6287. Were there many of your neighbours who were carried through in that sort of way?-There were a great many of them who required supplies. 6288. Did it take a great many years to carry some of them through, and to enable them to pay up what had been advanced to them?-I cannot tell how their accounts may be standing at present. 6289. Then you only suppose that some of them may have been able to pay up their debt in the course of the following year?-I know they did so; and I might take myself as a specimen of that. 6290. But you said that you have not required any advance for many years back?-Certainly. 6291. Do you think that within the last ten or fifteen years there have been many men who have required to be carried through in that way?-I don't know. Probably there may have been, but I have not been requiring that for myself. 6292. But you have been speaking about your neighbours, and you say it is an altered time with them?-It is, even within the time you have mentioned. 6293. Do you think some of them, within that time, may not have been able to pay their arrears in the course of next season?-I cannot exactly say. 6294. But you have said so?-Well, it would rather appear so. 6295. You think they may have been so much in debt, that it required more than one year for them to pay it up?-It is very probable that may have been the case. 6296. Have you any boys engaged on the beach?-No. 6297. Do any of your family knit?-Yes; they are always working away at it. 6298. Where do they sell their hosiery?-At different shops. 6299. Do they go to Lerwick with it?-Sometimes. 6300. Are they paid for it in goods?-I don't know. I don't inquire much about it. 6301. Have they got accounts of their own?-Yes; they keep their own accounts. 6302. Do they help you to keep the family?-I am not requiring it. I can keep my wife and myself; and my two daughters knit to provide themselves with what they want. I never inquire whether they get part cash for what they sell or knit. 6303. Do they clothe themselves by their own knitting?-Yes. 6304. Do they never help you to buy provisions for the family at all?-They work very hard at it, but I do not require them to bring any food into the house. I can buy it myself. 6305. Did anybody tell you to come here to-day?-No; I came to Hillswick on an errand to Mr. Anderson's shop, and I heard that the meeting was to take place to-day. Mr. Sutherland also told me about it. 6306. When did you hear about it first?-I can't exactly say. I heard about it some time in the course of yesterday, but I cannot say who told me. I told then that there was to be a meeting on Thursday at the school-house. 6307. Do you not remember who told you?-No. 6308. Were you told about it at Stenness?-Yes; I was told about it in the place where I live. 6309. But you don't remember who first mentioned it?-I do not. 6310. Are you sure you don't remember?-Yes; [Page 155] I can't remember exactly who told me, for I just heard the story among the public. 6311. Was that among the public at Stenness?-Yes. 6312. Was there not some one from Hillswick who brought the news to you?-There may have been, for anything I know. 6313. Was it some of your own family who told you-No. I heard it down at the station, where the boats come in from the sea. 6314. Was Mr. Sandison there?-Arthur Sandison was at Stenness on Tuesday. 6315. Did you see him then?-I did. There were some affairs that he and I had to manage, because he is Mr. Anderson's factor in summer, and I have to do with curing fish for Mr. Anderson in winter. 6316. Did Sandison tell you about the meeting?-No. 6317. Are you sure of that?-Yes. 6318. Did you not speak to him about it on Tuesday?-I don't remember whether we said much about that, or anything about that at all. There are various things that I may have exchanged words about with him which I don't remember. 6319. Then you may have been speaking to him about it on Tuesday?-No; I had not heard any word about it on Tuesday. 6320. Are you able to say that Sandison did not speak to you about it on Tuesday?-I don't recollect him speaking about it at all. 6321. Do you swear that you did not speak to Sandison on Tuesday about this meeting?-I would not be safe to answer, because my memory might not hold good. Recollection gets short when age comes on, and I would not care for swearing to that. 6322. You say it was only yesterday that you heard about the meeting?-Yes. 6323. Can you swear you did not hear of it before yesterday?-I swear that I don't recollect of hearing about it before yesterday. 6324. Is it possible you may have been speaking to Sandison about it?-I may have done so; but if I did, I have completely forgotten about it. 6325. Do any of your family work at kelp?-Yes; my daughters work at it. 6326. What do they get for that?-I suppose the price varies. 6327. Do they gather the sea-weed and make the kelp themselves, and sell it?-Yes. 6328. What do they get for it per cwt.?-I cannot tell. I think the price is £4 or £4, 10s. per ton; but I am not very sure. 6329. Do you know how that is paid to them?-They are paid in cash if they ask for it. 6330. But they have accounts of their own?-Yes. 6331. Who do they sell it to?-I think they sell it to Mr. Anderson. 6332. And it will be settled for when they settle their accounts?-I believe so. 6333. Do you know if there is any difference in the price of kelp, according as it is paid in goods or in cash?-I don't know, for I have never inquired about that. 6334. You said that a number of your neighbours had been carried through by the fish-merchant when they were in arrear from the badness of the season, and you also said that you knew a great number who had been so carried through?-Yes, a good many. 6335. Have you any objection to tell me their names?-I don't know whether I could call their names to recollection. 6336. I asked you to tell me their names in private, and you objected to do so; but I now ask you upon your oath whether you remember the names of any such men?-I don't think I could tell any of their names now. I would know their names quite well at the time when they were getting what they were requiring, but I cannot name any of them now. 6337. Is that because you don't remember them?-Yes. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, Mrs. MARY HUGHSON, examined. 6338. Are you the wife of Andrew Hughson, a fisherman and tenant here?-Yes; he is a tenant to Mr. Gifford on the Busta estate. 6339. Where do you live?-At Hillswick. 6340. Is your husband a fisherman?-He is a day labourer for the most part, and does land-work. He has been at the fishing, but not lately. 6341. Is he too old to go to the fishing now?-No; but he has been used to work on the land. 6342. Are you in the habit of knitting?-Very little. 6343. Do you knit any at all?-I knit for the family. 6344. Don't you sell your hosiery?-I have not sold much here. It is not very long since we came from Lerwick. 6345. Did you use to sell it there?-Sometimes. 6346. Were you always paid for it in goods?-Yes. 6347. Did you want to get cash for it?-No, I never asked cash. 6348. Do any of your daughters knit hosiery here?-Yes; and they sell it in Lerwick, as they were born there. 6349. Do they always go to Lerwick with it?-No; they sometimes sell it to Mr. Anderson at Hillswick. 6350. Do they always get goods for it?-Yes. 6351. Do they want cash?-They don't ask for it; it is not the custom. 6352. Are they quite content to take the price in the goods they want?-I suppose so. 6353. Do they also work at kelp?-Yes, in some way, we all work at kelp. 6354. How do you sell it?-We get 4s. 6d. per cwt. for it from Mr. Anderson. 6355. How are you paid for it?-We are paid in whatever we may ask for, in meal or tea, or goods of any kind. 6356. The way in which the kelp trade is carried on is, that you gather the kelp yourselves, and burn it and sell it?-Yes. 6357. Have you to pay for the privilege of gathering it?-We pay nothing. 6358. Can you sell it to any person you like?-There is no person buying it here except Mr. Anderson. 6359. How do you settle about your kelp? Have you an account in Mr. Anderson's books?-We get what we want, and pay for these goods with the kelp, and then anything we take out additional goes into the account for another year. 6360. Do you only settle once a year?-Yes. 6361. Do you always get 4s. 6d. a cwt. for it?-Yes; I got 5s. per cwt. some years ago, but the price is lower now. 6362. How long, in the course of the year, do you work at the kelp?-We work at it while the season is dry-from Whitsunday till the 1st August. 6363. During that time how many cwts. will you and your daughters gather?-Some years less, and some years more. We will sometimes have about £2 worth. 6364. That will be about half a ton?-Yes. 6365. Did you take the price of that in goods?-We took some part of it in clothes, and some part in meal or tea, or just what we required of money articles. 6366. What do you mean by money articles?-Groceries, or meal or bread, or anything of that kind. 6367. Why do you call them money articles?-Because it is not often that they are got for hosiery or anything of that sort. 6368. Is it a common way of speaking here, to call groceries money articles because they are not given for hosiery?-Tea is sometimes given for hosiery, and bread and meal. They will give a certain quantity of these money articles for hosiery if they are asked for. 6369. Is there a less price given for the hosiery if it is paid in money, or in money articles?-I don't know; I never asked or received money, for hosiery either here or elsewhere. [Page 156] 6370. Is there a different price for kelp according as it is paid in money or in goods?-I have heard it said that it is 4s. in money, or 4s. 6d. in goods. 6371. Have you always got the price of it in goods?-Yes. 6372. Did you never get money for your kelp at all?-No; I never asked money, and I never got it. 6373. When is the kelp settled for?-We settle for it when we sell it. 6374. Do you sell it all in a lump at the end, or at different times during the season?-Perhaps we sell it every time we burn it, and we settle for it then. 6375. Do you go to the shop and say how much you have?-Yes. We tell the merchant how much we have, and he takes us in and pays us for it then. 6376. Is there anything marked into a book about it?-Nothing. We get payment for it when we sell it. If we are due anything to the merchant, he takes it off the price, and then we get the balance in whatever way we want. 6377. Do you take the whole value of it at the same time?- Sometimes, and sometimes not. 6378. How do you know whether you are due anything at the time?-We ascertain that from the books. 6379. Is there an account in your name in Mr. Anderson's books?-Yes; and if there is anything over at the end of the season, we get it. 6380. Is it paid to you in cash at the end of the season?-Yes; if there is anything due at the end of the season, we get it in cash. 6381. Have you ever got any cash from him at the end of the season?-I never asked it, because I just cleared off with him; and perhaps there was nothing due to me. 6382. Do you think you would be any better if you were paid in cash?-I don't know. I am getting so far on in years, that it is not much cash I would have to get now. 6383. Do you and your daughters agree to keep the same account?-Yes; the account is generally in my name. 6384. Who does your husband work for?-He has been at the fishing, and he has been doing land-work for different people. He was working last summer to an Orkney man, who was over here at the building of the church. 6385. Does he work at farm-work, or how?-He just works at day-work, or lime-work, or anything he can get. 6386. Is he a stone-mason?-He is just a day labourer; he is not a mason. 6387. Do you keep an account at the shop at Hillswick for all your provisions and all the soft goods you want?-I have no account there just now. 6388. But you say that you are paid for your kelp by being settled with in an account?-Yes; we are paid off then for what is due to us, and there is no other account kept until the following year. 6389. You say you have never asked to be paid in money: is it all the same to you whether you are paid in money or in goods?-It is all the same. 6390. Do you swear that it is all the same to you?-It has been the custom to pay in goods, and there is no other place we could go to where we could get the money, besides if we got the money, we would just give it back into the shop that was handiest. 6391. Did you tell any person that you were afraid to come here today?-No, I was not afraid to come. 6392. Did you get any advice from any person about speaking the truth when you came here?-No. 6393. Are you sure about that?-I came to speak the truth when I swore to do it. 6394. But before you came, did you say anything to any one about being afraid to come, and were you advised to speak the truth?-I know to speak the truth. 6395. But did you say anything to any person about being afraid to come here?-I cannot recollect. I said to Mr. Sutherland that I wondered there were no other women asked to come besides me because there are plenty in the place. Mr. Sutherland asked me if I got money for anything; and I said I never did, and that I never asked it either for knitting or for kelp. I told him that if I had asked it I did not know what might have been done; but I never did ask it, and Mr. Anderson knows himself that I never asked money for knitting. But when I was asked to come here, I was nowise afraid to come and tell the truth. 6396. Did you say to any one that you did not like to come, for fear of the merchant?-No, I did not say I was afraid for the merchant. 6397. What did you say about the merchant?-I said I did not know why other people should not come as well as me, and that I wondered why no other women were summoned but myself. 6398. Did Mr. Sutherland advise you to speak the truth when you come, and not be afraid?-I spoke to Mr. Sutherland, and told him I did not know where I had to come. 6399. Did Mr. Anderson speak to you about coming here this morning? Did you see him to-day?-Yes, I saw him, and I spoke to him here. 6400. What did he say to you?-Mr. Anderson told me to bring my pass-book, whatever state it was in; but it has not been used for some years. 6401. Was that it pass-book for the kelp?-Yes, it was it pass-book for the goods that were used for the family. 6402. Had you a pass-book some years ago?-Yes; it is in the house. 6403. But you don't enter your purchases in that pass-book now?-No. 6404. Do you generally buy what you want at Mr. Anderson's shop?-Yes. 6405. What do you buy there?-Meal or tea, or whatever I am needing. 6406. How do you pay for that? Do you pay in money?- Sometimes in money and sometimes in knitted things or in work which my husband does. 6407. Does your husband work for Mr. Anderson?-Sometimes. 6408. When he works a day's work to him, does he get his money for it, or is it put down in the account?-It is put down in the account. 6409. But you said you had no account?-Well, I have no account. 6410. Has your husband an account?-Yes; when I said I had no account, I meant that I had no account for kelp and hosiery, but there is an account in my husband's name. 6411. And when he works for Mr. Anderson, his day's work is put down in the account?-Yes. 6412. What does he work at?-Stone-work, or any other kind of house-building. 6413. Is that account settled in money or goods?-In goods. I don't believe he has ready money to get; he is due something. 6414. Is he generally due something?-Yes; he has been due something for a while. 6415. Is it generally for Mr. Anderson that he works?-Only sometimes. 6416. When he works for other people, is he paid in money?- Yes; when he works for Mr. Sutherland, or any man who has no shop, he gets ready money. 6417. But if he works for any one who has a shop, is he paid in goods?-He does not work for any one who has a shop, except Mr. Anderson. 6418. And he is not paid in money for that because he is due Mr. Anderson an account?-His work is put into the account, and he gets what he needs for the house. 6419. How many years has he been in that position?-I cannot say; I have not been settling for him. 6420. Has he been working in this neighbourhood for a number of years?-Yes; we came here from Lerwick about 1858. 6421. When did you begin to get into debt?-I cannot say, because my husband was at the fishing then. 6422 Is it long since he got into debt?-It is some years; but I cannot say how many, because I have not been settling his account. [Page 157] 6423. Is his account settled every year?-Yes. 6424. At what time?-About Martinmas or the 1st November, just at the time when the fishermen are settled with. 6425. Do you know that there is generally a balance against your husband at the end of the year?-Yes. 6426. How much will that balance be?-I cannot say. 6427. Although there is that balance, you can still get what you want from the shop in the way of provisions or clothing?-Yes; when he is working for Mr. Anderson. 6428. Is he at liberty to work for any person here who will give him the highest wage?-Yes. 6429. There is no interference with him in respect to that?-No. 6430. Then it was your husband's pass-book that Mr. Anderson referred to when you came here today?-Yes; I told him I did not have it, but he said I should have brought it. 6431. But it is a good many years since anything was put into that pass-book?-It is. 6432. Is it your fault that the things were not entered?-He was not working for Mr. Anderson for some time about the time when the book was stopped. We were buying our meal and other things at some other place and we were not keeping regular accounts then. 6433. Why did you not put your things into the pass-book when you began again to deal at Hillswick? Could you not be bothered?-I don't know. 6434. Did you ask for a pass-book then?-No. 6435. Is your husband here?-No; he is off fishing at the long lines to-day. 6436. Is he one of a boat's crew there?-Yes. 6437. How many are there in that boat's crew?-I think there are four. 6438. Have they gone to fish on their own account?-Yes; they are just trying to get some fish for the house. 6439. He is not going to sell them?-No; he has not been in the habit of doing that. 6440. Are all the fish he catches in winter used for your own house?-Yes. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, EUPHEMIA PETERSON, examined. 6441. Do you live at Hillswick with your father and mother?- Yes. 6442. Is your father a fisherman?-Yes. 6443. Has he a bit of land?-Yes. 6444. Do you sometimes knit?-Yes; it is not very much I knit; the most of it is for my father and brother. 6445. Do you sometimes sell your knitting?-Sometimes. 6446. Where do you sell it?-At a place called Hillyard, on the other side of Roeness Hill, to Laurence Smith. 6447. How are you paid for it?-I get perhaps 16d. or 18d. for a spencer. 6448. Do you get that in money?-No; in goods. 6449. What kind of goods?-Cotton. 6450. How many spencers will you take to Mr. Smith at a time?- Sometimes I only take one. I had three spencers with me the last time I went, at 16d. apiece. 6451. That was 4s. What did you get for that?-I bought 41/2 yards of white cotton; nothing else. 6452. Was that all you were to get for the 4s., or are you to go back again?-No; I just got it all in cotton. 6453. You had not an account there?-No. 6454. Was it common white cotton you got?-Yes. 6455. Do you remember what was the price of it per yard?-I don't remember. 6456. How long is that ago?-It is about three weeks ago, or perhaps more. 6457. Was the cotton a thing which you wanted at the time?-Yes. 6458. What did you do with it?-I made petticoats and other things with it. 6459. Was it fine cotton?-It was sheeting cotton. 6460. Do you never get money for your knitting at any time?-No; I never asked money for it. 6461. Do you knit with your own worsted?-Yes. 6462. Do you make the worsted yourself out of the wool of your own sheep?-Yes. 6463. Do you work at kelp?-I have been at it three times, but I am not working at it now. 6464. Did you sell the kelp yourself?-No. I wrought last with Maria Sandison, and we got 4s. 6d. a cwt. for it from Mr. Anderson. 6465. Were you paid by Mr. Anderson for the kelp you had made, or did Maria Sandison get the money for you?-She got it. 6466. Then you don't know how the price was settled?-No. 6467. Did you get money for your share of it?-Yes. I got 2s. 6d. one time; at another time I got 3s.; and I don't recollect what I got the other time. 6468. Did you get that money from Maria?-I got a line for it. I did not get any money, but I got goods for the line. 6469. I thought you said you got money?-They will give money if we ask for it, but I did not ask for the money. 6470. What did you ask for?-I took goods for it-cotton. 6471. Did you want the cotton?-Yes. 6472. Did you get the money from Maria Sandison?-No. She gave me a note, and I took it to the merchant. 6473. What was the note?-Just a bit of paper with some writing put down upon it. 6474. Was it signed by anybody?-It would be signed by the shopkeeper. 6475. And you took that to the shop and got what you wanted?- Yes. 6476. How much did you get?-I don't remember. 6477. How long ago is that?-I don't remember. 6478. Did you ever get any money for your kelp at all?-I never got any money; I never asked it. 6479. Why do you say that you never asked it?-Because I was just needing the cotton, and I took it. 6480. But why do you say that you never asked for it? Do you mean that you would have got it if you had asked?-Yes; I might have got it. 6481. How do you know?-There are some who have got it when they asked for it, but I never did. 6482. Do most of the women get money for their kelp?-I cannot say. 6483. What does your father do with his eggs?-He sells them. 6484. Have you a great quantity of eggs to sell?-Yes; in summer we have a good many. 6485. How many will you have in a week?-I cannot say. 6486. Do you generally take them to sell?-Sometimes. 6487. How many will you take at a time?-Perhaps a dozen or half a dozen. 6488. What do you get for them?-We sometimes get 6d. a dozen, but we have got 7d. We got that in the past summer. 6489. Do you get money for that?-We never take it in money; we just take in goods. 6490. Is that the way all the people hereabout do with their eggs?-I think it is the way that most of them do with them. 6491. Where do you take them to?-Sometimes to Mr. Anderson's, and sometimes to Laurence Smith's. 6492. Is Smith's farther away than Anderson's?-Yes; it is about two miles from us., 6493. Do you get the same price from both places?-I got a halfpenny more from Laurence Smith. 6494. But the price was paid to you at both places in goods?-Yes. 6495. What kind of goods do you get for your eggs?-I cannot say; sometimes we take tea. [Page 158] 6496. Do you just get the goods when you go, or is there an account kept?-We just get them when we go. We have no account at all. 6497. Is your father here to-day?-Yes. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, JOHN ANDERSON, examined. 6498. You are a merchant and fish-curer in Hillswick?-I am. 6499. And you are the proprietor of the estate of Ollaberry?-No; I am only tacksman. 6500. Is Ollaberry in Northmavine parish?-Yes. 6501. Your brother, I understand, is proprietor of that estate?- Yes. 6502. Do you carry on business at Hillswick under a firm or in your own name?-In my own name. 6503. I presume the way in which you arrange for the payment of your fishermen is similar to that which prevails in other parts of Shetland-viz. that the fisherman engages to fish for you for the season at the summer fishing, and to receive payment for his fish in winter at the price then current after the sales have been made? -Yes. 6504. Is it the case also that the way in which you keep accounts with your fishermen is that a ledger account is opened in name of each man, in which the entries on one side consist of advances made to him for the purpose of outfit and lines, boat-hire when the boat is not his own, or for the price of the boat if he is buying it by instalments?-Yes. 6505. And on the other side is entered the price of his fish, and anything else that may be due to him by you?-Yes. 6506. Is there any further explanation you desire to make about the way in which these arrangements entered into and carried out between you and your fishermen?-I think that is all, except the inducement I have held out to fishermen to buy their own boats and lines. My practice for several years past has been that when they bought their own boats and lines, and were free of debt, I allowed them 6d. a cwt. extra on their fish. 6507. That is to say, that a fisherman who hires his boat, or one who is paying up the price of his boat by instalments, or who is in debt, is paid for his fish 6d. a cwt. less than one who is not in your books for boat-hire or for the price of his boat?-Yes. 6508. Is that intended as an inducement to a man to get clear of his boat-hire or of debts of that sort?-Yes, it was so intended by me. 6509. How long has that system been in operation?-I think since 1864. 6510. Have many of the fishermen got clear of their debts in consequence of that inducement, so far as you can judge by your experience?-I think so. 6511. You think that system has had a beneficial effect?-I think so, judging from the diminution of the debts. I have taken the last four years, and struck an average with regard to that. 6512. You have made a calculation applying to the last four years, showing what?-Showing the degree in which the fishermen have reduced their debts. I don't have that calculation with me here. 6513. Was it made for your own private use?-Yes. I wanted to see whether I was correct in giving the fishermen that advantage, and I found that the average amount to which the fishermen were in debt was £13 each year. 6514. Was that an average only of those who were in debt?-Yes. 6515. And your calculation showed that the average debt of each fisherman was £13 this year?-Not this year, but taking the average for four years. 6516. I understood it was entered into for the purpose of comparison with the period before the system you have now mentioned was introduced?-No. The calculation I made was for the purpose of satisfying myself whether I was correct in giving that 6d. per cwt. in advance extra. 6517. Then do you find that the fishermen who are in your debt now were indebted to you to the amount of £13 on an average?- Yes. 6518. Are you of opinion that that is a less amount of debt per man than existed before that system introduced?-I am. 6519. Did you enter into any calculation over period of years before the introduction of the system, in order to compare it with the state of matters during the last four years, or have you made that comparison just from your general knowledge?-Just from my general knowledge. I did not make the calculation so accurately for the previous period as for the last four years. 6520. But you are clearly of opinion that the amount of debt before that system was introduced was greater than it is now?-I am clearly of that opinion. 6521. How many of the men do you calculate are now in your debt to that average extent?-I am not able to answer that question exactly. 6522. Can you not give an approximation to the number?-I am afraid not. 6523. How many men do you employ altogether in the ling and cod fishing in summer?-I have no cod fishing,-only ling fishing, in which I think I employ about 120 or 130 men. 6524. Is that at Hillswick, or at all your stations?-At Hillswick. 6525. But you have stations at other places?-Hillswick is the business place, but we have fishing stations at different places-at Roeness Voe, Hillyard, Hamnavoe, and Stenness. 6526. Have you none at Ollaberry?-Only in winter time. We get some fish there in winter-principally small fish, cod, and some ling. 6527. You said that you don't send men to the cod fishing?-No. 6528. How do you distinguish between the cod fishing proper and the cod which you get in winter?-There are different names for the different kinds of fishing. The Faroe fishing is a different thing from the home fishing. 6529. But some people subdivide the summer fishing into more than one kind?-There is cod fished for in the voes near the coast during the winter, but they are generally a smaller size than the Faroe cod. 6530. Is that what you call the winter fishing?-Yes. 6531. Was that what you spoke of just now when you said you did not send men to the cod fishing?-I meant I did not send men to the Faroe fishing. 6532. Then by the ling fishing you mean the summer fishing?- Yes. 6533. And in that the men catch cod and tusk?-Very few; and what they get are thin and of an inferior quality. 6534. But ling is the staple fish that is caught at that time?-Yes. 6535. Your accounts with your men are settled annually in November or December?-Yes. 6536. Do you find that the majority of your men have then a cash balance to receive, or are they in arrear?-I am afraid I must acknowledge that the majority of them are in arrear. 6537. Do you think the system of paying at such a long interval of time has any effect in causing the men to be so deeply in your debt?-I don't think so. 6538. Do you think it is their own choice or their own habits that is the occasion of it?-I daresay there are various causes that contribute to it. There may be some improvidence among them; there may be afflictions among them of various kinds. There may be men getting married, and getting families; and it is a sore time with them when their children are small. 6539. Have you ever considered whether a system of shorter payments could be introduced in your business which might encourage habits of economy and foresight, and lead the men to keep out of debt?-I have given that point some careful consideration. 6540. You have already said that you introduced a [Page 159] system of giving a premium to your men who were free of debt?- Yes. 6541. But has any other plan for bringing about the end occurred to you?-I don't think there is any other. 6542. Are you aware that the men sometimes express a wish that they should know the price of fish earlier in the season than is the case at present?-Yes. That has been expressed to me sometimes by the men themselves. 6543. Do you think that would have any beneficial effect?-I don't think it. In the winter fishing we have paid for the fish as soon as the men came on shore with them, but I was not aware that they saved any of that cash in consequence of receiving it at once, any more than they would have done if it had been put to account. 6544. Is the winter fishing generally paid in cash?-Yes if the men require it. 6545. Is it more commonly paid for in cash at the time of delivery than is the case in the other fisheries?-The men have the choice of getting cash or goods, just as they like, for their winter fish. 6546. I rather understand they have the choice of getting cash or goods in the other fishings as well at any time if they like: is not that so?-I think not. I think they would not get cash unless they were clear men, or unless we had good cause to know that they were really in necessity for something. 6547. But during the course of the summer fishing are they allowed advances in goods as they require them?-Yes. 6548. Even though they should be to some extent in your debt?- Yes. 6549. If a man is clear at the end of a season, and is fishing for you during the following season, is it usual to give him advances in cash to account of his fishing as often as they are asked?-Yes. 6550. Is it ever the case that a man who is in that position gets some payents in cash throughout the season, and is paid the whole balance in cash at the end, and has no account at your shop at all?-I think not. I have never been aware of any case of that kind. 6551. Is that because the man necessarily has to apply to you for an outfit for the fishing at the beginning of the year, such as lines or boats; or is it because he may have an account for necessaries to his family?-He is not obliged to get his outfit or his necessaries from me unless he likes. There is no obligation upon him. 6552. But, in point of fact, he generally does get an outfit from you?-Yes; we are always glad to get them to buy an outfit from us. 6553. Whether he gets a boat or not, I suppose the general rule is that he takes his outfit from you?-Yes; that is the general practice. 6554. Is a man expected to do that when he is engaged to fish for you?-I certainly would expect it but he is under no obligation whatever. 6555. If a man were engaging with you to fish for the summer, and getting his outfit elsewhere, say at Lerwick, would that make any difference in the way in which you would deal with him afterwards?-None whatever. 6556. Would he be just as likely to get an engagement from you in the following year, and as good a price for his fish?-Yes. 6557. I understand you have the largest shop in this parish?-I am scarcely able to answer that, but I suppose it is the largest in this district. Messrs. Hay & Co., at North Roe have an extensive business also. 6558. Is North Roe as populous a district as Hillswick?-Yes. 6559. Then there is the shop of Mr. Adie at Voe?-Yes; that is a larger business than mine. 6560. And Pole, Hoseason, & Co. at Mossbank?-Yes. 6561. Do these shops rank in size along with yours?-Yes; and Hay & Co.'s shop at North Roe. 6562. But there are smaller shops throughout the country not kept by fish-curers?-Yes. Mr. Peter Robertson, Sullem, and Mr. Gilbert Nicholson, Ollaberry, are not fish-curers. Mr. Nicholson has been engaged in that business to, but not on his own account. 6563. Do these shopkeepers sometimes buy fish?-I think so. I think Mr. Nicholson buys cured fish in the winter, near the sea. 6564. Is it a common opinion that there is a good deal of smuggling of fish by fishermen during the fishing season?-I believe it is. 6565. Is that done for the purpose of getting payment in ready money; or is the inducement for it, that they get a larger price by disposing of their fish, in that way?-I don't think the payment of ready money is the inducement, because for many years past it has been my practice to send out money to the factor, with which to pay the men for whatever fish they wanted to sell,-that is to say, to clear any little bits of debt they had to pay at the station. 6566. But the men that you spoke of are bound by their engagement at the beginning of the year to deliver all their fish to you?-That is an understood thing, I believe; but I don't think it has ever been acted upon. 6567. Are they at liberty to sell their fish to others?-They generally take that liberty. 6568. So that only those fish go into the account which are weighed by your factor?-Yes. 6569. Do your factors at these fishing stations pay ready money for any large quantity of fish that is delivered to them?-I don't think there are any large quantities paid for in ready money. I believe the men generally give fish in that way to procure supplies. Perhaps they might think my goods were not equal to Mr. Adie's or those of other merchants, and they might give a few fish in that way to these merchants in order to get money with which to clear off their little bits of accounts there. 6570. That is to say, a man fishing for Mr. Adie might sell a few fish to your factor in that way, or one of your men might sell to Mr. Adie just in the same way, in order to get a little money for his present needs?-Yes. 6571. Can you give me any idea from your books to what extent that sort of ready-money payment goes on during the summer season?-I could scarcely say. I should think that perhaps £5 or £6 would cover the whole of that for the entire season, because there are some of the men fishing to me who will ask the factor to give them a pound in cash or so just at the end of the season. 6572. Therefore they don't require to smuggle the fish so much as one might suppose?-No. 6573. Do you consider that the tenants on the Ollaberry estate are obliged by the terms of their leases to fish to you only?-I do not; although I think I have it in my power to compel them to fish if I wished to do so. 6574. Do you think you have that in your power by the terms of their leases?-I think there is only man who has a lease at present. 6575. Or by the terms of the contract under which they sit on the land?-I think that is understood. 6576. That is a part of their bargain?-It is not part of their bargain, but I think it is understood. 6577. When a man is in your debt in the way you have spoken of, do you think he has a stronger inducement to deal at your shop for the goods he requires, and to agree to fish for you during the following season, than another man who is not in debt?-I am not very sure about that. 6578. I suppose you would consider it fair that man who is in your debt should deliver his fish to you rather than to another, in order that he might pay off your debt?-Certainly. 6579. And also that he should take his supplies from your shop, so far as necessary?-Yes, I would expect that. 6580. Is it also the feeling among the men generally, that they are inclined to deal with a person who has advanced them money or goods in a bad season? [Page 160]-I think they would have no objection to deal in that way. 6581. You I would probably have rather to keep them within limits in their dealing, for fear they should get too much?-Yes, I think that is quite right. 6582. Perhaps they have no credit elsewhere?-I daresay they might have credit elsewhere too. Probably they might have other things, such as produce of different kinds from their farms with which to clear off their small accounts in other quarters, and which might not come my way. 6583. Do you not deal considerably in farm produce yourself?- Yes; in cattle and other things. 6584. Do you send them south?-Yes. 6585. Do you purchase these generally for cash, or do your purchases in that way enter the accounts of the men who fish for you?-That just depends on the way the men want them. I make a practice of purchasing all stock for cash; but if they wanted it entered in their accounts, I do so. 6586. Are these purchases generally made at periodical sales?- Yes, we have two sales in the year at Ollaberry; but I purchase a good many cattle and horses just at any place where I can get them through the parish. 6587. Suppose you made purchases of that kind from a man who owed you a certain amount in your books, would these purchases enter your books to his credit, or would they be paid in cash?- That will depend upon our bargain. If a man said to me, I have a cow to sell, and one part of the price I want to go to pay my rent, and the other part I want put into my account, I would do that for him. I have done that frequently, although the man was in my debt. 6588. You said there were 120 fishermen in your books at Hillswick?-That was a mere random guess; I could not speak to it positively. 6589. Have you a number of men in your books at other places?- Yes, at Ollaberry; but that shop is under a different firm Anderson & Co. 6590. Is that shop kept by Mr. Irvine?-Yes. 6591. Do you take the principal oversight of the business there?-I do. 6592. Then, when you spoke of the fishermen on the Ollaberry estate being obliged to fish to you, I suppose you meant that they were bound to fish for that firm?-Yes. 6593. Is there any other station besides Ollaberry where you have a shop and fishermen upon your books?-No other station, except the fishing stations I have already mentioned. 6594. These are not permanent establishments, but are only kept up for the summer season?-There is a man who takes winter fish at Stenness and at Hamnavoe. 6595. But there are not so many men residing there?-No. 6596. And it is only from those who reside on the spot there that you receive fish in winter?-Yes. 6597. How many men may be engaged in the fishing at the Ollaberry station, and who are entered in your books as employed by you?-Probably between 50 and 60. 6598. Then you may have about 300 fishermen the summer fishing, including the other stations you have mentioned?-I think scarcely so many. 6599. One of the books which you have produced here is a woman's book?-Yes. 6600. That has relation to hosiery and kelp?-Yes. 6601. You have not brought any books relating to the fishing business, but I suppose you will be ready to show them if you are asked?-Certainly. 6602. In what way do you engage your beach boys?-Some of them are engaged about December, but perhaps it is the spring before we get them all. We engage them for an annual fee,-that is to say, a fee for three months in summer, or for summer and harvest. The rates we pay them vary from about 45s. to £10 for time summer and harvest. 6603. Do those to whom you pay £10 have charge of the curing?- Yes; I have given the whole range. 6604. There are two classes of them-the beach-boys proper, and the men who are skilled at the work?-Yes; and the man who has charge of the curing. 6605. Are both those classes settled with at the end of the year?- Yes. 6606. Do the men employed in the curing get payment before the end of the year?-No. 6607. I believe at some establishments the men employed are paid by weekly wages?-I am not aware of that. 6608. Do you open an account with them in the same way as with the other people employed by you?-Yes. 6609. And if they want supplies they get them at your shop?-Yes. 6610. Do you find that the amount of debt upon these accounts is greater or less than in the case of ordinary fishermen?-We generally strive not to allow them to get into debt. 6611. I don't mean the amount of debt above their salary, but the amount of debt they incur for furnishings in the course of the year: is that greater or less than the amount due to them for their fee?-I think it is generally less, taking the whole cases together. There may be some cases where they fall behind little, but there are others again who have money to get. 6612. Have they generally a considerable balance to receive in money at the end of the year?-No; when boy has paid for his clothes and provisions, he will not have very much to receive. 6613. Does a beach boy generally require an outfit of clothing at the beginning?-Yes. 6614. Is it the sons of your fishermen whom you generally employ as beach boys?-Very often, but not necessarily; I just engage any one I can get. 6615. Is there a sufficient supply of them?-There has always been hitherto. 6616. When a boy who is engaged for the first year gets more goods than the amount of his fee, does he usually engage to work for you in the same employment next year?-No. 6617. You are aware, I suppose that that has been alleged as the commencement of the system of debt which is said to prevail in Shetland?-I am perfectly aware of that. 6618. Is it not consistent with your experience that a boy who overdraws his account in that way continues to serve you as a beach boy?-I am sorry to say it is not, because sometimes he goes elsewhere and leaves a balance standing. 6619. Is that a frequent thing?-I cannot say it is a very frequent thing. I am glad to say that a great amount of honesty prevails among the people generally. 6620. But is it not quite possible that he might go elsewhere and pay his account to you from the wages he receives elsewhere?-It is quite possible. 6621. Does that ever happen?-I think it has happened with me. 6622. Is a boy free to do that if he chooses?-Perfectly free. 6623. But, in point of fact, do the majority of boys who are so engaged, and who overdraw their accounts during the first year, remain in your service and work on until their account is paid up?-I could scarcely say that that is so with the majority. 6624. But many of them do?-Many of them do, I think. 6625. Do they generally get further into your books, or do they very often clear off their debt as they grow older and get larger wages?-I think they often clear off their debt. 6626. Is it boy at the commencement likely, from his circumstances, to incur a larger debt in the first year than after a year or two, in proportion to his earnings?-I think not. It depends, however, a great deal upon the parents. If a boy has poor parents, who cannot afford to give him much clothing the first year, to keep him warm, he must get these things from me and perhaps he may fall behind, and yet be a very honest boy. [Page 161] 6627. But what I was pointing at is this, that a boy may require some outfit at the beginning of his career, and that he would probably incur some debt?-That is true in some cases, but not in all. A boy has been at the beach, and then he goes to the haaf; perhaps the first year or two he will require to fall a little behind; but if he is an honest, provident lad, he will soon clear off that. 6628. I understand you are a purchaser of kelp to some extent?- Yes. 6629. Have you heard the evidence that has been given to-day on that subject?-Yes. 6630. Was that evidence correct with regard to the manner in which the kelp is paid for; or do you wish to make any correction or addition to it?-It was perfectly correct, so far as the prices go. 4s. is the cash price, and 4s. 6d. is the goods price which we pay for it. 6631. You pay for it either in cash or goods?-Yes. 6632. In which way do you make the greater part of your payments for kelp?-I should think the greater part would be in goods 6633. Is that because you allow a higher price in goods, and the people prefer taking that higher price?-Certainly. I have no doubt they prefer it; otherwise they would not take it in that way 6634 I suppose if they got it in cash, they could not spend it very easily anywhere else than in your own store?-There are various shops round about where they could go to. 6635. Has that difference in the price of kelp been of long continuance?-I think there has not been very much difference on it for several years. 6636 But has it been long the practice to give an advanced price if payment is taken in goods?-Yes; that has always been the case during my experience. There have always been two prices, at least at Hillswick. 6637. Have you any lease of the kelp shores?-Yes; all round from Roeness Voe to Mavisgrind, on the Busta estate. 6638 Do you generally employ women, or allow any women to gather kelp and burn it?-Yes; sometimes men do it also. 6639. But they are not at liberty to gather it for any one except yourself?-No; that is quite understood. 6640. Have you to pay a lordship to the landlord for the kelp?- Yes; 15s. per ton. 6641. You do something in the hosiery business also, and you have brought your women's book to show how that business is conducted?-Yes. 6642. Is the hosiery always paid in goods?-Not always. 6643. Have you any idea what amount is usually paid in cash?- There is very little cash paid. Our general practice is, not to pay cash for hosiery, but to give goods only. 6644. Is that because you consider you have a very small profit on the hosiery?-Yes. 6645. What percentage do you calculate you have upon it?-I am afraid my experience has been, that I have never had any profit upon it. I have a profit on the goods, but not on the hosiery. 6646. Do you sell your hosiery generally to firms in Edinburgh or Glasgow?-In London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, or any place where we can get it sold. 6647. But you sell it direct to retail houses in these places, and not through Lerwick merchants?-Yes. 6648. Do you employ women to knit for you, and give out wool to them?-No. 6649. Yours is exclusively a purchase business?-Yes. 6650. Do you make a bargain for the article, whatever it may be, on the understanding that the woman is to take goods for it?-Yes, that is the understanding; but still I have paid cash in a good many cases. 6651. If you want a very fine article for any particular purpose, do you then sometimes agree to pay in cash?-Yes; if they wanted cash for that, we would give it. 6652. Would you give a lower rate in cash than in goods?-Yes. 6653. What difference might there be?-I cannot tell. 6654. Will it be 2s. or 3s. in the pound?-I should think so. 6655. Are you often asked to give cash for hosiery?-No. 6656. Do the people who bring it generally want goods?-Yes, they want goods; but the practice may arise too from their knowing that the understanding is, that they only get goods for the hosiery. 6657. In the case of a woman not wanting the goods at the time, is the article she brings entered to her account, or how is it dealt with?-It is entered to her account. 6658. She has a ledger account of her own in your books?-Yes. 6659. Or a pass-book?-Yes; many of them have pass-books. 6660. When a young woman begins to knit in that way, and to deal with you, does her account generally run on for a succession of years?-Yes, very often. 6661. Is it in what you call the women's book that these accounts are entered?-Yes. 6662. The goods supplied to them, I presume, are mostly soft goods?-Yes; soft goods and groceries. 6663. Do you give the same value in groceries hosiery as in soft goods?-No; not the same value. 6664. Is it part of the bargain at the beginning, whether the payment is to be taken in groceries or in soft goods?-There is no agreement of that sort. 6665. If a woman asks for groceries, what do you do?-We just give them to her. 6666. But you say you don't give the same value in groceries as in soft goods?-Not exactly the same value. 6667. Do you mean that when she gets groceries, you give them to her at a higher price?-Yes. 6668. You add something to the price for which you would sell them to a cash customer?-Yes. 6669. Or to a fisherman who keeps an account?-Yes. 6670. A fisherman keeping an account would get his groceries at a different price from a seller of hosiery?-Yes. 6671. Do you not think that a cash system for all these matters would be simpler and more convenient for all parties concerned?-I don't see that there would be any gain to the purchaser. Suppose a woman came in with hosiery of the value of 5s. and got cash for it, she would require to go either to my shop or to some other shop with it for her goods. 6672. But if she had cash, she might purchase her goods in Lerwick or in Edinburgh, or possibly, if the trade were not in so few hands, there might be a greater competition?-There might. 6673. And she could lay out her cash in the way that was most to her own advantage?-That might be so; but then I would not give her so much in cash for her hosiery, so that I don't see where her gain would be. 6674. Is it mostly in provisions or in goods that the hosiery is paid?-I should say that it is mostly in goods. 6675. Is the account which a woman, knitting in that way, runs up entirely distinct from the account kept by her parents?-Quite distinct. 6676. If she is living in family with her father, is he considered responsible for her debt if the balance is against her?-No. 6677. Have you known any case of such a debt being enforced against the father?-I am not aware of any, and I don't think it could be enforced against him. 6678. Or demanded from him?-I don't think it could be demanded either, legally. But the necessity does not exist for girls buying groceries. These are generally bought by the father or brothers; and the girl is left free to have her knitting to clothe herself with. It is all the wages she gets. 6679. Show me the way in which the women's book is kept?- [Produces women's book] [Page 162] 6680. Each woman has her name entered there, and on one side of the account are entered the articles which she gets?-Yes. 6681. I see that some women make home-spun tweed?-Yes 6682. Do you purchase a quantity of that also?-Yes. 6683. Is it also paid for in goods?-No; it is paid for in cash if required. 6684. But at a cash price?-Yes. 6685. In this case [showing] it was entered in the book?-Yes. 6686. Was that because the party wanted goods, or was there any particular reason for it?-She was not sure when she gave the tweed, whether she might require the whole of it in goods. She wanted meal, I think, and some other goods. 6687. Are your dealings in cloth with the people the country very extensive?-I buy a good deal of it occasionally, when the trade is brisk. 6688. Is it paid for regularly in cash?-Yes. 6689. Do your purchases of it not appear in this book?-There may be some of them there. 6690. But are the majority of your purchases of that sort of cloth entered here?-Possibly they may appear in the men's ledger more frequently, unless when the cloth is bought over the counter. 6691. If it is paid for in cash, why does it appear in any ledger?- What is paid for cash does not appear in any ledger. 6692. Does it not appear in your day-book?-No, it does not enter our day-book. We just buy it the same as we buy any hosiery. For instance, if a girl brings it in, she may require the value of it in goods; that is a separate transaction, finished at once, and there is no more trace of it. 6693. Is the cloth almost all of the same quality?-It is all very much the same. 6694. Do you ticket each web at the time when you take it in?- Yes. 6695. Then I understand you to say, that the great bulk of your dealings in cloth are cash transactions?-Yes, I think the bulk of them, or they are settled for at the time in goods. 6696. Is tea a very usual article for the knitters to take out their payments in?-I think it is. They often take tea. 6697. Have you known any cases in which the goods or tea so obtained for hosiery were sold or disposed of for cash?-I think I have not. 6698. It is probably not so necessary for them to do so when they can get provisions for their hosiery, as when they are only paid in soft goods?-Perhaps not; but it is not very likely I would learn that that was done, even if it was the case. 6699. When a woman has sold you some hosiery goods or cloth, and does not want goods in exchange to the full value at the time, is it the practice in your shop to issue any line or acknowledgment for the balance?-I believe that is done occasionally. 6700. Is the line in the form of an order to credit the bearer with so much in goods?-Yes. 6701. Are these lines or vouchers generally brought back by the party to whom they were given?-I think so. 6702. Are they ever brought back by another?-I think not; because we know all the people, and they could not impose on us in that way. 6703. But if the party to whom the line was issued had handed it over for a consideration to another party, that would be no imposition upon you?-No; but still we would know whether it was done or not, that is to say, we would suspect something amiss. If it was presented by another person than one of the woman's own family, we would naturally suppose there was something suspicious about it. 6704. Do these lines bear to be payable to any particular person?- Yes; we always mention in them the name of the person who has sold us the goods. However, it is perhaps right to state that that is not very much practised in our shop. 6705. I think you said there were not many little shops in this district?-There are a few. Arthur Harrison has a shop within two miles of me; Laurence Smith has a shop within three miles; and Jack Anderson has a shop within five miles to the westward. 6706. Are all these on the Busta estate?-Yes. Jack Anderson rents a booth belonging to Ollaberry. 6707. Is there any difficulty or any obstruction placed in the way of small shopkeepers getting premises and carrying on their business in this district?-There seems not to have been any lately. When I took a lease of Hillswick, I thought I had an understanding that Mr. Cheyne was not to put up other places of business in the district, but there was no sort of agreement about it and that understanding has not been acted upon. 6708. Do you refer to shops or fish-curing establishments?-Not fish-curing establishments; there is no restriction upon them. 6709. Any person may set up a business of that sort?-I think so. 6710. You have been present and heard the whole of the evidence that has been given to-day: is there any part of it with regard to which you wish to make any statement or contradiction?-There is nothing that I am aware of. 6711. Are you an agent for the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society?-I am. 6712. Do most of your fishermen subscribe to that society?-A good many of them do. 6713. Is their annual subscription debited to them in their account?-Yes, very frequently. 6714. When they have anything to get from the society, how is that payment settled with them?-That I daresay depends very much upon their own wishes. 6715. Does it depend to any extent on the fact, whether or not they are indebted to you at the time?-I don't think it does generally. 6716. But it may sometimes?-It may sometimes. 6717. That is to say, supposing a man who loses his boat has a sum to receive in cash from the society, which passes through your hands, it may be written down to square off your account?-No. It may be entered to his credit in the account; but I think, if the matter was searched into, it would be found that in that case it was to square off for some boat he had got before, and which he had not paid for. 6718. And not his ordinary shop account?-No. 6719. Therefore, you say that you would retain the money if he was in debt to you for a boat?-Yes. 6720. But you would not retain it if he was only in debt to you for shop goods?-I think not. 6721. What is your reason for making that distinction?-I think it is nothing but simple justice to myself. It would certainly be very unreasonable for a man to get remuneration for a boat from the Shipwrecked Fishermen's Society while the same boat was standing unpaid for in my books. 6722. Would the same principle not apply to the case of an account which a man owed to you?-No doubt the man would be entitled to pay me that account; but I would certainly consider it a great hardship if I had to pay that money over to a man who had an account standing due in my books for the very boat for the loss of which the money was given. 6723. Have you ever had any dispute with the fishermen about the payment of that money, or any complaints that it was not settled for in cash?-I don't think I have, within my recollection. I think there was one man who said something about it at one time; but after I had showed to him what I considered to be the justice of the matter, I fancied he was satisfied, and never heard any more about it. 6724. What is the other book you have brought with you?-It is a boat-book, merely for entries relating to the boats. 6725. How are the boat-builders paid? Do they run accounts with you in the same way as the fishermen?-I think so. 6726. Are they paid by weekly wages?-No; they are paid so much for building a boat. 6727. What does their contract generally amount to?-We furnish the wood, and merely pay them for [Page 163] their work. I think we generally pay £3 for the work on a six-oared boat. 6728. When you enter into a contract for the building of a boat, does the man open an account, or is it generally the case that he has an account already running?-The builder I employ generally has an account running. 6729. Are his family and himself supplied with goods from your shop from time to time?-Only occasionally. I think the boats are paid for mostly in cash. Probably he would get a few pounds from me if he was requiring them, and then he would come and build boats for me afterwards. 6730. Are the boat-builders a class of men by themselves, who work at nothing else?-Yes. 6731. Do they travel about the country?-Yes. 6732. Are they not employed by you all the year round?-No. 6733. Then, they generally get an advance of money from you before they begin work for you?-I don't say generally, but I say the particular builder I employ has done that sometimes. 6734. So that, when his boat is finished, he has generally nothing to get?-No; he has something to get still, because he is building more than one at a time. 6735. But during the time he is building them, he has an account at your shop for necessaries to his family?-Yes. 6736. What is the other book you have there?-It is a ledger for the purpose of entering anything into-goods supplied to a family. 6737. Are these the families of your fishermen?-Yes; or it may be others that we intend to have short accounts. 6738. But these accounts are only for goods supplied: there is nothing entered that is due to them?-No. 6739. The other side of the account is not in this book at all?-No. 6740. And the fishermen's ledger is quite different?-Yes. 6741. It is a large book?-Yes. 6742. Is there a separate ledger for beach boys and men employed in fish-curing?-Yes. 6743. Is there also a separate ledger for the kelp women?-No; their accounts are entered in the women's book unless they are paid right off. 6744. Show me the account of one of these kelp women in the women's book: take Mrs. Hughson?-I don't think she ever had anything to get, and therefore we would not enter her name in the book. 6745. Take Maria Sandison, who was spoken of today?-I think her account was kept on a slip of paper or in a small book, until they got it squared off, and then it was entered. 6746. I see there is nothing about kelp in her account?-No, I fancy it was just paid off at the time. 6747. Is there anything else you wish to say?-It has been asserted that the fish-curers paid no cash, and that scarcely a coin passed between the curer and the fisherman. That was said before the Truck Commissioners in Edinburgh. Now, I would wish to show what amount of cash I have paid since I began to settle this year. I think the cash I paid during the settling time in November and December last amounted to £1006. 6748. What was it in previous years?-I cannot tell for every year; but I know that for the whole year, in 1866, I paid £1811 in cash, and in 1870 I paid £2040. I think the highest I paid to one man this season was £24, 7s. 9d. in cash at settlement. 6749. Was that much higher than the average?-It must have been higher. Perhaps I may be allowed to say also, that I think the great bar to improvement in Shetland is the want of leases. In my opinion, a Land Bill for Shetland-an Act somewhat resembling the Irish Land Bill-would be very useful, by which all improvements could be held to belong to the tenant instead of to the proprietor; because as soon as a tenant here begins to improve his farm, he is very likely to have his rent raised upon him. 6750. Have you known cases in which the rent has been raised upon an improving tenant?-Yes. I am not prepared just now to give names, but I think I have met with several cases of that kind. 6751. What is the bar to the introduction of a system of leases in Shetland, which, you say, would greatly improve the country?- There seems to be an unwillingness on the part of the proprietors to give lease. I have known several parties who have asked for leases and have not got them. 6752. Has the unwillingness of the proprietors to give leases anything to do with the fishing?-I don't think it. 6753. On some properties are not yearly tenants under an obligation to fish, which might be interfered with, or which might not be so easily enforceable, there were leases?-That shows the necessity granting leases. 6754. But is not the objection of proprietors to grant leases due to some extent to the fact, that it would be less easy to enforce the obligation to fish if leases existed?-Perhaps it is, but even on those estates where there is no such obligation leases are not granted. 6755. Is there a general desire on the part of fishermen-farmers in Shetland to have leases?-I cannot say that exactly. I think there is such desire in many cases, but then they fear that their rent would be raised if a lease were granted. 6756. Have there been any cases of leases being granted or offered in which ground has been given for that apprehension?-I think so, although I could not name them just now. 6757. Have there been any attempts made recently in Shetland to introduce leases on a larger scale than they at present exist?- Not within my knowledge. With regard to the Ollaberry property, I find there are only 33 out of 71 tenants who fish either to Anderson & Co. or to me. 6758. Are you aware whether the other 38 tenants fish at all?- There are some of them who do not fish, but there are others of them who do, and who are ling fishers. The man Blance who was examined goes to Faroe and I think another man too. 6759. Do many of them go to Faroe?-No; not many. 6760. They are not obliged to engage with any particular person at the Faroe fishing?-No. 6761. In the evidence to which you have referred as having been given in Edinburgh, there is a statement that leases were offered on a large estate in Delting or in Yell, but that the bulk of the tenants would not accept of them: do you know the reason of that?-Because, I suspect, they were suspicious of the factor. 6762. The statement was, 'Ten years was mentioned as the minimum length of the lease, because the people were frightened to take leases; but when any one came and asked for a longer lease, I gave it to him. No one would take a longer lease than fourteen years, and I have given none longer than fourteen.' Can you suggest any other reason than that you have named for the tenants declining leases on these estates?-I think it must have been because under the leases, all improvements were to be held to belong to the landlord. 6763. But they belong to the landlord at present?-True; but what I mean is, that that is the great bar to improvements in Shetland. 6764. Do you think it is possible for a man to improve his land much who is employed for four or five months in the year fishing?-I think it is. His time in winter is almost thrown away at present; but if he had the security of getting the value of his labour at the end of his lease or on removing, I think he would work actively and improve his land. There are many, I know, who have regretted that they could not spend their time in that way. 6765. Is it not possible for a tenant who wants to improve his land to make some contract with his landlord on the subject?-I have never been aware of any case where that has been done. 6766. Have you the management of the Ollaberry estate in your own hands?-Yes. 6767. Have you made any effort to induce the people [Page 164] there to take leases, or offered them compensation for improvements?-I have not offered them compensation. I could not do that; but I have told them that the understanding on which they held their lands was this-that if they made improvements, either in cultivating the land, keeping up their fences, or repairing their houses, their rents would not be raised during my lease. 6768. You have only a lease of Ollaberry?-Yes, for nineteen years. 6769. Has your intimation to the tenants, that their rents would not be raised if they improved their holdings, had a beneficial effect?-I think it has in some cases; that is to say, they have kept up their fences very well, and I know some parties who have added to their cultivated ground. 6770. Do you think that has been done to a greater extent than would have been the case if you had held out no such inducement to them?-I would fancy so. 6771. Is there any other suggestion or statement you wish to make?-I think not. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, PETER PETERSON, examined. 6772. Are you a fisherman at Hillswick?-Not present. I am at Hillyar now. I live at Hillswick, but I am not fishing there. 6773. Have you got any land?-Yes; a small piece in Hillswick from Mr. Gifford. 6774. For whom do you fish?-For Mr. Laurence Smith at Hillyar at present. 6775. Is he a large curer?-No; he has only two boats fishing for him. I have been fishing for him two years now. 6776. For whom did you fish before?-For Mr. Anderson. 6777. Why did you leave off fishing for him?-I got into debt, and was refused supplies from him; and, as I could not do without supplies for my family, I went to another man. 6778. Why would you not pay your debt to Mr. Anderson?-I did not make a sufficient fishing to pay it, and I had no great means to work on either: I had no boat. 6779. What was the amount of your debt?-£17, 9s. 5d. 6780. And when it came to that amount, he refused you supplies?-Yes. 6781. At what time of the year was that?-In the summer time, during the fishing season. 6782. Did you settle with him at the end of that season?-Yes. 6783. Did you clear off what was due by you at that settlement, or was there still something due to Mr. Anderson?-£17, 9s. 5d. was the debt I left when I went away from him. I continued to fish the season out, and left him when the season was done. 6784. But you made a settlement at the end of the season?-Yes. 6785. What was the result of that settlement?-He made out that I was due him £17, 9s. 5d, and he summoned me for it. 6786. Did you ask him how much was due at the time when he stopped the supplies?-No. 6787. Then, the sum you have mentioned was due after he had allowed you credit for all the fish of that season?-Yes. 6788. So that, at the time when he stopped the supplies, there would be a larger sum than that due by you?-There may have been. 6789. Were you asked to engage to fish to him after that?-No. 6790. What was his reason for summoning you?-I don't know. I was not asked to fish to him again, so that I had to look out for myself some other way, and I went to Smith and got supplies from him. 6791. Was there a decree against you in the action in which Mr Anderson summoned you?-No, I have not got any yet. 6792. Was the case not decided against you?-I don't think it. At least I left it unsettled in the hands of Mr. Spence, the lawyer, when I left the town. 6793. Is the case not at an end yet?-I don't know. Mr. Spence was to give me notice but I have got none yet. 6794. What was the nature of your defence in that case?-I was not able to pay, and therefore I was forced to appear in Lerwick before the court. Very likely, if I had been in a good boat the last season I fished for him, I would have done somewhat better. 6795. But was the debt really due for which you were summoned?-I did not have any pass-book, and got no copy of my account, so that I could not say whether it was due or not. 6796. Did you ever ask for a pass-book?-I have asked for copies of my account. 6797. Did you get them?-At one time I got a copy of my account for nine years. 6798. Had your debt been running on increasing for nine years?- It was always increasing. 6799. Have you got these accounts here, or are they in your lawyer's hands?-They are in Mr. Spence's hands in Lerwick. 6800. How often did you ask for them before you got the accounts for the nine years?-I asked for them when I was summoned. 6801. Had you ever asked for them before?-Yes; I had asked for them sometimes, but not every year. 6802. Did you always get them when you asked for them?-No; I got none until I got the whole at one time. 6803. Why did you not get them when you asked for them?-I don't know; I never was refused them, but I did not get them. 6804. Were you just put off?-Yes. 6805. Did you fish for Mr. Anderson all the time these accounts were running up?-Yes. The commencement of the debt was when I lost a fleet of lines by bad weather. There might have been a little due before that, but it was very little. 6806. How much do you call a fleet of lines?-Just what the boat carries. A boat takes 108 lines, and we lost them all except eighteen. The weather prevented us from taking any more in. 6807. Were these lines hired from Mr. Anderson?-Yes. 6808. Are the fishermen always liable for hired lines which they lose?-Yes. If they lose lines which they have hired, they have to pay for them. 6809. What is the value of these lines?-The price is about 2s. 8d. per line for new lines when they are ready for sea. 6810. Then a fleet of 108 lines would cost about £8 or £10?-I never give any consideration to what the cost of them might be. There were some of them old and some of them new; but I think 2s. 8d. was about the price for new lines about that time. The price varies at different times. 6811. Is not each man of the boat's crew liable for his share of the lines?-Yes. If there are five men in a boat, then the lines belong to these men, and they have each to pay their share of the hire for the season. 6812. In that way, you would be liable only for one-fifth of the value of the lines?-Yes; only for one-fifth that year. 6813. And that was the beginning of your debt?-Yes; but it was always going on, as I had a small family, and they were needing bread. Then interest was charged, and such as that. 6814. Was there any interest charged upon that account?-Yes. 6815. Are you sure of that?-Yes. It is marked down in the copies that I got. 6816. Did you ever know any man who got the whole of his accounts for nine years at once except yourself?-No. 6817. Did you ever know a man who asked for them?-No. [Page 165] 6818. Did you ever know a man who was nine years in debt to a fish-merchant, with the debt always increasing, except yourself?- I could not positively say. I could not pick out any particular man; but very likely there are some who have been in the same position. 6819. During the time your debt was increasing, did you continue to fish every year for Mr. Anderson?-I was fishing for him the whole time. 6820. Did you, during that time, sell any of your fish to other merchants?-I did. The last year I was fishing for him I sold some fish to others, in order to keep my family alive. 6821. Who did you sell them to that year?-To Mr. Adie's factor. 6822. Was that what you call smuggling fish?-Yes. It was necessity that made me do it, in order to save my family. 6823. Was any objection made to your selling them?-No. I told that in court the same as I am telling it to you, and there was nothing said to me for doing it. I was obliged to do it. 6824. Was it not quite a fair thing for Mr. Anderson to do to summon you for the debt you were due him?-He did summon me for it; and when I asked him how it was to be paid, he wanted me either to pay it down at once or get cautioners for it, but I could not do either of these things. I perhaps I might have got a cautioner, but the money I did not have. 6825. Is it usual for a fisherman to get a cautioner when he is a little in debt?-I don't know; some of them have got one. 6826. But if the man continues to fish for the merchant to whom the debt is due, is he required to get a cautioner?-No. It is only when he goes away from the merchant that he is asked for a cautioner. 6827. Were you bound in any way to fish for Mr. Anderson, or for any one else, during these nine years?-I suppose I was, from the way I was in debt to him; but, instead of getting out of debt, the debt always increased. 6828. Whose fault was that?-I don't know. It was not my fault. As I have said, the last season I fished for Mr. Anderson I did not have a boat fit to go to sea with; but very likely, if I had had a good boat that season, as it was a good year's fishing, I might have got the debt somewhat reduced. Therefore it was not my fault. I got a boat from him, but ought to have got one that was fit to go to sea. 6829. Had you not your choice of boat?-I had no choice of a boat for that season. 6830. Where do you get the supplies for your family now?-From Laurence Smith, the man I fish to. 6831. Do you settle with him every year?-Yes; I have settled with him two years now. 6832. Had you something to get in cash last year?-Yes. The first year I fished for Laurence Smith I had 28s. to get, after paying for the things I had got from him during the season. This year, when I settled with him, I was clear. I had nothing to get, or very little. 6833. Were these two good fishing years?-They were very good; but the fishing is not the same with all the boats. They are not always equal in the same year. 6834. What was the price of meal at these two stores you have been dealing with?-It is just up and down, according to the market-less in one year than another. I think that last year it was about 21s. per boll in Mr. Smith's store. 6835. Are you told the price at the time you buy the meal?-Yes. 6836. Is the quality of the meal you get there as good as at Mr. Anderson's?-Yes, it is equally good. Meal and flour are just the same at the one place as at the other. 6837. Could you get better meal or flour anywhere else?-I don't know. We would, no doubt, get a different quality in Lerwick, if we were dealing there. 6838. Have you tried it there?-No. 6839. Are you obliged to take your provisions from the shop of the merchant you fish for?-I don't know about that. I have asked Mr. Smith at different times for a few shillings until the end of the twelvemonth. 6840. Have you got it?-Yes; I got it, but I never asked for any money to buy meal with, because he brought up stores there to supply his customers. 6842. But is it understood among the fishermen here that they ought to take their stores, or part of them, both provisions and clothing, from the merchant to whom they sell their fish?-That is generally the way in which they take there. 6842. Are they generally obliged to do that?-No; I don't think they are obliged to do it. 6843. Can they get cash from the merchants with which to buy their goods in other places?-I don't know. If the merchant has meal and other things which they are requiring, and can sell them as cheap and as good as they can get them at any other place then, of course, they don't need to ask money from him. 6844. But they generally do get their provisions from the merchant's shop, and nowhere else?-Yes. 6845. Did you ever ask for cash with which to go and buy your provisions from another store?-No; but I got an allowance from Mr. Smith with which to go to Mr. Anderson's factor if he (Mr. Smith) did not have the things I wanted. 6846. When was that?-I got it in both years when was fishing for Mr. Smith. 6847. Was that a general allowance or was it given to you on some particular occasion, when you wanted something?-If there was anything I required for the fishing, which Mr. Smith did not have, then I got leave from him to sell fish to another merchant, so that I might buy it, or I got cash from him with which to buy it from another. 6848. That, I suppose, was when you wanted any kind of clothing which he did not keep?-Yes; or a bit of meat, or butter or meal, if he did not have it. Then he gave us money to buy it with from Mr. Anderson's, or allowed us to go and sell fish to Mr. Anderson and to purchase it. 6849. Did you often do that?-Not often. 6850. Your daughter was examined to-day?-Yes. 6851. She works at the kelp?-Yes, a little. She is young yet, and has not done much to it. 6852. She also knits a little?-Yes. The most she has knitted has been for people belonging to the family, stockings and other things that we were requiring for ourselves. 6853. She also sells your eggs?-Yes. 6854. When she sells these things, are they paid for in money or in goods?-We are generally requiring some stores for the house: soap or soda, or a little tea or sugar; and they are got in that way. 6855. Does she always sell her hosiery for goods?-Yes; I suppose she never asked anything else for it. 6856. Do you sell the eggs yourself, or are they usually sold by your daughter?-They are generally sold by her. 6857. Has she a book of her own in which they are entered?-She has no book. They are generally paid for at once. 6858. How are you paid for your winter fishing?-We were generally paid for every haul as we brought it ashore, but we cannot do that now. We have to salt our fish ourselves in the winter fishing; and when we have got as many as two or three cwt. we send them over to Mr. Laurenson, and sell them to him. 6859. Then you are paid for them on account now?-Yes; we cannot settle for them now every time we come ashore. We salt so much, and sell it off, and then we begin to salt again; but before, when we sold our fish green, we settled for every haul of fish as they came ashore. 6860. Did you do that with Mr. Anderson too?-Yes, as long as I fished to him. 6861. Did you get cash for that?-No; I cannot say that I ever got cash. 6862. Did you ask for it?-Yes; we asked for cash [Page 166] several times, but we only got a small line, saying we had delivered so many fish. 6863. Have you got any of these lines this year?-No. 6864. What did you do with these lines?-When we came back with the line, we got anything we required for it. 6865. Did the line name any particular sum of money?-Yes. The haul was divided between four men, and every man got his haul marked down on a separate line, with his name on it. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, ANDREW ANDERSON, examined. 6866. Are you a fisherman at Hillyar?-I am. 6867. Do you live there?-Yes. 6868. Who do you fish for?-I have fished for Laurence Smith for the last two years. 6869. Who did you fish for before?-I fished for different men, for Mr. Inkster, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Williamson, and now for Mr. Smith. 6870. Who did you fish for last before Mr. Smith?-For Gideon Williamson, or James Williamson, his uncle. 6871. Is your fishing paid for every year in the winter?-Yes. 6872. Do you generally get a payment in cash at settlement?-I have been a poor man, and very unfortunate, and I never had much cash to get; but sometimes I did get some, and sometimes not. 6873. What was the reason why you did not get it?-A poor man sometimes did not have it to get. 6874. Were you generally in debt to the merchants?-Sometimes I was a good deal in their debt and sometimes not, just as the season turned out. In some years I cleared off all my debt, and in other years I was a good bit behind. 6875. How long have you been in debt?-I have been in debt now for a good while, I cannot tell for how many years; and when I could not pay my debt, then I could not get my supplies, and that was what made me shift from man to man. 6876. Have you shifted often for that reason?-I have shifted twice because I was in debt. 6877. When did you shift first because you were in debt?-I cannot tell how long it is ago. 6878. Who did you shift from then?-From Mr. Anderson to Mr. Williamson. 6879. You were in debt to Mr. Anderson at that time?-Yes. 6880. And you could get no more supplies?-I could not get the supply that I asked for, and for that cause I left. 6881. When your supplies were stopped, did you go on fishing for Mr. Anderson until the end of the season?-I had not commenced then, and my family required meat, and I had no money to buy it with. 6882. Why were your supplies stopped? Was it because you were in debt?-Mr. Anderson never said anything about that; but when I asked for bread, he said they would not give it until fishing time. 6883. How much were you in debt at that time?-I don't recollect. 6884. Had your debt been running on for a number of years?- Not for a great many years; but I was a good bit in debt to him, although I don't recollect how much, as I had no pass-book, and no copy of my account. 6885. Was it ten years ago since that happened?-I cannot say rightly, because I was away from him for a while, and then I had to go back again, and afterwards I left him again. 6886. How much were you due him? Was it as much as £10?-I don't think it was so much as that, but I don't remember. 6887. Was it not quite reasonable that he should ask you for payment of your debt?-Certainly; but I had no money, and I could not give it. He had a right to ask for his debt, as everybody has; and I had a right to pay it, if I had been able. 6888. Did you leave Williamson because you were in his debt too?-No; the old man died, and then this man broke. I was serving him after that, but he was not able to give me my supplies, either clothes or meal, and therefore I left him. 6889. Were you in his debt?-I was due him a little. 6890. But you did not leave him because you were in his debt?- No; it was only because he could not give me supplies. 6891. And you get your supplies now from Mr. Smith?-Yes; I have got them from him for the last two years, when I have been fishing for him. 6892. Do you generally get a balance in cash at the end of the year?-No; I have not settled with him this year, and I don't know yet what I am to get. 6893. Had you a balance to get last year?-No; I was nearly clear with him. 6894. But there was a balance against you?-Yes; but it was not much-a mere trifle. 6895. Do you get cash from him during the season if you want it?-No; I will get anything he has in his shop to supply me with, either meat or anything else; but cash is seldom to be got. 6896. Why is that?-I don't know. I suppose it is because the man has not got much himself. Cash is not often very plentiful with him. 6897. Have you often asked for cash?-Not often. I may have asked for a shilling or two at a time. I could get anything else he had in his shop, but money was a thing that was seldom or never got. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, LAURENCE PETERSON, examined. 6898. You are a fisherman, and the son of a previous witness?-I am. 6899. Whom do you fish for?-I fished first for Mr. Anderson for two years. 6900. Whom do you fish for now?-For Mr. Joseph Leask, Lerwick, at the Faroe fishing. 6901. When did you give over going to the home-fishing?-In 1868. 6902. You fished for Mr. Anderson then?-Yes. 6903. Had you an account in his shop?-Yes. 6904. When you settled up at the end of the year, had you a balance to receive in cash?-Yes; in both years when I fished for him. 6905. Did you get money in the course of the season if you wanted it?-No. 6906. Did you ask for it?-Yes. 6907. Was it refused to you?-Yes. 6908. Why?-I don't know. 6909. But you got as much goods as you wanted?-Yes. 6910. What was the balance you received in cash at the end of these years?-I don't remember how much it was the first year; but in the second year I had 10s. to get. 6911. In the Faroe fishing you are paid at the end of the year too?-Yes. 6912. Are you paid in cash?-Yes; if we want it, we are paid in cash. 6913. Have you an account in Mr. Leask's shop?-Yes. I have an account the whole time, from the time I go out until I come back and go again. 6914. Is that account closed when you come back from the fishing?-Yes; I have no account after that. 6915. Is that because you live at a distance from Lerwick during the winter?-I suppose that is the reason. 6916. What is your account for?-For tea, coffee, butter, pork, and such things as that. 6917. Have you got a pass-book?-No, I asked for [Page 167] one in 1870, but they refused to mark anything into a pass-book, and I never asked for it again. 6918. Who refused it?-The people in the shop; and they did not give a pass-book to any one more than to me. 6919. Was it refused to you in Mr. Leask's shop in Lerwick?- Yes. 6920. Did they give you any reason for refusing?-They thought it too much bother, I suppose. I knew of no other reason. 6921. Were the things you got for your own use at the fishing?- Yes. 6922. Did you take them all to the fishing with you?-Yes; we buy cloth and all other things for ourselves. We are only supplied with bread. 6923. What you got from the shop was what you call small stores?-Yes. 6924. Did you get anything from Mr. Leask's shop except your small stores and your outfit?-Yes; I bought some meal and took it home. 6925. Did you do that more than once?-I bought some for myself, and I bought some when I went out first in spring, and sent it home. 6926. Were these the things that you wanted to have entered in the pass-book?-Yes; these things of my own small stores and clothes, and anything I required. 6927. Did you get these articles at many different times in the course of the year, or did you just get them once or twice when you came home?-I got them twice. 6928. How often does your boat generally come home from the Faroe fishing in the course of the season?-We generally make two voyages; last year we made three. 6929. And you would be getting something additional each time you came home?-Yes. All we require is small stores for every voyage. 6930. What amount of the price of your fish did you get at settling time in these two years when you were at the Faroe fishing?-Last year I got an account for £17, and this year it was £22. 6931. That was the whole price of your fish?-Yes. 6932. But how much had you to get in money at the end of the year on the whole of your account?-I had £16 odds to get last year, and this year I had £10. 6933. Was that all paid to you in money at the settlement?-If I had liked to take it all in money I could have got it, but I did not take it all. I left some money in the book in Mr. Leask's shop. 6934. Then your account is still standing in his book?-Yes. 6935. What was your reason for sending meal home to your people from Lerwick?-I suppose the reason was, because they could not get a supply at home from Mr. Anderson, whom they were serving. 6936. Was that about the time when your father left off fishing for him?-Yes, that was about the time. 6937. Did you ever work as a beach boy here?-No; I was always at school before I went to the fishing. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, JOHN SANDISON, examined. 6938. Are you a fisherman?-I am. 6939. Have you got some land?-Yes; I live on a farm in Hillswick along with my father. The land we have belongs to the Busta estate. 6940. Do you go to the home fishing?-Yes. 6941. For whom do you fish?-For Mr. Anderson. I have fished for him and his brother for upwards of twenty years. I went to the fishing when I was a little boy. I never was at the beach. 6942. Do you settle every year for your fishing?-Yes; about the middle of November. 6943. You have an account of your own in Mr. Anderson's ledger?-Yes. 6944. Do you get supplies of goods from his shop?-Yes. 6945. Do you get your goods anywhere else?-Yes, occasionally. 6946. Where?-Perhaps from Laurence Smith or from Arthur Harrison, just as may suit my convenience. 6947. What quantity do you get at these different shops? Do you get more at one than at another?-Yes; I get most from Mr. Anderson's. 6948. Do you get the same kind of goods there as at Smith's and Harrison's?-Yes, much the same. 6949. Then what is your reason for going to them?-I have had little employment from Smith for the last two years, which led me to take a few supplies from him. 6950. Did you fish for him?-No; I was employed by him at other kinds of work-principally boat-building during the winter and spring. 6951. Have you an account with Mr. Smith for boat-building?- Yes. 6952. Do you take goods in settlement of that account?-Yes; but it is just because I think it right myself. I am in no way compelled to do so. 6953. But you keep an account with Smith, and the goods you get are put on one side of it, and the amount of your payment for boat-building is put on the other?-Yes; until the time of settlement. 6954. What is the time of settlement for boat-building?-Much about the same time as for the other-some time in November or December. 6955. Do you get money whenever you ask it for your boat-building?-Yes; if I was to ask for money, I would get it. 6956. Do you get money during the season from Mr. Anderson for your fishing when you ask for it?-Yes; I never was refused money at any time. 6957. Did you ever ask for it except at settling time?-Yes. 6958. How much did you ask for?-Small sums. 6959. You said the reason why you went to Laurence Smith for some of your goods was, because you were employed by him: is it a general sort of understanding that when a man is employed by a merchant, he deals with him for his goods?-To a certain extent it is. 6960. He is not altogether bound to do it?-No, not in my experience. 6961. But is it thought fair and proper that he should take a certain quantity of his goods from that merchant?-If a merchant gives a man employment, and he has the goods as good and as cheap as they can be got elsewhere, it is generally thought that the man should take his goods from him. 6962. Would it not be better to get your payments in cash at shorter periods, rather than to have the whole of your money paid to you at the end of the year?-I don't know. 6963. Do you not forget what quantity of goods you have got from the merchant in the course of the year?-Oh no. We can easily remember what goods we have had; and besides, we generally keep accounts of our own; at least I do so. 6964. Have you got a pass-book in which are entered all the goods you receive from Mr. Anderson?-Yes [produces pass-book]. 6965. How long have you kept that passbook?-I think it is from 1865 or 1866 to the present time. 6966. Is that just a copy of the account that is entered in Mr. Anderson's book?-Yes. 6967. I see here an entry of a payment to Mr. Inkster: what was that for?-I asked Mr. Anderson to make it. 6968. Were you in Mr. Anderson's debt at the time?-I don't think I was. 6969. Is there any entry here showing how you are settled with at the end of the year?-Yes [showing]; the balance in 1870 was £14, 8s. 7d. 6970. You live with your father?-Yes. 6971. And you take meal from Mr. Anderson for the supply of your father's family?-Yes, at times, when they require it. 6972. Is the meal which you get there of good [Page 168] quality?-Yes; it is the same as we can get anywhere else in the country. 6973. Have you compared the price of the meal which you get there with the prices at which you can get it elsewhere?-Yes. 6974. Have you got meal from Lerwick?-Yes; and when the cost of carriage came to be added to it, it was much the same price as at Mr. Anderson's. 6975. Have you tried that more than once?-Yes. 6976. Is the flour of good quality?-Yes; the flour is not bad, and the price is just about the same as at Lerwick after adding something for carriage. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, LAURENCE ANDERSON, examined. 6977. Are you a fisherman?-Yes; I have been a fisherman for some time. 6978. Have you got any land, or do you live with your father?-I am living with my father. 6979. Who do you fish for?-I have fished for Laurence Smith for three years. 6980. Do you settle with him every year in winter?-Yes. 6981. Have you an account with him for the articles which you get from his shop?-Yes. 6982. Have you generally a balance to get in cash at the end of the year?-Yes. If there is anything coming to me then, I get it. 6983. When did you settle with him last?-I settled for last year about two months ago. 6984. How much was due to you then?-I was due him a little; but it was not much. 6985. Were you due him anything when you settled for the year before?-I was. 6986. And the year before that?-No; the year before that I was clear. I had something to get the year before. 6987. When you have anything to get at the end of the year, is it paid to you in money?-No; I have not got any money. 6988. When there was a balance due to you three years ago, did you not get it in money?-No, I did not ask it. 6989. It was left standing, and was carried into the next account?-Yes. 6990. And you got goods for it as you required them?-Yes. 6991. Is it a usual thing for the men here to get their balances in money?-No; they don't get them in money. 6992. How do they get them?-They get supplies, and perhaps they may get a little money. 6993. Given after settlement?-Yes. 6994. Have you a pass-book?-Yes [produces it]. 6995. That book commences in 1870. Had you no pass-book before?-No. 6996. Would you not be better to be paid in cash for the whole of what was due to you?-Yes; but I have never got the cash. 6997. But could you not have got it in cash, instead of taking all these goods, if you had liked?-No. I have been a poor man now for the time that is past, and I have never had the money, and I could not get it. 6998. You required to get supplies and you could not pay for them in money?-Yes. I always got what wanted from this man; he did not keep anything back, but the money I did not have to get. I did not have money, and I could not get it. 6999. Did you begin to work as a beach boy?-Yes. I was two years at Hillyar fishing station first, and then at Ollaberry. 7000. Was that for Mr. Anderson?-No; it was for Mr. George Henry. 7001. What did you get as a beach boy?-I got 20s. the first year; and I was there three months. 7002. Was that as long ago as ten years?-Yes, it will be ten years since I first went to it. 7003. How was that 20s. paid to you?-I just got what I required from him at the time. 7004. Had you any money to get at the end of the first year?-No, not at the end of the first year; but the second year I had 10s. to get, and I got it. 7005. How many years were you a beach boy?-Five years. 7006. During that time you always had an account with your employer?-Yes. 7007. Were you always with the same employer?-No; I was two years with Mr. Henry, and three years with Mr. Anderson. 7008. Had you always a little balance of money to get at the end of the year from Mr. Anderson?-No. The first year I was clear; the second year I was due very little, but the third year I was due something. Then, the first year I was at the haaf, I fished for Mr. Anderson. 7009. Could you have gone to fish for anybody else that year if you had liked?-Yes; but I made a bargain that year to fish for him. 7010. Was it because you were in his debt that you made a bargain to fish for him?-Yes. I had nothing for supplies, and I got my supplies the first year from him. 7011. Would you have got your supplies from Mr. Anderson and still have been at liberty to engage with anybody else for the haaf?-No. 7012. Why?-I did not engage with any other body that year. 7013. But would you have been at liberty to have done that if you had liked?-I don't know. If I had been clear with Mr. Anderson, I might have had my liberty. 7014. You thought you were not at liberty because, you were not clear?-Yes. 7015. Were you told you were not at liberty to engage with anybody after you had got your supplies from Mr. Anderson?-No. 7016. You just wanted the supplies, and you went and engaged yourself to him?-Yes. Of course, I had to get my supplies, and I just got them from the man that I was to engage with. 7017. But nobody asked you to engage for the haaf?-Yes. 7018. Is it usual for men to be engaged for the haaf fishing so early as November?-Yes; most of them are engaged then. 7019. Although the haaf fishing does not begin until six months afterwards?-Yes. 7020. What is their reason for engaging so early in the season?- Most of time, when they are settling up, engage for a new year. They make up their crews then. 7021 Is it more convenient for the men to make up their crews then?-Yes. 7022. Why?-Because they know then who are to go together in the rising year. 7023 Do they get supplies more readily from the merchants if they make up their crews at that time and engage to fish for the following year?-Yes, when they are in debt. 7024. Is that one reason why the men sometimes make up their crews and make their engagements so soon?-I don't know, but I believe there is something in that. 7025. Was that the reason why you engaged so early that first year when you went to the fishing?-It was because I was in debt that year when I left the beach. 7026. Have you been in debt in other years?-Yes. I was in debt to Mr. Anderson at settling time for the first year I fished for him. I left him because I was in debt, and could not get supplies. 7027. In what year was that?-I think it is about six years ago 7028. What was the amount of your debt?-I believe it was about £5 odds. 7029. Is it a usual thing for a man to leave the service of a merchant because he is in his debt?-I don't know; but I could not get supplies from him, [Page 169] and as I had to get them somewhere, I went to another merchant for them. 7030. Have you paid up that £5?-I have not. 7031. Have you been asked to do so?-I was summoned once. 7032. Did you go to court about it?-I did not. 7033. Did you hear nothing more about it?-Of course, I paid a little of it after I got the summons. 7034. How much did you pay then?-About 12s. 7035. How long ago is that?-It will be three years ago now. 7036. Are you going to pay the rest of it?-I don't know. I would never have refused to pay it if I had been able to pay. 7037. Do you live with your father?-Yes; but my father is a poor man, and I am the same, and I have not made much money. 7038. Is it a common thing for a man to leave the employment of a merchant when he is a little bit in his debt, and cannot get supplies?-Of course I had to leave Mr. Anderson. 7039. But is that a common thing?-I don't know. 7040. Have you known many men who have done it?-No; there are not many that I know of. I could not live, and for that reason I had to leave Mr. Anderson. I gave myself up to fish for him next season if he wanted it, but he told me as much as that he would not have me, and that I must look out for myself, and I did so. 7041. When was that?-Three years ago. 7042. Did you offer to go back to him then?-I offered to stay with him, and I went and asked for a little supply, but he would not grant it, and for that reason I had to leave him. 7043. Was the reason why he would not accept you, because you could not work without supply, or was there any other reason?-I cannot say exactly what the reason was. 7044. What did he say about it?-He told me that I was to make the best of myself that I could, and did so. I left him and fished for the merchant I am now with. 7045. You were a little above £5 in debt then?-Yes; between £5 and £6. 7046. Had you been as much in debt for years before?-No. I had never been in debt before I went to Mr. Anderson. I was three years with him at the fish-curing; and I was a little behind the first year I went to the haaf, but it was not a great deal. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, ALEXANDER SANDISON, examined. 7047. You are the father of a previous witness?-I am. 7048. Did you hear the evidence which your son gave?-Yes. 7049. Do you settle for your fishing at the end of the year in the same way that he does?-When I was going to the fishing I did. 7050. You don't go to the fishing now?-No; I have not gone for the last three years. I am too old. 7051. For whom did you fish when you were at it?-The last time I was at the fishing it was for Mr. Anderson. 7052. Had you generally a balance in cash to get at the end of the year?-Occasionally. 7053. Was there oftener a balance to get, or a balance against you?-There was oftener a balance to get if the seasons turned out good, or if anything occurred to make them good; but when anything took place to render the season a bad one then there was something due and it was put against me. 7054. When you were in debt to Mr. Anderson, was there any necessity for you to engage to him for the following year?-No. 7055. Might you have engaged to anybody you liked?-Yes. I had my freedom; there was no compulsion. 7056. Did you generally engage to him?-Yes. 7057. Was there any other person to whom you could have sold your fish?-Yes; provided it had been necessary for me to have done so; but I saw no occasion for it. 7058. You never wished to do that?-No; not in the least. 7059. Do you think it would be any advantage to the fishermen to have a price fixed for their fish at the beginning of the season, so that they might know what they were to get?-In some seasons it might be, but with the fall and rise in the markets it is so uncertain. It might be a gain or it might be a loss; they could not tell until the time came for settlement. 7060. I suppose the fishermen have nothing to do with fixing the price of the fish?-No; it has not been customary for them to have anything to do with that. 7061. It has been the practice to leave it altogether to the fish merchant?-Yes; so far as ever I knew. 7062. Are there any complaints about the way in which the price is fixed?-There certainly are some men who make it grievance of it; but they are men who would not be satisfied if the thing were done in any other way. 7063. What do you think about it yourself?-I cannot say. 7064. Have you no opinion about it at all?-Very little. It does not concern me much. I have got too old now to be able to do anything in the way of changing it. 7065. Do any of your family knit?-Yes; but that is it thing I don't interfere with. 7066. Is it usual for the father of a family not to interfere with his wife and daughters' account for hosiery?-They manage their own affairs and their accounts themselves and we never interfere with them in any way. 7067. Do they sometimes help to keep the house?-Yes; in every way they can. 7068. But do they sometimes help with their hosiery to provide for the house?-Yes; occasionally, when it falls in their way. 7069. In this part of the country I understand they get provisions for their hosiery?-Yes; to a certain extent, when required. 7070. But you have nothing to do with their accounts or their books?-No; I have no concern with them. They see their own books and are satisfied with them. 7071. Does a man's wife keep her own book for hosiery and settle it herself?-Yes. 7072. Is it the same with the eggs?-Yes. 7073. The wife takes the eggs and sells them, and puts them into her own account?-Yes. She takes them away and brings back any stuff she wishes to get for them. That is the usual practice, and it has been so all my days. 7074. How are the people paid for their eggs? Are they paid in goods?-If they choose they get bread, tea, sugar, or anything else they want; or if they are not pleased to take that, they can get the price. 7075. Would it not be better to get the money for them?-It might be, if there was any need for it; but if they are requiring the goods, I don't see any use for taking the price and going to another shop with it. 7076. Then, with regard to the fishing, you say that the man who has money to get will get it, but the man who does not have it to get will not get it?-I fished last for Mr. Anderson, that is three years ago, and I have seen me have a good deal to get; but a man who had no cash due to him could not get it. I have been a little in debt sometimes, it was not much, but I could not get any cash until I paid off my debt. I could have got anything I wanted out of the shop, provided it was in small quantities; and I should have been sorry to look for anything more until the book was clear. When that was done, then I could get it to my satisfaction. 7077. When your book was not clear, would you have considered yourself bound to go to fish for Mr. Anderson until it was clear?- Yes. 7078. You thought it was fair that you should fish for him until your debt was paid?-Yes. [Page 170] 7079. Did it often happen, in the course of your experience, that you were a little behind in that way?-Yes. 7080. And at such times you always thought it right to go to fish for him?-Yes; so that I might clear it off by my fishing. 7081. Were you ever objected to for selling your fish away from Mr. Anderson?-No. 7082. Did you not require to do that sometimes, in order to get a little cash?-No. 7083. Do you think the fishermen are as well off now as they used to be long ago, or are they better off?-They are much better off now than they were in my young days, because at that time married men who had families only got from 4s. to 6s. for their fish; while young men who were not married, and did not require it so much, got 7s. or 6s. 6d. or 6s. Now they get an equal price, and I think 6s. or 7s. is a good price. When the fishing turns out to be successful, it pays them very well. 7084. Have you always been satisfied with the quality of the things which you got from your fish-merchant's store?-Yes. 7085. Did you get anything at all at any other store when you were fishing?-No; but I was only a short time at the fishing. I was at sea for fifty years, sailing to Davis Straits and all round the globe, and I only gave that up when I could not go any longer. 7086. How many years were you fishing at the haaf?-Only four years. 7087. You were a sailor in the merchant service before that?- Yes. 7088. Did you go to Greenland too?-Yes; I went twenty-seven voyages to Davis Straits. 7089. Where did you ship for that?-From Lerwick. 7090. Who engaged you there?-There were various agents. I generally engaged with Mr. Hay. I think I went ten or twelve voyages for him. 7091. When did you last go to the whale fishing?-I think it was about 1850 or 1851. 7092. How were the men's wages paid then?-It was by so much per month and an allowance of oil-money besides. 7093. Did you get an advance when you shipped?-Yes. 7094. And did you get an outfit from the agent who engaged you?-If you required it, it was there for you; and if not, you got your advance, and could take it where you pleased. 7095. Did you generally get your outfit from the agent in Lerwick who engaged you?-Yes. 7096. When you came back from your Greenland voyage, in what way did you settle?-Those who lived at a distance would get £2 or £3 if the voyage had been good, and they had money to get; and then they would go home and come back at Martinmas to settle with the agent. There was an account kept against them in the book which they had to settle at that time. 7097. What quantity of goods did you generally have in your account with the agent at Lerwick?-The greatest part of them were sea-going clothes. 7098. You did not generally get supplies from him for your families?-No; not very often. 7099. In those times did you ever get your outfit from any person except the agent who engaged you?-No; we always got it from the agent who engaged us. We could change the agent if we thought we could make any better of it, but they were nearly all about the same. . Hillswick, Northmaven: Friday, January 12, 1872. -Mr. Guthrie. DAVID GREIG, examined. 7100. You have been for a long time in the employment of Messrs. Hay & Co.?-I have been with them for nearly twenty-three years-first in their Lerwick house, and I have been manager for them at North Roe for ten years. 7101. North Roe is part of the Gossaburgh estate?-Yes. 7102. Do you manage the fishings on that estate in Northmaven parish, as well as those in Yell?-There is a separate management in Yell, so far as the rents are concerned. In Yell there is part of the estate on the west side of the island, and part on the east side. I have nothing to do with the fishermen on the east side, only with those on the west side. 7103. The fishermen on the west side deliver their fish where?- At Feideland. 7104. That is one of your stations?-Yes. 7105. You have prepared a note of the tenants or holdings upon the estate, in which the number is stated to be 56: is that in this parish only, or in Yell also?-These are the farms or holdings in this parish. 7106. Are they entirely under your management?-Yes. 7107. The note also states that the gross rental last year was £193, 7s. 6d., of which £17 is for Hay & Co., and the gross rental charged to tenants is £176, 7s. 6d.?-Yes. 7108. The £17 is allowed for land held by Hay & Co. themselves?-Yes; land and islands belonging to the estate on which they graze. 7109. Do you know the amount of the tack duty payable by Hay & Co. for that estate?-Not exactly. I think it is somewhere about £130 or £140; but then they have to pay all public burdens, and they have no claim against the proprietor for repairs on the property. They do all the repairs at their own expense, and keep up the property. 7110. So that it is not calculated that upon the rents payable by the fishermen, Hay & Co. have any surplus?-I don't think it. When the expense of management is taken off, I don't think they will have anything. 7111. I understand the fishermen hold their land subject to the condition of fishing during summer for Hay & Co.?-It is usually understood so. 7112. And I presume that is the advantage which Hay & Co. chiefly derive from their tack?-It was with a view to that that they entered into it. 7113. What is the average rent payable by each fisherman?-The average rental charged to fishermen is 3 guineas for each holding. The highest is £6, and the lowest is £2, 7s. I may say that the rents on that estate have not been altered for over 50 years, while other estates have been raised very considerably. The land there is, I think, much cheaper than it is throughout Shetland generally. 7114. Do you think the rents would bear an increase?-In comparison with other places, a very considerable increase. 7115. How many of the tenants fished last year in the summer fishing at North Roe?-Thirty-three. 7116. Of the rest, how many were unfit for fishing, and how many were engaged in other fishings?-I think there were three tenants fishing to other curers. 7117. In the summer fishing?-Yes; there were two at Faroe and two or three, two at least, sailing south. Others were employed as fish-curers and tradesmen, and in other capacities. [Page 171] 7118. There were three fishing for other curers: was that by permission or sufferance?-By sufferance, not by permission. 7119. No objection was taken to them doing so?-No; and no consequences have followed. 7120. Was that about an average number of men fishing for other curers, or was it greater or less than usual?-I think there have been fewer in some years; and in some years I think there have been none at all. 7121. You employed nine deep-sea boats at North Roe?-Yes, in this parish. 7122. And you had also some crews from Yell?-Yes; there were four deep-sea boats from Yell. 7123. There were also some small boats?-Yes. 7124. What distinction is there between the small boats and the large ones?-There is no difference in the fishings to which they go. They fish for the same sort of fish; but the small boats do not carry so large a crew, and the boats themselves are not so large. Generally these small boats belong to the men themselves; the large boats are hired from Messrs. Hay & Co. 7125. Is the boat hire the same with you as in other places?-No; it is less. In some places they charge 50s. and as high as £3; but in our case it has never been above 48s. 7126. That includes the lease of the boat for the season?-Yes. 7127. What else?-Nothing but the material belonging to the boat: she is made seaworthy, and everything belonging to the boat is supplied,-sails, oars, cordage, compass, and everything else. 7128. How are the lines provided?-The lines are given to the men, on their own account, at the usual selling price, and they are allowed to pay for them in three years. 7129. Are there any other articles which are furnished to the men as part of their outfit for the summer fishing?-I don't think there is anything else. Of course they have their sea clothing, and provisions and things of that kind, to get when they engage for the fishing. 7130. Are all these usually or invariably supplied by Hay & Co. from their shop?-No; not invariably. I have known one or two cases where the parties have sent to Lerwick and bought their goods there; but those parties who have done so have found it was not a profitable thing, and have come back to me again. 7131. I suppose the carriage was expensive?-There was the carriage and the inconvenience of sending for them, and they had no profit by doing it. 7132. Do you mean that the price at Lerwick was as high as at North Roe?-Yes; we generally endeavour to charge about the Lerwick prices, only adding something for the carriage. 7133. How many fishermen were employed by you last year altogether?-There were 98 altogether; 28 from Yell and 70 from Northmaven, in 16 boats. 7134. Have you made any note from your books of the total amount of the earnings of these men?-I think that last year it was approximately about £1220. 7135. Is that the total amount of their earnings from fishing, or does it include sums due to the men from any other source?-That is their earnings from the fishing alone. 7136. It does not include any stock that may have been purchased from them, or their payment for any other sort of work which they may have done for you?-No. It is taken from the book in which I keep the private accounts against Hay & Co. I have to charge them with that sum for the fish bought and paid for, in the ordinary course of business. 7137. Have you got your books here?-Yes. I was not called upon by my citation to bring them, but I have brought them. 7138. You were not called upon by your citation to bring them, because it was thought that, in consequence of the distance you had to come, it might cause you an unreasonable amount of inconvenience. Is it from these books that you have made up this statement?-Not from this book [showing]. It has been made up from the statement kept in a private ledger with Hay & Co. It could, however, be got from the books I have brought by going over the accounts. 7139. You have also made a note of the average earnings of the men?-Yes. It will be a little over £12. 7140. Does that apply only to the 98 men you have mentioned?- Yes. 7141. Or does it also include the earnings of the boys and men employed in curing?-No; it does not include that. It is merely the fishermen. 7142. You say in your note that it includes men and boys?-Yes; there is a fee'd boy in each boat, and he is included in the general average. The fees are paid to the boys by the fishermen off their earnings. 7143. Of the 98, how many will be boys so fee'd?-There were 8 in North Roe, and 3 in Yell; that is 11 fee'd boys out of the 98. 7144. What is the amount of the fee of each boy?-I think from £2 to 50s.; and then they have an allowance to carry two lines or buchts, and they get the fish caught by them. They take their chance of the fishing of these two lines. 7145. Do they sell these fish to you?-Yes. 7146. Will the takes from these lines be anything like equal to the fees paid to the boys?-I think in or two cases this year, the lads' fishing was more than their fee. 7147. Have the men themselves private lines of that kind?-I don't think so. 7148. I was told elsewhere that such a practice sometimes existed?-Perhaps it may, but I don't think it exists in this part of the country. 7149. Then, from £1220 as the earnings of the fishing, I suppose you would deduct £18 or £20 for the nine boys?-Yes, or about £20 or £25; I think that would be enough. That would leave the average for the men much higher than I have put it there. 7150. It would leave about £13, 8s. 6d. as the average earnings of the men?-Yes. 7151. How much was the cash paid at settlement?-£553 and £170 additional approximately for rent. 7152. That was entered in account to the credit of the men?-Yes; that is taken off their fishings. 7153. So that the average amount paid in cash would be about £8?-Yes; and if you deduct about £2 for each man for boat hire and provisions through the year, then the difference between the £8 and what is paid at the stations would give what is supplied to their families during the season. 7154. Adding about £2 for the amount of boat hire, lines, and the supplies at the fishing station, that makes the £10, and the balance of £3, 8s. 6d. consists of supplies to the families during the year?-Yes. 7155. Are most of these men's families resident near your shop at North Roe?-I think the farthest distant is about three miles; and these are very few, only about half-a-dozen families. The rest are all quite near. 7156. Do the families have many cash transactions at your shop in addition to those that enter the account?-I think so. 7157. Have you any idea what becomes of the remainder of the money that is paid in cash at the end of the year?-I have often to transmit cash to Hay & Co. which has been received at the shop through the year, being returned to it for purchases. 7158. That shows that there is a considerable amount of the cash spent in your shop after being paid to the men at settlement?- Yes. 7159. Have you any notion of what that might amount to in a single year?-It varies very much. 7160. Would it be £100 or £200?-No; I don't think it is so much as that. 7161. Are there other shops in your neighbourhood where the men and their families are in the habit of dealing for their groceries?- They deal at several other shops. There is one small shop, Mr. John Inkster's, quite near ours. The next is Mr. Laurenson's, about three miles off; and the people sometimes go to Ollaberry and Hillswick. [Page 172] 7162. You have reason to believe that some of their cash receipts go to these shops?-I think that is sometimes the case, and some of their payments again come back to me-I mean that some of those who are receiving cash from Mr. Laurenson and others come back to me in turn. 7163. Can you say how many of the 98 men whom you employ are in debt to Hay & Co. at the end of the season?-I don't think there are six overdrawn accounts. 7164. But that has been after a favourable year?-Yes; it has been a very favourable year, and that is a smaller number than usual. 7165. Do you find that men who are in your debt are generally inclined to fish for you in the following year?-I have never had any difficulty in that way. 7166. Do they generally come to you as a matter of course and engage for the following season?-As a rule, I have endeavoured to keep the men out of debt as much as possible and I have always found it to be the best principle. 7167. But do the men who are in your debt generally come to you to fish for the following year, in order to wipe off their debt?-I don't think that in my ten years experience a single man has left the employment in consequence of being in debt. 7168. Have you in some years had a much larger number than six men in your debt at settlement?-Yes. I could not give the exact numbers; but there have been much larger numbers than that. 7169. Perhaps three or four times as many?-I should think so. 7170. The greater number of the men at the station?-No; but perhaps one-half of them may have been in debt in an unfavourable year. 7171. Was that long ago?-We had a turn of unfavourable years I think four or five years ago. 7172. Did their indebtedness sometimes run over a series of years?-In two or three cases it has done so. 7173. But not in many cases?-No. I can only think of three cases just now. 7174. Did these men continue to fish for you until their debt was cleared off?-Yes. 7175. Do you remember the amount of the largest debt of that kind you have ever had in your books?-No; I have never had occasion to take that out. My inventory is taken in the month of May, when half the year is gone, and when half the debts are incurred, and then they have got considerable supplies for the rising season. 7176. Do you purchase kelp?-Yes. 7177. Are there two prices paid to the women for it?-Yes. For the past two or three years the price has been 4s. 6d. in goods or 4s. in cash, with a royalty course to the proprietor. 7178. You have to pay a royalty to the proprietor besides what you pay to the women?-Messrs. Hay & Co. are the lessees of the shores, and they reserve that right to themselves, the same as if they were the proprietors. 7179. Is there a royalty paid by the gatherers to Hay & Co.?-It is taken off the price; because if the shores belonged to anybody else they would have to pay it. 7180. Who would have to pay it?-Hay & Co. I think it is generally understood that the buyer of the kelp shall pay the royalty to the proprietor. 7181. But Hay & Co. are not both proprietors and lessees?-They are in the same position as the proprietor, and they buy the kelp too. 7182. How does the royalty enter your accounts?-It does not appear in the accounts at all. The price paid to the makers is just 4s. 6d. in goods or 4s. in cash. 7183. Do you mean that an ordinary lessee would have to pay a royalty to the proprietor in addition to the cost of the purchase of the kelp?-I mean that if Hay & Co. were not buying the kelp themselves, but were letting the shores to some other party, that party would be accountable to Hay & Co. for the royalty. 7184. Therefore you don't allow for any royalty as forming part of the tack duty payable by Hay & Co. to the proprietor?-No. I think it is understood or expressed in their lease that they should have the kelp shores. 7185. Then the profit made on sales of kelp by Hay & Co. is larger than that of other lessees by the amount of the royalty usually paid by them?-Yes. 7186. Why do you fix a different price in goods and in cash for kelp?-Because I think the utmost value is given for the kelp which they are warranted in giving, when it is paid for in goods, and they have a profit on the goods; but when it is paid for in cash they cannot be expected to receive the kelp and give the full value for it without having any profit on it. 7187. Is there no profit on the kelp which you buy at 4s. per cwt. in cash?-Yes; there is a profit upon that; but if we paid 4s. 6d. in cash for it, then there would be no profit. 7188. But you give them 4s. 6d. worth of goods for because you have a profit on the goods?-Yes. 7189. Is there no profit on the kelp when it is bought at 4s. 6d.?- There would not be any, taking the royalty into consideration. 7190. How many tons of kelp do you sell?-I only took a note of it for last year, when there were twelve tons. 7191. At what rate was it sold?-I did not get the account sales, but I understood the price paid in Shetland, free on board, was £5, 10s. per ton. 7192. That is 5s. 6d. per cwt. Will it take 1s. per cwt. to put it on board ship?-No. 7193. Where is it shipped?-The kelp I take is shipped in one of Hay & Co.'s vessels, carried to Simbister, landed there, and re-shipped again. 7194. By free on board, do you mean free on board at Simbister?-Yes. 7195. You think that shipment and re-shipment would not cost 1s. per cwt.?-I don't think it would. 7196. Therefore there would be some margin of profit upon the kelp bought at 4s. 6d. and sold at 5s. 6d.?-If you buy the kelp at 4s. 6d. and pay 1s. of royalty, then it is actually costing you 5s. 6d., and there is no margin left for the expense of receiving and shipping and transhipping again. 7197. But I understood you to say that there was no royalty actually paid by Hay & Co.?-Neither there is; but they have the same right to receive that royalty, or to calculate upon that royalty as if it were paid, they being in the position of proprietors of the property. 7198. You have said that the amount of cash paid to the fishermen at settlement was about £553, and that the average amount due by each man for goods to his family would be £3, 8s. 6d.: would there be no cash advances to them during the season?-Yes. 7199. These would be included in that sum?-Yes. 7200. Would the amount of these advances be material?-I am not prepared to say how much they would be. It would depend upon the necessities of the man. I think in one case they amounted to £12, 9s. 6d. 7201. Was that sum paid in cash before settlement?-Yes. 7202. That would be nearly the amount of his total earnings?-It would be nearly the amount of the average earnings; but that man had very high earnings. 7203. I believe you have made some calculation as to the total amount of summer fish bought: what is it?-During the ten years I have been manager at North Roe, there have been summer fish bought to the value of about £7000; and during the same time the cash paid at settlement has been about £4420. That includes the rents of tenants who have fished; but it does not include the cash advanced to them through the year, which in some years has been pretty considerable. The following is a statement for the last four years, of the value of the fishings, and the amount paid in cash at settlement: Cash Paid at Value of Fishings. Settlement. 1868 About £400 £290 1869 704 335 1870 1003 540 1871 1220 723 [Page 173] 7204. Is there any winter fishing at North Roe?-There is what we call home fishing for nine months of the year in small boats. 7205. But the proper home fishing terminates about August or September?-The haaf fishing terminates about 12th August. After that the men immediately resume fishing in their small boats, and continue it until the middle of May next year. 7206. Are these the small boats you mentioned before as belonging to the men themselves?-Yes. 7207. I think you said that of these there were only two at North Roe?-That was in the summer time; but almost every man on the property has a share of a small boat for the winter fishing. 7208. Are these boats generally purchased from Hay & Co.?-I think since I came there they have generally been purchased from them, but not altogether. 7209. Are they paid for by instalments?-Our bargain for them is, that they are to be paid in three years, and during these three years they stand in separate account in my books. 7210. Is there a separate boat book?-They are entered in the general ledger, but kept in a separate account; and at the expiry of the three years, if it is not paid off, it ought properly to be put to the man's private account, and to become part of his shop account. That is the rule, although, in some cases, I have not carried it out to the extent of carrying it to the man's private account at the close of three years. 7211. Do you generally find that that boat account is paid off within the three years?-No; it is frequently continued longer. 7212. In what way are the fish disposed of that are taken in that small-boat fishing in winter?-They are sold when the men come ashore. I tell the men what price will be paid; and if they agree to take that price, receive the fish and pay for them every time they are delivered. 7213. Is that paid to them in cash?-They are at liberty to take cash, or to buy goods, or do anything they like; but we never leave these transactions unsettled. 7214. In point of fact, is it generally cash that passes, or do the men take what goods they want at the shop?-In many cases, I think in most cases, if the fishing is small, perhaps they want as much, or pretty near the value, when they come ashore, out of the shop in goods for their houses; but if they have been having a few days' successful fishing, then they take the cash when they don't require the goods. They are not asked to take the goods; and they are not required to do it in any way. 7215. Are they bound to sell these fish to you in the same way as their summer fish?-I think that is understood; but there have been many exceptions that I have known. 7216. Are there more exceptions in the case of this small-boat fishing than of the summer fishing?-I think so. 7217. Have you any note or book here, showing the amount of the transactions with regard to this small-boat fishing?-No. I have offered the men, when they came ashore, to pay them for their haul, and then they could go where they liked with the money; but they said, 'What is the use of doing that?-We want so-and-so from the shop, and we would just have to give the money back again.' 7218. How is it ascertained at the shop what amount the men have to get in goods for their fish? Do you take a note of it at the time?-Yes; and I enter it in the fish book. 7219. And from that note you know how much the man has to receive in goods?-Yes; or how much he has to receive in cash. 7220. But he takes the goods if he chooses to go to the shop at the time?-Yes. 7221. What amount of transactions of that kind may there be in the course of a year?-Last year I think it was only about £56. 7222. Was that the whole value of the fish so purchased?-Yes; but I think in some years since I came there it has been over £100. 7223. It is only the North Roe men you are speaking of now?- Yes. 7224. The Yell men don't deliver their fish to you in that way?- No; not generally. 7225. Then that sum would be paid to about 33 men?-I think there are more than that who engage in the winter fishing. Some of the men who go to the Faroe fishing, and some also who go south, employ their time in winter in that way. 7226. That would make it a very small sum that is paid to the men for their winter fishing?-Yes; it is very small. 7227. So that it rather seems the winter fishing is hardly worth taking into account in your general transactions?-It is not. 7228. Do Messrs. Hay & Co. purchase cattle to any extent for the purpose of selling them?-They have an island, the island of Uyea, where they graze for their own purposes. 7229. Is that in Unst?-No; it is in this parish. I buy the cattle for that island yearly. 7230. Is it simply for grazing purposes there that you buy the cattle?-For no other purpose. 7231. Are they bought at public sales?-Generally they are. 7232. Do these cattle enter the accounts of the fishermen?-Yes, mostly. They pass through their accounts; but I could show cases where they received the cash again immediately. 7233. Are they not settled for at the annual settlement?-Yes; or they get cash for them at any time they want. 7234. Are these cattle often taken from men who are in arrear with their accounts?-No; they are never taken from the people who are in arrears. If a man was in arrears, he might be asked to bring his cow to the public sale if he was to dispose of her; and then we might buy her or not. 7235. There is said to be a system in Shetland of marking the horns of cattle when the merchant or landlord has a debt against a fisherman tenant: can you explain what the practice is with regard to that?-I believe such a practice does exist; but in my own experience I have never set any value upon it at all, and never practised it at North Roe. 7236. What do you understand the practice to be?-I understand that if any one has a claim against a tenant, either proprietor or merchant or any other party, they consider that if their mark or initials or brand is put upon the horns of the animal, it then becomes their property, even in cases where the animal has not been removed from the possession of the original owner. That is how I understand it has been done in my neighbourhood. 7237. Do you understand that it is usual for the creditor to remove the cattle so marked from the premises of the debtor, and to keep them in his byre or yard for some time, and afterwards to return them upon loan, that removal being understood to be the badge of possession or the sign of the transference of the property?-Yes. I did that myself in one case, but it was not a direct case of that kind. The debtor was the owner of the cow, but another party had the cow in his possession; there was an intermediate party in the matter. I bought it from the man, putting a value upon it, and removed it. 7238. Charging the price to his credit in his account with you?- Yes. I removed it to my own byre and kept it there for some time, and then, as I was not wanting it very much, I gave it back to the poor man who had it originally; but the man I gave it back to was not the debtor at all. 7239. In what way was that third party in possession of it?-I don't know. I think he had reared the animal. There is such a system as giving a calf, if you have too many and don't want it, to another man, and he brings it up; and when the calf comes to be sold, one-half of the proceeds belongs to the original owner. 7240. Then you think this beast may have been in the possession of the party on some such footing as [Page 174] that?-I think it is possible it may have been in that way. 7241. If that was so, your debtor would only be the proprietor of one-half of it in reality?-No; there was something peculiar in this case, because the debtor was the sole owner of the beast. 7242. Then that was not such a case as you have mentioned?-No. 7243. May the possessor of the animal have been another creditor of your debtor who had it?-No; he was not. 7244. Is it possible that he may have hired it from your debtor?-I don't think it. 7245. You think he had it simply in loan?-Yes. 7246. When cattle are taken to market in that way by a creditor, do you know, from the general understanding of the country, how the price is fixed?-In many cases I think there is no price fixed at all. 7247. The animal is just taken generally for security of the debt?-Yes, in the meantime, until it is sold, and then the proceeds go to the party who put on the mark. 7248. These sales, I understand, take place at fixed places in each district, and at certain times in the year?-Yes, in May and October. 7249. They are conducted by public auction?-Yes. 7250. At these auctions does the creditor generally appear and bid for the marked cattle?-I don't think it. It would not avail for him to do so. 7251. Why?-Because any other party at the auction could buy them. 7252. But is the bidding perfectly fair?-Perfectly fair on all occasions. 7253. You do not know that any suspicion exists that any one of the public may not bid, or runs any risk of the displeasure of some powerful neighbour by bidding for cattle that are so marked?-No. I would bid in such at case myself, and I have explained to the country people that if the auctioneer refused a bid from anybody, they could have an action against him for refusing it. 7254. You are now speaking of your own practice, but do you not know that such fear of bidding against a merchant-creditor exists in other parts of the country?-I never heard of such thing, and I do not think it does exist. 7255. Have you known merchants buying in cattle so marked at sales?-There is nothing of the kind practised in our quarter, and I have never observed anything of the kind at sales elsewhere. 7256. Are you aware whether many of the fishermen at your station keep accounts at any of the banks?-I know that some of the men in our neighbourhood do have accounts in the banks for I have transacted such business for some of them. 7257. Is it the case that when a man who has a bank account wants a little money, he prefers to apply to the merchant for an advance to account of his next year's fishing, or of the present year's fishing, if it is during the fishing season, rather than to take it from the bank with which he has the account?-I believe it is. This year I sent £11 for a tenant to be lodged in one of the banks in Lerwick, and when I handed him the deposit receipt, he said, 'Perhaps it will not be long before I want some of this again.' I said to him, 'I think you had better not take any of it out, but let it stand in the bank; and if you want to keep you going until next year, you can get it from me rather than disturb your bank account.' 7258. That was a case in which you were on such terms with the fisherman, and had such confidence in him, that you were ready to make him the advance?-Yes. 7259. But do you know whether it is the practice for fishermen who have funds in the bank privately, to exert themselves somewhat in order to get advances from an unwilling merchant, rather than disturb their own bank account?-I have heard of such a case in our own neighbourhood. 7260. But don't you know of any such cases in your own experience?-No. 7261. Do you know whether it is the practice at all?-I don't know that it is the practice. 7262. Do merchants or shopkeepers who are in the fish trade act as bankers to their men to any extent in this part of the country?- I cannot speak to anything of that kind being done of my own knowledge. 7263. Do none of the fishermen keep money lying in your hands: do they not leave it with you at the settlement?-Very seldom. 7264. Are you an agent for the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society?- No; Hay & Co. are agents in Lerwick for that society, and I send to them for any tickets want. 7265. Do the annual subscriptions enter the accounts of your fishermen at North Roe?-Yes. 7266. When payments are to be made to the men on account of the society, how are these made?-I have never had a case of the kind. There has been only one case where a fisherman had to get money, and he went down to Hay & Co. at Lerwick, and got it himself direct. 7267. Would there be any difficulty, in consequence of the want of banks in the district, in introducing a cash system of payments in a parish like this: I mean the system of paying in cash for fish at more frequent periods, and paying in cash for shop purchases, and also paying in cash for hosiery?-There would certainly a great disadvantage in doing so, in consequence of the want of a bank in our neighbourhood, because there was a cash system of payments, we would have to get larger sums of money from the bank; and to fetch money from the bank, in order to make those payments, would be rather a risky thing, seeing that we must either convey it by special messenger from Lerwick, or by the steamer. 7268. I suppose, however, that if a cash system were common in the country, a branch bank would probably be established at some convenient place?-I don't know about that; I think that, having three banks already in Lerwick, they would hardly be likely to send a bank farther north this way. I don't think the business would pay them to do so. 7269. Are you a member of the parochial board the parish?-I am. 7270. Are you aware whether many persons who are members of the families of fishermen-tenants or crofter-fishermen are supported by the board?-I know several cases of that kind. 7271. Are these persons members of the families of fishermen who have considerable incomes from fishing and from land?-I don't think so. I think that in cases where their children are able to support them they are bound to do so. 7272. But is there an inclination among the people here to get support from the poor's roll to a greater extent than existed some years ago?-I think that feeling is on the increase in the parish, and I think the present poor law tends to increase the feeling. 7273. Do you know what is the usual allowance given to paupers in this parish?-As far as I can recollect, I think it ranges from 1s. 6d. to 15s. a month. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 12, 1872, MORGAN LAURENSON, examined. 7274. You are a merchant at Lochend?-I am. 7275. Do you deal both in drapery goods and provisions?-Yes; but principally in drapery. 7276. Do you employ any fishermen?-A few; but I only engage in that trade to a small extent. 7277. How many boats do you send out to summer fishing?-I had three boats last year, two large and one small. 7278. Are you a landholder or tacksman?-No. 7279. You engage any fishermen in the neighbourhood who are willing to make a contract with you?-Yes. [Page 175] 7280. You have no men who are bound to fish for you?-None. 7281. Do you run accounts with the men in the way which has been described by the previous witness and settle with them yearly?-Yes. 7282. Do you find that the balances are generally in the fishermen's favour, or against them?-For the last two years they have generally been in their favour. In former years they were not generally so; they were often against them. 7283. Do fishermen continue for any length of time to fish for you without changing, or do you find that you have different fishermen in your employment in different years?-I have not been very long in the business, only since 1865. I am a new tenant comparatively; but for the past five years, ever since I commenced to have a boat, I have not had many changes. 7284. You must have had fifteen or sixteen fishermen in your employment during that time?-Yes. 7285. Have they generally been the same men throughout?-Yes. Perhaps a man in each boat has gone away to another fish-curer; but generally they have been the same. 7286. Do you think the fact of a man having an account in your books is generally an inducement to him to continue in your employment for the next year?-I could not say that it is so in all cases. 7287. But in some cases it may have that effect?-Yes; in a few cases. 7288. Does a fisherman get accommodation from you, in the shape of supplies of goods more readily if he fishes for you, and agrees to continue to fish, than if he were not in your employment?-Yes. 7289. Are the fishermen generally in a condition to require that accommodation?-Most of them are. 7290. A man may not require it every year, but in the course of half-a-dozen years he is pretty likely, as a general rule, to be in want of some accommodation of that sort?-Yes; that is the case with most of them. 7291. Do you deal in hosiery to a considerable extent?-Yes. 7292. Do you buy it, or do you give out wool to knitters?-I buy it chiefly. We give out wool to those who have not got wool of their own; but many of our knitters, I may say the greater number of them, have their own wool. 7293. The knitting in this district, I understand, is more of the coarser kinds of worsted?-Yes; the finer underclothing is made here, not fancy goods. At least, fancy goods are made only to a very small extent. 7294. But both in the case of knitters employed by you and of people who sell you their goods manufactured with their own wool, is the payment made at your counter in goods or in cash?- Invariably in goods. 7295. Are you often asked to give a portion of the price in cash?- No; very seldom. 7296. Do the knitters run accounts with you?-Yes. 7297. And these are squared up every now and then in your books? -Yes. As a rule, we never run long accounts. The accounts are squared up at short intervals, and the women get a bill at the counter if there is a balance in their favour. They get a note of their purchases in their hands; and my usual mode is, to enter the balance in a bill, which they hold until they return with some other stuff and pay it. I find it is the best plan to keep the accounts short. 7298. At settlement do they get a note?-They get a receipt for the amount paid, and if they have a balance to receive, that is paid in goods over the counter. 7299. If they don't want the goods at the time, how is that arranged?-It is very rarely that they don't take the full value; but if they do not, what remains over is left as a balance, and it is usually carried into a new account. Sometimes they want it on a line, stating that the balance amounts to so much, and that I shall pay it. 7300. Is that line given in the form of an I O U, or of a bill?-I have given it in the form of an I O U, but very rarely. I generally put the name of the party on the line, because in some cases they have lost the lines, and then come back to me, when it was not entered in the book, and asked the value of them. I did not wish to allow them to suffer for that; but as I was afraid that another party might get the line and bring it in, I always put the name on it. 7301. You put the name on it in order to prevent the value of it from being demanded by any person except the one to whom it was granted at first?-Yes. I generally enter the lines in a book now, so that I may be kept safe. 7302. Have you a list of the lines which you issue?-For some time past, I have entered them in a book when they were given out. 7303. But you have no separate register for such lines?-No. 7304. Is there any reason why cash is not asked in these transactions for hosiery?-It is understood that we are not prepared generally to give any cash; but in the case of a regular knitter who wanted some part of her payment in cash, I have never refused, so far as I recollect, to give her what she asked. However, it was usually a comparatively small sum that was asked in that way. 7305. Do you sometimes buy articles all for cash, making special bargains for them?-Occasionally, if it is anything special. 7306. In that case, is a lower price given in cash than would have been given in goods?-Yes, because in ordinary transactions I have a profit only on the goods sold. I may state, however, that the women are unwilling to take cash. I remember that on one occasion, when I was changing from one place of business to another, I had no goods, and I offered the knitters cash for their hosiery, at such a price as would give me a reasonable profit, but they objected to take it. For instance, in the case of gentlemen's undershirts, the usual price given may be from 4s. to 4s. 6d. I have offered to give them in the one case 3s. 8d., and in the other 4s. in cash, but they have invariably refused. They would rather leave it, and get such goods as they wanted, than take a lower price in cash, and that has got to be the rule. They are very fond of getting the highest nominal value; and I can show from my books that, as a rule, I give the full price for each article which we charge in selling them, and have only a profit on the goods we give in exchange. 7307. Do you sell your goods south?-Yes. 7308. Are you prepared to show that just now?-Yes. [Produces book.] This [showing] is the sales book, containing copies of the invoices. 7309. The women in their accounts are charged with the wool as got by them?-Yes. 7310. Are they credited again with the knitted goods as got by you?-Yes. 7311. Therefore, in that way the wool is really given out by you to them, to be knitted as by persons in your employment?-No, they are not employed by me, but I expect the women to bring back the goods to me, as we don't sell wool, because it is rather difficult to get. With regard to the prices, I show here an entry in a copy invoice, under date Sept. 14, 1871 of half a dozen girls' polkas at 15s., 7s. 6d., and I also show an entry in my women's ledger of 'by one doz. girls' polkas, 14s. 4d.,' on January 27, 1870. 7312. Was there any material difference in the price of polkas within that period of 18 months?-No. I also show an entry under date February 18, 1870, of 1/3 doz. girls' polkas at 15s., 5s. In addition to the price entered in the women's ledger, there is the price of re-dressing, which is about 6d. a dozen, and there are boxes required in which to send them away, for which we do not get any return. 7313. Do you swear that these girls' polkas are a fair sample of the other articles in which you deal, with regard to the expense of production to you and the invoice price to your customer in the south?-Yes. I may state that we have a very strong desire to give encouragement to good knitters, by giving them the highest prices. 7314. Can you mention any case in which you have [Page 176] sold hosiery at a profit?-No, except in small orders, or retail orders from private parties. In such cases, I consider it fair to charge a small profit on the goods, in order to protect my other customers who buy largely from me. That is the only case in which there is any profit. 7315. Do you purchase worsted to any great extent?-Not worsted, but wool,-the raw material from the farmers in the district. 7316. Is that spun and made up by persons employed by you?- Yes. I do that for the purpose of finding employment for women who have no way of their own to earn a livelihood. 7317. Do you use that wool for your own trade, or do you sell it as worsted to merchants elsewhere?-We cannot get enough of it. It is entirely for our own trade that it is made up, with very rare exceptions. 7318. Do you make up all qualities of it, or is it simply the coarser kind of wool required for the underclothing department?-The softest wool is made up for underclothing, and the coarser is made into tweeds. 7319. But you do not make any of the finer kinds of worsted for fancy work?-Nothing, except to a very trifling extent. Our knitters don't knit that kind of work. 7320. What is the rate of payment for spinning?-The girls to whom I sell it, card, spin, and knit it usually. 7321. Then the entry you showed me was an entry of wools?- Yes. They would be to sell the worsted once they had spun it, but they can turn it to more account by knitting. 7322. There is nobody in your employment merely for spinning?- I cannot say there is. Occasionally we get a woman to spin for us; but they don't like to do that, as it is not profitable. 7323. The way in which you deal with these spinners and knitters is, that you generally sell the wool to them?-Yes. 7324. And they bring it, and sell it back to you when made into articles of hosiery?-Yes. 7325. Is that the invariable practice?-Yes; some of them have offered to take the wool, and make it 'halvers.' The practice among the people themselves is, that a party who has wool gives it to a neighbour who has none; she knits two pieces of goods, one of which belongs to the owner of the wool, and the other is kept by the knitter for her trouble. I objected to that system, because I did not think it encouraged them to make the most of their material, and they did not, perhaps, give fair attention to the improvement the knitting. If they buy 4s. worth of wool, and if girl knits well, she may turn 10s. or 12s. out of that; in some cases more; so that there is more encouragement to them by knitting the wool themselves, than by selling it. 7326. I suppose you sometimes buy articles which have been made by knitters with their own wool, spun by themselves, and which has not originally been purchased from you?-Yes; a great many of the articles of hosiery are purchased by us in that way. 7327. On whose property is your shop?-On the Busta estate. 7328. How long have you held your shop there?-Since 1864,- seven years. 7329. Was there a shop in existence at Lochend before you opened yours?-There had been a shop there for a long time. 7330. In the same premises?-Yes; but it has been considerably enlarged. 7331. Where were you before?-At Ollaberry. I had the business place there now occupied by Mr. Anderson's firm. 7332. You left that when they took it into their own hands?-Yes. 7333. Had you any difficulty in getting a shop in which to carry on your business in this district cannot say that I had. I was offered this place by the Busta trustees. It was in a state of dilapidation when I took it, and they offered it to me on condition that I would make the necessary repairs on it for myself. 7334. Was any difficulty stated about giving you the shop on account of interfering with the business of the other merchants in the district?-No. 7335. Do you sometimes buy fish from the fishermen who are employed by Messrs. Anderson & Co. or by Messrs. Hay & Co.; I mean odd hauls now and then?-I cannot say that I buy any from Messrs. Hay Co.'s fishermen, because they would hardly sell to me on account of the inconvenience. 7336. But are you aware whether the practice exists of the fishermen employed by you selling occasionally to the factors of other merchants, and the fishermen of other merchants selling occasionally to you or your factors?-I think that practice exists only to it very small extent. 7337. But you have detected that practice to certain extent?-I cannot say that I have; there have been very few fish bought from such men. 7338. Was that done because the men did not get cash advances from the parties for when they fished regularly?-I don't think it was. I think it was merely done from a notion on the part of the men. 7339. Did they get merely the same price which they would have got from their own employer?-I think they got the same price in all cases. 7340. Then why should they not deliver their fish as usual in the ordinary way?-I cannot say. They perhaps think it is a privilege to sell to any one who will buy from them-although that is not the rule. It is understood that they are not at liberty, as a rule, to do so, but yet they do it, although it has been very rarely in my experience. 7341. When they sell their fish in that way, are these transactions for ready money?-Not always. They may sell them in order to pay some goods which they have got before. If they were selling them to me, they might bring them in order to pay some account which they had at my shop. 7342. Are there many fishermen dealing at your shop on credit who fish to other merchants?-Occasionally there are a few. 7343. You have accounts with them?-Yes; with a few. 7344. Are these accounts settled annually, at the ordinary settling time, as a rule; or is there any rule, about the period for settlement?-There is a rule that they shall settle annually after the settlement with their own curers, and at that time they usually bring part of the cash which has been paid to them. 7345. Do you sometimes find that these accounts are not settled at that time?-Sometimes I do. 7346. Are you a loser to any extent by the failure of the fishermen to settle accounts of that kind?-I consider that I am, in some cases. 7347. But these debts sometimes run over a period of years?-In cases where the parties are poor they do. 7348. Have there been offers made to you by fishermen who are in these circumstances, and who are in your debt, to settle their accounts by engaging to fish for you during the fishing season?- No; I cannot say that there have been any offers made to me of that sort. 7349. You have not taken on a fisherman who was in your debt in that way?-No. 7350. Do you not know of any case in which you have taken on a man who was in your debt, simply with the view of allowing him to pay it off?-With the fishermen on the Busta estate I have done so. 7351. Were these men who had incurred a debt to you while they were fishing for another merchant?-In one instance that was the case; but I find, as a rule, that a party who is in debt is not one who is likely to be ready to offer his services. The fact that he is in debt is no inducement to make him fish for you, but rather the contrary. 7352. Do you think that, as a rule, he will continue to fish for his former employer?-Yes. 7353. But the fact probably is, that if he is in debt to you in that way, he is also in debt to [Page 177] his own employer?-I believe that is generally the case. 7354. Have you known any case of a fisherman changing his employer because he was so deeply in debt to him, that that employer would not advance him any more goods?-I have in my own transactions had to refuse advances to a fisherman, because I knew he was getting into debt deeper than he could pay. I refused to advance him any longer, and left him at liberty to do the best he could for himself. 7355. Did he leave you at the end of the season?-Yes. 7356. And at the beginning of it new season, did he go to another employer?-Yes. 7357. In that case how have you secured your debt?-I gave him perhaps a year, and then I had to press him for the amount. 7358. Did you take him to court?-Yes; I took him to court, because he refused to pay what I believed he was able to pay. 7359. Have you ever in such a case succeeded in getting any part of your debt settled by his new employer?-Yes. 7360. How was that done? Did you, at the beginning of the fishing season, get the new employer to make an advance to the fisherman to account of your debt?-In the case I am referring to, the employer at the end of the fishing season made a payment to me, as an instalment on the debt. 7361. Was that done by arrangement with the fisherman?-Yes; the fisherman went to his new employer and got his line or security for a part, indeed for the whole amount, to be paid in three instalments, in three years, because I thought it better to part with the man when he was getting too deeply into debt, and perhaps the change in going to another employer would lead him to better himself. 7362. Was he likely to better himself in such circumstances?-It chanced that he got into a good fishing boat, and he did better himself. 7363. But that was just a chance, was it not?-Yes, I should think so. 7364. Was it the man who wished to go to another employer when his supplies were stopped by you, or was it you who wished him to change?-He could not do without advances, and he would not give me security to cover my risk in giving him any. 7365. But the new employer, in employing the fisherman, took exactly the same risk which you refused, and I suppose gave him supplies?-Not to the same extent. It was only after the man had been at sea at one season at the fishing for his new employer, and had earned a fair earning, that he paid me one-third of his account, and became good for the balance to be paid at the end of the next two seasons. 7366. Did that merchant become good for the whole balance of your account?-I don't know whether it was legally or formally gone into, but it was understood he would see that the man paid me. 7367. Was that a single case, or has it occurred oftener with you?-That has been the only case in my experience. 7368. Who was the merchant?-Mr. Greig, the manager for Messrs. Hay & Co. 7369. Are you aware whether that case is of ordinary occurrence in transactions between fish-curers, when fisherman leaves the employment of one and goes to that of another?-I think it has been an understood thing among them; at least some time ago, when I was more in connection with the larger concerns of Hillswick and Ollaberry, it was understood that when a fisherman ran away from his responsibility, after getting into debt, his new employer, if he was taken up by another curer in the district, would be morally liable to pay the balance for the man, if it was reasonable. I don't know whether that is the practice now or not. 7870. Was there just a general understanding that the new employer should make some kind of arrangement about it, the particulars being settled in each case, or was there a rule that he should become responsible for the whole debt, or for a specific proportion of the debt?-I think it was understood that it would be fair for the new employer to become accountable for the whole debt, if it was reasonable, or for such a proportion of it as he would undertake to pay for the man. 7871. Were you in the employment of Mr. Anderson at Hillswick?-I was a partner in the business at Ollaberry. I was in the employment of Mr. Gideon Anderson for years before, and then I was manager at Ollaberry, until I went to Lochend. 7372. Before you left Ollaberry you had not been in business for yourself, but you were merely manager for Anderson or Anderson & Co.?-The firm was Anderson Brothers & Laurenson, and I was a member of that firm. 7373. Before you left the firm, did that understanding which you have described exist among the fishing curers in this neighbourhood?-Yes. 7374. In your experience, was it generally acted upon?-I think it was. I may mention that I did not have to do with the fishermen in the summer season, while I managed the business at Ollaberry for seven years. I had only to do with the winter fishing. In the summer they fished for Hillswick, and I had nothing further than ordinary transactions with the fishermen then. It was chiefly the hosiery trade and the winter fishing that I knew about. 7375. But you were, to some extent, acquainted with the transactions which took place in the summer fishing?-Yes. 7376. And in describing this understanding, you are speaking from your general knowledge of the system pursued?-Yes. 7377. With what merchants, in this part of Shetland, did that understanding exist, and was acted upon? Did it extend to Messrs. Hay at North Roe; you have mentioned an instance in which it was acted upon with them?-That was in my own experience since. 7378. But did the understanding extend to them at that time?- Messrs. Hay & Co. had not a station there then: it was another firm. 7379. To whom did that understanding extend?-To Messrs. Adie, Mr. Inkster at Brae and to the firm of Anderson at Hillswick. 7380. Did it extend to the Mossbank people?-I cannot say. The fishermen were not very likely to remove from here to Mossbank, or from Mossbank to here. 7381. Did it extend to fishing stations in Yell?-I don't think so. 7382. Or further south to Reawick?-Not to my knowledge. 7383. The fishermen, you think, do not move about so far as that?-No. Perhaps I may be allowed to say with regard to the special case of a fisherman that I mentioned, that there was no previous arrangement between Mr. Greig and me about a general collection of debts from the men. I was merely pressing the debtor for payment, and Mr. Greig came forward as a friend. 7384. Do you mean that the understanding or practice which you have referred to does not exist so far as the Messrs. Hay are concerned?-There is no such understanding betwixt me and Messrs. Hay. 7385. And you have said that you did not refer to them when you spoke of the practice existing at a former time, when you were in a different firm?-No; I do not include them. With regard to another previous statement I wish also to say, that so far from wishing my customers to get into debt, I have had a notice signed to the effect that I would not give credit to knitters beyond four months, and then I reduced it to two months. That shows that it is against our interest, instead of being for our interest, to let them get into debt. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 12, 1872, ANDREW RATTER, examined. 7386. You are a fisherman at North Roe?-I am. 7387. Are you a tenant of Messrs. Hay there?-Yes. [Page 178] 7388. What balance was paid to you last year at settlement?-£5, 15s. 7389. Is that about the ordinary sum you have to get in a fair season?-Yes. 7390. How much was your account for furnishings for your family?-Between £3 and £4. 7391. Is that about an ordinary thing too?-I think some of the men take more than that. 7392. Do you generally deal at Messrs. Hay's shop at North Roe for all the things you want in the way of provisions and clothing?-Yes. 7393. Do you deal anywhere else?-Very little. 7394. Where else: at Lochend?-No; I don't deal at Lochend. 7395. Do you deal any at Lerwick?-No; I don't deal anywhere to any great extent except at North Roe. 7396. Is it usual for the men there to deal chiefly with Messrs. Hay?-Yes; so far as I know. 7397. Is there no other shop convenient for them?-Not very convenient. 7398. Are the articles you get very satisfactory in quality?-Yes; I have always found them so. 7399. What do you pay for your tea?-From 8d. to 10d. a quarter. 7400. What do you pay for your meal just now?-It varies in price, according to the seasons. I could not exactly say what the meal is just now, because I am not buying any at present. The last I bought was in the summer, when I went to the fishing, and I think paid 5s. 4d. per lispund of 32 lbs. for it. 7401. Is it by lispund weight you generally buy it?-It is sometimes by lispund weight, and sometimes by boll weight. 7402. What is the price of a boll?-22s. 7403. Have you ever fished for other fish-curers than Messrs. Hay & Co.?-Yes; I fished for the late James Peterson at North Roe. That was before Messrs. Hay got the shop there. 7404. Since Messrs. Hay have had a place there, have you ever fished for any other merchants?-No. 7405. Have you ever sold your fish to other curers?-No. 7406. Not your small fish?-No. 7407. Have you never sold a single fish to anybody except Messrs. Hay & Co.?-I recollect selling perhaps a cwt. or two through the winter to Mr. Inkster at North Roe. 7408. Were you paid in cash for them?-Yes. 7409. Did Mr. Greig find any fault with you for doing so?-No. 7410. Did he know of it?-Yes; I made no secret of it. I did it openly. 7411. Is it understood that you are at liberty to sell your fish in winter to anybody you like?-No. 7412. But you sometimes take the liberty of doing it?-Yes. 7413. Why did you prefer to sell your fish at that time to Mr. Inkster rather than to Mr. Greig?-I had perhaps a small account with Inkster at the time and he preferred the fish rather than cash. 7414. Does he cure fish himself?-Yes; a little. 7415. Do you go to the Faroe fishing?-No. 7416. Do you pay your rent to Messrs. Hay & Co.?-Yes. 7417. Is it settled along with your account with them?-Yes. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 12, 1872, JANE HALCROW, examined. 7418. You live with your mother near Hillswick?-I do. 7419. Is she a widow?-Yes. 7420. Has your mother a piece of land?-Yes. 7421. How do you work it: do you manage it for her?-No. 7422. Do you get a man to work it for you?-No, we work it ourselves. 7423. Do you live with your mother alone, or is there anybody else in the house?-There is a servant. 7424. Is your land on the Busta estate?-Yes. 7425. Do you do a good deal in knitting?-Not a great deal, but I do some. 7426. Where do you sell it?-At different shops; generally at Hillswick, and sometimes I sell it in Lerwick, and sometimes at Ollaberry. 7427. What makes you go to Lerwick and Ollaberry with your work?-I cannot say. 7428. Do you just go there when you want to go?-Yes. 7429. Do you get a better price there for your knitting than you do at Hillswick?-No; it is just about the same. 7430. How are you paid for it?-Generally in goods. 7431. Do you sometimes get a little money?-It is not much money that I get, but I get stamps when I ask them. 7432. What do you knit?-Principally ladies' slips or spencers. 7433. What is the price of them?-From 1s. 6d. to 1s. 8d.: perhaps we may get as much as 2s. when they are good. 7434. That is the price of them in goods?-Yes. 7435. Did you ever sell any of them for all money?-No. 7436. Why?-I never asked it. 7437. Would you rather have had money?-Yes; sometimes. 7438. Then why did you not ask it?-Because I was generally needing the goods. 7439. But you said you would sometimes rather have had the money: why did you not ask it then? Was it because the practice is not to give money for hosiery?-I suppose it was. 7440. Did you not ask it because you would not get it?-I knew that if I had asked it I might have got a little. 7441. Would you prefer to get some money for your hosiery whenever you take it to sell?-Yes. 7442. Do you think you would get less money for it than you get in goods?-I don't know. 7443. Who do you sell it to in Lerwick?-Mr. Sinclair. 7444. Do you keep an account with him?-No. 7445. Do you keep an account at any of the shops?-Yes; I sometimes keep an account at Hillswick with Mr. Anderson. 7446. How often do you settle it?-Sometimes at the end of the year, and sometimes oftener. 7447. Is there anything entered in that account as having been sold by you except hosiery?-No. 7448. Are there no eggs?-No; we sell eggs, but they are never put into our account; they are just paid for at the time. 7449. Do you get money for them?-Yes; if it is asked. 7450. Do you often ask for money?-Not very often. 7451. Why do you not ask for it?-Because we are commonly taking tea. 7452. Do you want the tea?-Yes. 7453. How many eggs would you sell in a month in summer? Three or four dozen?-We might. 7454. What do you get for the dozen?-6d. 7455. Do you always take the price of it in tea?-Not always, but generally. 7456. Do you ever sell them anywhere else except Hillswick?- No. 7457. Are the goods which you get in payment for your hosiery put on the other side of your account, in order to settle it?-Yes; when the hosiery is not paid up. 7458. Do you sometimes get your hosiery paid up at the time?- Yes, generally. 7459. But you said you had an account: is that account for goods supplied to your family?-No; it is sometimes for cotton. 7460. Is that for your own dress?-Yes. [Page 179] 7461. Is your hosiery always paid for in dresses and clothing for yourself?-Generally. 7462. Do you pay your account altogether in hosiery?-Yes. 7463. You never pay money for what you want?-No. 7464. Do you deal for cotton and dresses anywhere else than at Hillswick?-No. 7465. Do you got these things as good and as cheap there as you could get them elsewhere?-I suppose I do. 7466. Have you never tried them elsewhere?-Yes; I have got them in Lerwick from Mr Sinclair. 7467. Were the goods you got there of the same quality, or were they better or worse than at Mr. Anderson's?-They were just about the same, I suppose. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 12, 1872, Rev. JAMES R. SUTHERLAND, examined. 7468. You are the minister of the parish of Northmaven?-I am. 7469. How long have you been so?-Since November 1848. 7470. You are, I presume, intimately acquainted with the condition of the people in your parish?-Perfectly so-as much as any minister can be. 7471. And you know the system which prevails, and which has been described in the evidence yesterday and to-day, with regard to the payment for fish in account with the fish-curer, and also with regard to hosiery?-Yes; I am acquainted with that generally. 7472. You have not been cited to attend here to-day?-No. 7473. But I understand you are willing and desirous to make some statement with regard to the effects of that system upon the habits of the people?-I am perfectly willing. 7474. Do you think the system of long payments which exists here is a wholesome one as regards the habits of the fishermen?-I think it is most ruinous. I think I have had very good opportunities of judging of the effect of the system upon the people, being intimately acquainted with them, and having received the statements in private of a great many of them; and I cannot conceive any system which could be more ruinous in a moral point of view, apart altogether from its effect upon them in a pecuniary way. In my opinion, the independence of the people is wholly destroyed. There is scarcely a man I know, with very few exceptions, who is not in terror, and terror that I could scarcely describe, of the merchant to whom he is indebted, and I believe that three-fourths of the whole of my parishioners are in debt to some merchant or other, and thoroughly under their control. 7475. What is your ground for saying that so many your own parishioners are in debt?-I know it from their own lips. 7476. Do you speak of the present time?-Yes, of the present time. There are a few exceptions to that, some of which I could point out, but not many. 7477. Do you consider that the state of indebtedness is greater at the present time, or less, than it has been generally throughout your experience in the parish?-I don't see any improvement in that respect, taking the whole population. There might be one here and one there who have got free of debt this year, because it has been an exceptionally good year in cattle; but, taking them as the same state of serfdom as they were twenty-three years ago, when I came here. 7478. Your ground for that statement, I understand, is the information you have received from the people themselves?-Yes. 7479. Do you think the people generally who make these statements to you are to be relied upon?-Generally, I think so, because I am exceedingly well acquainted with many of their circumstances, and I know those who are comparatively independent. I speak only of that independence which we might expect from such it population. There are many of them who are in a position which we would call pretty comfortable. I know that from having the management of their affairs privately; but I don't believe that, for the last fifteen or twenty years, the people who are in such circumstances have increased in number, or have increased the amount of the savings which are at their credit in places that I know. 7480. That statement you have now made refers to the better-off class among them?-Yes; to the better-off class, but they are very few compared with the rest. 7481. You think those who are not so well off may be two-thirds or three-fourths of your parishioners?-I may say that there are three-fourths of them who are not in these comfortable circumstances. 7482. With regard to the larger portion of your parishioners who are indebted, your information is derived from their own statements, and you say that you think generally these statements are reliable?-Perfectly so; at least as much so as such statements can be expected to be; but I have my information from other sources than the people themselves. I have it from those who are above them in station, and who know their circumstances as well as I know them myself. 7483. I suppose a man comes to you as a clergyman, and as one who is likely to sympathize with him when he is in difficulty about his affairs?-Yes. 7484. Has that often happened in your experience?-Yes; and in such cases this is what I do-Generally there are two or three elders in the parish, who are very respectable and very independent, and I privately consult these men as to whether the statements which have been made to me by the people are true. I have found that I have been oftener deceived in thinking that a man had something saved, when he had nothing, than the other way. 7485. It was stated, I think, in the evidence previously given, that many Shetland people are pretty well off, and have accounts in the bank, although they don't look as if they were worth anything, and pretend that they have nothing, being afraid to let it be known that they have money; and a story has been told of a man begging hard to borrow money with which to buy a cow, and going to his minister for the money: are you acquainted with that story?-I am acquainted with the story. I believe it has been attributed to me; it did not happen with me, but the minister with whom it happened told me about it in his own house. I was there when the thing took place. 7486. Does that story not lead to a suspicion that the complaints which are often made to you, and which you say are the grounds upon which you have arrived at the conclusion you have stated as to the circumstances of a large proportion of your parishioners, may be somewhat exaggerated by the parties?-No. That case occurred in a parish containing between 900 and 1000 people, and it was only a single case out of that population. It was the only case which the parish minister, who is still alive, was able to tell me had ever happened to him. One case out of nearly 1000 people is not many, but I do know cases something like that. I know people who have some pounds laid by in certain places, and they come to me by stealth to get me to transact business on their account with regard to these small sums. And why do they do that by stealth? It is for fear of the merchant and for fear of the laird. 7487. Why is a man who has a little money by him afraid of the merchant and of the laird?-That is just one of the evils of this truck system, and this system of not dealing in ready money on all occasions. I don't speak in favour of the population generally, more than I would do in favour of the merchant, or of the heritor, were it not for the truth. That is one of the consequences of the system, and to that extent I think it is very demoralizing. 7488. You think it is demoralizing that the system [Page 180] should lead a man to conceal the amount of his means in the way you have related?-Yes; and it leads to more than that. 7489. Do you think that arises from the system of payment in goods, and the system of running accounts?-Exactly. 7490. How is it the result of that system?-My opinion is, that with the merchant and such men, it is a case of diamond cut diamond. The fisherman who has an account with the merchant imagines that the merchant is taking an undue profit, and that it is from him, and therefore he sets himself to do everything he can against the merchant. I don't approve of the way in which the men act in order to counteract the merchant; but that is an effect of the system, because the man believes that the merchant is taking too large profit from him, and using him otherwise not in proper way. 7491. Is it a general impression among the people with whom you come in contact, that the merchant has too large profits?-I will give you an illustration, and that will serve for the whole. There was a gentleman examined to-day to whose evidence I listened with great pleasure, Mr. Morgan Laurenson. I do not mean that what I am now to state should tell against him, but it is rather in his favour; at least so far as I am to use it. At the time he left Ollaberry, there were very considerable sums of money due to him, certainly much more than I would have entrusted to a population such as the general Shetland population. He had to leave rather more suddenly than he expected, and he had not time to collect his debts. A man from Ollaberry came over to me, and I said, 'Are you sorry that Mr. Laurenson is going away from you?'-He said no. I asked if it was true that the people about Ollaberry were due him several hundreds of pounds?-He said, 'No; not we. He has had plenty out of us, he has had his profits which might make up for all that.' I said, ' Then you are not sorry?' and he said, 'I am not sorry for it at all.' That is just a consequence of that sort of dealing. 7492. Was that man a type of the ordinary Shetlander?-Yes. What he said to me was an instance of what results from this mode of proceeding, and I give it as an illustration. 7493. Was he not an unusual kind of man who said that?-No; his opinions are those which are privately held by nine-tenths of the whole population of Shetland. 7494. Do they tell you so?-Yes, they tell me so, and I know their sentiments quite well upon the subject. 7495. But Mr. Laurenson was only a partner of the firm, and the whole of these debts would not be due to him individually?-I understood he had certain debts that were due to himself, such as for hosiery; at any rate it was in his name that the thing was stated. 7496. You think therefore that the system leads to species of suspicion and a tendency to deceive?-Yes, and if you will allow me, I will give you another illustration. There was a poor sailor lad who died it few years ago, and a sum of about £5 or £6 was sent through by the Board of Trade as having belonged to him. The Board of Trade, for reasons which they are not ashamed to own, take very good care about the payments that they shall be made generally through the minister of the parish. This poor lad had left a widowed father at home in this parish with a number of children exceedingly helpless. I am not sure but that the father was on the Parochial Board; if he was not, I think he ought to have been, but I think he was. When the news came that his boy had been drowned, the man came to me a distance of eight miles to consult me, and he was very anxious about the way in which he was to get the money through the Board of Trade. His great care was that the merchant should not know anything about it, and for that purpose he came to me in the dark. He had a little boy, perhaps ten or twelve years old, whom he sent over after the arrival of every post, but always in the dark. The boy had come so far, that I asked him where he had come from. He told me where he lived, so many miles distant, but he said he had been told not to come until it was dark. I asked him why. He said, 'Because they would know of it in the shop.' At last the man came over himself in order to sign the documents, and he told me that the merchant had already been at him to give him the money. Now a system which produces such a mode of cheating one another must be immoral. 7497. But I suppose the merchant was entitled to be paid for his debt?-I'm only giving that as an illustration showing how destructive the system is to the morality of the common people, and I have only brought in the merchant because I could not give the illustration without mentioning him. 7498. But you are speaking rather against the people at present than against the merchant?-I am to tell the truth whatever will be its effects. 7499. Did you advise the man not to pay the merchant?-I had nothing to do with advising him. I gave him no advice whatever; it was not part of my duty. I was merely employed by the Board of Trade to hand over the money to him, and I did no more in the way of advising him what to do with it than the Board of Trade would have done. If he had asked me whether he should pay his debts, I would have told him that every man should pay his debts. 7500. But did you advise him not to pay the merchant?-I did no such thing. 7501. You left him to do as he liked with regard to that?- Distinctly. 7502. Did you know anything about the nature of the account which the merchant had against him?-Nothing whatever. 7503. Did you know that the account was due by him to the merchant?-He told me he was afraid of the merchant which led me to conclude at once that he had an account with him, but I knew nothing more about it than that. 7504. You only inferred that he might have an account, and you did not inquire further?-Quite so. 7505. Are you quite sure about that?-Perfectly sure. I knew nothing about the nature of the account, or the amount of the account, or what it was for, or anything about it. 7506. How long is it since that case happened?-It may have been three or four years ago, I cannot be sure of the time. 7507. Do you say that in that case the account was paid?-I don't know anything about that. The man only told me afterwards that the merchant made him give it up. I knew nothing further about it than that. 7508. You heard the evidence or the witnesses who were examined yesterday?-I did. 7509. Do you think that, generally speaking, they gave a correct description of their circumstances, and of the system on which they carry on their dealings?-My opinion is that generally they did not. From their private statements to me, it was my opinion-I only hold it as an opinion-that they, under terror and under influence, did not give the statements here which they ought to have given, and which they had given to me in private. 7510. That is only an opinion which you have formed from your experience of the statements of the people generally?-Yes; and from conversations which I have had with these witnesses. 7511. One of the witnesses, Mrs. Hughson, was examined with regard to statements made by her on a different occasion, and which were rather different from the statements she made here: did she make any different statement to you at any time from what she made here yesterday?-Unless compelled, I would decline to say anything that would criminate myself or her; but give it as my opinion generally that the witnesses, without naming any of them, gave a statement which I won't call untruthful, but which I say was not at statement in accordance with what my convictions are that they should have given, and I know the reason why. 7512. We don't in courts of law take a general [Page 181] statement of that kind in contradiction of the veracity of witnesses. It is only a matter of opinion; and although in this inquiry the legal rules of evidence have not been so very strictly observed as in courts of law, yet I think it is right to ask you whether on any occasion Mrs. Hughson made a different statement to you than that she made here?-With all respect to you and the office you hold, I must decline to answer that question, because I consider it is a question that might lead to consequences that I am not at all disposed for the general good to be subjected to. You asked me the question whether I approved generally of the evidence, and I said no, I did not, but I declined to particularise any individual person. But I will give you an illustration of the terror that is over the people, and I won't say that that woman is not included among those that are under that influence. I put a question to one man concerning a very important matter in relation to what I am to state to-day, and when I asked him to answer that question, the woman of the house, a married woman, seized me by the arms and exclaimed, 'Will that give offence to the merchant?-If it gives offence to the merchant, then we won't open our mouths.' That occurred only within the last ten days, and the same dread and terror are over the whole community around Hillswick with very few exceptions. 7513. What induces you to think that?-It is because they are all in debt to the shop, less or more. 7514. If you were told that these men were not in debt, or that the majority of them were not in debt, which may perhaps be proved in this inquiry before it is finished, to what would you attribute that terror then?-I cannot be told that; it cannot be proved against the facts that I know with regard to the people. 7515. I am not saying anything about the facts, but I am merely supposing the case that it is proved that the majority of the people are not so much in debt as you say: how then would you account for that terror?-I would say that if they were not very much in debt, then that feeling would not exist. There would then be a very different feeling among the people. 7516. May it be the case that that feeling arises from the certainty in the minds of these people that in the future they may yet require to run into debt to the merchant as they have done in the past?-There is no doubt that to a certain extent that feeling would operate, and they know, or at least they fear, and they have stated so to me that the moment they said anything that would give offence to the merchant, their credit would be stopped at once. 7517. Has the number of shops which exist in the district anything to do with that feeling?-How many shops are there, may I ask? 7518. That is what I want you to tell me. Do you think that if the shops were multiplied, and credit to be obtained at a greater number of shops that feeling would not exist to the same extent?- I would not be in favour of a multiplication of shops for the purpose of getting them the means of credit. I would be in favour of having free trade and giving no credit at all. If the number of shops were multiplied in the way of free trade, then a wholesome competition would be introduced, which I think would be an advantage. But you asked me a question about how many shops there are. Beginning at this part of the district, there is one at Hillswick, and then there is one at Brae, and another at Olnafirth. 7519. Is there a shop at Brae?-Yes; a very considerable place of business, one of the best in the country. Any other shops that may exist in the district are commonly called peerie ( small) shops. They are very poor lads who have them, and what is more, they are generally selling to one or other of these three big shops. 7520. What do they sell to the large shops?-If I were one of the large shopkeepers, I would get a lad to open up a shop here and take fish for me or to sell to me, and I would send him down goods. The lad is apparently the merchant himself, but in reality he is selling for another. 7521. Do you know any case of that sort?-Yes; I have known it all my life. 7522. Do you know the individuals who are so connected with the larger shops?-Yes. If I go west to Stenness I find a man selling there, and if I ask him who he is selling for, he says, 'I am not the merchant, I am selling for so and so.' I go to another one who is apparently selling for himself, whereas it is well known that in reality he is not selling for himself, but for another party. It is no benefit for the population to have shops of that kind among them, because there is no competition at all. 7523. Do they all sell for the larger merchants?-Yes; they are just their menials or servants. I saw one of them examined yesterday. 7524. Do you know whether, in consequence of the cash payments here, tea or other goods pass from hand to hand among the people instead of money?-I am not aware of that. I only know about the purchases from the shops. I do not know what the people do with the articles after they get them. 7525. Is there any other way in which you think the present system is injurious, or any other point on which you desire to make any statement?-Besides being injurious in a moral point of view, the system is also injurious by leading the husband and wife to have separate accounts and separate transactions, and the children too. The house, instead of being united, is in reality divided against itself. Every member of the family has a separate interest; in that way mutual dependence is destroyed, and that affection which ought to subsist between children and parents has in a great measure disappeared from Shetland. A boy gets an account of his own when he is a mere child, or at least in boyhood, and as he grows up he thinks he has only himself to provide for. He has not that dependence or respect or affection for his parents which will lead him, when old age comes to them, to provide for them. I don't know any more prejudicial effect that any system can have upon the community than to see the rising generation growing up and their fathers neglected and despised, as they are in many cases here. That feeling is produced very much among the young people by the nature of their early training. 7526. Do you find that the parents are generally neglected by their children, and that there is a difficulty in enforcing their obligation to aliment their parents?-Yes; I find that very much, and any one who is connected with the country must see it as well. 7527. Have you found that in the course of your ordinary ministerial experience, or as a member of the Parochial Board?- I have not been at the Parochial Board for years, but I am well acquainted with the state of the poor who are on the roll. I will give a case which occurred in this neighbourhood as an illustration of what I mean. There was a woman who was on the Parochial Board; she belonged originally to a very decent and respectable family; her father was a small proprietor, but in the course of her life she became very poor, and I am not sure that she was not sometimes half demented. She had, I believe, three daughters in this parish, they are still in the parish, grown up, and two of them I think are mothers of families. None of them attended to their mother, and she had to be taken by the Parochial Board and boarded with the mother of the girl who was examined before me. She was kept there, and she died there, and not one of her three daughters who lived in the same parish ever came to the house where she was lying to ask how their mother was. She died and was buried, and not one of them came to look upon her face in the coffin or at her grave. 7528. How far were the houses of those daughters from the place where their mother lived?-I cannot tell exactly where they lived. I think one of them lived about half-way between this and Lochend, about six or seven miles from the place; another lived near North Roe. I cannot be sure where the third one lived; but the fact I have stated is one which is well known in the district. 7529. To what do you attribute that heartlessness [Page 182] on the part of the daughters?-I consider it arose from their early training produced by the system of credit. 7530. Is it not usually the case among the labouring classes, that the children of a family, the daughters and the sons as well, are virtually independent as soon as they begin to work for themselves?-Where? 7531. In the agricultural districts of Scotland for instance?-No; they are different altogether. I know about the agricultural districts very well, and the children there, when they grow up and go to service, the boys to herd cattle and the girls to be servants, are away for half a year, and then they come home to school But in this country, if a boy came home and went to school, he would have to pay for himself. I was once a schoolmaster in one of the agricultural districts for about four years, and, so far as I know, the children there when they came home were not made to pay for their own schooling or for their maintenance, but they just entered into the family again the same as they were before they went out. They would be away for perhaps half a year, and then they came back again, not to lounge about idle, but to be with their parents and to cherish and nourish them. That was the result of my four years' experience of teaching in a large parochial establishment. 7532. What becomes of the earnings of the children in these agricultural districts? Are they not at liberty to do with their earnings as they please?-Certainly; and there is no doubt they expend them upon clothing and things of that kind, just as they require them. 7533. And just as they do here?-No; it is very different here. They have all got accounts here, and these boys are all in debt. I have seldom met with a boy at the beach who was not in debt at the end of the service When I asked a boy what was the state of matters with him, he generally told me that he was due something to the merchant, but no such thing can take place with the children in the south. They get no credit, no books, no accounts. 7534. We had at specimen of that yesterday where a man told us he had been a boy at the beach, and that he had incurred debt while he was very young?-Yes; and it is impossible that it could be otherwise. Look at the little fee they get. They have to maintain themselves, and I would like to know how they can do that without being in debt. 7535. Do you think that sufficiently accounts for instances of heartlessness such as you have mentioned just now? Might such things not happen in any district with particular individuals?-It might happen to a certain extent, but not so generally as it does here. 7536. Do you say that the instance you have mentioned is only one of many instances of similar conduct?-It is only one of many that could be produced. 7537. Is there any other point to which you wish to speak?-Yes. I may say that I have read over carefully the evidence that was taken in Edinburgh, and that I concur entirely with the evidence given there by Mr. George Smith, Mr. John Walker, and Mr. Edmonstone of Buness. If there is any part of that evidence with which I don't agree, it is very trifling indeed. In Mr. Walker's evidence, this question was put to him:-' 44,368. But the greater portion of that is not paid in coin?' I want to qualify the answer which he made to that question. I think there has been a mistake of the printer there, and perhaps the next sentence qualifies it. If the next sentence is a qualification, then I agree with the whole of the answer, so far as my knowledge goes of the country. The question and the answer read thus:-'But the greater portion of that is not paid in coin?-Not a fraction of it.' I would not go so far as to say that not a fraction of it is paid in coin; but the next sentence is, 'If a man gets £1 or £2 out at the end of the season, it is an extraordinary thing;' and if that is taken as a qualification of the first part of the answer, then I agree with it entirely, as well as with the rest of Mr. Walker's evidence. 7538. Do you agree with this statement in answer to question 44,364: 'The eggs are the woman's part, she looks after the eggs and butter, and considers them her peculiar share'?-I concur with that entirely. 7539. Do you know whether it is the practice of the district that the woman generally has a separate account for the butter and eggs?- That is the case, so far as I know. 7540. Does she take the proceeds of the eggs and butter?-Yes. I sometimes met a little girl going along to the shop with some eggs, and she would tell me that she was going to the shop with them. I would meet her again coming back, and among other things she would have a little bag with her in which there would be some hard biscuits and tea. That would be what she was carrying back in exchange for the eggs. 7541. But these goods would go into the common stock for the maintenance of the family?-Yes; but I am told by the people that these articles do not form part of the husband's account. 7542. Still it does not make any separation between the interests of the husband and wife if the proceeds of the butter and eggs go for the maintenance of the family, just as the husband's earnings do?-But there is a separation, and I will give an illustration of it. Suppose a husband had to go to church with a dirty shirt, and he would say to his wife, 'You might have had a clean shirt for me to-day, my dear, to go to church with;' and she would reply, 'My butter and my eggs were not sufficient to get soap and soda; and therefore you must go to church with the shirt you have on,' that shows a separate interest between them. I give that, not as an actual case, but as a supposition which, sufficiently answers your question, and I think it goes to show a separate interest. 7543. Is there any other point to which you refer?-Yes. Mr. Smith says, in his evidence, that barter is hurtful to the independence of the people very much; with that I entirely agree. He says again, 'It destroys the independence of the people very much; they get careless.' I entirely agree with that else and can give illustrations of it. The next question is 'Does it encourage extravagance?-I should think it does, very much; they don't know the value of money.' There never was greater truth written than that, and Mr. Smith deserves great credit for stating it. 7544. Can you give me any illustration of that?-I know a case where a poor man and his family came in and took possession of from £70 to £90-I don't know the exact sum by the death of a brother. They got a book in the shop; the money never came into their hands at all, but so long as it lasted the book ran on, and I don't believe it was twelve months when the whole was exhausted, and they were in misery. That showed that they did not know the value of money. I will give another illustration which is worse than that. Another man came into possession of £230 or by the death of a relative in England. He got the money into his hands, and came to consult me as to what he should do with it. I said, 'When you have got so much money, you should lay it out and get 5 per cent. for it; and if you get that, then the interest will pay the rent of your land, and with your own labour and that of your wife and daughters, you may keep the amount all the days of your life, and you can hand down the £230 to your children.' He said, 'I am determined to do everything you have advised, and that money shall go down to my children, so far as I am concerned.' Twelve months had not passed over when that man had to be rouped out, and left the neighbourhood without any means; which proves what Mr. Smith said, that they don't know the value of money. 7545. How did that man spend it?-I don't know, but it was all gone. 7546. Do you find that the women dress more expensively here than they do in other places?-I think very much more so. 7547. Do you think that a woman who knits, and who has a separate account of her own in the women's book, is induced to spend more of her earnings on dress than she would otherwise do?-Yes; arising from the fact that, to a great extent at least, they can only get clothing for their knitting. 7548. It is quite true that in Lerwick only soft [Page 183] goods are given for knitting; but in this district there is a difference, and provisions are also given in exchange for it?-There may be a little provisions given but I can assure you, from my knowledge of the people, that that is not a general thing. It is in cottons and soft goods generally that the hosiery is paid for. 7549. But do the women dress more expensively than they need to do?-I think so; and they are influenced to do that by the way in which the system is carried on. There are things kept in the shops to catch their fancy, and when they take their knitting in they are shown some dresses, and they fix upon one. They have already told you that they get no money; and they have told me that they can get no money although they were to ask for it. Now, a girl in the south may dress very well, and servants there do dress very respectably; but I know servants in the south who don't make more money in the course of a year than a woman makes here by knitting, and yet they have considerable sums the bank, while that is not the case here. 7550. You say the women go into the shops, and are induced to buy by having goods exposed to them in that way: how do you know that?-I know it by them telling me how they get them, both here and at Lerwick. 7551. Have you asked them how they happened to have so many fine dresses?-I asked a man, who had a very industrious family of daughters, where they got this fine thing and the next fine thing, and he told me. 7552. You are now speaking of a particular case?-Yes. He said they are very industrious, and when they have got a certain quantity of work done they go to Lerwick with it; and they go into this shop and see this fine thing, and go into the next shop and see the next fine thing. I said, 'Do they get any money?' and he said, 'Not one single farthing.' When I asked him why, he said: 'I don't know; but they want it, and I have to give them money to take them into Lerwick.' 7553. You were speaking of a system of terrorism which prevails, or is alleged to prevail, here: if that terrorism exists, how do you account for witnesses coming forward and speaking at all?-But what have they said? 7554. We had two or three men who were not cited?-I saw one man here who was not by any means a representative of the ordinary tenants. He was not a representative of the class among whom he lives. 7555. Have you seen many fishermen here during the last day or two?-Not very many. 7556. I have been a little at it loss myself to know why fewer people have appeared here than at other places with even less population. Can you give me any explanation of it?-They told me beforehand that they dursn't come, and that they would not come; and I will give you an illustration. I went into the house of a man who had been complaining to me about his debts at the shops, and about the misery he was in; and when I got the notice to see what witnesses would come forward and give evidence, I said to myself, 'This man who has complained so much to me will surely come forward.' I went to him, and in presence of his family I asked whether he would give evidence before you. I did not tell him to do so, but said, 'If you are willing now to state your grievances, you have an opportunity of doing so.' The man stood up and trembled, and said, ''Mr. Sutherland, it is the truth that you have said! It is the truth that we are crushed; but I am in such a position with the merchant that I dare not do it.' I went to another man, and said, 'You have been crying about your miseries: will you come forward and state them now?' He said, 'Yes, I will come forward and state them.' I said, 'You are not in debt, are you?'-'Yes, I am in debt.' 'How much are you in debt?' 'I am in debt £13 down at the shop;' and this man had not thirteen placks. Then, to show that what Mr. Smith said about the system destroying their idea of the value of money was true, I turned to the wife and said, 'Have you £13 of debt?-and she said, 'Is that all?-that's nothing.' I mention that to show the woman's appreciation of the value of debt. 7557. Is that the way in which you account for the small attendance on this occasion on the part of the fishermen, and their apparent want of interest in it?-Yes; I attribute it to that wholly and to nothing else. 7558. I must say that although the meeting here has been intimated throughout the parish, yet I believe it has been somewhat less extensively intimated, in consequence of the distance of the place from Lerwick, than it would otherwise have been. Is not that sufficient to account for the absence of the men?-No; there have been people here from North Roe, and from Stenness, and from Ollaberry. 7559. But these were cited?-They may have been, but all the people knew about it quite well. Again, I sent for three or four parties who lived not two miles from the schoolhouse, and had them over with me, and said, 'You have complained bitterly about your condition before: will you come now and give information about it?' They said, 'We will do it;' but two or three days afterwards one of them came back and said he would not do it, as it would just make their case worse. 7560. I believe you have taken a great interest in this matter yourself?-I have only taken an interest in it for the welfare of the poor people of this country. 7561. But you have long held strong opinions as to the distress prevailing in Shetland?-I have; and when an opportunity was given to me, I have always condemned the system which existed. 7562. When you received the circular from me, which was sent to all the merchants and clergymen throughout the country, you replied that you were willing to come forward as a witness, and you sent me a list of witnesses?-I did. 7563. Since then you have been taking some trouble in the matter, and have been speaking to people about coming forward and giving evidence?-Yes; and I did everything I could to get them to come forward. All I wanted was to get them to come here and tell the truth, whatever it might be. If you will allow me will give another illustration of the terrorism which exists. If I buy corn or straw from any person in this neighbourhood for my horse or my cows, I would only get it delivered to me in the dark, because the people are afraid the merchants would know about it. I always get it in the dark, and I pay down the money for it at once. 7564. Do you swear that you never got corn delivered to you except in the dark which you have purchased for your horse and cows?-I have sworn already to the fact. There is no person in Hillswick who will sell corn and bring it to me except in the dark. If the people live at a distance, then it is different. There is a man who lives outside the dyke at Hillswick, Harry Gilbertson, who has a little straw, and he will sometimes bring some of it to me, but he is not one of the persons to whom I am referring. It is those living within the dyke of Hillswick who would not bring corn to me except in the dark. 7565. Are your dealings in corn numerous?-Not very numerous; but some years there is a good deal of it. 7566. Have you to buy the corn you require in small quantities?-I cannot get it except in small quantities; just what the people can spare to me. 7567. You have given me in private the name of one party who sold corn to you and delivered it in the dark?-Yes; and there are many others. 7568. Do you deal, or have you dealt, with any of the shops in this neighbourhood?-For many years I have not dealt with any of them, except when I happened to be out of goods. I get my goods twice a-year from the south, but when I am out of any particular article I purchase it here. 7569. Is it a common practice with the families of clergymen and others in the same position in Shetland to get their supplies from the south?-So far as I know, it is. [Page 184] 7570. Why is that done?-I cannot afford to buy articles here; they are too dear for me. My stipend would not afford to pay for them. 7571. Do you know if the same reason operates in the case of your fellow-clergymen?-I don't know, but they have often spoken about it. In the first place, I hold the goods to be, as might be expected, inferior in quality, to the goods I would like. I don't blame the merchants for not having goods of better quality, because their customers perhaps would not be in the way of buying them; but I could not afford to buy from the merchants here in consequence of the tremendous percentage which they charge upon their goods. 7572. In speaking of the apprehension which exists in the district, I understand you to refer merely to the state of mind of the people with whom you have come in contact. You don't know of anything on the part of the merchants which justifies that apprehension?-I don't want to go into that. I only say that that feeling is produced among the people by the state of their accounts, and by the fact that they are in debt to the merchant. I don't know that the merchant does anything to produce it. I am not accusing him at all. 7573. You are not accusing him of actively bringing about that state of terror?-No; I only say it is the system which brings it about. I don't refer to any one merchant more than another; it is the system I object to. 7574. Are you aware whether legal proceedings are frequent in cases where people are in debt to the merchants?-I have known several cases of that kind. 7575. Are they frequent in proportion to the indebtedness of the people?-I don't think that, taking the whole accounts that are due they are so frequent or half so frequent as they would require to be, in order to correct this evil. 7576. You think that, if decree was taken oftener against people who are in debt, the thing would be little mended?-I think it would tend that way; at least it would be the beginning of the end of it. 7577. Do you think the merchants may be too tender to their customers?-No doubt of it, and that for the purposes which are explained by the gentlemen whose evidence I agree with. I condemn the system altogether, apart from the men who carry it on. I don't care who the men are; I defy men to be any better than what I find around me, but the system would make them what they are on both sides. 7578. Have you ever had accounts yourself with any of the merchants here?-Not for many years. I might have small accounts for things which had been got from the shop when I was in the south; but, during the first and second years when I was here, I had large accounts to pay, because I had everything to buy from them, and I did not know about how things were conducted in this part of the country. 7579. With reference to parties who are in debt to the merchants, we had a witness yesterday who stated that he had been sued for a debt: had you any intercourse with that man in the way of advising him with regard to the conduct of his case?-None whatever. He was summoned, and the proceedings were going on before ever I heard of it. He and another person came to me, but I refused to give them any advice, and told them to go and get a lawyer to defend themselves. It was very natural for them, in their circumstances, to come and consult the clergyman, and ask him what they should do, but I refused to interfere. 7580. Have you had any dealings with men with regard to payments from the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, or any society of that kind?-I know something about that. In one case, I remember, there was a considerable loss at sea; more than one boat was wrecked, and a great many men perished, and there was a great deal of sympathy excited in the south. 7581. When was that?-It was a good many years ago-about the time I came here, or a little after. A great deal of sympathy was excited in the south, as is generally the case, and a considerable amount of money was collected for the widows and orphans, and handed over to the merchant who was principally concerned in the fishery. One of the widows lived beside a minister to whom she came and complained about the way in which the money was dealt with. The people knew the amount which had been collected, and her share was £6 odds. The minister wrote to the merchant whose boats had been lost, saying that the widow was dying for want, and asking whether he would send her her share of the money that had been collected I believe the answer he got back from the merchant was, 'The first time you come near this, come in and I shall show you the £6 odds marked to her late husband's credit.' Is it for that purpose that charity is given in the south? 7582. Do you think that was a misappropriation the money, or was it not a legal right of the merchant that he should have his debt paid?-That, I suppose would depend upon the purpose for which the subscription was made. The money was collected by the benevolent in the south for the purpose of aiding the widows and children of the men who had been lost, and not to be paid in liquidation of the merchant's account due by the dead husband. 7583. That might raise a nice legal question?-It might; but I want this to go out to the world, so that the eyes of the people in the south may be opened to how their charity is applied: I can give more cases the same kind. 7584. That was not a case where the money came from the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society?-No; it was a private subscription. I knew another case where several boats were lost, and where very great sympathy, as in the first case, was excited, and a considerable sum of money was collected. As it happens, the money fell into the hands of the merchant who had owned the boats. It was distributed according to the judgment of the merchant and of the clergyman, but the clergyman was never consulted about the distribution or allocation of a single penny, and, so far as he was ever able to find out., it was kept in the shop. That is case which I know about, because I was the clergyman. 7585. How long ago was that?-I have noted it being in 1849. My own contribution to the fund was one guinea; and I ask, is it for this that the benevolent are to give their contributions for Shetland? 7586. Perhaps the benevolent might be of opinion that the fairest way of doing would be to pay the debts of the deceased, if the widows and children were liable for them?-I am not speaking of the legality of the thing, or how the case might stand in law, but I am speaking of the purpose for which I gave my contribution of one guinea; and I know that I would not have given one farthing for such a purpose as that money was applied to. 7587. A subscription of that kind might be regarded as an alimentary debt, not attachable by creditors?-That is my opinion. Another case happened, in which a contribution was made in favour of a very old man, to whose house an accident had happened. £3, 10s. was contributed for that man, to which I gave 10s.; and I was always hearing that that sum had not been applied in the way in which I at least had intended that it should be; but in case they might have been telling me what was not true, I went to the man in order to be sure that anything I might state here was quite correct. 7588. How long was that after the subscription had been collected?-It is perhaps two or three years since it was collected, but it is only a week ago since I went to the man. 7589. Did you go to him with a view to this inquiry?-It was after I got the notice that the meetings were to be held that I went to him. I went in to the man and said, 'John, did you ever get any of that money?'-He stood up and said, 'I went and said that I was starving and had nothing to eat, and I got one lispund of meal and two ounces of tea, and that is all the reckoning I ever got for it.' 7590. Who collected the money in that case?-My money was paid to the merchant at Hillswick. [Page 185] 7591. Do you mean Mr. Anderson?-It was given over to that establishment, I know. I said, 'Is that all you have got, John?' 'Yes.' 'And where did the money go?' 'The money went to the credit of my son-in-law, Andrew Thomason.' 7592. Was Andrew Thomason supporting the old man at that time?-The old man is on the Parochial Board now; but Thomason himself had been in the utmost misery for at least a couple of years. 7593. Did you say anything to the son-in-law about that?-He was the first person I met when I went to see the old man; and when I met him, I said, 'What was done with the £3, 10s.?' or whatever was the amount. He said he could not say. I said, 'Did John get the money?' He replied, 'Oh, yes; surely he did.' I said, 'Will you swear that?' and he said, 'Oh, swearing is a different thing.' I then told him I must see John; but he said, 'You cannot see him; he is in such a state without clothes that he is not fit to be seen,' and he ran off to John; but I was as able to run as he was, and I was in and had a hold of John's hand before the son-in-law could get a hold of him. It was the wife of that man Thomason who, as I mentioned, seized me by the arm, and said, 'Oh, sir, will that give offence to the merchant.' 7594. Where do these persons live?-At Hillswick. 7595. Is the old man able to come here to be examined?-He is 85 years of age, and I don't believe he would be able. 7596. Is there anything else you wish to say?-I have noted a case in connection with the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society which I may be allowed to give. A man here had a boat which was either wrecked or broken, or so destroyed as to be useless. He had paid into the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society for three years, and he applied to the agent here to get his proportion of what was to be given for the boat. The man's statement to me was, that for a while he asked whether he had anything to get from the Society, either to procure a new boat or to repair the old one. He was told that he had 30s. to get; but the merchant, who was also the agent, said to him, 'I have put it to the credit of your account.' I want to make that statement in order that it may go forth to the world whether the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society choose to allow their payments to go in liquidation of such debts. That may be the case, but I hold a strong opinion that the Society meant to do no such thing. 7597. It has been explained that such a payment of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society has been put to the man's account, but that it was only done in a case where the account was due for the boat which had been lost. Is it not quite a natural thing that the merchant, in the case that is supposed, might very fairly put the money to the account of the boat which had been lost, and then supply it new boat upon credit in the same way as he had supplied the old one?-But the man has no boat. What I mean by giving this evidence is, in order that the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society may understand how the money which they pay is applied by their agents here. If they think it is it right appropriation of the money, then, of course, I have no fault to find with it. 7598. Do you know whether there is any rule of the Society prohibiting such a use of the money?-I don't know; but if it was a right transaction, then it is quite right that it should be known. 7599. Did you hear the evidence given by Mr. Greig this morning?-I did. 7600. He said something about marking the horns of cattle for a debt: are you acquainted with the existence of such it practice?-I am. I have seen the cattle driven down to a place in my own neighbourhood, and kept there for a night and marked. 7601. Do you think there is any objection to that practice? Is there any reason why a man should not secure his debt by taking possession of the cattle of his debtor?-I hold that there ought to be no such seizure, and no such clandestine way of securing a man's debt. There are processes of law open to a man for securing his debt, if he chooses to avail himself of them. 7602. But the thing is done with the consent of the debtor?-That may be said, but my opinion is, that the debtor is not in a position to refuse; and in cases where it is done, it is done not only for the purpose of securing the man himself, but to keep the cattle from falling into the hands of another man to whom a debt is due. 7603. Are you speaking of cases which you know?-Yes. Suppose I have cattle, and I am due you an account, and you give me provisions at your shop, perhaps another man, to whom I am also in debt, won't be so liberal, and I will tell you to come and mark my cattle and let the other man whistle. That is the way in which it is done. Now, such a practice is most immoral in its effects. 7604. In what way?-Because this man cheats the other one. I should have made a fair failure, and then both men would have got a share of the balance I could pay. 7605. Do you know whether the price credited to the debtor in such a case is generally a fair price?-I have no means of knowing that. 7606. Is the price ascertained by a public sale?-It may be in some cases, but I know in many cases it is not. 7607. Do you think that, for the introduction of ready-money system, a multiplication of banks would be necessary?-I don't think it. 7608. Does not the fact that banks only exist in Lerwick act as a bar to the introduction of such a system?-No; I think that difficulty could easily be met. For instance, the Union Bank at Lerwick had their principal institution at the top of the town; but when opposition came, they opened small shop in the principal street in Lerwick, and they have now two offices there, a small one and a large one. Now, if the credit system were put an end to, for the sake of both parties, both merchants and people, there would soon be a small bank opened at Hillswick, if it should be nowhere else. 7609. How do people do with regard to banking just now?-The banking is very easily conducted, so far as I know, because the people have little money in their hands. 7610. Don't you know that many fishermen have large accounts in the bank in Lerwick already?-I know that some of the fishermen have a little there; but I know that the large accounts are not in the banks. I know from their statements where they get 5 per cent. for their money, and that is not from the bank. 7611. Where do they get that?-I won't mention any particular place, but they get it from the merchants in Shetland. 7612. Are there many men who are in a position have accounts of that kind with the merchants?-Several of them of the better class have told me about that themselves. 7613. Are these the one-fourth or one-third of the whole whom you mentioned, or a part of them?-They don't make one-fourth of the whole. The parties who could have such accounts would not perhaps come to one-sixth of the whole. Of course, I am speaking generally when I give that proportion. 7614. Do you mean that it is only one-sixth of the one-third who are well-doing, that have such accounts?-I should say it would not be more than one-sixth of the one-third who had them. 7615. Are there many public-houses in your parish?-No; properly speaking, there are no public-houses at all. There are shops where spirits are sold, but there is no public-house. At Hillswick, for instance, there is a shop with a back-shop to which the men go round and get whisky. 7616. But not to be consumed on the premises?-I never was there; but I understand the men do drink in that back place. I know that from their own statements to me. 7617. Does each merchant who keeps a shop and cures fish, have a grocer's licence?-No; I think there are licences in North Roe and Ollaberry as well as here. I may give a statement with regard to whisky [Page 186] since it has been mentioned. I hold in my hand the account of a fisherman for goods supplied to him at the shop; and I find that, during the six months over which it extends, the value of the whisky supplied was 14s. 10d. The way in which it came into my hands was this: A gentleman in the south was responsible for the account, and when it was sent to him, he was so horrified about it that he sent it from Edinburgh to me to inquire into, and I saw the people. 7618. How long was that since?-I think it is about three years ago. I sent the account to a merchant in the south to analyze it, so that I might report to the gentleman. I got back an analysis of it, with this written upon it: 'This account cannot be made payable in any court of law;' and the grounds for that opinion were stated to be, that there had been nothing weighed and nothing measured in the account, and they held that no account could be made payable in law that was neither measured nor weighed. 7619. Have you a copy of that account?-No; but I can give the name of the party in Edinburgh who got it. What I mention it for, is to show that there was 14s. 10d. charged for in six months in various small sums. There was also a large sum paid in cash; and I was so struck with that, as the man was not married, that I went to another person who was acquainted with the manner in which business was carried on in Shetland, and asked him what was meant by so much cash being paid. He said, 'Oh, that is money which is borrowed in the one shop and drunk in the other.' That is the explanation I got, whether it was true or not. 7620. But that was the explanation of a third party who had no concern with the account?-Yes. When I sent the document to the gentleman in Edinburgh, he said he would pay that amount, but he would pay no more; and after that he sent me £5 a-year, from which I make payments to the man every month. 7621. In this account there is £1, 14s. 10d. and £1, 14s. 2d. in cash which you say was also spent in whisky?-I was only told about that by a party who said he knew about the same thing having been done. In this account there is 2s. 6d. entered for sweeties, verifying what was said in some of the evidence, that sweeties were given to make up the balance. With regard to whisky, I may explain that I had some whisky tested by a qualified party, which I believe was sold in the shops at 9d. per gill. The profit upon that, on being tested, was found to be 55 per cent. I also had tea sent and tested, for which the people had paid 3s. per pound, and the proper judge, to whom I sent it, sent me word that it was exactly 2s. tea, there being 50 per cent. of profit charged upon it. 7622. Who tested the tea?-A tea merchant in Aberdeen. 7623. Who tested the whisky?-A spirit-dealer also in Aberdeen. I sent these articles to be tested in order to show the enormous prices which are charged by these merchants. I have no interest in the matter myself, except that my poor parishioners should not pay more than they ought to pay, and also that an end might be put to a system which is injurious both to merchants and people. 7624. What remedy would you propose for the existing state of matters, and for the evils which are alleged to exist?-My remedy would be to declare the present truck system to be penal. 7625. What would you desire to be penal?-The truck system. 7626. But the truck system, properly so called, is penal; and the question in this inquiry is, whether other things are to be included within the operation of the Acts which apply to the truck system?-Well, I mean that this system of carrying on business in Shetland should be declared to be penal. 7627. Do you mean that you would make it penal to give long credit for shop goods?-I would make it penal to give any credit at all, and I would admit either party to give evidence against the other party for infringement of that statute, and would be to make all debts so incurred irrecoverable by any process of law. These three things are what I think would form a remedy for the present state of matters. At the same time, I am just as convinced that the merchant ought to live, and must live, and have a reasonable profit, as I am that the people should not pay more for their articles than they are worth. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 12, 1872, JAMES BRUCE, examined. 7628. You are the schoolmaster of this parish, and inspector of poor?-I am. 7629. How long have you been inspector of poor?-For twenty-two years. 7630. I understand the number of paupers in this parish is fifty-three?-Yes; exclusive of dependants. I now exhibit an abstract of the accounts for all the time I have been in the office of inspector, which I keep for any own satisfaction and the satisfaction the Board. 7631. Do you think the amount of pauperism in the parish has diminished or increased in your experience?-I think it has kept very much about the same some years back. 7632. Do you think that pauperism is increased or affected in any way by habits arising from the system of protracted credit which exists in the parish, or have you formed any opinion at all upon the subject?-I have formed no opinion upon that, but I know that the Poor-Law has acted very injuriously upon the parish by increasing the expenses. 7633. That is to say, it has acted injuriously as regards those who pay the assessment, whatever it may have done with regard to the condition of the paupers themselves?-Yes. For a long time after the passing of the Act, we kept on the old system of quartering and paying the paupers through the session fund, and so on, and the heritors generally contributed a certain amount yearly to meet any balance due. 7634. I presume the payments made to the paupers are made in money?-Yes; all in money, except clothing, which is taken round to them. 7635. How long has that system prevailed?-Since the Poor-Law came into operation in the parish. 7636. Since 1845?-Not since 1845; nor for several years afterward. The legal assessment, I think, came on in 1861. 7637. You say that all clothing to the paupers is furnished by the inspector?-Yes; furnished by myself. 7638. Where is it purchased?-At any of the shops in the district, generally where the paupers live. Anything that is required for paupers in North Roe I generally purchase from Mr. Greig. 7639. In this district where is it purchased?-Generally at Hillswick, from Mr. Anderson. 7640. Is there any other place except these two shops where it is purchased?-Yes; at Ollaberry and Lochend from Mr. Laurenson. 7641. You purchase it yourself and deliver it to the paupers?- Yes. 7642. When their allowances are due in money, are they paid in money?-Yes; they call up for it-all those who are round me. At North Roe I send a cheque to Mr. Greig previous to the time for the amount to be distributed. 7643. If a pauper is unable to come here, how is his allowance conveyed to him?-They generally send their tickets, and I send the money by any person who can convey it. It is paid on tickets. 7644. What kind of ticket?-It is just an account of the allowances given to the paupers, and it is authorized by the Board of Supervision. It is the receipt for the money. The pauper keeps the ticket in his own possession, and whenever I get the ticket I pay the money, and mark it on the back. The pauper comes himself, if able and if not he sends the ticket. 7645. Was the allowance never paid by means of orders for meal? -Previous to the legal assessment [Page 187] coming into operation in the parish in 1861, it was sometimes paid in that way, and sometimes in cash. 7646. Has it ever been paid by an order for meal or food since then?-Not to my recollection, except it may be in the case of the applicants for casual relief, or applicants coming to me seeking relief before the meeting of the Board. In that case, sometimes, but not often, I would give an order for a little meal. I generally do that when I have not sufficient confidence in the economy of the party, and when I think the allowance may be put to some other use than the purchase of meal or necessaries. 7647. Has it never been paid to paupers regularly on the roll by means of an order upon the shop?-No; not since the Act came into operation in the parish. 7648. Are you quite sure of that?-I think I am perfectly sure, so far as my recollection goes. 7649. Have any of the paupers on the roll ever asked you to give them a line or an order on the shop for meal or other requirements?-No; not to my recollection. They always get their cash. 7650. Have you ever had occasion to transact business with paupers, or to make payment of their allowances at the shop at Hillswick, or at any of the shops in the neighbourhood?-No; I don't practise that at all. 7651. Has it ever been done?- Very seldom, I think. 7652. But it may have been done?-At the last month's pay there were two poor women living about five miles from this, who, I knew, could not come themselves, and I was doubtful that they might not get a person to come for them; therefore I sent word to them to send their ticket to Mr. Anderson and get the money. That was only done on one occasion. 7653. That is the only occasion within your recollection?-Yes. Mr. Anderson generally draws the money for me from the bank; and when I run out of change, I send down the pauper to him with a note for money; but that does not often happen. It is simply when I am out of change. 7654. Mr. Anderson merely acts as your banker?-Yes. 7655. He draws the money as the chairman of the Board?-Yes; and it is handy for me, because I get the small change from him that I require. 7656. How often does it happen in the course of a year that you give an order of that sort?-I could not say how often it happens. I only remember one other instance of it just now, besides the one I have referred to. The person called here, and I did not have the change; and as the person was going to Hillswick, I gave a note on Mr. Anderson to give the money. But it is not at all a common practice. [The sitting was here adjourned till the evening.] Hillswick, Northmavine, January 12, 1872, ARTHUR HARRISON, examined. 7657. You are a merchant at Hillswick?-Yes, at Urrafirth. 7658. You were for some years in the employment of Mr. Anderson at Hillswick?-Yes. 7659. And you are now in business on your own account at Urrafirth?-Yes. 7660. Do you employ any fishermen?-No. 7661. Are you in business in the drapery and provision line?-No; I only deal in groceries. 7662. Do you not keep any soft goods at all?-Yes; I have a few pieces of cotton. 7663. You are just beginning business?-Yes. 7664. Had you any difficulty in getting shop accommodation?- Yes, a little. 7665. In what way? Was it not easy to find a shop in this parish?-No; it was not easy. 7666. How so?-The heritor did not wish to give it to me; and I had a lease saying that I was not to commence business. 7667. You had a lease of what?-Of a bit of ground which I held. 7668. Was it a lease of the premises you now possess?-Yes. 7669. When did you take that lease?-Fourteen years ago. 7670. You have lived there for fourteen years, and had a piece of ground?-Yes. 7671. And the lease prohibited you from carrying on any shop business?-Yes; but the heritor allowed me to cure fish, and to keep a little to supply the people whom I employed. 7672. In what way did you employ them?-I employed them, and paid them every Saturday night. 7673. In what business?-In curing fish-drying Faroe cod. I don't buy the cod; I cure it for Mr. Adie. 7674. Is that your principal occupation?-Yes. 7675. And the landlord agreed to allow you to keep small shop for supplying provisions to these men?-Yes. 7676. Is that all you are doing now?-Yes. 7677. Did you receive a letter from the Busta trustees, forbidding you to carry on a shop business there, or stating that you could not be allowed to hold the premises for the purpose of doing so?-No, I received no letter; but in my lease it is stated that I am not to carry on anything but the curing business. 7678. But you had that fourteen years ago?-Yes. 7679. Have you had any communication with the Busta trustees, or with any one of them, on the subject since you took your lease?- Yes. 7680. With whom?-With Mr. Gifford and Mr. Hay. 7681. Was that communication in writing?-No; it was personally with them at Busta. 7682. Did you apply to them for leave to carry on a more extensive business in the way of a shop?-No; I did not apply for anything more than what I got. 7683. What was it you went to see them about?-I went to ask for liberty to cure fish, and keep a small store. 7684. When did you do so?-About November 1869. 7685. Was that shortly after you left Mr. Anderson's employment?-No; it was before. 7686. Did they grant you that permission?-Yes; latterly it was granted. 7687. But it was not granted to you at first?-No. 7688. For what reason?-I don't know for what reason. 7689. Did they not assign a reason for not granting you that permission?-Yes. I think they said it was too near Hillswick. 7690. What was the meaning of that?-That the starting of another business there might reduce the value of Hillswick, and therefore it would not pay such a rent. 7691. Did you understand from that, that in granting Mr. Anderson a lease of the premises at Hillswick, they had become bound not to allow any other shops to be opened in the district?-No; they did not say anything like that. 7692. Was it with Mr. Gifford this conversation took place?-Yes. 7693. Was it implied that they had some reason for not interfering with Mr. Anderson's business?-Yes; at least the reason he gave was not so much that it would interfere with Mr. Anderson's business, as that it would bring down the rent of Hillswick, and would not advance the property anything. 7694. Do you mean that if you were to open a shop there, the necessary result would be that Mr. Anderson would require to have his rent reduced?-Yes; that is likely to have been what was meant. 7695. How long after that was it when you got permission to open your present shop?-I don't know exactly how long it was. Perhaps it may have been a month or two after it was spoken of first. I then got [Page 188] liberty to cure the fish and keep provisions for the men I employed; that was all. 7696. But only for the men you employed?-That was all the liberty I got. 7697. Are you not allowed to sell to anybody except the people you employ?-I never asked any more liberty than that. 7698. When you first went to ask for that permission, had you made arrangements to cure fish for Mr. Adie?-No. 7699. Had you made the arrangement by the second time you went?-Yes. 7700. Did you say to Mr. Gifford, when you went the second time, that you had made such an arrangement?-Yes; I told him I had got the offer of fish to cure. 7701. Was he more ready to grant your application on that occasion?-Yes. He said I could take the work. 7702. Had you spoken to Mr. Anderson about the matter in the interval?-I don't remember; perhaps I might. 7703. You were trying to set up your business at that time?-Yes. 7704. Don't you remember whether you applied to Mr. Anderson with regard to that matter at all?-Yes. I believe I told him then what had passed between me and Mr. Gifford at first. 7705. Did Mr. Anderson then agree to withdraw any objection he might have to it?-He did not say anything about that. 7706. In what way did you come to make an arrangement with Mr. Adie?-He had been told that I intended to commence curing fish, and he offered me some to cure. 7707. Was it through Mr. Anderson that that was done?-I don't know. 7708. Did the offer from Mr. Adie come to you through Mr. Anderson?-No. He wrote me directly and I replied accepting his offer, and then I went and saw him at Voe. 7709. Do you buy the fish from Mr. Adie's boatmen?-No; I buy no fish. 7710. They are delivered to you by Mr. Adie's boatmen on his account, and you cure them for Mr. Adie, employing your own people and receiving a contract price for the curing?-Yes. 7711. How long had you been in Mr. Anderson's service before that time?-Upwards of twenty years. 7712. All the time as a shopman?-Not all the time, but perhaps for eighteen years as a shopman. 7713. Why did you leave his employment?-There was some difference between us, and we thought it best to part. 7714. Was there a quarrel about money matters, or anything of that kind?-No; there was no great quarrel. 7715. After you were refused that permission in the first instance by the Busta trustees, did Mr. Anderson agree in any way not to object to you having the shop, provided your sales were limited to the men whom you employed yourself?-No; Mr. Anderson never objected to me, nor in my presence; I did not hear him objecting. 7716. Did you know of him objecting?-I could not say that I knew of it. 7717. Did you think he was objecting?-Yes. 7718. What made you think that: was it what Mr. Gifford said?-I think it was. 7719. Do you think Mr. Anderson would have less objection to it when he knew it was Mr. Adie who was concerned in the business?-I took no thought of that. 7720. Do you know that Mr. Adie had interfered on your behalf with Mr. Gifford?-Not to my knowledge. 7721. Did you ask him to do so?-No. 7722. Have you any reason to suppose that he interfered on your behalf with Mr. Anderson?-Yes. He wrote to Mr. Anderson about me, inquiring why had left, and asking for testimonials. 7723. Was that before he wrote to you making the offer?-It was when I was asking goods from him. I don't remember exactly whether it was before or after. 7724. Do you sell the goods for Mr. Adie, or do you sell them on your own account?-I sell them on my own account. 7725. Do you get them from Mr. Adie at wholesale prices?-Yes. 7726. At least you get them from him at a lower rate than that at which you sell them?-Yes. 7727. Was it before or after you got leave from the Busta people to open the shop that Mr. Adie wrote to Mr. Anderson?-I cannot say exactly when it was, but it was before I got the goods from Mr. Adie. 7728. Was it before you had got permission to open the shop that you applied to Mr. Adie for the goods?-No; I had got permission before I applied for the goods. 7729. Then it was after you had got permission open the shop that Mr. Adie wrote to Mr. Anderson?-Very likely it was but I don't know. I did not know about him having written until some time afterwards, when he told me. 7730. When you arranged with Mr. Adie about the fish-curing, was anything said about you having a shop from which to supply the people with goods?-No. 7731. Are you sure of that?-Yes. I wrote to him, and I never said anything about that. 7732. But you went to see him after that?-Yes; it was only then I spoke about the goods. 7733. Was it on your way home from Voe that you called at Busta and saw Mr. Gifford about the shop the second time?-No; it was before I went to Voe. 7734. Was it on your way to Voe?-I don't remember. Perhaps it may have been on a different day altogether. 7735. But it was before you went to Voe, and after you had got the letter from Mr. Adie?-Yes. 7736. You don't know from Mr. Adie or Mr. Anderson whether there had been any letters between them about you until after you were at Voe that time?-I don't know. 7737. Do you think there was any such letter?-I don't know of any, but there may have been. 7738. How did you know of the other letter first: did you see it?- No. 7739. Who told you of it?-Mr, Adie. 7740. Was that at another time when you called upon him?-No; it was the first time-the time when I went to him and asked for goods. He told me then that he had written to Mr. Anderson and got his reply. 7741. That is not what you told me before: did you not say before, that you thought it was after you had asked for the goods that Mr. Adie wrote to Mr. Anderson?-It was after I had agreed for the fish. 7742. Then the first time you saw Mr. Adie was at Voe before you opened the shop, and when you went to ask for goods?-Yes. 7743. And when you were at Voe at that time Mr. Adie told you he had written to Mr. Anderson, and had received a reply from him containing a certificate?-Yes. 7744. Did Mr. Adie tell you at the same time that he had seen Mr. Gifford?-I cannot say. 7745. What department did you manage in Mr. Anderson's shop?-I was fish-curer and factor for the summer time at Stenness. 7746. Do you know William Inkster?-Yes. 7747. Do you remember three or four years ago when he left Mr. Adie and came to fish to Mr Anderson?-Yes. 7748. Did you know that he did that because Mr. Adie had refused him supplies on account of a debt?-No; I did not know that. 7749. Did you know that he was in Mr. Adie's debt at that time?- Yes. 7750. Do you know that Mr. Anderson took over the debt?-Yes. 7751. Is it a common thing here for a fish-merchant to take over the debt of a fisherman who leaves another employer and comes to him?-Yes. [Page 189] 7752. Have you heard of that frequently among the fishermen?- Yes. It has been the practice so long as I can remember, except some time after Mr. Anderson came here, when it was not done. Then, a fisherman who had got an advance from one merchant, would go to another and leave his balance unpaid, and therefore the old system was renewed again. 7753. Do you know the nature of the arrangement which was made when the system was renewed?-I do not. 7754. Do you know what the arrangement is?-I never saw the arrangement. 7755. I don't suppose it was in writing?-I could not say. 7756. Do you know what the practice generally is now in such cases?-Yes. The merchant generally pays the man's balance before giving him anything. 7757. That is to say, the new employer pays the man's balance before agreeing with him to fish for him for the season?-Yes. 7758. Is the whole balance paid, or only a part of it?-That is just as they can arrange. 7759. Is there a rule that a man is not to be taken by new employer without his balance being paid to the old one?-I think that is generally understood now. 7760. Do you know over what district that arrangement prevails? Do you know what fish-merchants do that?-I think it extends no further than to the men fishing at Stenness, and from Voe to Hillswick. 7761. Does that include Messrs. Adie, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Inkster?-Yes. 7762. Were you aware that that was always done when you were in Mr. Anderson's employment?-No, it was not always done, but it was practised before I came into Mr. Anderson's employment at all. 7763. But when you were in Mr. Anderson's employment, was it not always done?-No, not always. 7764. You mean that the arrangement ceased for a while, and was renewed?-Yes. 7765. How long is it since it was renewed?-I cannot tell. 7766. Was it before William Inkster came to Mr. Anderson?- Yes, some time before that. 7767. Did you know that it was done in other cases besides Inkster's?-Yes. 7768. Was it done in many cases?-I don't remember of many. 7769. Was it commonly known among the fishermen that there was such a rule?-Yes, latterly, I believe, it was generally known. Hillswick, Northmavine, January 12, 1872, JOHN ANDERSON (recalled). 7770. You showed me some of your books yesterday, in which I saw the name of William Inkster, Stenness and you explained to me that a large sum of money, upwards of £40, which stood against him in your books when he began to fish at the beginning of last year, was the continuation of a balance that had been against him for some years previously: is that so?-Yes. I would rather not mention names, unless you think it necessary, because I make it a rule with my shopmen that they are never to mention any man's balance, whether it is due by him or not, on pain of being turned off. 7771. You told me that this large balance consisted partly of an account which Inkster had incurred to Mr. Adie at Voe, and which you had taken over when the man began to fish for you?-Yes. 7772. What was the amount of the original debt which you took over from Mr. Adie?-I think it came to about £20. 7773. Inkster left Mr. Adie, I understand, in consequence of his supplies being stopped?-I don't know the reason exactly. 7774. But he came to fish for you?-Yes. 7775. How did it happen that you undertook his debt at the end of the first season he fished for you?-It was in consequence of an agreement that exists between Mr. Adie, Mr. Inkster of Brae, and me, with reference to each other's fishermen. 7776. What is the nature of that agreement?-It was entered into just to protect ourselves from those men who want to escape from paying their debts. I think we're bound to each other not to take the men without making some arrangement to see that their debts shall be paid. 7777. Do you undertake to pay the whole debt, or only a part of it, according to circumstances?-It is the whole debt. 7778. Was this a verbal arrangement?-No. 7779. Was it reduced to writing?-Yes. 7780. Have you got it?-I have not. I rather think I got a copy sent to me at one time but I think Mr. Adie has the extended agreement. 7781. Have you got a copy of it now?-I have not. 7782. Have you lost it?-No. It is very likely among my papers, but I cannot say. It is a long time since I came across it. 7783. Has this arrangement been of long standing? Do you remember the date of it?-I cannot exactly say the date. I think it must be from five to nine years since it was entered into, but I cannot speak accurately as to the date. 7784. Has the arrangement been acted upon?-Yes. 7785. When a fisherman leaves one master, and goes to another of those three, the debt due to the former master is generally paid by the new one?-Yes. 7786. You showed me in your invoice book an entry of the last purchase of oatmeal you had made from Messrs. Glenny, Aberdeen, for the purposes of your business, as follows:-'1871 June 19. 50 sacks oatmeal, sacks 50s., £100'?-Yes. The 50s. is the price of the sacks, to be returned or kept. 7787. A sack of oatmeal consists of 280 lbs.?-Yes. 7788. What is the selling price of a lispund?-5s. 4d. 7789. Has that been the price for some time?-It has been the price during the last season. 7790. You also showed me an invoice of flour from Messrs. J. & J. Tod, Dalkeith:-'1871. October 2. 2 sacks extra superfine flour, at 44s., £4, 8s.;' and another invoice, containing these entries:- 'October 19. 2 sacks No. 2 flour, at 45s., £4, 10s., 1 sack oatmeal, £2'?-Yes. The sacks in these invoices are charged separately. 7791. What is the selling price of the flour?-6s. 6d. per lispund. Flour is also sold by the lispund here. 7792. Both the flour and the oatmeal in the invoice of October 19 were intended for the purposes of your business?-Yes. Besides the invoice price, there are freight and charges to be taken into account. The freight and landing would be 2s. per sack for the oatmeal. That is the steamer's freight to Lerwick, and then it is brought by a small packet which comes round by Roenesshill when she has anything like a cargo. The small packet charges 1s. 6d. per sack; it is double freight coming round the hill; so that probably the freight and landing charges will be 3s. 6d. per sack. 7793. Are these all the charges?-I think so. There would also be insurance charged against me; it is at my risk when shipped. It was not insured in this case, but still that ought to be reckoned, because I ran the risk. I don't know the rate of insurance. I have paid as high as 35s. per cent. of insurance from Leith, but I have got it much cheaper insured in Glasgow-I think 7s. 6d. per cent. 7794. Is that for goods in general, or for any particular kind of goods?-Just for general goods. 7795. You heard the evidence that was given this morning?-Yes. 7796. Is there any statement you have heard from any of the witnesses which you wish to correct, or anything you wish to say in addition to what you said yesterday?-Yes. I think I would be inclined to differ from [Page 190] the description which Mr. Sutherland gave of the people. My experience of them has been very different. 7797. You would be disposed to give the Shetland people a better character than he gave them?-I think so. I think they can bear favourable comparison with any people of the same class that I have come across in other parts of the world. 7798. In respect of frugality?-Yes. 7799. And foresight?-Yes; and activity in business. 7800. And for their moral virtues?-Yes. 7801. Is it not the case that a considerable part of the year is spent in comparative idleness by the Shetland fishermen?-I believe it is, but that perhaps does not arise from any unwillingness on their part to work. 7802. From what does it arise?-From want of employment. 7803. Have they not their land?-They have their land, but, as I observed before, there is a bar to improvement there. 7804. Would it not be possible to introduce a more extensive system of winter fishing than that which exists now?-I don't think it. 7805. It seems a little peculiar, does it not, that the summer fishing should be prosecuted in the big boats, and that only the small boats should be sent out in winter?-They prosecute the fishing in the big boats in winter too, when the weather permits. 7806. But they don't go so far to sea in winter as in summer?-No; they don't go so far. 7807. I understood it was principally the small boats that went out in winter?-That is true, but on several occasions they employ the big boats too. But the smaller boats, when the weather permits, are much handier and lighter to manage. 7808. Are they safer?-They are equally safe when the weather permits. 7809. But would they not be able to go greater distances to sea with the big boats?-It would not matter much what size of boat they had if they were caught at sea by a gale. 7810. Is it not the case that on the east coast of Scotland the fishing is prosecuted for nine or ten months in the year; and that the fishermen there, who are a very comfortable class, have no occupation except that of fishermen? I am not asking you at present about any separation between fishing and agriculture, but don't you think it would be possible to prosecute the fishing in Shetland to the same extent, and for the same length of time, as it is prosecuted on the east coast of Scotland?-I don't think it. 7811. Is that owing to the weather?-It is owing to the weather, and the great exposure to the Atlantic, and the great swell that comes in from it. A very light puff of wind raises a tremendous sea in winter, that scarcely any boat could live in. 7812. In some parts of Shetland, where there is not so much exposure, is not the winter fishing prosecuted to some extent?- Yes. 7813. And to a greater extent than it is here?-Yes; that is done about Yell Sound, for instance. They are protected there on almost all sides. 7814. Here you are exposed to westerly gales which do not affect the fishermen on the east coast?-That is so. 7815. Is that the principal reason why the fishing is not prosecuted here so much in winter?-That is partly the reason. 7816. Is there any other reason why the winter fishing does not succeed here?-Yes. Every experienced fisherman knows that it is only at certain seasons of the year that the ling come over the ground in any quantities; and that is, I think, from, say the month of April or May to September. That has been the case for generations. 7817. Ling is your staple fish here, upon which the success of the fishing depends?-Yes; altogether. 7818. Would it not be worth while to prosecute the fishing in winter for the purpose of taking cod and haddock and other fish?-I don't think it. 7819. Would it not pay without the ling?-No; the other fish would not be got in sufficient quantities. 7820. Would they not be got in the same quantities, as on the east coast of Scotland?-No. The ground here for one thing is not so extensive. On the east coast of Scotland, you can have a range of perhaps, ten or twenty or thirty miles from every port, which you have not got here. 7821. How have you not got that range here?-The island is not so big altogether; and there are only certain tracks of ground that the men can fish on. 7822. It is on certain banks only that the fish caught?-Yes. 7823. And the banks here are not so extensive as on the east coast?-They are not. 7824. Has any attempt ever been made to introduce a more extensive winter fishing?-I don't think there is a more active class of men anywhere than there is to the westward here. They have small holdings, but they are constantly prepared to go off to sea when the weather offers, and they do prosecute the fishing often. 7825. Have you anything further to state?-With regard to the debts of the men, I may say that in 1864 I gave them to understand that unless those who were in debt reduced their balances in the former year, I could not help them again with their rent; and, except in exceptional cases, I have invariably acted upon that rule since. 7826. You mean that when they came to you at rent time for a cash payment in order to help them to pay their rents, you could not help them with that unless their former balance was reduced?- Quite so. 7827. You mentioned in a former part of your examination that a certain amount of cash had been paid at last settlement?-Yes. 7828. That would be in November?-Yes; in November and December. 7829. Did the whole of that pass to the fishermen, or was any rent included in it?-That was what I paid to the people when I was settling. There might be others besides fishermen, but I did not distinguish between them. 7830. Do any of the rents of the Busta estate pass through your hands?-No. 7831. But the rents to be paid to the factor would probably, where due by fishermen, be paid out of these payments by you?-I think so; but not necessarily in every case. 7832. Have you any arrangement with the factor about the rents of your fishermen?-None at all. 7833. That is quite an independent concern?-Quite. 7834. I think you have prepared some statement with regard to the amount of debts due by your fishermen during the last four or five years?-Yes. I have prepared the following statement, showing the number of men in debt, the total amount of their debts, and the average amount due by each, taking it as a whole:- No. of Men Total Year. in debt. amount of Average. debt. 1868 74 £1044 £14, 2s. 1869 79 1017 13 1870 72 942 13 1871 64 782 12, 4s. 7835. That shows that eight men had wiped off their debt altogether between 1870 and 1871?-Yes. That will prove, I think, that they are not quite so black as they have been painted. They are improving a little. The largest balance was £49, 14s. 21/2d. in 1868, which was reduced to £41, 9s. 9d. in 1871. 7836. The amount of indebtedness at Ollaberry is not included in these figures?-No. The figures I have now given apply only to the Hillswick men, who number about 125.* Four of the indebted men have left since, and are not clear of debt. That would reduce the amount by about £50 in all of the years except the first. * In a note subsequently received from Mr. Anderson, he says: 'I find, in going over my books, that instead of 125 men, as I believed fished for me last year, I have actually 147. These I find are made up by fee'd men, and several crews who cured and dried their own fish, and from whom I purchased their fish so dried at the end of the season. [Page 191] Hillswick, Northmavine, January 12, 1872, ARTHUR SANDISON, examined. 7837. You are a shopman and bookkeeper in Mr. Anderson's establishment at Hillswick?-I am. 7838. You are in the course of making up, at my request, a return from ledger D and ledger V, which are books containing the ledger accounts of the individual fishermen employed at Hillswick?- Yes. 7839. Do both these books contain the accounts of the individual men?-Yes. Ledger D contains the accounts both of the crews and private accounts of the men; and ledger V contains some private accounts. 7840. In proceeding to make up the list, you are taking the names of the last fifty fishermen as they appear in the ledger, and you are inserting in the return the various particulars which have been furnished to you?-Yes. 7841. The return which you are preparing, and which you are to send me, will be correctly taken from Mr. Anderson's books?- Yes, so far as I am able to do it. 7842. Is there any other person here who wishes to be examined? (No answer.) Then I adjourn the sittings at this place until further notice. . Brae: Saturday, January 13, 1872. -Mr. Guthrie MAGNUS JOHNSTON, examined. 7843. You keep a shop at Tofts, about a mile from Mossbank?- Yes; I think it is rather more than a mile from Mossbank. 7844. What do you deal in?-Tea, tobacco, sugar and I buy fish too. 7845. Do you cure them yourself?-Yes. 7846. How many boats have you fishing for you?-I have no boats of my own; I just buy a little fish in the winter time, and I cure the men's fish in Feideland in summer. I cure at the fishing-station for Andrew Tulloch, who was examined the other day. 7847. From what fishermen do you buy your fish?-I buy them from any man who comes along, and wants to sell fish to me. 7848. Is that in the winter time only, or in the summer as well?- In the winter only. I am a seaman myself, and I have followed the sea since I was a child, but I stayed at home this year; and in the summer season I cured Tulloch's fish, while the wife and the bairns and I have commenced to sell a little tea and sugar and tobacco, and to buy fish from the small fishing boats in winter. 7849. Is that the way which people hereabout usually take to start a shop business?-I think it is. 7850. Do you keep accounts with the men that you buy the fish from?-No. 7851. Do you pay for them in cash?-Yes; always in cash. 7852. And then they buy some provisions from you?-Yes; if they like. 7853. Are these paid for in cash too?-Yes. 7854. I suppose you find it very uphill work competing with the big shops?-I don't know. I am a kind of rough and ready sailor man, and I don't take much thought about that; it does not give me much concern. 7855. Do the men prefer to deal with the big shops in it general way?-I cannot say as to that. 7856. Do you drive a good business with any of the men besides those who sell their fish to you?-No; some of the neighbours may buy a few provisions from us, but not many. A woman may sell her eggs to us, and get provisions for them. 7857. Where do you get your tea?-From Bremner & Grant, Aberdeen. 7858. Do they send their traveller round the country soliciting orders?-Sometimes. He has not been round this winter, and I get my tea when I write for it. 7859. Do you keep pass-books for the business which you do with your customers?-Sometimes, but not many. I think my girl keeps a pass-book sometimes, but I am no scribe myself, and I cannot keep books. 7860. You never were a fisherman?-Not in the home fishing, but I have been at the Faroe fishing as master. 7861. When was that?-About four or five years ago. 7862. Whose vessel were you in?-The late Mr. Hoseason's. I have not been at Faroe since then. 7863. You went from Mossbank then?-Yes; I was one year in a schooner for Mr. Adie too. 7864. Had you the same arrangement then about the fish which exists now, that the men get one-half of the fish, for which they are paid the current price at the end of the season?-Yes. 7865. Did you at that time live where you are now?-Yes; and when I went to the Faroe fishing. Some time after I got married I lived in Northmaven, but now for nine years past at Martinmas I have lived at Tofts. 7866. When you went to the Faroe fishing, did you get your supplies from Pole, Hoseason, & Company, when you were employed by them?-No; I generally took my supplies in tea and sugar and other things from Braidwood & Fowler, Sandport Street, Leith. We are friendly yet, and they always send me some present at Christmas. 7867. Then you are rather better off than most of the men?-Yes; in some ways I am. 7868. At least you had sense to get your provisions where you pleased?-Yes; and I had something left by my friends, besides what I earned myself. When I was at the Faroe fishing, I did not think they got fair-play. 7869. Who did not get fair-play?-Not even myself, or any of the men. I knew the fish had been selling at a higher rate than the men got the benefit of; at least I was told so. 7870. Do you think the men were not to blame for that, by making a bargain which left them entirely at the discretion of the merchant? The merchant could fix any price he liked, could he not?-He could. But if I get the loan of a man's boat with which to go to the fishing, and if I engage for one-half of the fish, then, I think, it would only be fair-play to divide the fish in halves, and for the merchant to take one-half, and give me the other. 7871. But you said the men sometimes felt that the price which they got for their fish at the end of the season was lower than it ought to have been, and I was asking you whether you did not think the men had themselves to blame for that. They did not reserve any power to themselves about fixing the price, but left it entirely to the merchants?-Yes. 7872. Then your idea is, that they would have been wiser to have kept some power about that in their own hands?-Yes. 7873. How could they manage that?-They engaged for one-half at the Faroe fishing, and the owners of the vessels ought to have sold the fish conscientiously, and to have given the men the benefit of their half, after taking off curing and other expenses. 7874. But you say the men thought the owners did not always fix the price conscientiously?-I thought so myself. 7875. How would you manage it so that the men could make sure of getting a fair price at the end of the season?-I would let the men stand the chance of the markets so far as the fixing of the price is concerned. [Page 192] 7876. But is not that the bargain that is made now, that they get the market price at the end of the season?-I believe it is, but it was not so then. 7877. What was the difference in the arrangement then?-I cannot say. They engaged for one-half of the fish at that time, but I know that sometimes they did not get the benefit of the market price. 7878. Do you think they get the benefit of the market price now?-I cannot say, for I have not been at Faroe for five years. 7879. At that time did most of the men who were sailing with you run accounts with the merchant for their outfit and supplies?- Yes. 7880. Had they generally a balance to get in cash settling time?- Yes. 7881. Did you know any men who were behind, and had a balance against them at the end of the year?-I cannot say whether there were any in that position. 7882. You were not in that position yourself?-Never. 7883. What was the reason why the men generally dealt with the merchants who employed them at the fishing?-Perhaps the men did not have money at the time with which to go and buy the articles from any other party, and the man who owned the vessel ready to supply them. That was the way in which it was done, so far as I know. 7884. I suppose some of them had been supplied with goods before they went away to the fishing?-I think so. 7885. And it was a common enough thing for an account to be standing against them when they settled?-I believe it was. 7886. Do you think any of them would have engaged with another merchant in preference for the fishing if they had not had that account?-I cannot say as to that. 7887. Was there any obligation on them to engage with the merchant who supplied them with their goods?-Not so far as I know. 7888. Except that they thought it fair to go and fish for him in order that he might have some security for his advances?-Of course. 7889. How long is it since you opened your shop?-About twenty-one or twenty-two months. 7890. On whose land is it?-The proprietor, Mr. Robert Hoseason, is in New Zealand. 7891. Is it under the management of Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-No. Mr. Sievwright, writer in Lerwick, is the agent. Mr. John White and Mr. Cheyne, Edinburgh, are the agents, and they have Mr. Sievwright under them. 7892. Had you any difficulty in getting a place in which to open your business?-No; I had been living there before. 7893. But was any objection made to your opening the shop?-No; there could be none, because I have a lease of the place. 7894. For what length of time is your lease?-For ten years. 7895. Do you know whether there is a difficulty in getting premises for shops in other parts of the district?-I cannot say, because I never tried. 7896. What is the price of your meal just now?-The fact is, we have none. 7897. Do you not sell meal?-Yes, I sell it. My meal is 16d. a peck all through the year. 7898. Is that higher or lower than the price at the Mossbank shop?-I think it is 1d. below it. 7899. Is your meal of the same quality as the meal there?-I think so. I get my meal from Aberdeen. 7900. Is it better than the meal sold at Mossbank?-I could not say that. 7901. Do you get it from Bremner & Grant?-Yes, and sometimes I get it from Tulloch. I generally get it by the sack or boll; and if any person takes a sack or boll from me, I give it at what it cost me, adding something for freight. 7902. You sell it at 16d. per peck; how much is that per boll?- There are about 17 pecks to the boll, but you will not get a boll to weigh out 17 pecks. There should be 171/2 in it, but weighing out pecks and half pecks the boll will not weigh out so much as 17. 7903. Are most of the people about Mossbank employed by Pole, Hoseason, & Co. at the fishing?-Yes most of them. 7904. Is there anybody there who fishes for one else?-James Hay fishes for Mr. Adie, Voe. That is all I know. 7905. Does he go to Voe to fish?-No; he fishes at Feideland Station. 7906. With that exception, will all the people within two or three miles of Mossbank be fishing for Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-Yes; I think most of them. 7907. Or within five miles?-I could not say for five miles; but I think most of them will. 7908. Do most of them deal at Pole, Hoseason, & Co.'s shop?-I believe they do. 7909. Very few of them come to you?-Occasionally they do, but not to any great extent. 7910. Do you think you would have a greater number of customers if you were employing boats yourself for the fishing?- I cannot say; perhaps I might. 7911. Have you not thought of turning your attention that way?- Not as yet. 7912. How is it that the men are at liberty to sell fish to you if they are engaged to Pole, Hoseason & Co.?-They are engaged in the summer time with the large boats, because the large boats belong to Pole, Hoseason, & Co.; but the small boats which they use in the winter time belong to the men themselves, and it is more convenient for the men living in the neighbourhood of my house to sell their fish to me than to Pole, Hoseason, & Co. It would be better for them to sell their fish to me 6d. per cwt. cheaper than to go to Mossbank with them. The boats are their own, and the men are not in debt to Pole, Hoseason, & Co., and therefore they can do with these fish as they please. 7913. Do you also buy fish from men who are in debt to Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-I don't know whether they are in debt to them or not. I take fish from every one who brings them to me. 7914. Do you buy many fish during the winter season in that way?-Not a large quantity. Perhaps. I might have about 11/2 or 2 tons of dry fish in the spring; that would be about the amount of it. 7915. Are these worth about £20 a ton?-No; I got £17, 10s. last year for them. 7916. Then these fish don't sell so well as the summer cured fish?-No; some of them are very small. 7917. Do the men about you not think it would be more profitable for themselves to cure their own fish?-They could not manage it, because they have no cellars or stores in which to keep salt, or convenient beaches on which to dry the fish. 7918. Did not the men formerly cure their own fish in Shetland to some extent?-I don't know. 7919. Don't they try to do it still?-Some of them do it still in Shetland; but in the winter time they must have a booth for the purpose of salting their fish and keeping them. 7920. Do you sell soft goods in your shop as well as provisions?- No. We sometimes had a bit of white cotton last year for making oil cloths, or the like of that, but we have none now. 7921. Do you think the men about you are not able to purchase from you so much as they would otherwise do from want of having money in their pockets?-That is a thing I cannot say anything about, because I never know what any man has in his pocket. We never talk about that. I might have my ideas on the subject, but I could not speak positively about it. 7922. It is your ideas I want to know, and what, you feel in your own experience. What is your opinion on the subject?-I believe it might be better, for the men if they were allowed to buy or not as they thought proper. 7923. But do you think the extent of your dealings, is less than it would be if the men had ready money payments?-I could not say for that. [Page 193] 7924. Supposing you provided as good an article as Pole, Hoseason, & Co., would the men come to you in greater numbers if they were paid in cash shorter periods?-I could not say. They just come to as their own minds lead them, but I believe they would still go to Pole, Hoseason, & Co.'s shop, even although they had money. 7925. But don't you think they are prevented from coming to you by their want of money?-They may be in some cases. 7926. You say you have your own ideas about that: what are they?-I believe it might be the idea of man that he might get a better article if he could come to me for it, or go to Pole Hoseason, & Co.'s shop, just as he liked. 7927. But suppose a man does want to come to you, and I suppose some of your friends would be very glad to deal with you, do you know that they are sometimes in want of money, and thus prevented from coming?-I don't know. 7928. Do the men not prefer to go to a place where they can get what they want on credit?-I don't know about that either. 7929. Have you never been told that?-No. 7930. Have you never suspected it?-No. I think they just go where they please themselves. Perhaps they might get a better bargain from another man than from me, and yet they might come to me or go past me. 7931. Are you quite content with the system of long settlements which goes on at Pole, Hoseason, & Co.'s, and that the men should run accounts there?-No, I am not satisfied with that. I think it would be better for the people to have no accounts at all. 7932. Do you mean that it would be better for their own sakes?- Yes. 7933. What would be the advantage to them?-For my own part, if I had no money, but if I might go to a shop and take out more goods than perhaps I ought to do, without regard to whether I would be able to pay them or not; whereas if a man did not have that liberty, but went into a shop with few pence in his pocket, he might make it spin out better, or more to his own advantage. 7934. Do you think he might get his meal cheaper by going to another shop and paying for it in cash?-He might, or he might take better care of his money, and manage to spin it out more. 7935. I suppose a merchant like yourself, if you were giving long credit in that way, would require little more profit on your goods?-Of course. 7936. But you can afford to sell cheaper because you are paid in cash?-Yes; and I think it would be better for the public in general if all payments were made in cash. 7937. Do you employ some men in your curing business?-No; I just do it with my own family. Sometimes I get a little boy to help me for a while, but that is all. 7938. When you were employed in the Faroe fishing, did you get cash from the merchant in the course of season, when you happened to come home, whenever you wanted it?-Yes. 7939. Could your wife get cash?-She did not require it, and she did not ask it. 7940. Is there any sort of feeling that people don't like to ask for cash before the settlement?-That might have been the case with some, but it was not with me, because I did not need the cash until it was due. 7941. Then generally you did not ask for it until it was due?-No. 7942. Do you think there is much money among the people in your neighbourhood during the summer time?-I don't think there is much. 7943. Is it generally spent soon after settling time?-Yes. 7944. Do you find that your cash transactions are greater at one season of the year than at another?-I cannot say that. I have only been one year in business, and I have not made any calculation about that. Brae, January 13, 1872, ARTHUR THOMAS JAMIESON, examined. 7945. You are the son of Jacob Jamieson, residing at Brae?-Yes. 7946. You were employed by me on Wednesday last to go to Mossbank, and to purchase some articles from the shop of Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co., there?-Yes. 7947. You went there and purchased these articles without saying who they were for?-Yes: 7948. You have brought to me half a pound of sugar, for which you paid 3d.?-Yes. 7949. A quarter lb. of tea for which you paid 81/2d.?-Yes. 7950. A quarter lb. of tea for which you paid 7d.?-Yes. 7951. And 4 lbs. of oatmeal for which you paid 81/2d.?-Yes. 7952. You have now delivered these articles over to the clerk?-I have. 7953. Were these all the articles you purchased?-Yes. 7954. Are they exactly in the same state now as when you bought them?-Yes. 7955. They are contained in the same parcels as when they were put up in the shop?-Yes. 7956. Have you any reason to believe that the prices which you paid for the articles are different from those which are charged for the same qualities of articles at other times in that shop?-There is no difference, so far as I know. Brae, January 13, 1872, JAMES BROWN, examined. 7957. Have you a shop?-Yes; a small one. 7958. Where?-At Brough, in North Delting, about two miles from Mossbank. 7959. What do you deal in?-Groceries; nothing else. 7960. On whose land is your shop?-Mr. Gifford's of Busta. 7961. How long have you had it?-The shop has been going on for about ten years. 7962. Were you at any time forbidden, either verbally or by your lease, to have a shop on that ground?-No; I was told to go on. 7963. Was there a shop there before you went?-Yes; they always used to keep some small articles there for sale. 7964. Do your customers generally pay you in ready money?- Yes; I deal all in ready money; and I buy fish for cash. I am a fisherman myself, and I buy few fish from others as I have a chance, paying money for them, and my family cure them. 7965. Is it the summer fishing you go to?-I am at home all the year round at the sea-side, and I fish there, but they are generally small fish I take. 7966. You don't go to the haaf?-No. 7967. Have you a boat's crew?-No. My father and a boy go along with me. 7968. Are you able to cure both your own fish and the fish which you buy from other men?-Yes. 7969. What quantity do you buy from other men?-It varies in different years. When there are plenty of small cod in the Sound, I may have 11/2 ton during the season, while in other seasons I may have only the half of that. 7970. Is it only the small fish you buy?-If bigger fish were offered to me I would buy them, but there are no bigger fish caught along the shores. 7971. Do you not buy fish in the summer time?-Yes. 7972. Do you buy fish brought in by the large boats at that time?- No; the men take them to the stations. 7973. Do they not bring any of the big fish to Mossbank in the summer?-No; they are sold at the stations. [Page 194] 7974. Do you never go there to buy fish?-No; I am content with the home fishing. 7975. Are the men bound to sell the small fish they get in the winter to any particular merchant?-They sell these fish to any one they like. There is no restriction upon them for that. Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co. never say anything about it. 7976. Do you run any accounts in your shop?-Scarcely any. There may be 1s. or an ounce of tobacco or any small thing of that kind, marked down. 7977. Are you often asked to give credit for a short time?-Very often. 7978. The men are not always in possession of ready money?- No; they are very often out of money. 7979. At what period of the year are they best off for money?- About our place in the winter time if it is good, and if they are catching a few cod, that is just about as good a time for them as any. 7980. Do they not also have a good deal of cash after settling time?-After settling time they have always a little. 7981. Is your trade better at that time than at other periods of the year?-When it is good weather, and anything doing at the fishing, or when the men have come from Feideland with the money which they had got at settlement, they trade more at my shop, as a rule, than at other times. 7982. Is June and July a good time for your shop?-Not very good; because most of the men are away at the fishing. There may be two or three boats manned by old men at home; but, with the exception of what they bring in from the Sound, I have nothing else to depend upon. 7983. Are not the men's wives and families at home, and requiring provisions?-Yes; and I may have the chance of a few dozen eggs, or any produce of that sort. 7984. That is for buying, but I mean for selling: is June and July a good season for the selling of your goods?-No; it is the worst time of the year for me. 7985. Why is that?-Because the men are all away at the fishing. 7986. But their wives are left, and they require something to keep them alive?-They are always working in what is called the kelp, and they go to Mr. Pole with that, so that I have no chance of buying it. I might have a chance of it, but I don't think it would pay me, as I don't know anything about it. 7987. Don't you think that if you had the chance of buying as much kelp as you liked in the summer time you might drive a better trade at your shop?-I might do a little better; but Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co. have the shores contracted for, so that they must get the kelp. They pay so much to Mr. Gifford for the shores, and in return for that they are entitled to the kelp, and they must have it. 7988. Do they pay in ready money for the kelp?-They make no scruple to give ready money for it, if a somewhat lower price is taken. 7989. But the people generally take goods for it?-Yes; they generally take the price in goods, or if they ask money, they will receive 6d. less per cwt., which I think is not unfair. 7990. If it was paid in ready money, I suppose you would have a chance of getting some of the custom of these kelp-gatherers?- Yes; if every man had his freedom to go where he liked, I would have a chance. 7991. Then I suppose the reason why sales are larger in winter and less in summer is, that the people have not ready money to go to your shop for the goods they want?-No; the men are all at the ling fishing in the summer time and all the chance I have is in the winter time, when they are at home fishing in the small boats. 7992. But even although they were at home in summer, they would not have ready money with which to come to you?-No. A man might not have ready money continually, unless he was paid every day for his catch. 7993. Would it not be better for your business if the men were paid every day or every week for their fish?-I don't think it would be any better for me unless I was out at the fishing station. 7994. But their families would have the money, and they might come to you with it?-They might. 7995. The men don't take their wives and children to the fishing station?-No. 7996. But I suppose the wives and children have very little money when the men are away at the stations?-Very little. 7997. Is that the reason why they get their supplies from the merchant's shop?-Yes. 7998. Only if they had the money they might go with it to another dealer, from whom they might get their articles cheaper?-They might. 7999. Do you sell your meal any cheaper than it is sold at the Mossbank shop?-No. I don't see that I can sell it any cheaper than Mr. Pole can. 8000. What is the price of your meal just now?-I deal very little in that. I only sell a few groceries-such as tea, tobacco, sugar, soap, soda, spice, pepper, and things of that kind. I might also have a sack or two of meal about the beginning of August, when it is most required. 8001. Where do you buy your meal?-For the most part in Lerwick, but I send south for a little of it. 8002. Do you think it would be better for the people in the country if a ready money system were introduced?-I think so. I think it would be better for the big merchants also to pay in money. I have had that idea all along, that it would be better both for the merchants and the people to pay in cash. 8003. Why would it be better for the people?-Because they would have the cash to please themselves with, and to go where they liked. 8004. If they could please themselves, do you think they might be able to buy cheaper?-Yes. 8005. If you were getting a large ready-money business, do you think you could sell cheaper than you do now?-I cannot say. 8006. But if a ready-money system were introduced you would try to do that?-Yes, I would and I think I would be able to do so, because the money is in hands and out of hands and there are no bad debts. Brae, January 13, 1872, Rev. JAMES FRASER, examined. 8007. You have been a clergyman at Sullem for twenty-four years?-I have. 8008. You have an intimate acquaintance with the people who live about you, and, among others, with the fishermen?-Yes. 8009. You also know the system of payment and of credit purchases which exists in the district?-I do. 8010. Are you prepared to give any opinion as to the effect of that system upon the circumstances and character of the people?- Yes, I think the effect of it, to some extent, is not very good. It is rather an extensive subject to embrace within one answer, because there are a considerable number of people who are free and independent; they can make their own terms; but there are a great number of people who act on the credit system. That system has gone on, I daresay, from time immemorial, and it has become a great evil in the community, fraught with consequences of different descriptions that are evil. 8011. Are there many of the people whom you would describe as not being free to make their own bargains?-Of course there is hardly any person free to make his own bargain who has no ready money, and who is always in debt; and however well they may be dealt with by the fish-curers,-and I don't know of any case of wrong dealing in that respect-still the people are placed at a disadvantage. I believe the whole community are placed at a disadvantage in consequence of that, because, from the great amount of bad debts, the merchant must charge a higher percentage of profit upon his goods. [Page 195] 8012. In saying that there is a great amount of bad debts, do you mean that there is a large proportion of debts in the merchants books which are never paid?-That is what I mean. 8013. Do you not mean that some of them are only very long delayed, and are liquidated only when a good fishing season comes?-Both statements are true. There are some of them which are very long delayed, and others which are delayed for ever, and never paid at all. 8014. You think that both these causes oblige the merchants to charge a higher price for goods than they otherwise would do?- Decidedly; but there is a greater evil than that still. Sometime in the course of Providence, an accident occurs, and families are left destitute, and the merchant has the disagreeable alternative of either losing his own debt, or putting the law in force and driving the families to extremity. That, however, is never done; but in such a case there might be an appeal to public benevolence in order to save human life, and that appeal is always responded to. 8015. What is the peculiarity in that case which you wish to point out?-The peculiarity in that case is, that I should wish the people to be placed in such circumstances that an appeal of that kind would not need to be made. 8016. Do you think such an appeal would be unnecessary if the credit system did not exist?-It would be unnecessary to a certain extent; but, at the same time, I can hardly see how to get rid of the credit system. I believe the merchants themselves feel it to be a much more trying thing, or at least fully as trying a thing, as I do. I look at it from one point of view, and they suffer from it from another. 8017. Is it within your own knowledge that a large portion of the people here are in a state of permanent indebtedness to the merchants?-I don't know to what extent they may be in a state of permanent indebtedness. I believe that a great number of them are very seldom clear, but of course there is a large proportion of the community who are clear from year to year. 8018. Do you mean that there is a large proportion of the men who are clear once in a year?-There are a great number who are always clear. There are number of the people who have never been in debt, and I believe never will be. 8019. But you are speaking of those who are in debt: what may be the proportion who are in that position?-I could not give an accurate answer as to the extent to which a state of permanent indebtedness prevails; but I know that it prevails to a much larger extent than is good for the community. 8020. Do you think it prevails to a larger extent here than in other districts of the country?-I don't think so. 8021. I meant than in other parts of Scotland, not of Shetland?-I am not very well acquainted with the extent to which a credit system prevails in Scotland. 8022. But you think it prevails to such an extent here as to be injurious to the independence of the people?-I think so; at least to the independence of some of the people. 8023. Do you think it tends to injure their truthfulness?-I don't know to what extent it will do that; but I think that, to some extent, when a man gets into arrears beyond what he is able to meet, he is apt to lose heart, and to come short of what he might otherwise do to clear himself. 8024. Have you known cases of that description?-I don't know to what extent cases of that description may prevail, but I know that there are a good many people who are living this year on their next year's earnings, and perhaps on the earnings of a year or two in advance of that. 8025. These are cases within your own knowledge, in which you have derived your information from the parties you speak of?- Yes. 8026. They have admitted it to you?-Yes, in one way or another. I have gained some of my knowledge from the merchants themselves, and some from the people. 8027. I suppose that sometimes, in the course of your ministrations, you have occasion to inquire a little into the circumstances of the men?-Yes, sometimes. 8028. In a letter which you wrote in reply to circular received from me, you gave an opinion about some proposed method of improvement which had for its object a separation between fishing and farming?-I have heard such a thing proposed. It has been discussed in the public press. 8029. Do you think the fishing could be carried on here apart from farming?-I do not. I think the fishermen could not live without their farms. 8030. Are they in a different position from the fishermen on the east coast of Scotland, in Aberdeenshire or Banffshire, who have no farms, and who live very comfortably, as I understand, by fishing alone?-I think they are in a very different position from these fishermen. One reason for that is, that there are frequent seasons occurring when there are no fish on the Shetland coast. Another reason is, that Shetland is very far from the market; and even although fish could be got, they could not be brought to market at a season when an adequate return could be got for them. 8031. But the curing might proceed in winter as it does in summer?-It might, but the fishermen would not be able, as a rule to keep themselves alive in winter by fishing alone. 8032. Do you mean that they would be much more interrupted by the weather in winter than in summer?-They would be much more interrupted by the weather, and they would have less chance of fish. 8033. Are you aware whether winter fishing has been tried in Shetland on a large scale?-Yes; not on a large scale, but it has been tried pretty extensively. I know that from my own experience. I tried it myself from the time when I could handle a boat oar, until I was twenty-seven years of age. During that time I was at the fishing every day, summer and winter, when it was fishing weather, and living in the midst of the ocean; and I have no hesitation in saying that if fishermen had been dependent on fishing alone, they would have died from sheer want, leaving their families out of the question altogether. 8034. But at that time were there any appliances for sending out large boats such as are now sent out in summer, and for curing the fish when brought home?-Yes, there were appliances for curing the fish when brought home; and little boats are much more handy about the Shetland coast than large boats at that season of the year. 8035. Do you think, as regards the hosiery trade, that it would be expedient for cash to be paid instead of goods as at present?- Sometimes it would be a convenience to the people to get cash, but generally speaking, I believe it would make very little difference. For instance, if a woman goes into a merchant's shop with so much hosiery, and she wants so much goods which the merchant can supply, she may just as well get them from him as from anybody else. 8036. But supposing the woman did not want goods?-Supposing she wants money, it would certainly be more convenient for her to get the money. 8037. Is it the case, so far as you know, that the people are often in want of money, and cannot get it?-I have not been aware of any particular case in which a little money was wanted and could not be got; but, as a general rule, money has never been paid for hosiery in Shetland. 8038. Are you of opinion that cases of hardship are not likely to occur in consequence of the want of money?-I could not give a positive answer to that question. I have heard the women complain more of there being two prices than of any difficulty in getting money. 8039. The two prices you refer to are the cash price and the price in goods?-Yes. 8040. What is their complaint with regard to that?-They think hosiery is sold at a disadvantage, when goods are so much dearer because bought with hosiery. That is the principal cause of complaint that I have heard of. 8041. Is it understood that the goods are dearer, because they are bought with hosiery?-That is generally [Page 196] understood; at least in some places. There are some merchants who make it all one price together; the same when hosiery is paid for the goods as when they are paid for in cash. 8042. Is that not the case with all?-It is not universally the case, 8043. Therefore there are not only two prices for hosiery, but there are two prices for goods bought with hosiery?-Yes; in some places there are. 8044. Are you aware of that from your, own knowledge, or is it merely from a complaint among the women?-It is a complaint among the women, and I think there is justice in it. 8045. That is, if it exists?-Yes; and I think it does exist in some places. 8046. Are you aware from your own knowledge that it does exist?-I think I am pretty certain of it. 8047. Do you think a system of credit payments and of paying for hosiery by goods has the effect of raising the prices of goods upon the whole community?-I don't think the hosiery has any effect of that description at all, so far as I know, but I think the credit system must have that effect in a greater or less degree. Under that system I think the credit which is most hopelessly given is in meal. The fish-curer often finds himself in the greatest difficulty with a family who are perhaps in want, and have no means to purchase meal. In that case he is frequently obliged, out of compassion, to give out meal for which he hardly expects to receive anything; or if he does, it is a long time before it comes. 8048. In such a case is the fisherman not under a sort of obligation to fish for that merchant during the next year, and until his debt is liquidated?-I think he is under such an obligation, but in some cases it takes a long fishing before the debt is liquidated. 8049. Do you think it is wholesome for a man to be under such a permanent obligation to fish for the same party?-I don't think it is wholesome for either party. But there is no help for it. 8050. Does that produce a spirit of submission and dependence on the part of the fishermen towards the merchant?-I don't know, but to some extent it must. 8051. Have you known any case in which that became very evident?-I cannot say. I could not name any particular case. 8052. You have not been struck by that in the course of your experience?-No. I have a considerable amount of acquaintance both here and in the north part of the islands of Shetland, and I cannot say that I have been struck with any such spirit of dependence. In the nature of things, however, it must exist more or less. But, in my opinion, the better way to get rid of it would be for the people to grow their own meal, and require less of it to be supplied to them. 8053. Do you mean that it would be an advantage if they required to purchase less meal than they do now?-Yes. I cannot see how the system can be got rid of, unless the people are able to cultivate their land, and grow their own meal. 8054. Therefore you are inclined to recommend a system of agricultural improvement as the best thing for Shetland?-Yes. 8055. Could that be effected without a separation between the fishing and the farming?-I think so. I think if people were placed in such security that they knew they were working for themselves, so that they could spend every day or every hour that they had leisure in improving their small crofts of land, they might grow half as much again as they do at present. 8056. Even upon their small holdings?-Yes; upon the greater number of their small holdings. 8057. And with spade labour?-Yes, with the spade, and the pick and shovel, such as the men can manage for themselves. 8058. Is not that a very antiquated way of cultivating the ground?-It may be antiquated, but I don't think there is any better way coming into operation. 8059. Is there not ploughing?-Ploughing won't because, if the ground of which these small crofts is composed is not broken up with the pick, it is of very little consequence to plough it. I could show examples of that in different parts of Shetland. Land ploughed is not half the value of land trenched, and the fisherman might trench a bit of land during winter for himself, and in the course of a few years grow all that he required, or the next thing to it, without costing the proprietor or anybody else anything. 8060. Would he grow a much heavier crop on land cultivated in that way with the spade, than a large farmer would if he ploughed his fields?-Yes, a much larger crop than a large farmer would if he ploughed that same field. I have not the slightest doubt of that. 8061. Are you speaking now from your own observation of both systems in Shetland?-I am. 8062. Do you know cases where an intelligent and active small crofter, cultivating in the way you have described with the spade, has grown heavier crops than a farmer, equally active and equally intelligent, has grown with plough cultivation?-Yes, upon the same kind of ground. 8063. Was that in this neighbourhood?-Yes. 8064. And the circumstances in both cases being exactly the same, except the difference between spade and plough cultivation?-I think the difference in that case would certainly be in favour of the larger cultivator; because I think the agricultural intelligence should be in favour of a man who works with the plough. 8065. You think the intelligence was perhaps superior in that case?-I think it was superior, and the crop inferior. 8066. Is that a thing which you have frequently observed?-Not very frequently, because land is not very frequently cultivated in the way I have mentioned, as the parties cultivating it, or who should cultivate it, don't have any security. They don't know who they are working for. There is a man pretty near me (Mr Gifford knows him), who has been cultivating in the way I have mentioned, and there is another man pretty near here who is cultivating in the way that you speak of, and there is no comparison whatever between the crops. 8067. Then is the remedy you suggest, a system of lease-holding?-Yes. 8068. Is there any reason why that does not exist in Shetland already?-I don't know any particular reason for it. 8069. Have the tenants in many places not been offered leases?-In some cases they have been offered leases, and I believe they have refused them, but I don't know for what reason. 8070. Have you any observation to make upon the subject of fixing the price of the fishermen's catch at the end of the season?-I have no observation to make on that subject, for I am not able to see how far it would be to the advantage of the fisherman to fix the price beforehand. I don't think it would be an advantage to him; indeed, I think the fisherman would be greater loser by a fixed price than he is just now. 8071. Is that because he would still have to obtain his supplies on credit?-Not so much that; but for one thing, the merchant's or fish-curer's knowledge of what the market is likely to be, is ahead of that of the fisherman; and I think it holds good more or less, by common sense, that the merchant should try to secure safety for himself in the bargain which he makes. The probability therefore is, that the fisherman would suffer more in that case than he does at present. 8072. You think the merchant has better means of foreseeing the course of the markets than the fishermen?-I think so; and although I believe the merchants hereabouts would generally give the men all the advantage they could, I cannot see how it would be possible that by fixing the price beforehand the fisherman would be the gainer. 8073. Is there any reason to suppose that the fishermen have not a sufficient voice in fixing what the current price is to be at the end of the season?-I don't think the fishermen have any voice in that at all, and I don't know how far the merchant or fish-curer [Page 197] has either. It must be regulated by the south-country markets. 8074. Would it be any advantage to the fishermen in your neighbourhood to have periodical payments up to a certain amount of their catch, leaving the balance to be fixed, and the price also, or a portion of it to be fixed at the end of the season?-I don't think that would be any advantage, and there is one disadvantage which would certainly follow such a system. There are some men who will take care of their money, pay it to them when you like; but those who take least care of it would spend it as they got it, and the merchants having paid ready money to them, there would be nobody who would advance anything to them when they wished to pay their land-rent or other debts. 8075. Are these careless men not equally apt, under the present system, to take too much in goods, and to exhaust their earnings too early?-Perhaps they are, but there is some check upon them under the present system, whereas if they got the money in their own hands there would be none. 8076. What is the check upon them?-The merchant himself will be a check, if a man is running an account which he is not likely to meet. I am not able to say how far the system you have suggested would be an advantage to the people. It might be an advantage, but I cannot see it.* * The following letter was afterwards addressed to the Commissioner by Mr. Fraser:- SULLAM, 18 1872. W. GUTHRIE, Esq. SIR,-You will perhaps allow me to supplement the evidence gave at Brae the other day by a few notes. I did not bring out all I wished to say on the credit system. It would require more time than could than be allowed to one witness, and more writing than I would like to trouble you with now, to explain it fully. Credit has become almost a necessity in Shetland in the present condition of the islands and it has gone on so long that the moral ton of society has suffered in consequence of it. The present fish-curers and merchants have not created the system; it existed before them, and they have taken it up as a necessary evil. Shetland fisherman may be divided into three classes. The first class are free men. They have never been in debt, and hope never to be. The second class, under the present circumstances, come in debt, but they don't like it, and get out of it as soon as they can. The third class do not seem to have any particular dislike to it. When the Commissioner asked me at Brae if I had known men lose their independence by coming in debt, or something like that, I had this class in my mind, and I was puzzled what to say. I think the loss must have been sustained long, long ago, for they have always appeared to me as a party who never had anything of the sort to lose. The moral evils of the system to this class need not be mentioned. I will name one or two of its physical effects. 1. It largely increases pauperism, by raising a false standard by which to regulate one's expenditure. When one of this class falls from earning, he is fit only for the Parochial Board. 2. In case of a boat accident, or in a season like 1869, the prospect is most appalling. In that year the crop was very largely a failure; many of the people had gone as deep in debt as they could go; and but for the aid sent by the Society of Friends, some of the people would assuredly have died, and a still larger number could not have sown their ground. The timely aid sent by the Friends and those whom they enlisted with them in their benevolent work, prevented both these consequences. There are not a few families in Shetland-bereaved families, I mean-supported by funds supplied by the benevolence of south country ladies and gentlemen, who otherwise must have starved, or fall with a crushing weight upon the Parochial Boards. Now, for all this, so far as I know, there is only one remedy- the improvement of the soil. The people are cultivating just the same ground their did, and most of the ground now cultivated has never rested in the memory of living man, or perhaps as long before. New earth is made to supply the yearly waste, and thus the ground in the neighbourhood of a few small farms is so robbed as to be rendered useless for generations, unless it happens to have earth enough to allow of laying down the surface, and a proprietor or factor who binds the people to do it. There is, in general, plenty of unreclaimed land lying close by these small farms which might be broken up and brought under crop, and some of the old allowed to rest. In some places there are plenty of stones to hedge in a small croft of land where grass might be sown, but nothing is done. That unreclaimed land is made to do duty by keeping life in a few cows-two, or more. During the summer season, the merchant supplies the meal as long as he can, and so things continue its they are. No man who may receive a forty days', or even a six months', warning, is likely to exert himself to bring more ground under crop. The thing wanted is leasehold of the property by the tenant. But I am told the tenants will not take a lease. It may be so; but before the statement be admitted as true, the sort of lease offered them would require to be seen. There are leases offered which no man of common sense would take. There is property in Shetland, and plenty of it, that in a 19 years lease could be made 50 per cent. better than it is, and be a better bargain then, than now. And all this might be done without costing the proprietor one shilling. Let him give it lease on reasonable terms. There is just one thing more I would like to state. I am referring to the evidence given last year before the Commissioner in Edinburgh, it was then stated by Mr. Walker, that the hills were doing the people no good, and therefore he had taken them from them. The latter part of this statement is true, but on the former part of it I would beg to say, the native sheep reared on these hills supply material for knitting, and the female part of the population are clad almost entirely from that source alone. Then the female members of the house generally provide during the winter months warm underclothing for the fisherman, without which he could not pursue his hazardous occupation. Bedclothes are also largely supplied from the same source. Leave all these to be supplied by the fisherman from his scanty earnings, and it requires no prophet to foretell the result. To say that the hills were doing the people no good, either manifests great ignorance of the subject, or something worse.-I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, James Fraser. Brae, January 13, 1872, THOMAS GIFFORD, examined, 8077. You are the factor on the estate of Busta?-I am. 8078. I believe that is the largest estate in Shetland?-I believe it is. 8079. What is the rental?-£2700. 8080. Are there any leases on the estate?-Yes, there are a good many. 8081. Are these of the small holdings or of the large holdings only?-There are leases of both. 8082. Do the majority of the fishermen tenants have leases?-Not the majority. 8083. Or a considerable number?-I could hardly say there are a considerable number; only a small number, I think. 8084. I understand that the tenants on the Busta estate are entirely free to fish for any person with whom they may choose to engage?-Yes; and a great many of them go south and follow different employments, 8085. How many large mercantile establishments or shops are there on the Busta property which are held by fish-curers?-Four. There is one at Voe, one at Brae, one at Hillswick, and one at Lochend (Mr. Laurenson's). 8086. I presume these are all the large establishments of that kind in the district of Delting and Northmaven, except the shop at Mossbank?-No; Messrs. Hay & Company have one at North Roe, at the very farthest extremity of Northmaven, and then there are fishing stations at Stenness and Feideland. 8087. But at these stations the fishermen are all employed by one or other of the merchants whose places of business you have enumerated?-Yes. 8088. And all these merchants hold their shops under the Busta trustees?-Yes. 8089. Have they all leases?-Yes. 8090. Can you tell me from recollection what the rents of these shops are?-The shops are not separately rented; they are let along with farms in every case. 8091. The merchants are not tacksmen of any tenants, but they have farms?-Yes; merely their own farms. 8092. Is there any prohibition to sub-let on these farms?-Yes; in every case. 8093. What are the rents of these four parties?-£327 for the four. 8094. In the district from Busta extending to the march of the Gossaburgh property at North Roe, is the greater part of the land under your management?-Yes. 8095. The greater part of it belongs to the Busta estate?-Yes; three-fourths of it perhaps. 8096. Is there any understanding with the four merchants you have mentioned, that no other shops than theirs shall be opened upon your property?-No, a shop can be opened at any place. 8097. Have you objected in any case to the opening of shops, lest it should interfere with the business of these lessees?-I have not. There are several shops that have been opened lately. 8098. Were these small shops?-Yes; there was one you passed at the head of the voe going to Hillswick. [Page 198] 8099. Is that Arthur Harrison's?-Yes; and there is one opposite it again, on the Roenessvoe side. 8100. Is there any apprehension on the part of the Busta trustees lest the rent paid by the larger establishments should be reduced by the opening of smaller shops?-None. 8101. Is it not the case that some difficulty was put in the way of Harrison opening his shop?-I believe something was said about it, but there was no reality in it. 8102. There was an objection made to it at first, was there not?- Yes; I believe there was some objection made, but there is nothing in the lease that could prevent it in any way. 8103. Nothing in what lease?-Nothing in Mr. Anderson's lease binding us to refuse, and nothing in any lease on the Busta property. 8104. Is there not an obligation in some of the leases of the tenants that no shops are to be opened on their holdings?-They are not allowed to open shops unless they ask permission. That is only to be done with the consent of the trustees. 8105. You say that Harrison was refused permission at first, but that shortly afterwards he was granted permission to open his shop?-I did not refuse him permission at first. Some other parties objected to him getting it, and said that no shops could be opened within a certain distance of Hillswick. 8106. Was it Mr. Anderson who objected?-Yes, I believe he did object. 8107. Was that by letter, or personally?-I don't think he objected to me by letter. He may have mentioned it to the trustees, or their agent, but his lease had been got some considerable time before Harrison thought of opening the shop, so that he knew he could not stop it. 8108. But he did object notwithstanding?-Yes; I think he objected at first when he was taking his lease. I think he wished it to be put in that way. 8109. The hesitation which existed about giving Harrison the lease, or the delay in agreeing to give him his lease, was due, I suppose, to Mr. Anderson's objection?-Harrison has got a lease. 8110. He has got it now, but it was refused, or at least delayed, when he first applied for it, was it not?-No; Harrison was only permitted to sell lately, but he had his lease before. 8111. But was not the permission to sell refused at first in consequence of Mr. Anderson objecting to it?-There was something said about it, but it was not practically refused. 8112. Had you had any communication with Mr. Adie before finally giving Harrison permission to sell?-None whatever. 8113. Neither verbally nor by letter?-Neither verbally nor by letter. 8114. Did you understand that Harrison was going to cure fish for Mr. Adie?-Yes; I understood he was going to cure fish for Mr. Adie, or any other body he could get them to cure for. 8115. And he informed you that he had made a contract with Mr. Adie for curing fish at the time when you granted the permission?-I think he went from Busta to Lerwick, and spoke to Mr. Harrison and some other fish-curers, and I believe he expected to get some from Mr. Harrison, and some from Mr. Adie; but so far as I am aware, he has only got them from Mr. Adie. But he was quite open to take them from any party he could make the best bargain with. 8116. Had you any letter from Mr. Anderson objecting to Harrison opening a shop?-No, so far as I am aware. 8117. You think he only wrote to some of the other trustees?-I am not aware that he has written a letter about it since he got his lease. I think he objected to it about the time he took his lease. 8118. But not at the time when Harrison was wanting to sell?- No; I think at the time when Mr. Anderson took his lease he wished it mentioned that no other party should be allowed to sell within four miles of him, but that was not entered in the lease. 8119. Then do you mean that no objection was made by Mr. Anderson to Harrison being allowed to sell goods at the time when he (Harrison) was applying for that permission?-There is no doubt Mr. Anderson may have objected to him, or to any other party, doing so, but he could not do it in any way so as to affect Harrison. 8120. Was that because the power of granting or refusing permission lay entirely with you?-I suppose so. 8121. But, in point of fact, did Mr. Anderson make no objection to you or to any of the Busta trustees, so far as you know, to Harrison being allowed to sell?-I am not aware whether he made any application to the trustees, or their agent. I know that he mentioned the matter more than once but that is all I know. 8122. He said that he thought Harrison should not get permission?-Yes; that is all he did. I am not aware that he wrote to the trustees on the subject after he got his lease. 8123. But he mentioned it to you when you met him personally?- Yes; he mentioned it more than once. 8124. And that was about the time when Harrison was applying for leave to open his shop?-Yes. 8125. I presume there is no understanding between the Busta trustees and any of the merchants whose establishments are upon the estate that these merchants are responsible for the rents of the men?-There is no understanding of the kind. There is not a single tenant on the Busta estate, out of the whole 480 on it, or out of the 530 with whom I have to do that any of the merchants is liable for, even as a cautioner. That used to be the case some time before but it has not been so for a long time. 8126. Do you know, in the course of your dealings with the tenants, whether there is any arrangement between the merchants you have named, or any of them, to the effect that when a man ceases to fish for one and has a debt due to him, the merchant who engages him must undertake that debt?-There is no such arrangement that I am aware of. Some years ago, I believe, that was done by some parties, but I don't think it is done by any of them now. I refer to the practice of a merchant when he engages men taking over the debt or part of the debt which they are due to their old employer. 8127. You don't know about that?-Yes, I know about it. I know that there was such an arrangement some years ago. 8128. I suppose if Mr. Anderson told you it not given up, you would be quite prepared to believe that that arrangement still exists?-I believe it was given up, because in most of the cases when a merchant took over a debt in that way, very little of the old debt was paid. I have known parties take over with debts of £15 and £20 standing against them, and these debts never were reduced. 8129. Had you any concern with that arrangement yourself?- None whatever. I merely heard of it. 8130. I believe most of the merchants or fish-curers are also dealers in cattle?-I believe they are, to some extent. 8131. They purchase them both privately and at the periodical sales which are held for each estate?-Yes. 8132. Would you describe shortly the nature of the sales that are held? They are held twice a-year, are they not?-Yes, twice a-year for the Busta and Ollaberry tenants, and they are sometimes held at North Roe for the Gossaburgh tenants. But there are always sales at Ollaberry and Mavisgrind, generally at the end of October, for the tenants cattle. 8133. What is the reason for having sales for these particular estates?-Merely to give the tenants the advantage of having their cattle sold. I am not aware any other reason than that. At the Busta sale cattle belonging to other parties are taken in, as well as cattle belonging to the tenants, although it is only for the benefit of the tenants on the estate that the sales are held. 8134. At these sales, are many of the cattle purchased [Page 199] by the merchants?-A good many. With reference to my former statement, that £327 is the rent of the four shops, I wish to explain that that is much short of what it should be. It is nearly £450 for the four; and my explanation of that is, that Mr. Adie has got a large park in connection with his premises, and Mr. Inkster and Mr. Anderson have the same at Brae and Hillswick, and they all require to buy extensively for their parks. 8135. Are you acquainted with the practice in this country of a creditor marking cattle, and holding them as a kind of security for debt?-Yes. 8136. Is that a common thing here?-I don't know if it is common; but I have known several cases where it has been done. 8137. I suppose that where a merchant does that it is not held to interfere with the landlord's hypothec or his rent?-No. The rents are generally paid before the merchants interfere in any way with the cattle. 8138. But when a merchant interferes with cattle in that way, or purchases them in at a sale, he buys them of course subject to the landlord's right?-If he buys them at a sale, he buys them direct off, and pays the money for them; but if he secures the animal privately, it generally remains with the party until it is taken away. In a transaction of that kind, the animal is priced, and it is removed at a convenient time for both parties. It does not come to a public sale at all. 8139. The animal, in that case, is retained by the tenant?-It is marked and priced and retained by the tenant, and taken over by the purchaser when he wants it. 8140. The cattle are priced the time they are pledged, or marked as it were?-I believe they are. 8141. Is that an arrangement between the merchant and the tenant?-Entirely. 8142. And they arrange the price between themselves, or does the merchant put the price on the cattle?-I think it is a mutual arrangement, because there is much competition for cattle, that the merchant must do that. 8143. Do you think there is any understanding between the merchants, that when a marked beast is exposed at any one of these periodical sales, the other merchants shall not bid against the merchant for whom the animal has been marked, but that it shall be knocked down to him?-I believe that very few of the marked animals are ever exposed at the sales, but I have known them exposed in some cases. I have known cattle being marked in that way, or pledged to Mr. Inkster at Brae; and if brought to the sale, they would have been entered in his name or in the name of the party who brought them, and the sellers would have got the full price. 8144. But more commonly, cattle that are so marked are taken over by the merchant himself privately?-Yes. I have known no other cases of parties bringing them to the sale, except Mr. Inkster. 8145. If a merchant does take over a beast in that way privately, I suppose you would still hold him responsible for the rent, if still unpaid, to the extent of the value of that beast, and if the period of your hypothec had not expired?-Certainly. 8146. Do you often have occasion to arrange with merchants in that sort of way?-No, very seldom. The rents are very generally paid up. 8147. Do you think the introduction of a system of short settlements, if it could be effected, would improve the character of the people on the Busta estate?-I believe it would. 8148. You would be in favour of such a system?-Certainly I would. 8149. From what you know of the country and of the people, do you think such a system would be practicable?-I don't know if it would be practicable in some cases. With regard to the fishermen, I don't think a short-settlement system would be practicable. 8150. Is that because the men are so much in need of advances at the beginning of the season?-Yes; they cannot get on until they receive advances. There would be no fishing at all if there were no advances. 8151. But under another system would advances be impracticable?-I don't know what that other system might be. 8152. Suppose the agreement was that the fishermen were to receive a bounty at the beginning of the season, which would enable them to equip themselves, and that the price for the fish was fixed at the end, so that the men would have the advantage of any rise that might take place, would that system be a better one than the present, in your opinion?-They would not have the advantage of the rise if the price were fixed. 8153. I am not supposing the price to be fixed. I am supposing the man to get a bounty which would be calculated very considerably within the probable value of his catch of fish for the season, and that the settlement was made at the end according to the market price when the fisherman would get anything additional that might be due?-I am not aware how that system might work. 8154. Have you any knowledge of the system adopted at Wick with regard to the herring fishery?-Yes. I know something about it. 8155. Is there not some system of that kind followed there?-I could not say just now. 8156. Do you think the system of paying for hosiery in goods is a good one?-No; I think it is a very bad system. I think the hosiery should be paid for in money, and the goods sold at the same price. 8157. Do you think the system has a bad effect in the separation of interests it creates between the different members of the same family?-I think it has a bad effect in this way, that some parties would be more careful if they had their money, whereas at the present time they don't have the chance of that. 8158. Does the same objection apply to the long settlements with the fishermen which you make with regard to the system of paying for the hosiery?-Yes. There is often a long settlement in the payment for the hosiery too. There is an account run for the payment of hosiery with many of the women. That would not signify so much if they were paid in cash when the settlement comes; but I am not aware that that is done, except perhaps in a few cases. 8159. Do you think women are induced under the present system to take more articles of dress than they require?-Not of dress. 8160. But they take anything they require unless money?-Some of them take provisions, and meal, and tea. 8161. In your part of the country, are provisions given for hosiery as well as goods?-Yes, and I know that hereabout a little cash is given too, but in very exceptional cases.* *Mr. Gifford handed in the following statement, showing the number of holdings on the Busta and other estates under his charge and the amount of rent- Under £1 29 Under £1 2 " 2 38 " 2 2 " 3 53 " 3 5 " 4 83 " 4 4 " 5 101 " 5 8 " 6 92 " 6 9 " 7 86 " 7 8 " 8 19 " 8 4 " 9 11 " 9 4 " 10 2 " 12 2 " 12 7 " 14 1 " 14 4 Larger holdings 1 Larger holdings 5 50 480 Total rental, £2701 13 8 Total rental, £344 2 0 Brae, January 13, 1872, Mrs. CHRISTIAN JOHNSTON, examined. 8162. Are you the wife of a fisherman in Muckle Roe?-My husband was a fisherman once, but he does not fish now. 8163. Do you knit or weave?-I both knit and make gray cloth. [Page 200] 8164. Do you sell both these articles at Brae or in Lerwick?-I sell them to any person that I get the wool from. I don't have wool of my own. 8165. By whom are you generally employed?-I have made some gray cloth for Mr. Anderson and some for Mr. Adie. 8166. Is it mostly gray cloth that you make?-Yes. 8167. Do you go to the shops and get the wool when you are out of it?-Yes. 8168. Do you buy it, or is it given to you?-We buy it. 8169. When you go back with it, are you paid for the work which you have put upon it?-We buy the wool, and then they buy the cloth from us again. 8170. What do you pay for the wool?-I bought 28 lbs. of it, and it was 1s. a lb. 8171. Do you spin it yourself?-Yes. 8172. How do you make the cloth?-There are men on the islands called wabsters who weave it. 8173. Then you spin the wool and take it to the wabsters to weave?-Yes. 8174. Do you pay for the wool when you get it at first?-We cannot pay for the wool until we get the cloth. 8175. Is it put down in your account?-Yes. 8176. And you are charged 1s. for it?-Yes. 8177. Do you take your web back to the merchant, or does the wabster take it to him?-I take the web and dress it, and go to the merchant with it. 8178. Who pays the wabster?-The merchant of course; it comes off what I have to get. 8179. Is the wabster paid at the time when he does the work, or when you come back from the merchant?-I pay him when I come back from the merchant after I have sold the cloth. 8180. How much cloth would you make out of 28 lbs. of wool?-I made 27 yards out of it. 8181. You make about a yard of cloth out of a pound of wool?- Yes; that is generally the way of it when it is ordinary wool. 8182. What is the price put upon the cloth when you take it back to the merchant?-That is just as the price stands; sometimes the price is up and sometimes not. 8183. But you spoke of a particular time when you got 28 lbs. of wool: was that long ago?-I got it in Christmas week, and I went back with it in the month of April. 8184. What did you get for it?-I got 2s. a yard. 8185. That would be 1s. a yard, for your work and the wabster?- Yes. 8186. Is that about an ordinary price?-It was the price that was given then. 8187. Do you sometimes get more than that?-Yes; if the price is up. I have got as high as 3s. 5d. for it. 8188. Was that long ago?-It is a few years since; I cannot recollect exactly. 8189. How are you paid for the cloth: do you get money for it?- Some pay in money and some not. 8190. Where do you get money?-I have got money in Mr. Adie's. 8191. Did you get money at that time when you went in April?- No. 8192. Why?-I don't know. 8193. What did you get?-I had just to take anything that was in the shop 8194. Were you told that you would not get money?-Yes. 8195. Did you want money?-Of course, I wanted a little. 8196. How much did you ask for?-I asked for the wabster's money. It was rather more than 6s. 8197. Did you get it?-Yes. 8198. Did you say you had to pay the wabster?-Yes; he was an old man, and I had to pay him. 8199. Why did you not get the rest in money?-The merchant made an objection that he would not. 8200. Why?-I don't know why. 8201. Did he say the bargain was that was to be paid in goods?- No, he could not say that. 8202. Why? Had you agreed upon a price before?-No. 8203. You were just to take the price that was the market price when you brought the cloth back?-Yes. 8204. Did you offer to take a less price if he gave the money?-He would give no money at all. 8205. Are you ever paid in money for your cloth?-Yes. I have been paid in money for some cloth. 8206. Is it a general thing in the country to pay in money, or to pay in goods?-When people have wool of their own, they make a difference. 8207. How would they make a difference?-Because if the wool had belonged to me I could have gone to any other merchant and sold it, but the wool was his. 8208. Was not the wool your own in this case?-If I had been able to pay for the wool when I took out, then it would have been my own. 8209. You mean that you got the wool on credit?-Yes. 8210. You had bought the wool, but you had not paid for it?-Yes. 8211. It was entered against you at 1s. a pound?-Yes. 8212. Then the wool was your own, although you might be owing Mr. Adie money for the price?-It was not Mr. Adie that that wool belonged to: it was Mr. Anderson that I got it from. 8213. And he would not give you the money at all?-He would not. 8214. Why did you not take it to somebody else and sell it for, money? If you had done that, you could then have sent the 28s. to Mr. Anderson, which you were due to him for the wool: did you not think of doing that?-No; I did not think of doing it. 8215. Could you have done that?-I might; I don't know; I never asked. 8216. Do you think Mr. Anderson would have objected, or would he have allowed you to take the cloth away again after you had brought it?-I cannot say because I never asked about that. 8217. Did you ever ask money before with which to pay the wabster?-Yes. 8218. Did you get it?-I have got money before from Mr. Anderson himself,-money to pay the wabster. 8219. Did you get as much as you wanted for that purpose?-Yes; just for the wabster. 8220. But not for your own work?-No. 8221. You had to take what was due you for your own work in goods?-Yes. 8222. I suppose you always wanted these goods for your own use?-We are always needing goods. 8223. But were you quite content to take the goods in place of money?-Yes, sometimes. 8224. You would rather have had the money sometimes?-Yes. 8225. But was it not the rule in the trade, and was it not the bargain made with you, that you were to take goods, and not to seek money?-No; there was no bargain made about it. 8226. Is it not the understanding in the trade that the cloth is to be paid for in goods and not in money?-I don't know. 8227. Have you made any cloth since that?-Yes. I made a piece for Mr Adie, but I got the money for it. 8228. Did you get money for the whole value?-Yes. 8229. Or was it just what you required for the wabster?-No; I got money for all that I had to get. 8230. Did you get the wool on that occasion from Mr. Adie?- Yes. 8231. He just charged you for the wool and gave you the whole balance for your work in money?-Yes. 8232. What quantity was there of that?-I don't recollect; we are always getting something out of the shop. 8233. Then you did not get the whole price of your work at that time in money?-No; I had got something out of the shop before that I was needing. 8234. You were due an account at the shop?-Yes. [Page 201] 8235. Was that account as much as the value of the cloth?-No. 8236. You had something over to get?-Yes. 8237. Did you get what was over in money?-Yes, I got £1. 8238. Was that lately?-It was before Christmas. 8239. Do you keep an account with Mr. Adie at Voe?-No, I keep no account. 8240. But you had an account at the time when you settled for that cloth?-Yes. 8241. How long had that account been running?-For about two years. 8242. Did you go and get the wool and make the cloth in order to settle up that account?-Yes. 8243. Was your husband fishing at the time when you were due that account?-No; it was my own account. 8244. Is it a usual thing for a woman, when she is making cloth in that way, to have an account of her own with the merchant?-Yes. 8245. She gets the goods she wants and then settles for them when she brings the cloth?-Yes. 8246. How often do you settle when you have an account running in that way?-It is not often that I make the cloth, for I have very little time in which to make it. 8247. Do you ever knit?-I knit very little except what is required for my own family. 8248. Do any of your daughters help you in making the cloth or in knitting?-Yes. 8249. You all work at it?-Yes. 8250. Have you separate accounts, or do you all keep the same account with the merchant for your cloth?-We all keep the same account. We have no separate accounts. 8251. Do you think you would be better off if you got the whole payment of your cloth in money?-We might be better, but we are always needing something from the merchant. 8252. You don't think you could buy your goods any cheaper if you had money?-I don't know. Brae, January 13, 1872, MRS GRACE WILLIAMSON, examined. 8253. Do you live in Muckle Roe?-Yes. 8254. Do you knit and also make cloth?-Yes. 8255. Have you heard what Mrs. Johnston said just now?-Yes. 8256. Have you the same way of dealing about your cloth which she has described?-No. I do not make any cloth except with what little wool I have of my own, and I sell it. I am paid for it just at the price which is going. 8257. Are you paid for it in money or in goods?-I get the price either in goods or in money, either way I choose to ask it. 8258. Do you generally get the same price for your cloth if you take it in money?-Yes. I sold a piece this winter to Mr. Adie, and I got the same in money for it as I would have got in goods. 8259. How much did you sell?-I sold about 30 yards. 8260. What was the price of it?-3s. 1d. 8261. Was the price higher then than it was in April?-Yes. 8262. Was your cloth better than Mrs. Johnston's?-I do not know. 8263. Was that paid to you altogether in money?-No; I took some goods. 8264. Had you an account at the shop at that time?-No. I never had any kind of credit in the shop before. I did not mark anything. 8265. Had you got anything before from the shop at all?-No. 8266. You just took some goods at the time when you took in the cloth?-Yes. 8267. What was the price of the goods you bought?-I can scarcely recollect. 8268. Was it £2 or £3?-No; I think it was something more than £1, but I cannot recollect. 8269. And you got the rest in money?-Yes. 8270. That would be £3 or £4 you would get in money?-I don't recollect what it was. My husband was along with me, and I did not keep an account for myself. 8271. Was it your husband that took in the cloth?-He and I were together. 8272. Have you always continued dealing in the same manner, getting what you wanted in goods, and as much as you required in money?-Yes, of course. Mr. Inkster is the only merchant we have any credit with. 8273. Have you an account with Mr. Inkster?-Yes. 8274. Does your husband fish for him?-Yes. 8275. And do you sell cloth to him too?-Yes; I sold some last year to him. 8276. Have you a book with him?-No; we don't keep any account ourselves. The things are entered in the book which he keeps himself. 8277. Have you an account with him in your own name as well as your husband?-I don't have any account in my name. One account serves for us both. 8278. Is it customary in these parts for one account to do for both husband and wife?-I don't know about any one except myself. 8279. Do you knit any?-A little but the cloth is the most that I do. 8280. Do you get money for your cloth at Mr. Inkster's place if you want it?-Yes, we get money if we ask for it. 8281. Have you generally a balance to get at the end of the year when you settle?-Yes. 8282. That balance is for your husband's fish and for your cloth?-Yes. 8283. That is to say, what you have to get for your fish and your cloth is a good deal more than you have to pay for things you have got out of the shop?-Of course it is. 8284. And you have to pay your rent out of that balance?-Yes. 8285. Have you always been in the habit of getting money for your wabster?-Yes; when we require money and ask for it we get it. 8286. Would you have got as much money two or three years ago as you got the last time you went with cloth?-No; cloth was not so high last year as it was then. 8287. But suppose you had, two or three years ago, taken a web that was worth £4, would you have got £2 or £3 in money on the price of it?-Yes, if I had asked for it I would have got it. 8288. Would you have got that five years ago if you had been selling it at that time?-I don't know about five years ago. I don't recollect. 8289. Did you ever get as much money before as you got on that last occasion?-Yes; but we took goods when we required them. There were some years ago when we were getting a bigger price. Mr. Anderson gave 3s. 8d. out-takes ( in goods), and 3s. 5d. in money; but I don't recollect how long ago that was. 8290. Then there were two prices for your cloth?-Yes. 8291. Did you ever sell £4 worth of cloth four or five years ago?- I don't think it. 8292. Did you ever sell £2 worth?-I think so. 8293. Did you ever get one-half or three-fourths of that in money?-I cannot recollect; it was always my husband who went with it, and he would recollect better. 8294. Did you ever get above 5s. in money for your wabster before this time?-Yes; we have got more than that, if we asked for it. 8295. How much more?-I cannot say exactly. We just got what we asked, unless the price was all the lower. 8296. Did you ever get 10s. in cash before?-Yes. 8297. Did you ever get 15s. in cash?-Yes. [Page 202] 8298. Or £1?-Yes: I have got that too, if I had to get, and if I was not taking out goods. 8299. If you got £1, how much would be the price of the web which you took in?-I could not say unless I recollected exactly what number of yards there were. 8300. But you said you never sold as much as £4 worth before?-I don't mind about that. I may have done it, but I don't recollect. 8301. Do you ever mind of selling £3 worth?-Yes. 8302. Did you ever get £1 in cash out of that?-Yes; I would have got £1 out of that. 8303. But did you get it?-Well, we have got it, but I cannot mind the time exactly. 8304. Do you think it has been easier to get cash for your webs during the last year than it was before?-It may have been; but we were always needing goods, and it is just as well for us to take goods when we are needing them, as to get money and go anywhere else farther off. Of course, if we did not get goods here at a reasonable price, we might get them farther off. 8305. I suppose you know that you want the goods yourself?- Yes. 8306. And you know that the merchant would rather sell you the goods than give you money?-I cannot say that I ever saw any case with any merchant I ever dealt with where he would not give us the money if we had asked for it. I never was much in debt to any merchant. 8307. But it was mostly your husband that took the goods in?- Yes. I never was much in with any merchant, and therefore I could go to any place where thought I could get most for my work. Brae, January 13, 1872, MARGARET WILLIAMSON, examined. 8308. Do you live in Muckle Roe?-Yes. 8309. Do you knit or make cloth?-I knit mostly, but I make some cloth too. I knit men's shirts and women's sleeves. 8310. Do you knit with your own wool?-I have to buy some but I have some of my own too. 8311. The wool was not given out to you to knit?-No. 8312. Where do you sell what you knit?-For the last three years I have sold it in Lerwick. 8313. Do you always go to Lerwick with it?-Yes, with all that I knit. 8314. Do you always get goods for your knitting?-Yes; I get goods, because I can get nothing else. 8315. Do you want to get money?-I hardly ever ask for money. I asked for a penny the last time out of 35s., and they refused to give it to me. I bought all that I could buy out of the work I had taken in and when it came to the last penny I asked for it, but they would not give it. That was at Mr. Linklater's. 8316. What did he say he would give it in: sweeties?-No; they would not keep any sweeties for fear of having to give them. 8317. What did they give you?-They gave me the penny at length, but they said we must take goods. 8318. Did you need all these goods for your own use?-I needed them all at that time, but I don't need them all now. If I knit any, I need hardly any goods now. 8319. If you were knitting now, you would rather have the money?-Yes; because I am needing hardly anything else. 8320. Do you live with your parents?-Yes. 8321. I suppose you would like to help them a little in keeping the house if you could get money for your knitting?-Yes; because my father is an old man, and is very sickly, and he is not able to keep the house as he used to do. 8322. Is it the case that you cannot help him because you cannot get money for your knitting?-Yes; I cannot help him in that way. 8323. Have you ever given away any of the goods you have got to your neighbours for money or for provisions?-No; I kept them all to myself. 8324. Do you sell the cloth you make in the same way that Mrs. Johnston and Mrs. Williamson have stated?-Yes. 8325. You get some wool from the merchant?-Yes. 8326. And that is set down against your name in an account?- Yes; until the cloth is brought back to the shop. 8327. When the cloth is brought back, the price the wool is deducted?-Yes. 8328. Do you get the balance in money?-Yes always in money, if I like to take it in money. 8329. Do you sometimes take it in goods?-I generally take it in money, because I am not needing goods. 8330. Do you think you would get a bigger price if you took it in goods?-Sometimes it is all the same. This year it is all the same whether you take money or goods. 8331. But some years it is different?-Yes, a little. 8332. Does the merchant tell you generally that he would rather you were to take the price out in goods?-No. The most of the cloth which I have made has been for Mr. Adie, and he gives me the money just soon as the goods. Brae, January 13, 1872, GIDEON WILLIAMSON, examined. 8333. Are you a fisherman in Muckle Roe?-I am. 8334. Have you a piece of land there?-Yes. 8335. Whom do you fish for generally?-For Inkster. I have fished for him for five years. 8336. Do you settle every year in the spring?-We settle at Hallowmas for the twelve months. 8337. Do you always deal in Mr. Inkster's shop-Yes; I deal oftenest there. 8338. What do you go for elsewhere?-It is very trifling. My dealings are mostly with him. 8339. Is that because you fish for him?-Yes. 8340. Have you an account?-Yes. 8341. Are you obliged to deal on credit?-Yes, sometimes I am, because I must have supplies. 8342. Is that the reason why you go to his shop?-No. I would just as soon deal with him, if I had money, as I would go elsewhere. 8343. Is there any other place hereabout where you could deal?- Yes; but I would just as soon deal with Mr. Inkster as with any other man. 8344. Are you generally behind at the settlement?-Sometimes I am a little. 8345. But sometimes you have a balance to get in cash?- Sometimes; but sometimes the seasons are so bad that I have to go to him for a little supplies. 8346. I suppose that is the reason why you continue to fish for him? If you owe him a little money, you don't like to go and fish for another man?-I don't see what I could get by fishing for another; I pay him the same for his goods, and he pays me the same for my fish as another would do. 8347. Are his goods of as good a quality as in other shops?-Yes. 8348. Have you known any fishermen who have left one employer and gone to fish for another?-No; not that I could point out. 8349. A man generally continues to fish for the same merchant?- Yes; unless it may be a man who changes and goes south. 8350. But if he remains in the same place, does he generally go on fishing for the same merchant for years?-Yes; but I have heard of some of them shifting. 8351. What do they shift for generally?-They may shift to get chances in boats belonging to other curers. 8352. They think they may be better off perhaps by getting into another crew?-Yes. [Page 203] 8353. Do men sometimes want to shift to another crew or another master, and are prevented from doing so because they are in debt?-I have never tried that. 8354. Do you know whether that is ever the case?-I could not answer that question, because I would not like to say anything I was not sure about. 8355. I suppose you would not think of leaving Mr. Inkster so long as you were in his debt?-Even if I was clear with him, I see no good I could do to myself by leaving him. If I ask him for money, I get it, just the same as out-takes; and I get out-takes from him, just the same as if I was paying down ready money for them. 8356. Do you think you would be any better off if you had not to run such a long account?-I don't know. A poor man generally can have very little until it comes perhaps to the twelvemonth's end; and if it were not that we have sometimes a beast to sell, or something like that, we would have very little to live on throughout the year, because the fishing time is only for about three months in the summer. 8357. You think if you were settled with at shorter periods, you would not have enough to carry you through the year?-Yes. 8358. And you could not settle with the merchant at the end, because the account you have to pay is bigger than what you have to get?-Yes. 8359. Is that sometimes the case?-Yes; because for some years there has been a good deal of bread to get in consequence of lean crops, and that brings the poor fishermen very much down. Brae, January 13, 1872, JOHN WOOD, examined. 8360. Are you a fisherman in Muckle Roe?-I am. 8361. Do you fish for Mr. Inkster?-Yes. 8362. Have you heard what Gideon Williamson said?-Yes. 8363. Is your way of dealing the same as he has described?-Yes; the very same. 8364. Have you anything different to say?-No. 8365. How long have you fished for Mr. Inkster?-Nine years. 8366. Have you ever wished to change?-No. 8367. Do you always get your supplies from him?-Yes. 8368. Are you generally somewhat behind at the end of the year?-Sometimes. 8369. Who did you fish for before?-Mr. Anderson. 8370. Why did you leave him?-Because it was more convenient for us where we lived to fish for Mr. Inkster. 8371. Were you clear with Mr. Anderson when you left him?- Very nearly. I think I was due him £1 or so. 8372. When did you pay that up?-Mr. Inkster paid it up for me. He sent it to Mr. Anderson at the end of the season. 8373. Is that a usual thing to do when a man has shifted?-Yes, 8374. His new employer pays up the whole of his debt?-Yes. 8375. Have you heard of that being done often?-Yes; I have heard of it being done. Brae, January 13, 1872, GILBERT SCOLLAY, examined. 8376. You are a tenant on the Busta estate?-Yes. 8377. Do you fish any?-No. 8378. I understand you have come here to say something about your line of life and its bearing upon this inquiry: what is it?-My principal means of living is that I get an annuity for keeping some pauper lunatics belonging to several parishes, Delting and Tingwall, and so forth. 8379. What have you got to say about that?-At the time when I commenced to do that, I unfortunately was not clear with the man who now supplies me. 8380. Who is that?-Mr. Thomas Adie. 8381. Had you been a fisherman before?-No; I had been a sawyer for many years. 8382. Had you kept an account at Voe?-Yes. 8383. Were you behind with it?-Yes, a little. 8384. How much?-I could not exactly say, but it was a good deal. 8385. Was it £20?-Perhaps more at times, and sometimes less; but we will say it was that. 8386. What have you to say about it?-I want to speak about the way of supply, and the prices of provisions and other things; I never had my money at command. 8387. How long ago is it since you had that debt?-It is perhaps ten years ago since I commenced with one pauper, and then I got another one. I gave Mr. Adie leave to draw my money with which to settle my accounts, and I got supplies from him. 8388. Where do you draw your money from?-From the parishes that I had got the lunatics from. 8389. Was it because you were due Mr. Adie money when you left that you gave him leave to draw your money?-It was not that altogether. It was quite right, when I was due him an account, that he should be paid for it, but he drew my money from the parishes and supplied me with meal. Perhaps I required ten or twelve sacks a year. I do not get it all from him now. If I had had the use of my money, I might have tried to settle the old account with Mr. Adie and have got my meal where I liked, but I could not do that. With the money I could have got my articles at cost price. I asked my money from Mr. Adie, but he refused to give it me some years ago. 8390. He refused to give it you because you had made an arrangement with him that he was to draw the money?-Yes; not to lay it out, but only to draw it for me. 8391. Was it not the arrangement that he was to draw it for you in order that he might pay his own debt?-We never had any arrangement of that kind, but that was perhaps considered to be the arrangement both by him and me. I would have done that willingly. 8392. Have you squared up your accounts with Mr. Adie at any time?-It is a good while since I was able to do that without injuring me otherwise; but Adie having the use of my money, I got my things from him. 8393. What was the account for which was due to Mr. Adie?-For meal principally, and clothing. 8394. Have you got an account?-Yes; it is in Mr. Adie's book at Voe. 8395. Have you gone over every year at settling time and squared up your account, and seen how much you were due to him, or how much he was due to you, at the end of the year?-Sometimes I did and sometimes not. I knew that I was not able to meet that account, because I did not have the use of my money. If I wanted a dozen sacks of meal, I was always told that there was 2s. a sack as commission for the risk of getting it, and ultimately I wrote to the meal dealers in the south, and I found that there was a difference of 10s. on the sack of meal; that, upon 12 sacks, would have been a saving of £6 alone. 8396. Did you give Mr. Adie an order to the inspector to pay the money to him which was due to you?-Yes, I told Mr. Adie to draw it for me, and I signed an order that he was to draw it. 8397. And he has drawn it ever since?-Yes. 8398. Was that for the money which you were to get from Delting parish?-Yes. 8399. Is Mr. Adie a member of the Parochial Board of that parish?-Yes. 8400. Is he the chairman?-I don't know. 8401. Who is the inspector of that parish?-Mr. Louttit. 8402. What do you think can be done for you?-I made my complaint to Mr. Adie lately about the state of these things; but it is not my wish to mention the names of any parties. It is only the practice that I object to. [Page 204] 8403. What practice do you refer to?-This truck system, and the enormous prices that are charged. 8404. What have you to say about the prices? You have told me that you can save £6 on 12 sacks of meal by dealing south?-Yes, by dealing with Tod Brothers. I wrote to them about it, and they answered me. 8405. Have you got their answer?-No, I have not got it, but I remember it quite well. 8406. How long ago was that?-Just two or three years since. 8407. What was the price of Mr. Adie's meal at that time?-It was 34s. per sack for Indian corn meal. 8408. What was the price of Messrs. Tod Brothers'?-22s. 8409. That was it difference of 12s. per sack?-Yes, but it left me to pay the freight, which would be about 2s. 6d. 8410. Could you have got the meal brought up here for 2s. 6d.?- Yes, or whatever the 'Queen of the Isles' charged. 8411. How many sacks of Indian corn meal would you require in it year?-Perhaps about a dozen sacks. 8412. Do you feed the lunatics on that meal?-No, not the lunatics, but my own family, and sometimes the lunatics too. 8413. Have you made any comparison between the prices charged at Mr. Adie's shop and elsewhere?-Yes. I could buy it at Mr. Robertson's store, at Vidlin, for 27s.; that, upon 12 sacks, would make it difference 4s. between the two places. 8414. Could you not have got your meal from Mr. Robertson's store?-I got some of it, because I kept a party from Lunnasting, and I got part of my supplies there. 8415. Did you get your supplies for that lunatic from Lunnasting?-Occasionally, when I asked them. 8416. Had you an account there?-Yes; I could either get money or anything that I wanted which was due. I could not have done that with Mr. Adie; and therefore I have never been able to get clear of my debt to him. 8417. Did you bring your supplies all the way from Mr. Robertson's store to where you lived?-Yes. 8418. Was that because you kept a lunatic pauper from that parish?-Yes. I took advantage of that, because I could get my goods cheaper there but I could have got money as well, and have gone to any other place with it. If I had had money to get from Mr. Adie, I would have got it from him too with good will, but I never had it to get, and it is that which has kept me deeper and deeper in spite of all I could do. 8419. Could you not have gone to the Parochial Board of Delting, and got your money whenever you pleased, instead of letting Mr. Adie draw it?-I might have got it, but Mr. Adie at one settlement made up a line, and I was compelled to sign it, that he was to draw all the money which I had to get for the lunatic from that parish. I signed it because he wrote me a letter saying I was to come down and pay my account, and then to transfer my custom, which I was not able to do without leaving me destitute. 8420. Have you got that letter?-No. 8421. What did you do with it?-I just destroyed it carelessly. 8422. How long ago was that?-I could not exactly say. If I state it incorrectly, it is not done willingly, but it may have been three years since. At the same time I asked Mr. Adie to give me the use of my money, and to keep some of it in order to pay the old account, but he did not do it, and that is the main cause why I am so far behind. I could have had my account with him paid by the profits I could have saved from dealing in the south; I am perfectly sure of that. 8423. But if you wanted your money, why could you not have gone to the Parochial Board and told them to pay you, and not to regard Mr. Adie's orders about it?-What would have become of what I was due to Mr. Adie if I had got the money from the Parochial Board? It was my duty, and I had to pay it to him. At that very time Mr. Adie told his shopman not to supply me unless I came to his shop with cash. 8424. But you wanted to stop going to him because you thought you could get your supplies cheaper elsewhere?-If I had got my supplies in the south, I could have paid him something yearly and lived better. I was making my complaint to Mr. Adie lately, and he promised (and no man was ever deceived in anything that Mr. Adie ever promised, neither was I) that for the future I should get my things at cash price. So far as I am concerned, I have no cause of complaint now; but that has been the cause why I am in debt. 8425. How long ago was that arrangement made about getting your things at cash price?-It may be two or three months ago, and I have got a part of the debt realized since. I have no reason to doubt Mr. Adie's word, or that of any of his sons. 8426. You have one lunatic from Delting, and you have another from Lunnasting?-Yes. I have not got a lunatic from Lunnasting, but a pauper that I keep at a separate house. 8427. But in consequence of having that pauper you get some supplies at Vidlin?-Yes. 8428. Who pays you for the keep of that pauper?-The inspector, Mr. John Anderson, of Lunnasting. 8429. Was there any arrangement made when you got that pauper, that you were to take supplies at Vidlin?-None whatever; it is by my own will that I go there. I can get money, or anything I like; but when I find it convenient, and that the goods are cheaper there than elsewhere, I go and take them. 8430. Are Vidlin and Voe the only places where you get supplies?-Yes; I have dealt with Mr. Adie for thirty years; and I have no cause of complaint against him, except the enormous price which he generally charges for his goods. 8431. Is there any other article which you could name besides meal which is charged at an enormous price?-This place is farther north, and the goods here should be charged a shade dearer, because there is more expense in bringing them. 8432. But can you mention any one article, such as cotton or cloth, which is dearer here than at Lerwick?-You can make a better bargain in Lerwick than in the north. 8433. Have you done that frequently?-Yes. 8434. You only keep three paupers?-Yes. Brae, January 13, 1872, JAMES ROBERTSON, examined. 8435. Are you a fisherman in Muckle Roe?-I was a fisherman at one time, but I am not fishing now; I am too old to go to sea. 8436. Has it always been the practice of the fishermen there to deal with the merchants they sell their fish to?-Yes; for forty years back. I have been about thirty years in the fishing. 8437. Have you been at the Faroe fishing?-No; I always went to the ling fishing. 8438. Did you always keep an account with the merchant who employed you?-Yes. 8439. Did you always fish for the same merchant?-Yes, for John Anderson & Co. and for Mr. Leisk, who was there before them. 8440. You always had an account at Hillswick?-Yes. 8441. Did you always go to Hillswick for your supplies?-No; only twice a year. I went for my fishing gear before the season began, and then at the end of the season I went again to settle. 8442. Did you get supplies then?-Yes, if I needed them. 8443. Did you always get the balance in cash when it was due?- Very often it was not due, and I could not expect a thing which was not due. 8444. Why was it not due?-Because of the bad [Page 205] fishings, and of the meal being very dear then; much more so than it is now. 8445. Did you always get more supplies than the value of your fish?-No, I did not do that always. 8446. But generally?-No, not at any time; I always tried to deal so as not to be in debt. 8447. But you said there was seldom anything to get at settling?- There was very seldom any cash that I had to take, because they were lean fishings. 8448. And because you had got supplies up to the value of your fish?-No; but I did not ask for any supplies beyond what I required for the fishing, and perhaps a little meal for my family, which they could not do without. 8449. But the price of that was generally as much you had to get at settlement?-It was. 8450. Was it ever more?-Not very often. 8451. Did you ever think of changing from one employer to another?-No, I did not think of that, because I did not see any good it could do me. 8452. Do you think you would not have got a better price?-No. 8453. And you would not have got better supplies from another merchant?-The only merchant I ever dealt with was Mr. Inkster, because his shop is nearest to me, and I always found his goods as cheap as any other man's. 8454. Would it not have been far more convenient for you to have got all your goods from Mr. Inkster's, instead of carrying them from Hillswick?-Yes; but with regard to lines and hooks, and such things as we require for the fishing, we could not get them from Mr. Inkster, because we were bound to go for them to the man that we fished for. 8455. How long is it since you gave up fishing?-About eight years ago. 8456. You continued to go to the merchant for whom you fished until that time?-Yes. 8457. Did you never think of fishing for Mr. Inkster?-No, because the men I fished with in the boat wanted to go to Mr. Anderson, and I did not want to make discord in the boat's crew. 8458. Have you heard the evidence of the other witnesses from Muckle Roe, Gideon Williamson and John Wood?-Yes. 8459. Is there anything additional that you want to say?-No. 8460. Do you think the fishermen are generally quite free to engage to fish to any employer they like?-They are quite right to engage to any man that would give the best bargain and the best agreement, and that is the thing they should do. 8461. But they would just get as good a bargain from one merchant as from another?-Yes, equally the same because it appears that one fish merchant won't pay more for his fish than another does. 8462. So that the fishermen would have no advantage in changing?-No. 8463. They cannot better themselves by shifting?-They cannot. 8464. Has that been your experience since you have been a fisherman?-It has been my experience all my life, and many besides me have found the same thing. 8465. They would like to better to themselves, but they could not?-That is the very thing. 8466. Do you think they would be better by curing their own fish?-They have no chance of curing their own fish, because those who do so have to find booths for them until the crafts come to take away the cured fish. Besides, poor men like fishermen cannot do that. 8467. They have to buy salt for the curing, and that costs a lot of money?-Yes. 8468. So that they are obliged to give their fish green to the merchant?-Yes. 8469. Have you ever known men to make any attempt to cure fish for themselves?-I have. 8470. Have they not been any better off in that way?-If the fish-curers had been agreeable to them doing that, they would have made a little off it. They would have saved, perhaps, a few pounds on the ton, but they could not find booths in which to put their fish at the season when they require to be housed. They had to pay cellar rent to the parties to whom the booths belonged. 8471. Could they sell their fish at as good a price as the curers could?-No. They could not seek out for purchasers in the south country as the curers can do, and they were obliged to sell their fish to the Shetland merchants and at the price which was current here. 8472. Don't you think the men would be better off if they could get payment for their fish earlier in the season, and could go and deal at any store they liked for their goods?-I don't know that that would be any advantage to them, because they know by experience that their earnings are very small, and they could not afford to take them in that way. They must try to save their earnings for their rents, and for the maintenance of their families. 8473. But if they got their money in their hand, instead of running an account, would they not make a better use of it?-I don't know. Some of them might be inclined to do so and some not. 8474. Might they not buy their goods cheaper if they had the money to pay for them?-Some of them might, but some of them might spend their money very carelessly. 8475. Did you hear what Gilbert Scollay said about getting meal cheaper in the south than it can be got here?-We all know that that is the case. 8476. Have any of you tried to get it in that way?-No. 8477. Why?-From want of knowledge. We don't know where to go in order to find the cheapest market for meal. 8478. But Gilbert Scollay found out where to go and he would have told you?-Gilbert Scollay might have done that, but we never like to deal in the kind of meal which he bought. 8479. You could have got any sort of meal if you had asked it?- Yes, he would have got any sort. 8480. And so would you if you had gone to the right quarter. Don't you think if a lot of you now were to agree to buy meal from a man in the south, and were getting the price of your fish in cash, so that you could pay for the meal in cash, you would be able to make a better thing of it?-There is no mistake about that. 8481. What is to hinder a boat's crew or two from agreeing to bring their own meal from the south?-The fish-curer must supply them with money before they could do that. 8482. Will not the curer advance money to the men if they want it?-It would just be at his own option. 8483. Do you think the fish-curer would not give you the money before the end of the season?-I don't know, I never asked it, and what a man has not asked he cannot speak to at all. 8484. Do you think he would be likely to do it?-The merchants might do it to some, and to some they would not. They could not be expected to do it to a man who was indebted to them; but if a man was clear with them, they might have no objections to advance the money. 8485. I suppose it would not be easy to find a boat's crew where some of the men were not in debt?-I think there are a good few boats' crews of that kind. 8486. Could not a boat's crew, where none of the men were in debt, get their money in that way?-Certainly they could if they wished it. 8487. And they could import their meal from the south if they found it any cheaper?-Perhaps they could. 8488. Do any of your people knit or weave?-They do. 8489. Are they paid for their work in the way which Mrs. Williamson and Mrs. Johnston have described?-Yes. 8490. They are paid mostly in goods?-They can take either goods or money, because they are not in debt to any man. 8491. Do you keep an account with any merchant?-No; I keep the family accounts. [Page 206] 8492. Do you keep them all in one?-Yes. 8493. Is that a common way at Muckle Roe?-I think it is, and I think it is the best way. 8494. Have you sometimes taken their webs to sell to the merchants?-Yes, I have sometimes done so. 8495. Have you ever got money for a web?-Yes, if I wanted it. 8496. But did you ever get it?-I have. I have got £4 at a time, when the web was worth it. 8497. Was that long ago?-It was this very year. 8498. Did you get it all in money?-Yes. 8499. Was that at Voe?-No, it was at Brae from Mr. Inkster. 8500. Did you ever get as much money before for any web?-No, I don't think so. 8501. Were you paid mostly in goods before?-No, not altogether in goods. If I did not require the goods, I could have it in money, because if I was not in debt to them they were obliged to pay me the money. 8502. Were they always obliged to pay money for webs?-Yes, to men who were clear with them, and who would not take their wool from them. 8503. But a man who was not clear would not get all money?- No, he could not expect it. 8504. The price of his cloth would be put to his account?-Yes. 8505. And he might get a little money if he wanted it?-Yes. I never knew a merchant to refuse a man a little money if he was in need of it. 8506. But the man had to tell the merchant that he was in need of it?-Yes, if he was in need, he had to explain that to him. 8507. If a man was in debt to a merchant, and wanted to get money for his web, could he not take it to another merchant?-Yes; but it would not be very fair to do so. A man who is in debt to another ought always to pay his debt when he can. 8508. But he might pay it at another time and he might be wanting the money for his own immediate needs?-Such cases as that might occur, but not very often. 8509. You think the people round about you don't often do that?- I don't think they do. Brae, January 13, 1872, PETER BLANCH, examined. 8510. Are you a fisherman and farmer near Brae?-Yes, about a mile or a mile and a half north from this. 8511. Have you a good bit of land?-Yes, just about as big as most of the people have hereabouts-a small allotment. 8512. Have you got a brother in Ollaberry?-I have a brother-in- law there, and a cousin, William Blanch. 8513. Have you been present to-day?-Not all the time. I have been here for about an hour. 8514. Have you heard the description which has been given of how the fishermen are settled with for their accounts?-Yes. I was present at the first meeting which was held at Brae. 8515. Do you settle in the same way as you have heard described?-Yes, much in the same way; but I am a Faroe fisherman, and I have been so for the last twelve years. 8516. Are you a skipper?-Yes. 8517. Who do you ship with?-I have been employed by Mr. Adie's firm for the last five years. Before that I went out from Lerwick. I went for Mr. Sutherland, and then for Mr. George Reid Tait. 8518. You settle every year in the winter?-Yes, or sometimes twice in one year, but not often. 8519. You get supplies, as a rule, from the merchant in whose smack you go to the fishing?-Yes, we get that if we require them. 8520. But, as a rule, do you get your supplies from that merchant?-As a rule we do, but there are exceptions. For my own part, I have never been under the necessity of taking out supplies unless I chose; but, generally speaking, I have taken them out, especially stores required for our own use in the vessel. 8521. And when anything is required for the man's family at home during the season, is it generally got from the same merchant?-It may be. In most cases,, I think, that would be the case; but, for my own part, was not bound to do that, because at the time of settlement I had always something to take, and I could deal where I chose. 8522. You say you were not bound to do it: is it common for men to feel that they are bound to do that?-Of course. If I was employed by a curer or a merchant, and had been in the habit of dealing with another before I was employed by him, I would consider it something like a duty, in a moral point of view, to put my money into his shop, and I have done so, although I have never been obligated to do it. 8523. Are some of the men obligated to do that?-I think they are obligated, for this reason, that they could scarcely help themselves. Perhaps they had not the money to purchase their goods elsewhere, and they were bound for that reason from a selfish motive. 8524. You think they could not get credit elsewhere?-Yes. Some of them I know could not get it elsewhere. Perhaps some of them could. 8525. But the merchant who employs men at the Faroe fishing is generally ready to give credit to a man who is in these circumstances, and who does not have money?-Of course he does. He understands he has that to do. They make advances, perhaps before, but as soon as the men engage to go to the fishing. It may be about this time, or it may be a month previous to this, when they make the engagement to go. 8526. And they made an advance then either in cash or in out-takes?-I don't think they will likely give much cash. They may give 8s. or 10s. in cash, but unless they know the man is to be depended upon I don't think they will give much more. They may give man until he has made some earning by his fishing; but unless it is a case where they know it can be paid back again by the man otherwise, they will not give it. He may pay it out of his stock for instance, he may have some other means. For my own part, of course, I was always so far able to pay my account, and I never had need to ask for money. I can only speak to that from personal experience; but I have known men who sailed with me for eight or nine years, and I know they have got a little money, perhaps 10s. or £1, at a time when they required it. 8527. Although they were bound?-I did not know about their being bound. I would not say much about that. I daresay some of them would be bound, and some of them were not. 8528. Have you ever known men being bound when, they engaged to a merchant?-No. I may have heard about it, but I could not show it by proof. 8529. Have you heard of men who are obligated, as you said, to engage with it particular merchant for the fishing because they were in his debt?-No; I could not say definitely as to that. 8530. Have you had an idea or it notion that a man might have engaged for that reason?-Yes; I have had that idea, and I have been told so by men themselves, but these men are not here, and I could not say that it was actually the case. For my own part, I have never been in these circumstances. 8531. Have you ever considered whether you would be better under any other arrangement than making settlement at the end of the year for the Faroe fishing?-I have considered that matter, and I have often thought that we might have been better than we are under the present state of matters. That may have been partly our own blame, in consequence of the want of information among the fishermen; but I have often thought, and I think so still, that we don't have that fair play which we ought to have. I think the present system is almost, if not altogether, a one-sided arrangement for the merchant. That is my opinion with regard to the Faroe fishing, and the ling fishers say the [Page 207] same. We don't know what we are to get until the end of the season. We go and toil away and catch fish if we can, but we don't know what we are to get for them until the time of settlement. There is an arrangement made between the fish-curers or merchants, and by that time they have made up their minds, and have fixed upon certain price, while we under our agreement have just to take what they please to give us. Our understanding is that the crew get one-half of the nett, and the fish-merchant or curer gets the other half for his vessel. Of course, the salt and the expenses of curing deducted, and the master's and mate's extra, and the score money. 8532. There are some deductions before you come to the nett?- Yes; we don't get one half of the gross; we only get one-half of the nett. There is allowance for salt and curing, which is generally £2, 10s., and I think it could be done cheaper, but that may be our own blame. Then there is the master's extra and the mate's extra, which is a fee of so much per ton to each, according as the agreement is made. 8533. What other deduction is there?-There is score-money, and there may be the expense of bringing the fish to market. 8534. Is that a deduction, or does it not come off the merchant's half of the nett?-I don't know exactly how that is done. We never see the account sales of the fish, although we ought to see them, but that may be our own blame too. 8535. You don't know whether the merchant gets commission of 5 per cent?-I have been told so by one merchant that I was employed by, Mr. Grierson. I never was told that by any other merchant for whom I was employed, but Mr. Grierson told me that was actually so in his case. 8536. You are a skipper, and you actually don't know how the deductions are made which come off before the nett produce is halved?-Of course I have asked about these things, and I have been told that there were no other deductions taken off beyond what have mentioned. 8537. Do you have nothing to do with the making of these deductions yourself?-No. 8538. You have nothing to do with the weighing of the fish, nor with the selling of them?-No; nor with making a market for them. 8539. But you think you might be more fairly dealt with than you are?-I think we might. I don't know whether that is altogether the merchant's blame, but think we could have a fairer understanding, for two reasons: In the first place, we ought to have an understanding when we start or engage that we are to have a certain fixed price for our fish, the same as the Englishmen have. They know what they are to get before their fish are caught. 8540. Where do these Englishmen fish?-They are in smacks that come from London and Grimsby and Hull and Berwick, and they fish for curers in Shetland, and land their fish here. 8541. Have these men all an agreement for a fixed price?-So far as I understand, they have. At least I have been told so by themselves. 8542. These men have a fixed agreement with the curers here to whom they sell?-Yes. Of course, their men are not paid in the same way as we are. The men on board these vessels, except the masters, are paid by weekly wages. 8543. And the master makes a bargain with the merchant here about the fish?-I rather think it is the owner who makes the bargain. 8544. Do you know the nature of the bargain they make?-I cannot say that I know definitely. I know the merchant here agrees to pay them a fixed price when the fish are landed in a dry state. They are salted on board the vessels, and they get £10, £11, or £12 a ton for salted fish when landed. They know they are to get that before the fish are caught, and they cannot expect anything more. Now; I say we ought to have something like that, and then we would know what we were actually working for. It might be that in that way we would get less than we do present, but we would have a fair understanding. If we lost in one year, we might gain in another. 8545. Do you think the men in Shetland, generally speaking, would be inclined to consent to a bargain of that sort? Would they not grumble very much if the price rose considerably before the end of the season?-It would only be parties who were dull of apprehension that would be likely to grumble. It would not be the intelligent men. For my part, and so far as my experience goes, I don't think a man of intelligence and experience would have a right to grumble in that case and I don't think he would do so. There are a great many I have spoken to, and reasoned the matter with, who, I don't think, would grumble. 8546. Do you think the fishermen, under such a system, would have the same advantage at the beginning of the season in making a bargain as the masters would have? Would the masters not be likely to know better what the market price was likely to be towards the end of the season, and thus be able to make a calculation as to the price more in their own favour?-The merchants ought, from their position, to have more information as to the probable state of the market, and, a rule, they do have more information; but I believe there are not a few masters of Faroe fishing vessels who could make as good a market, or nearly as good a market, as the curers could. 8547. You think they have all the information necessary to guide them in making a good bargain in the beginning of the season, or just as much as the curers have?-Yes. A curer would just be as likely to make a mistake in his arrangements as I would be. The market is so fluctuating that it is possible a curer may go and make a loss. He might possibly make an arrangement with another merchant to sell his fish at a certain fixed price, and there is a possibility of the fish rising after that, and of course I would stand the same chance. 8548. Do you say that in the English vessels the fish is salted before it is put on shore?-Yes. 8549. Is that the case in your smacks also?-Yes; we are always bound to do that. We could not keep the fish otherwise. When fishing on the coast of Faroe or Iceland, or elsewhere, we cannot help ourselves; we must salt them in order to save them. 8550. Is the salt put on board the vessel, and supplied by the fish-curer at starting?-Yes. 8551. You said you thought 50s. a ton was rather too high a charge for salting and curing: is that your opinion?-I am inclined to think so. I know the price of salt as well as the curers do. I have been in the habit of buying salt at Liverpool more than two or three times, and I know what I have paid for it, buying it with ready money. The last cargo of salt which I brought here cost 7s. per ton, when ready to leave Liverpool, and the freight here would be 10s. Then there would be 1s. per ton for landing, at least. Then there would be 2s. for wastage and they might take off 1s. or 2s. more for cellar rent. That would be 22s. 8552. Would that be the total cost of the salt delivered in Shetland?-It might vary; but that is what I paid for it the last time I bought a cargo. 8553. Do you think 22s. is a liberal calculation for it?-I think so. Then the people have to be paid for curing, that is, washing and drying the fish, and I think they generally pay at least 12s. per ton, or in some cases more, for that. I have never cured fish myself, but I have been told by curers that that is about the expense. 8554. That would be 12s. for the workpeople employed at the curing; but you would also require some allowance for implements and sheds and booths?-No doubt an allowance would require to be made for that too. In some cases a man may be curing fish where he has to provide a booth for himself, and he has to get covering from the fish-curer or merchant. That, however, would only be a trifle., 8555. Would 3s. a ton be too much for that?-As rule, I think it would not. 8556. Would it be too little?-I think it would not be too little; I think it would fully meet it. [Page 208] 8557. Would there be any other expense for the curing of the fish?-Not so far as the curing is concerned. 8558. You say the charge for curing is 50s.?-Yes. I have paid my share of it at that rate, and I have sometimes paid for it at the rate of 52s. 6d., but it has been less than 50s. in my experience. At one time it was 45s., but of late years it has never been less than 50s. 8559. The calculation which you have made comes so that you think the fish-curer makes a profit of 13s. per ton upon the curing: is that your opinion?-My opinion is just exactly as I have stated it. It is possible I may be wrong in some of the items, because in some cases the merchant may have to give the curer more. It may be a late season, or a wet season, and in order to get the fish dried and ready for market it is possible they might encourage the curer, by giving him 1s. or 2s. more. 8560. The expense might be more than 37s. a ton in some cases?-It might be. 8561. But you think that 37s. a ton is a fair enough calculation, so far as you can make it, for the usual expenses of salting and curing?-I think so. 8562. Do you think fishermen could cure for themselves upon a small scale?-It might not be easy to get a crew together which could do that, but I think it could be done. I do not see why the master of a Faroe fishing vessel could not get a man to cure his fish as well as another man. There are often beaches that he could get the use of for the time being, and I think it is quite possible they could get their fish cured, but there may be some difficulty about it. It might be that every person would not be able to do it. 8563. You do not know whether that has been tried?-I do not. For my own part, I never attempted it. 8564. Do you think the system of running accounts among the Faroe fishermen you have met with has led them to incur too large amounts of debt?-I am inclined to think so. 8565. Is that one of your reasons for wishing to have a price fixed at the beginning of the year?-That would be one of the special reasons, but it is not the whole reason. I have another reason for that, which is, that as the system exists now, if the merchant makes a good bargain or a good market for his fish, and the man he sells them to does not fail before the price is payable, the merchant never loses, because he never pays the price to us before then which he can afford to pay. He is always secure; but if he had a fixed price to pay for the fish; he might lose as quick as I would. That is my main reason for objecting to this system. I would like to have the thing altered so that there might be something like fair play, and that if I lose, I lose, and that if I gain, I gain. I am not saying that the merchant is not paying me a fair price now. He may be paying me all he can afford to pay, but I don't know that. 8566. But by the system you propose, the price might be lower than is sufficient for your labour?-I would have to take my chance of that. In my experience I have had to contend with three all but total failures at the fishing, and of course our labour and time went for almost nothing. But that was not the owner's blame; we could not help it, and no more could he. 8567. Is there any other plan for the payment of fish that has occurred to you? How would it do, for instance, if a certain part of the price per cwt. were arranged to be paid on delivery of the green fish, and that the rest, whatever it might be, should be paid at settlement according to the current price?-I could scarcely speak with regard to green fish, because my experience has been in salted fish, and I would only like to speak about that with which I have been myself more immediately connected. But speaking with regard to salted fish only, what you have suggested would be a far better way, because I would then have a chance of seeing my fish weighed out. I don't think the merchant has cheated me out of a ton or half a ton of fish, but I have not had the chance of seeing my fish weighed when I was there. Each vessel's catch is kept and cured separately; but when we come to deliver the fish, if we had a chance of seeing it weighed then, and got a certain figure for it, that would be exactly the way in which these Englishmen deal. They see their fish weighed, and they know what they are getting for each ton or each cwt. of it, and they have nothing more to expect. But we don't do that; we get the dried fish price. 8568. Do you know how much green fish makes a cwt. of dry?-I know that about 21/4 cwt. is the general rate allowed in the ling fishing for green fish, but if it is good fish it will not require so much as that I have helped to cure myself, but it may be as much as that with bad fish. As to salted fish, I could not say definitely what is the proportion. 8569. There is no such calculation required in the Faroe fishing?- No; it does not come so immediately under my notice. I never saw my fish weighed dry; I have seen them occasionally weighed wet, but not often. 8570. Are they occasionally weighed wet in the Faroe fishing?- Sometimes, not often. It is done perhaps on shore or on board, as it happens. Suppose we land them at a different station from what we intended, they are counted out and weighed when sold, and then the owner or fish-curer will know what they can turn out when dry. That is the reason why they are weighed. 8571. Then there must be a calculation made in that case?-There is, but I do not know exactly what it is. 8572. To go back to your calculation about the expense of curing fish, can you tell me how much salt is required to cure a ton of fish?-We generally reckon upon a ton of salt to a ton of dry fish. If the salt is well cared for it will do a little more but we generally reckon upon that as an average. 8573. Is the salt which the fish get all put on them before they are put on shore?-Yes; it is all put on. There is none put on afterwards, except it may be in the case of a few fish which are likely to give way, or when we get fish and have not enough salt, but that is a case of emergency and an exception-not the rule. As a rule, we cure our fish and put all the salt on them they require. 8574. Have you any knowledge of the system of payment in the ling fishing?-Only from what I have heard about it. I have been at it only once when I was a lad; and I cannot say much about it from experience. 8575. Do you think your neighbours are generally quite at liberty to deal with any merchant they please in the ling fishing?-I believe they are at perfect liberty so far as any man is concerned who could stand in a position like me, and be able to pay his way at any time; but I think a man who could not pay his way, and who was always in debt, would not be at liberty to go where he chose. I am not sure that even he would not be at liberty to use his own judgment, and deal where he liked; but I don't know that he would be looked well upon if he went to another. That is to say, if he was in debt £10 or £20 to a merchant, I don't think the merchant would look well upon it if the man went to another merchant to whom he owed nothing, and fished for him. At least that is what they have told me, and what I have known; but, of course, a man who can pay his way, and who is not bound to fish for a certain individual, can do as he likes. There are fishermen in other parts of the country who are bound to fish for their landowner or their factor, but that does not exist here. 8576. Is there anything else you wish to state?-I don't think there is anything about any matter with which I am immediately connected. We used to make a little Shetland cloth, but I could only corroborate the evidence that has been already given about that. I have never been under the necessity of selling it to a particular party, and I have got the money for it when I asked it. I don't know that the same price is always given in money as when it is taken in goods; but if I needed money, and asked for it, I always got it. [Page 209] 8577. Then you have no objection to the practice which exists with regard to the hosiery trade?-No; I would not say anything about that. 8578. Have you any objection to what is done in the cloth trade?- It is the cloth trade I mean. Of course the knitting is a thing that I am not immediately connected with; there is not much done in that way with me. I know, however, that in some cases, although perhaps not in all, where women have been knitting hosiery, and they have got a certain price for an article, yet by buying tea or groceries, which are reckoned as money articles, they would have to pay more for them. They would have to pay 2d. or 11/2d. more upon a 1/4 lb. of tea, because it was being paid for by hosiery; but I think I would have preferred a different way of dealing with them. I think, if I had been in a position like that, I would have given them less for their hosiery, and sold the articles to them at a fixed price. It would just have come to the very same thing with the merchants. 8579. You think that would have been a wiser course for the merchants to take?-Yes. I remember on one occasion when I brought two or three articles of hosiery to a merchant, I got a certain sum put upon them; but when I got a little tea from him, he said he had to make the tea 2d. more per quarter, because it was paid for in hosiery. I said to him I would not deal in that way if I were him, but that I would give a little less for the hosiery, and I would charge a fixed price for my tea, or whatever other articles I was selling; but he said, 'We must all do that, because if I were to say that I would not give a woman so much for her hosiery, she would go to another merchant with it, and they would give her a higher price, and lay it on their goods;' which I have no doubt they do. 8580. Therefore you did not convince the hosiery merchant?-I convinced him so far, that I got my price. I would not pay the price he charged, and would have taken my article of hosiery back rather than pay it. 8581. Did that take place some years ago?-Yes; it is not less than six years ago. Brae, January 13, 1872, THOMAS ROBERTSON, examined. 8582. Have you been a fisherman here all your life?-Not all my life; but I have been for a number of years. 8583. You hold a bit of ground at Weathersta?-Yes. 8584. Who do you fish for?-For Mr Adie, Voe. 8585. Do you settle with him every year?-Yes. 8586. Do you generally get some of your balance in cash?-Yes. If I have a balance to get I get it, but I always got money when I asked it, whether I had it to get or not. 8587. Do you get money advanced to you in the course of the year?-Yes; whenever I ask it. 8588. Did you get that ten years ago if you asked for it?-I did. 8589. Was that the practice then?-Yes; but I never asked for money unless I required it. 8590. You wanted goods oftener?-Yes. 8591. How far is it from Voe to your place?-About three miles. 8592. Is Mr. Adie's the nearest shop to you?-No. Brae is nearer than Voe. 8593. But you dealt at Voe, because you were fishing for Mr. Adie?-I dealt some at Brae too; but mostly at Voe. 8594. Was that because you had an account there?-Yes. 8595. And it was more convenient for you sometimes to deal upon credit?-Yes. 8596. I suppose you would get a larger advance in goods at that shop than you would have got if you were to ask money?-I don't know; I only asked for goods when I was needing them. 8597. But if you had asked money with which to go and buy your goods elsewhere, would you have got it?-I cannot say, for I never asked it. 8598. Have you heard the evidence of Robertson and Wood, and the other fishermen who have been examined to-day?-Yes. 8599. Have you anything different to say from what they said about the system of dealing among the fishermen here?-No. 8600. Have you known fishermen changing from one employment to another?-I have. 8601. Have you done that yourself?-No. 8602. You have always fished for Mr. Adie?-Yes. 8603. What is the general reason for the men shifting?-I don't know. I suppose it is because they think they will be better. 8604. How are they better, when the same price is always paid at the end of the year by all the curers?-I cannot see where they can be better by shifting from one man to another; I never felt that I would be any better to do so. 8605. I understand all the merchants hereabout pay the same current price for fish?-Yes. Mr. Adie proposed a stated agreement to me for fishing herring. The herrings in Shetland then were 7s. a cran, and he agreed that he would give us 8s. a cran; but we have only got 8s. a cran for two years. The price varies with the agreement in each year; sometimes we get 13s. a cran, sometimes 10s., and sometimes 12s.-just up and down. 8606. Do you generally go to the herring fishing every year?-Yes. 8607. At what season of the year do you go?-August and September; after we are done with the ling fishing. 8608. And the bargain for the herring fishing is that you are to get so much a cran?-Yes; that was the agreement we had with Mr. Adie when we took our nets. 8609. Do you hire nets from him for that fishing?-No, we buy them, and they are put into our accounts. 8610. Have you paid off the price of these nets now?-Yes. 8611. How long did it take you to pay them?-I could not say exactly, but I think it took us between 8 and 9 years to pay for them all, because we had lean fishings. 8612. You mean that the herring fishing was poor?-Yes. 8613. Did you get them paid off at last?-Yes. 8614. Is the price for the herrings paid down whenever you deliver them?-No. 8615. Do you keep an account for the herring fishing separate from the account for the ling fishing?-Yes. 8616. Do you get goods to the other side of that account too?-No; they are all in the same account. 8617. Your goods are kept in an account at Voe?-Yes. 8618. And the price of the herrings is entered to your credit when you settle?-Yes. 8619. Do you keep a pass-book?-Yes. 8620. Have you got it now?-No; I don't have it, because we think there is no use keeping it after the end of the season. Once we find the pass-book to be correct, we think it is of no farther use, and when I brought it home I suppose the bairns tore it up. 8621. When you square up your account at the end of the year, do you go and look at all the items in Mr. Adie's book?-Yes. 8622. Are they read over to you?-Yes; I compare them with the items in my book, and I see that they are all correct. 8623. Is it mostly goods or cash that you get in the course of the year?-It is goods for the most part but I get a good part of cash too. [Page 210] Brae, January 13, 1872, JOHN RATTER, examined. 8624. You are a fisherman at Weathersta?-Yes. 8625. Do you fish for Mr. Adie?-Yes. 8626. Have you heard what Thomas Robertson has said?-Yes. 8627. Does it all apply to your case as well as his?-Exactly. 8628. How long have you fished for Mr. Adie?-Six years. 8629. Where did you fish before?-I did not fish for any one before, except going for a fee to the ling fishing. 8630. Do you go to the herring fishing also?-Yes. 8631. And you are paid for it in the same way as Robertson?- Yes. 8632. You get a fixed price for the herring?-Yes. 8633. Have you anything to add to what he has said?-No. Brae, January 13, 1872, GILBERT SCOLLAY, recalled. 8634. Is there anything further you wish to say?-I forgot that I had my pass-book with Mr. Adie for this year with me. It shows the goods I am getting now. [Produces book.] 8635. I thought you were getting your goods at cash price now?- Yes; I had a promise of them at cash price. 8636. I see there is tea, 5d.?-That is for 2 oz. of tea. 8637. Then you are not getting them for cash price yet?-I have no doubt that when I settle with Mr. Adie he will square that up. I have his promise for it, and I have no doubt that he will do it. I wish further to say, that this truck system or compulsory barter is a great cause of pauperism, as it makes the poor careless and the rich fearless; because, should the head of the family die, the creditor will probably take the effects left, and consequently leave the widow and fatherless children, if any, on the parish. Another thing is, that when the merchants have it in their power to price both their goods and mine, they clearly see that I must sell, and off it must go at whatever they say is the value, and I must take their goods at the value they are pleased to put upon them, and I-if I am in debt-dare not grumble. 8638. What goods have you had to sell upon which they have put their own price?-For one thing, I have been a carrier of hosiery to different places. 8639. Who have you carried hosiery for?-Perhaps for my wife or others, and the value of the stockings was made to be 10d., or 8d., or 7d. If I took tea, and the value of the stockings was 10d., I could only get 9d. worth. If I took cotton goods I would get the full value, but not if I took tea. Then, if under this system a man gets into debt, it is more in appearance than in reality; and should that man ask money from the apparent creditor, the old account will be shaken at him as a scarecrow, and he is generally told to pay his credit and transfer his custom, and that consequently nails him to the old plan. As to the difference in the price of meal, what deceived me in that line was, that I and others were often told that they only charged 2s. per sack as a commission, which would have been £10 per 100 sacks; but at last, when I wrote to some of the meal dealers in the south, I found it was more like £50 per 100 sacks-that is 10s. per sack instead of 2s. Brae, January 13, 1872, WILLIAM ADIE, examined. 8640. You are a son of Mr. T.M. Adie, who has been already examined?-I am. I am a partner of the business carried on at Voe, although it is carried on in my father's name. I have been a partner for seven or eight years. 8641. Are you aware of any arrangement existing between Messrs. Adie, Anderson, and Inkster, to this effect, that when a fisherman who is in debt to one of these curers goes to another, the new employer undertakes the debt incurred to the former employer?- There was an arrangement of that sort entered into. 8642. Has it been acted upon to a certain extent?-Yes; I think it has been pretty well carried out. 8643. Was it reduced to writing?-Yes; I think the original document is in our possession. I will send it to you.* A principal object or inducement for having that document drawn up was, that a great many of our fishermen were in the habit of settling at the end of the season, and getting advances for rent, or of goods, on the understanding that they were to fish, or go in a boat of ours to the fishing, in the following season; and then they left and went to Mr. Anderson, and took similar advances from him. 8644. Did you find that a man who got into arrears in your books, and to whom you were obliged to refuse supplies on account of his debt being too large, was apt to go to another merchant and engage with him for the following season?-In some cases perhaps they did so, but not as a rule. 8645. But did you not find that when a man's debt got so large that you had to refuse him supplies, and he was not likely to pay it, he went away to another merchant instead of continuing to fish for you?-Sometimes; but most of the men, when they are in debt in that way, save as much as possible, and keep under expenses, in order to assist in getting the debt cleared off. 8646. You see when a man is trying to keep down expenses, and you help him as far as possible?-Yes. 8647. Do you remember of one William Inkster leaving you in that way a good many years ago?-Yes. 8648. And Mr. Anderson paid the whole of his debt to you under that agreement?-Yes; Mr. Anderson paid his debt. 8649. Have other cases occurred of a similar kind?-Yes; I think we have paid Mr. Anderson some accounts for some of his men, and he has paid us. 8650. Is it the full debt that is paid in these cases, or only a proportion of it, or do you make a compromise?-Sometimes we make a compromise. 8651. Was there any understanding when you took the lease of your premises at Voe, that no shop should be permitted on the Busta estate near you?-I cannot speak positively on that matter. I don't know the terms of the lease exactly. I think there was a stipulation in the last lease, with regard to the pasture ground, that no business should be carried on upon it. 8652. Do you mean no fish-curing business?-No shop. There was a talk at one time of having a [Page 211] public-house put up there; and I think it was with reference to that that the stipulation was put in. That was in the lease of the park or enclosed property. 8653. Has your firm a grocer's licence?-Yes. 8654. I understand there is no public-house in the neighbourhood?-No; we have a spirit licence. 8655. Have you a public-house licence as well?-Yes. 8656. That business is carried on, of course, in different premises from your other business?-No; they are carried on in the same premises. 8657. Is there not a different door to the place where you sell the spirits?-No; we are quite at liberty to sell spirits there, but not to consume them on the premises. 8658. Then you have no licence at all to consume on the premises?-No. 8659. And the licence you have is not a public house licence?- No. 8660. You have been present to-day and heard the evidence: is there any observation you wish to make upon it?-I don't know that there is. I think most of the things which have been referred to were explained by my father. There is something, however, with reference to the curing of the fish which I may refer to. That matter has scarcely been gone into as it should have been. For instance, it has been stated that a ton of salt will cure a ton of fish in one of the Faroe vessels, but it never does so. At one time, I believe, it would have cured a ton of fish, but there is a fearful extravagance and waste of salt going on in these vessels now. There are tons of salt which are wasted among ballast, and in other ways, so that we never turn out a ton of dry fish for a ton of salt. 8661. You heard the calculation made by Blanch on that subject?-Yes. Salt costs us a great deal more than he mentioned; we don't have salt in our cellars under 27s. or 27s. 6d., and there is the cost of shipping again into the vessels and wastage. 8662. He allowed 2s. a ton for waste?-Yes, in landing, but not in shipping; 2s. a ton will not cover the waste both in landing and shipping; and then the cost of labour is very much higher than it used to be. 8663. Is 12s. a ton an insufficient allowance for labour?-It is. 8664. Have you made a calculation of that at any time for the purposes of your business?-We can scarcely get an accurate calculation made, but I am certain it is more than he stated. There are different parcels of fish landed from different vessels to be cured, and we cannot keep an accurate account of the time expended on each parcel. 8665. But take a single ton of fish: is 12s. more than the ordinary cost of curing it?-No; it is considerably less than the cost. I am perfectly certain of that. 8666. Is 50s. per ton, the ordinary deduction charged off fishermen for the Faroe fishing, very much above the actual cost?-I don't think it is 6d. over the actual cost. 8667. Does that include anything for superintendence?-Of course, it includes the allowance for our utensils, and the cost of beaches and superintendence. Then Blanch said there was a deduction of 5 per cent, but it is not 5 per cent. that is deducted. There is generally £1 per ton deducted for expenses in realizing the fish and storage, and so on. 8668. Is that £1 per ton on the cured fish?-Yes; that is known all over the country to be the ordinary rate of charge. 8669. That comes to nearly 5 per cent.?-Yes; sometimes it is a little more than 5 per cent, and sometimes it is not so much. 8670. Are these all the deductions that are made before the division of the proceeds of the cured fish?-Yes; there is the curing, and the master and the mate's extra, and the score-money. 8671. What is score-money?-The men are paid so much for each score of fish they individually draw. 8672. That is to say, each man counts the fish which he gets with his own lines?-Yes, and he gets 6d. a score for them. 8673. That is a sort of premium upon industry?-Yes; that is deducted from the gross, and paid to the individual fisherman. 8674. Is there any other deduction in favour of either the merchant or the men?-I am not aware of any. There are some payments for bait which are deducted too. That is charged against the vessel's fishing, and deducted from the gross. 8675. Is there any expense for lines, or do the men furnish their own lines?-The men furnish their lines in the Faroe fishing. 8676. Is the price of these lines charged against the fishing, or against the men individually?-Against the men individually. Each man gets his own lines, and they are charged in his individual account. There is a stock of lines generally kept by the master on board the vessel, and they are supplied by him to the men on board. 8677. These stores on board the vessel go to the individual account of the men?-Yes, stores of all kinds. We supply them with 8 lbs. of bread per man per week, and they find their own small stores. 8678. These they generally purchase in your shop?-Yes. 8679. And they are put to their account?-Yes. * The agreement referred to was afterwards sent in, and was in the following terms:-'We, Gideon Anderson, of Ollaberry; John Anderson, Hillswick; James Inkster, Brae; and Thomas M. Adie, Voe; considering the very disastrous consequences likely to ensue to ourselves, and ultimately to our fishermen, from the reckless system of giving them advances which has been for some time practised, and knowing that such system is farther followed from the fact that if any of us refused their demands, however absurd, they turned to another, who gave them what they wanted; we have resolved to do away with such in future, so that each of us may be able to exercise his own judgment as to the propriety of what advances he may make to his fishermen;' and the parties agreed and bound themselves, so long as they continued as fishcurers in the same localities, 'not to tamper with or engage each other's fishermen, or allow our boat-skippers or men to do so, or to make advances of rents to them on their cattle, sheep, or ponies, or under any circumstances whatever, unless they produce a certificate from any of us whom they last fished for, to the effect that he is clear of debt and all other obligations existing therefrom, or in connection with the fishing,' under a penalty of £5, to be paid to the poor of the parish. In a letter with reference to this agreement Mr. T. M. Adie says:- 'The only way in which it has ever had to be acted on is, that occasionally some man would like to be in a boat more convenient for him, when any of us whom he had fished for gave him a note stating that he was under no obligation, or if he was due a balance, the curer he went to paid it for him. On some occasions we had found that a worthless fellow would get what he actually needed advanced to him, and then, if any fancied want was not supplied, he would leave the boat, and the rest of the crew lost their fishing for want of a man in his stead, and it tended to keep down advances in goods so that men had, more money to get.' Brae, January 13, 1872, CHARLES NICHOLSON, examined. 8680. Where do you live?-In North Delting. 8681. Are you a fisherman?-I am. 8682. Who do you fish for?-Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co. 8683. How far do you live from Mossbank?-About a mile. 8684. How long have you fished for Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-Five years. 8685. Do you keep an account at the Mossbank shop?-Yes. 8686. Do you make a settlement at the end of the year?-Yes. 8687. Do you get any money at settlement?-Yes, I get my rent. 8688. Who do you pay your rent to?-Mr. John Robertson. I live on the Lunna estate; Sheriff Bell is the proprietor. 8689. Do you get any more money from Pole, Hoseason, & Co., besides your rent?-No more money, as I don't have it to get. 8690. Is that because you are in debt?-Yes. 8691. How far are you behind?-I was behind £3 at the last settlement, but I have been as much behind as £13. 8692. Are you always behind in your accounts?-Yes. 8693. And you always go to fish for Pole, Hoseason, & Co., in the hope of paying them off?-Yes. 8694. Are you at liberty to fish for any other merchant?-No. 8695. Why?-Because I am in debt, and I cannot pay my debt, therefore I am obliged to fish for Mr. Pole. 8696. If you were to go to fish for another merchant and get paid by him in money, could you not pay off your debt to Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-I might, but I don't see what good that would do. I get the same price for my fish from Mr. Pole as I would get from any other body. 8697. But don't you think you run up a bigger account when you are dealing with Pole, Hoseason, & Co., than you would do if you were getting your cash in hand?-Yes; if I had cash to purchase my meal, which is the principal thing I require, I would get it cheaper elsewhere. 8698. What is the price of meal at Mossbank just now?-I cannot say rightly. [Page 212] 8699. When did you know last? Have you made your settlement this year?-Yes. 8700. Don't you know what you were charged for meal then?- No. 8701. Do you ask the price of your meal as you buy it?- Sometimes; but we must take it, whatever it is, because we have no money to purchase it with elsewhere. 8702. Whose fault is that?-I don't know. 8703. Is it the merchant's fault?-I cannot say that is. 8704. Do you think Messrs. Pole Hoseason, & Co. charge too high for their goods?-Yes; if we had money we could get them cheaper in Lerwick. 8705. But I suppose you would have money if you could save as much as would keep you for one year?-Yes. 8706. If you could manage that, you would not run into the merchant's debt at all, but you would have all your cash to get at settlement?-Yes, if we had as much as would once clear us off. 8707. Can you not manage to do that?-No. I have a small family, and there is a great quantity of bread to buy, and clothes and everything. I have nothing but what I can earn by the fishing. 8708. What kind of bread do you buy?-Oatmeal and flour. 8709. Are there many men who are in debt at Mossbank in the same way as you?-I believe there are a few, but I cannot say. 8710. Do you want to go to fish for any other merchant?-No; I don't see any good that that would do to me. 8711. Is there anything else you wish to say?-Nothing. 8712. Was there anything else you wanted to say when you came here?-No. Brae, January 13, 1872, PETER BLANCH, recalled. 8713. Do you wish to add anything to your former evidence?- About the cost of fish-curing, I said I was not speaking exactly from my own experience with regard to the sum paid, but I know that we have never used more than a ton of salt to a ton of fish on the average. I wish also to say that I have been told more than once by parties who have cured fish for Mr. Adie and others, that they only paid 12s. per ton of fish for the labour of curing. I also say that I have paid 1s. for landing salt at Lerwick, and nothing more, and I allow 2s. for wastage. These are things which Mr. William Adie thought I had no doubt exaggerated, but I am conscious of the fact that I told nothing but the truth. 8714. Was 12s. per ton a price which was paid under contract?- Yes. 8715. Who are the parties who told you about that?-Arthur Harrison was the last one I spoke to. I landed fish to be cured by him, and he told me so. There was another man who told me the same thing about five years ago, John Henry, Sandsting, in Walls. With regard to the price paid for lines, I wish also to say that we have to furnish our own lines in the Faroe fishing. You were asking me if I thought there was a possibility of our bettering ourselves. I thought there was, and that was one of the ways in which I thought we might do so. I have always thought that the owner, when he provided a vessel, ought also to provide the material for the catching of the fish; but instead of that we have to provide our own lines, and supply other lines if we happen to lose them, at a very dear price. We 21/2 lines for each man, and we pay 2s. 6d. for what I know the merchants buy at 2s. or 1s. 6d. 8716. Could you not buy your lines at another shop if you chose?-Yes; we could do that. 8717. Is it part of the arrangement that you are to take these lines from the owner of the vessel?-I don't know that it is part of the arrangement, but I don't think they would like it very well if we went to another; still I don't know that we would be prevented. 8718. Do not the men sometimes hire the lines?-No; never in my experience in the Faroe fishing. Brae, January 13, 1872, JOHN NICHOLSON, examined. 8719. Where do you come from?-North Delting. 8720. Who do you fish for?-Messrs Pole, Hoseason, & Co. 8721. Have you heard the evidence of Charles Nicholson?-Yes; and I would like to say about the price of our fish, that I don't think it is very right that the men should have to go to the fishing at the beginning of the season, and don't know what they are to get until they come to settle. 8722. Do you think you ought to have your price fixed at the beginning of the season?-Yes. 8723. Have you ever asked for that?-No; we have never asked for it. 8724. Why?-Because some of the crew are for it and others are against it, and we could not get the thing rightly settled up amongst ourselves. 8725. How long have you fished for Pole, Hoseason, & Co?-I have fished there for about fourteen years, both before and after Mr. Pole came to Mossbank. 8726. Where do you buy your goods?-From Mr. Pole. 8727. Anywhere else?-No. 8728. Do you never go to any other shop in the neighbourhood?- Not very often. 8729. Why is that?-Because sometimes I don't have ready money to go with. 8730. If you had ready money would you go anywhere else?-Yes. 8731. Why?-Because I could get my goods cheaper and better. 8732. Are you not satisfied with the quality of the goods at the Mossbank shop?-No. There are some of the articles there which are inferior to other people's, and dearer too. 8733. What articles are inferior?-Tea and sugar and meal. 8734. Where could you get them better?-In Lerwick. 8735. That is a long way to go for them?-Yes; but a man must take some trouble upon himself when he gets them cheaper and better. 8736. What are you paying at Mossbank store for these things just now?-Tea is 3s. per lb., sugar is 5d., and meal is 50s. 8737. When did you buy any of these three articles in Lerwick?- About a month ago. 8738. What did you get them for?-I got tea for 2s. 4d., sugar for 4d., and meal for 32s. 8739. What is the price of meal now?- About 48s. but it was 50s. in summer, and I bought a sack, or two bolls, at 32s. in Lerwick. 8740. What quantity of meal did you buy at Mossbank last, for which you paid 48s.?-I got it out in lesser quantities. They don't like to give very much at one time, and I had to take it in less quantities than I could get it in Lerwick. 8741. Were you in debt to the shop at the time?-A little; not very much. 8742. And they would not give it to you because you were in debt?-No. 8743. Was it by the lispund you bought it at Mossbank?-Yes; I paid 5s. 8d. per lispund for it, but about the end of July it was 6s. We generally take it by the quarter boll there. 8744. There are 32 lbs. to the lispund, and 280 lbs. in the sack?- Yes. 8745. Was the quality of the articles you bought in Lerwick, at the price you have mentioned, as good as what you got at Mossbank at the prices which [Page 213] say are charged there?-If there was any difference, they were better. 8746. But you had to carry them to Mossbank?-I had. The meal came by the steamer, and I had to pay 8d. for that. 8747. Can you not get cash from Pole, Hoseason, Co. when you require it, and go and buy your supplies in Lerwick?-Yes; what I require for the fishing, but not otherwise. 8748. You cannot get what you require for your family?-No. 8749. How did you happen to have money when you went and bought the meal in Lerwick?-I had it from my small boat fishing in the winter, and I saved the money. Brae, January 13, 1872, WILLIAM ADIE (recalled), examined. 8750. Is there anything further in what Blanch has said to which you wish to refer?-Yes; he said that 12s. was the contract price for curing our fish: that is false. We paid 13s. for curing fish at Urrafirth, by Arthur Harrison. 8751. Was that your contract price for the fish cured by him this year?-He has cured none for us this year. He only cured a few fish for us in the fall, and he got more than that for them. 8752. Then that was the contract price in 1870?-Yes, for curing alone. Then we had to pay 3s. a ton for landing and shipping these fish from Voe to Urrafirth, and 3s. to Voe again; so that the curing of the fish would cost us about £1. 8753. Why do you pay so heavy freights? Can you not have the fish landed at Urrafirth in the first place?-No. We send them there as a convenience for ourselves, but the men are bound to land them at Voe, and we have to remove them at our own expense. We have no storage at Urrafirth for them, and they have to be removed to our own stores again. 8754. Why do you carry your fish to Urrafirth to be cured?- Because we have not sufficient accommodation for them all at Voe when we have a large take of fish. 8755. Then you have to send your surplus fish all that way to be cured?-Yes. 8756. Does it not arise in that way that you have a loss upon these fish?-Yes, we have a loss upon the fish when we cure them by contract. 8757. These fish will cost you more than 50s. for curing?-Yes, they cost us considerably more. 8758. But that will be recouped by your other profit?-Yes; but of course we must pay that extra out of our own pockets. 8759. But it does not follow that you have a loss upon the total proceeds of the fish?-No, we would not need to have that. 8760. The profit you calculate upon obtaining from the sale of your fish is sufficient to cover an occasional loss of that sort, and is calculated accordingly?- Yes. Of course, the extra charge on the curing at Urrafirth won't come to nearly the £1 per ton which we have for storage and commission on the fish. 8761. Is there any one else who wishes to be examined?- [No answer.] Then I adjourn the inquiry here until further notice. [] Brae, January 13, 1872, JAMES GARRIOCH, examined. 8762. You are shopkeeper to Messrs. Hay & Co. at their shop in the island of Fetlar?-I am. 8763. How long have you been there?-Three years past on 1st December. Before that I was a store-keeper with them in Lerwick. 8764. Was that establishment in Lerwick the one from which both Faroe fishers and home fishers got their supplies for the season, and their outfit for the fishing?-Yes; and Messrs. Hay's country shops were also supplied from that shop for the most part. 8765. I understand the supplies for the country shops are sent down to you with invoices of the prices at which you are to sell them?-That is done with some shops belonging to Messrs. Hay, but with others it is not. To some of them the goods are sent down at cost price, and the shopkeeper fixes what prices he thinks right. That is what is done at Fetlar. 8766. I see from the books you have produced, that on September 25 oatmeal was 5s. 3d.: is that per lispund?-That is for a quarter-boll. 8767. Do you not sell by the lispund?-Sometimes we do, just as the parties want it. 8768. A quarter-boll would be 3 lbs. more than a lispund?-Yes. 8769. And 5s. 3d. per quarter-boll would be for 35 lbs.?-Yes. 8770. Have you the invoice showing at what price that was invoiced to you from Lerwick?-I have not. 8771. Do you remember how much it was invoiced at?-No. It was not a fixed thing for the whole season; it varies. 8772. When did you get your supplies of meal last summer?-It comes from Aberdeen almost weekly or fortnightly during the time the fishing continues. 8773. You do not sell much meal in Fetlar after the fishing is over?-No; the people then have their crops to depend upon. 8774. When do you begin to sell the greatest quantity of goods at your store?-About April; we begin to be much busier then. From September until April the people are depending for the most part upon their own crop, but sometimes they do take a little meal from us. 8775. Was 5s. 3d. per quarter-boll the selling price for meal during the whole season?-No; it differs greatly. Sometimes you will see it is more, and sometimes less. 8776. I see that it is 5s. 3d. in September, and 5s. 9d. in July?- Yes; I expect that would be about the dearest time. 8777. I see an entry of oatmeal, 22s. 8d., in August?-That would be for a boll. 8778. Do you sell a boll at the same price, proportionally, as a quarter-boll?-Just the same. 8779. You do not make a difference for the retail?-None whatever. 8780. Do Messrs. Hay hold Fetlar, or any part of it, under tack?- Not so far as I am aware. 8781. Are the fishermen there bound to fish for them in any way?-I don't think they are; at least not to my knowledge. They have tenants there; at least they are not tenants exactly, but Messrs. Hay are factors for the Earl of Zetland. I don't know how Lord Zetland's tenants do, but I don't think they are bound. 8782. At any rate they are not bound by their tacks in any way?- Not so far as I am aware, [Page 214] 8783. Is it mostly Lord Zetland's tenants who fish for Messrs. Hay in Fetlar?-I think not. 8784. Do some of Lady Nicholson's tenants fish for them also?- Yes; I should think about half-and-half. 8785. Are there any other proprietors in Fetlar than Lord Zetland and Lady Nicholson?-Not for the fishermen. There are other proprietors in the island, but none of their tenants fish. 8786. I see here, under date June 1, 1871, an entry against George Gaunson, 'Cash for penalty per current account, £4, 2s. 2d.:' what does that mean?-He was summoned to court for some wrecked timber that he was in possession of, and that was his penalty, which was paid by me for him. 8787. You entered that to his debit?-Yes. What meant by 'current account' is, that I paid the money at Lerwick, and it was charged to me at current account, and I gave Hay & Co. credit for it in my book at Fetlar. 8788. How many tons of dry fish did you sell from Fetlar last year?-We sold the following quantities for 1871: Tons. Cwt. Qrs. Lbs. Ling, 32 2 3 11 Tusk, 5 2 1 22 Cod, 3 16 3 17 Saith, 0 18 2 15 8789. Had you only ten boats' crews fishing for you last season?- There were eleven boats. 8790. Did they contain sixty-six men, or were some of them smaller boats?-Some of them were smaller boats, with only five men. For instance, in Laurence Donaldson's boat, although there were only six men, there were five shares, because two boys count for a share. 8791. How many women and boys had you employed in curing at Fetlar?-We had eight men and boys-no women. 8792. Have the beach boys got accounts in the ledger also?-Yes. They are all in one place. [Shows.] 8793. The first is Laurence Brown. His fee was 10s., and, after debiting his out-takes, he received 7s. 31/2d. in cash in full?-Yes. 8794. The next is John Sinclair, jun.; after debiting his out-takes, he received 8s. 4d. in cash?-Yes. 8795. The next is John Coutts, who received 9s. 6d.?-Yes. 8796. The next is James Laurenson; his fee was only 5s., and he received 14s. 11/2d. in cash?-Yes. 8797. The next is Arthur James Tulloch; his fee was 16s., and he received 6s. 21/2d.?-Yes; he was only employed during part of the season. I think I had eight besides him. 8798. The next is Peter Sinclair; he had a fee of 10s., and, after deducting his out-takes, he received 6d. in cash in full, but he had received 19s. 6d. in cash during the season?-Yes. 8799. The next is George Laurenson; his fee was £4 and he received £1, 14s. 6d. in cash at settlement, and sundry small sums in cash have been paid to him in the course of the year?- Yes. He was a young lad, about sixteen years of age, I think. 8800. The next is Robert Johnston; his fee was 15s., and he received 7s. 1d. in cash at settlement, having received 5s. 4d. in cash during the season?-Yes. 8801. The next is George Donaldson; his fee was 10s. and he received 9s. 1d. in cash at settlement?-Yes. 8802. He seems to have got a number of loaves and biscuit?-Yes. His supplies were almost entirely for food. 8803. There are also the accounts of two men here; one of them is Magnus Brown. Is he one of your principal curers?-Yes. 8804. His fee, called beach-fee was £8, 5s., and he received 17s. 41/2d. in cash at settlement?-Yes. He received £1 at the commencement, and the next entry is 6s. 9d. paid for purchase at sale. That was purchase at a sale of wreck, which was paid for him by me, and was the same as cash. Including that purchase at the sale, he received about 30s. in cash in the course of the season. 8805. The next is Arthur N. Henderson: was the other beach-man?-Yes. 8806. His fee was £5; he received £1, 6s. 3d. in cash at settlement, and 4s. 6d. was paid to him during the season?-Yes. 8807. Were these all your beach people?-Yes. 8808. Why are they not paid weekly wages?-They could have it in that way if they wanted it. It would be all the same to us; I don't see any difference. 8809. Why do they not want it?-I don't think there is any particular reason, except that they don't wish it in that way. 8810. Do you think they would rather have it settled for at the end of the year?-I think so. 8811. Are not the people that Messrs. Hay employ in the curing at Lerwick paid weekly wages?-Yes. 8812. But at all the stations, I suppose, they are paid by beach fees?-Yes; and these are paid at the end of the year. 8813. The books which you keep at Fetlar are, first, the wet fish book, in which each boat's crew has the amount of each delivery of fish entered?-Yes. 8814. Then you have another fish book showing the amount of dry fish shipped by your different vessels?-Yes; that book [showing] is for the season of 1871. 8815. Do you begin to ship so early as June?-Yes. The men generally catch a few fish in winter now, and these are shipped first. The wet fish that are caught in winter are not in the book I have brought. 8816. Have you a separate book for your winter fish?-Yes. 8817. What quantity of winter fish do you generally sell?-I cannot say exactly; but for about two years I have had only about 2 or 21/2 tons of dry fish. They are cured along with the first fish caught in the spring, and sent down. 8818. Then the shipment on June 6th of 4 tons 7 cwt. of ling will include some summer fish as well?-Yes, spring fish. 8819. The only other book you keep is the ledger?-Yes, and the goods account book-a book for the goods and the expenses on the fish-curing. 8820. How do you keep your goods account book?-I enter every invoice as it comes from Lerwick, and against them I enter my returns. 8821. All your sales of goods are entered under the names of the parties to whom they are sold?-Yes. 8822. And that is the only entry of sales you make?-Yes. We don't enter what we get ready money for. 8823. You do not keep a waste day-book?-No. 8824. How do you balance the accounts with your fishermen?- The ledger will show. 8825. Is that done by you, or by some one from, Lerwick?- Always by some one from Lerwick. 8826. How long does it generally take to get all your fishermen settled with?-Not long; I think about three days. 8827. Some one comes from Lerwick, and the fishermen come to the office and are settled with in his presence and in yours?-Yes. 8828. Are the accounts read over to the men, or do they generally have a pass-book?-They are generally read over. Some carry a pass-book, and some do not. 8829. Are they always read over?-I don't think they are always read over. Generally I read them, over before the men come up to settle, so as to have them added up and ready. 8830. The ledger is written up from day to day as the goods are taken out?-Yes, perhaps twice or thrice, in a day. 8831. And the fisherman signs at settlement?-Yes. 8832. He signs also when there is a balance against him, which sometimes happens?-Yes. 8833. Have Messrs. Hay & Co. a spirit licence for the sale of whisky?-No. 8834. Do you not sell whisky at till?-No, not unless a man asks me to order it for him; and that [Page 215] goes into the current account at Lerwick, and is a separate thing altogether from the ordinary dealings. 8835. Is there no public-house in the island?-None. 8836. Do you buy hosiery at the store in Fetlar?-None. 8837. Are there any entries in this book [showing] relating to the purchase of kelp?-The parties who work the kelp have accounts in the book, and the kelp is credited to them there. 8838. How many people are employed gathering kelp in Fetlar?- There is no one regularly employed, only those who are ready to make it. 8839. Have Messrs. Hay & Co. a tack of the kelp shores?-No; it is done by any one who wishes to make it. 8840. And the entries are made to the credit of the women who gather it and burn it?-Yes. 8841. From how many of them have you made purchases during last year?-Only from about half a dozen. I have only purchased about 28 cwt. of it. 8842. What is the price paid for it?-4s. 6d. a cwt. 8843. Is that generally taken out in goods?-No. 8844. Do you pay 4s. 6d. when it is paid in cash?-Just the same; I make no difference. 8845. Do you not have two prices for it as they have in some places?-No; it is all the same to me whether they take money or goods. I should like them to take the goods, no doubt, but I don't compel them. 8846. In Robina Fraser's account I see that she has got more money than she has given kelp for: why was that?-She made a promise to work more, but she has not done it yet. 8847. Have you ever tried to send out a number of men to the winter fishing in large boats from Fetlar?-No. 8848. Do you consider that would be impracticable?-I think so. The coast is rather tempestuous, with heavy tides, and I don't think they would make anything of it. 8849. Do you purchase cattle and other farm stock for Messrs. Hay?-I purchase fat cattle at Martinmas, but only from the people privately. I bought eleven last Martinmas. 8850. Are these generally credited to the sellers in the ledger, or are they paid for in cash?-They are paid for in cash at the time when the cattle are taken away. 8851. Do any of these purchases appear in the ledger?-No. 8852. Are the rents on Lord Zetland's property in Fetlar collected by you?-No, they are generally collected by the man who comes up to settle with the fishermen. 8853. Are separate receipts given for them?-Yes. 8854. Does he also settle for the cattle?-No, I generally settle for the cattle myself. 8855. So that the cattle do not enter the rent account?-Sometimes they do. Sometimes they wish me to send on the amount to Hay & Co, to be credited in the next account. 8856. Of the eleven cattle which you purchased last year, would some be settled for in that way?-Yes. I cannot say how many, but I think four. 8857. You have no books showing that?-None here. 8858. They will be in the possession of Messrs. Hay; or have you a cattle-book?-No; I don't have one. 8859. Do the purchases of cattle pass through your current account with Hay & Co.?-Yes. 8860. Have you a private account of your own?-My account is in the ledger, but we have a current account besides that. That current account contains whatever comes from Lerwick, charged at the Lerwick retail prices, and then all my returns of money or anything are put to the current account. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, GEORGE GAUNSON, examined. 8861. You are a fisherman in Fetlar, and a tenant on Lord Zetland's property?-I am. 8862. Are you at liberty to fish for any one you please?-I don't know; we get as good a price from Messrs. Hay as we would get from any one else, and we fish for them. 8863. Is there any one else on the island who would buy your fish?-There is only one man on the east side, Jerome Brown, who takes a little besides Messrs. Hay's people. 8864. But you don't know whether you are at liberty to fish for Brown or not?-I don't know. 8865. Did you make any arrangement about fishing when you took your land?-I did not. 8866. How long have you held it?-I think I have been 28 or 30 years in the island. 8867. Have you fished every year during that period?-Sometimes I fished, and sometimes I was at sea. 8868. But when you have been at home you have always fished, and sold your fish to Messrs. Hay at the current price at the end of the season?-Yes. 8869. Have you generally found that you had balance in your favour at the end of the season?-Yes, very often; but it did not matter, because when I wanted anything, whether money or goods or meal, I always got it. Very often we had no money for the house, but we always got supplies from them. 8870. Where do you sell your cattle and your eggs, and other farm stock?-We sell them just wherever we can get any person to buy them. There are cattle dealers and other persons who come about buying them. 8871. Do you sell oftener to them or to Messrs. Hay?-It makes very little difference; when we have any cattle to sell, whenever any one comes round he gets them. 8872. Did you ever sell a beast to anybody but Messrs. Hay?- Yes; many a time. I have sold some horses to lots of people who were going about. I have sold some to Mr. Thomas Williamson, in Yell. I think he got the last one I sold; it was in February. It was a little horse. 8873. Who have you sold your cattle to?-Sometimes to Messrs. Hay's people, and sometimes to any other people who came round asking for them. 8874. Did you ever sell them to anybody except Messrs. Hay?-I have. 8875. When?-Some time before this. 8876. How long ago?-Last year I had none but the horse. 8877. Do you sell one or two beasts every year?-No; some years I sell none at all, and some years only one. 8878. Where do you sell your eggs?-Just anywhere that we can get the best price for them. 8879. Do you sell them generally to Messrs. Hay?-No; sometimes not. 8880. Is there anybody else in Fetlar who buys eggs?-Yes; Mr. William Tulloch buys some. 8881. Has he a small shop?-It is not a great deal of a shop that he has. He deals in cottons and such as that, and he buys eggs. I get 6d. a dozen for them sometimes, and sometimes perhaps 7d. 8882. Did you sell most of your eggs last year to Mr. Tulloch or to Mr. Garrioch?-I could not say. I don't deal much in that way myself. 8883. You leave that to your wife?-Yes. 8884. Do you always get your supplies from Hay Co.?-Yes. I never deal with Tulloch or Brown, and there is no other shop in the island that is worth going into. 8885. But are there any other shops at all except Tulloch's and Brown's?-I daresay some woman would sell some things sometimes, but they would not be of any account. 8886. Do you know where Tulloch and Brown, and that woman you speak of, get the goods they sell don't know. [Page 216] 8887. Do you generally get a good quality of stuff from Hay & Co., at a fair price?-Yes; they are very fair prices. 8888. Have you ever got goods at Lerwick?-Yes. 8889. Do you find the goods supplied at Hay & Co.'s shop in Fetlar to be as good and as cheap its those you get in Lerwick?- Yes; I have no reason to complain about that. 8890. What was the price of meal that you have been buying lately?-It is much the same as we get it at in Lerwick; sometimes it little higher and sometimes a little cheaper. I think last season it was generally about 20s. per boll for oatmeal; but I don't remember about that particularly. 8891. Do you have to keep up your own houses and your own fences?-Yes; the house I am living in was built when I came to it, and it is the same yet; we have to keep it in good order. 8892. The landlord does not do that for you?-I don't know; but the last time something was done to the house it was put down to Lord Zetland's account. 8893. Are most of the tenants on Lord Zetland's property in Fetlar fishing for Messrs. Hay?-I suppose most of them do. 8894. Do they generally understand that they are under any obligation to fish for them?-I don't think so; but it would make very little difference fishing for any other body, when we would get the same price from them. 8895. You don't think of curing your own fish, then?-No. 8896. Where do the Fetlar people sell their hosiery?-Generally in Lerwick; they go down there with it. My family do not knit much, because they have no wool, unless they get some to buy. 8897. What is paid for wool?-Sometimes it is 2s. per lb. for fine wool, sometimes 1s. 6d., and so on. 8898. Do you get that from your neighbours?-There are not many neighbours near us who have any sheep. 8899. Where do you buy it, then?-Sometimes we go to Lerwick and buy it, and sometimes in Yell. 8900. Is there no shop in Fetlar where you can buy it?-No. 8901. Where do you buy it in Lerwick?-I don't know; I do not buy it myself. They buy it just at any place where they can get it best. 8902. To whom do you pay your rent?-To Hay & Co. 8903. Is it deducted from your account when you settle?-Yes. 8904. Have you ever tried the winter fishing?-No; they don't do much in that with us. They might catch some in winter, but not many. They have generally a long way to go to seek them, and it requires particularly good weather to go out with the little boats. 8905. Have you not large enough boats for the winter fishing?- No. 8906. Do you think you could do anything if you had large decked boats?-I don't know; they have never tried them there. They might do something with them, but I don't think they would pay very well. 8907. Have your rents been raised lately?-No; they were raised a little about eight or nine years ago. 8908. Was there any different arrangement made at that time about the fishing?-No. 8909. Have you ever known any man in Fetlar who had to pay liberty money for freedom to sell his fish to another than the tacksman or factor?-No. 8910. And no man in your time has been put out of his ground for fishing to another?-No; I never heard of anything of the kind in Fetlar, either on Lord Zetland's or Lady Nicholson's ground. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, WILLIAM STEWART, examined. 8911. You are a tenant and fisherman at Seafield, Mid Yell?- Yes. Kirkabister is the town I live in. 8912. Who is your landlord?-Mrs. Budge. 8913. To whom do you sell your fish now?-I have sold them this year to Mr. Thomas Williamson. 8914. Who did you sell them to last year?-To Mr. Laurence Williamson, Linkshouse. 8915. Why did you leave him?-Because Mr. Sievwright, Mrs. Budge's factor, wished us to do it. 8916. Did you get a letter from him about the fishing?-Yes. 8917. Have you got it?-Yes. [Produces the following letter]: ', 22. 1870. 'WILLIAM, I now write, as I promised, to explain what I expect the Seafield tenants to do in regard to fishing, that you may communicate the same to them. 'The business premises at Seafield cannot be allowed to remain vacant, and consequently unprofitable while it is clear they must do so unless the tenants fish to the tenant of these premises. The Seafield tenants, therefore, must fish to Mr. Thomas Williamson upon fair and reasonable terms, and I understand he is quite prepared to meet them on such terms. I believe he will, in every respect, do you justice; and so long as he does so, you have no reason to complain. But should it happen that he fails to treat you fairly and honourably (of which I have no fear), you can let me know, and matters will soon be put right. You and the tenants, however, must not act towards Mr. Williamson in a selfish or hard way either, for it is quite as possible for you to do so to him as it is for him to do so to you. Both he and you all must work together, heartily and agreeably; and if you do so, I have no fear, humanly speaking, that the result will be success to both.-I am, yours faithfully, W. SIEVWRIGHT. 'William Stewart, Kirkabister, Seafield, Mid Yell.' 8918. Is that the only letter you have got on the subject?-The only one. 8919. Have you a written tack?-No. 8920. You hold your land from year to year?-Yes. 8921. Have you, since you received that letter, fished for Mr. Thomas Williamson?-Yes, in the spring and summer. 8922. And in winter?-In winter there was not a great deal doing. 8923. But what fish you did catch, what did you do with them?-I believe we sometimes went to Mr. Laurence Williamson and sometimes to Mr. Thomas Williamson with them, just as it suited. 8924. When you received that letter, had you made any arrangement to fish for the following year?-No. 8925. Had you not arranged to fish for Mr Laurence Williamson?-No, not for myself. 8926. Nor for any one else?-No. There were none of our boat's crew who had made any arrangement with Laurence Williamson, so far as I know; but the other boat's crew I think had made some sort of arrangement. There are only two boats' crews that belong to Mrs. Budge's property. 8927. How many tenants are there on her property?-I think there were formerly 23, but now there are only either 21 or 22. 8928. Mr. Sievwright speaks in his letter about the business premises at Seafield: what do you understand by that?-The shop and the station. 8929. Are there a merchant's shop and a curing station at Seafield?-Yes. 8930. Were they not let previously to the time when that letter was written?-No. 8931. Do you get the same price from Mr. Thomas Williamson that Mr. Laurence Williamson used to give you?-Yes. 8932. That was the current price at the end of the year?-Yes. 8933. But you have got your goods from him instead of buying them from Laurence Williamson?-For myself I did; but I think some of the men bought their goods from Lerwick. 8934. Were these men paid in cash?-Yes. 8935. Was Mr. Thomas Williamson's shop [Page 217]the nearest place to your house where you could get goods?-Yes. 8936. Did you take your goods from him before you fished for him?-Sometimes. I had a sort of running account at his shop. I was doing bits of jobs for him, and sometimes I got money, and sometimes I took some of his goods. 8937. But you did not do so much with him before as after you got that letter?-No; the principal part of my dealing was for the fishing. 8938. But you did not buy so many goods from him before last winter?-Certainly not. 8939. Did you buy from Mr. Laurence Williamson then?-I did, because I was keeping a running account with him then. 8940. Do you keep a running account with him now?-I was forced to do that, because I was not clear with him when I went to fish for Mr. Thomas Williamson. 8941. Were you therefore forced to keep a running account with him?-I was not in any way forced, but the account was not cleared up, because I did not have the means. 8942. Have you added to it since then?-Not much. 8943. But it is not paid up?-It is not; I have never been able to do it. 8944. Do you ever sell any beasts off your ground?-I sold one at 1st May last year, at the sale. 8945. Who was the purchaser?-Mr. Thomas Williamson. 8946. Was that at a sale at Mid Yell for the whole country?-The sale to which I went was at Cullivoe for North Yell. 8947. Had you promised Mr. Thomas Williamson the beast before you went?-No. When I went I was at liberty to sell it to any one I liked, but he bought the beast at the roup. 8948. Did anybody else bid for it?-No. 8949. Was it marked?-No. It never was entered into the bill of sale at the roup. 8950. But were the horns of the beast marked at any time?-I don't know. 8951. Why was it not entered in the bill of sale?-I made an agreement with Williamson just to take it away at the price I fixed. He said he would give what I asked for it. I asked £5, and I sent the beast home, and he gave me that for it. 8952. That took place in the first season you fished for Mr. Thomas Williamson?-Yes. 8953. By that time, I suppose, he had a little account against you?-I don't think it would be much. About that time the spring fishing was finished, and I don't think there was very much either way between us. I don't think I had much to give him, or that he had much to give me. 8954. Have you a pass-book?-No. 8955. How was the price of that beast paid?-It was remitted to Mr. Sievwright for my previous year's rent. 8956. Why had you not paid it before?-Because I had not the means. 8957. Had Mr. Sievwright been asking you for your rent before?- Yes. When he was here at Hallowmas I offered him the beast, and he told me to keep her until any time when I was aware that cattle would be at the best price. 8958. Did he say anything to you about selling it?-No. I just sold it to Mr. Williamson, and he remitted the money to Mr. Sievwright. 8959. Was that arranged between you and Mr. Sievwright, or between you and Mr. Williamson?-It was arranged between Mr. Williamson and me that he was to send on the money. 8960. Did Williamson ask you to agree to that arrangement?-No; I asked him to do it for me, because he was in the habit of writing to Mr. Sievwright oftener than me. 8961. Had you paid your rent through Mr. Williamson before, or have you done it since?-No. 8962. Have you paid your rent that was due at November?-I have not paid it yet. I intended to be in Lerwick before this time, but I have not been able to get. 8963. Have you settled with Mr. Williamson for the last year's fishing?-Yes. I think I had £6, 14s. to get, and I got it in cash. 8964. Did none of that go to pay your rent?-It is lying yet to go. I have it in my possession, because I have not seen Mr. Sievwright since. 8965. What price do you pay for meal at Seafield?-I think the first I got was 22s. 6d. I think the last was much about the same, but there might be a difference of 6d. or so. 8966. Was it of good quality?-It was very good. 8967. Where does your wife sell her eggs?-Anywhere that she can get the best tea, from Lerwick north to Seafield. 8968. Does she always sell them for tea?-For tea, or any small thing she can get. 8969. Are these sales settled for at the time?-Yes; they are settled right away. 8970. How much tea will she get for a dozen eggs?-I cannot tell, because I leave all these matters to her. 8971. Where does she sell her knitting?-She does not do much of that. 8972. Has she an account of her own?-No; she never had. 8973. Is there any kelp gathered here?-Very little. 8974. Who buys it?-Mr Thomas Williamson has bought some for a year or two back but I don't think he bought any last year. My eldest daughter was employed for two years in working at it in the summer time, and I think she had an account for it; but I don't know much about that. 8975. Were you at one time a tenant in Whalsay?-Yes. 8976. When did you leave it?-In 1862. 8977. Up till that time you were a tenant under Mr. Bruce of Simbister?-Yes. 8978. What rent did you pay there?-The rent I always paid for my ground was 26s. 8979. Did you fish for Mr. Bruce at that time?-Yes, for the late Mr. William Bruce. 8980. And you had an account with him at the shop in Whalsay?- Yes. 8981. How did you pay your rent?-Generally by fishing. 8982. Was it put into your account?-Yes. The thing was carried on on a very strange system. Our land was put in to us at a low rent, and our fish were taken from us at as low a value. The prices for the fish never varied, either for the spring or summer. 8983. Do you mean that they were the same every year?-They were. Whatever they might be in the markets, they were all the same to us. 8984. Had you never the benefit of a rise in the market at all?- Never. 8985. Did you not object to that?-We just had to content ourselves with it, or leave the place. 8986. It was part of your bargain for your land, that you were to give your fish at a certain rate?-Yes; there were so much of the fish taken off for the land. That was the first of the fishing. We got 3s. 4d. cwt. for ling, 2s. 6d. for tusk, and 20d. for cod, and so much of each kind of fish was taken off until the land was paid for; and then the prices were raised to 4s., I think, for ling, 3s. 2d. for tusk, and 2s. 6d. for cod, for all the rest of the summer fishing. 8987. Did you get these prices for a number of years?-I think for the thirteen years that I was on the station they never varied one halfpenny for the summer fishing. The prices for the winter fishing varied little. Sometimes we would sell the small cod as low as 2s. 6d., and at other times at 3s. 8988. Did you sell the winter fishing for payment at the time, or did it go into the account too?-It was never put into the account at all; we just got what we required for it. It was ready payment; but it was very rarely that we got money for the winter fishing. 8989. Did you know at the time that the prices you [Page 218] were paid at the latter part of the season were lower than the market price of the fish?-We knew that but it was just the bargain. 8990. Was that the system with all the tenants in that time?-With every one. 8991. When did that system cease?-I think it ceased about a year after I came here about 1863. 8992. Why did you leave Whalsay?-There was new division of the land, and I did not consider that I was getting a good farm. I was personally acquainted with Mr. Budge, who was leaving the island then and coming to this property, and I came along with him. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, LAURENCE WILLIAMSON, examined. 8993. You are a merchant in this neighbourhood?-Yes; at Linkshouse, Mid Yell. 8994. Have you been long in business there?-Nearly eight years. 8995. On whose property are your premises?-The late Robert Nevin Spence's property. 8996. Are there many tenants on it?-There are a few, but I could not tell the number exactly. 8997. Are they engaged in fishing?-Some of them are. 8998. Are they at liberty to fish to any one they please?-Yes. 8999. You were engaged in the fish-curing business to a certain extent?-Yes. I do very little in it now. 9000. Your business has been considerably reduced?-Yes. 9001. Has that been since Mr. Sievwright wrote the letter which was produced by the last witness?-Yes. Mrs. Budge's tenants were the men that I had fishing to me and when they went away I could not fill up my boats. 9002. Had you made arrangements with any men for the fishing of last season when they were taken away?-Yes. It was rather too late when they let me know they were going. 9003. How do you mean that they were too late?-They commonly make up their boats' crews about Hallowmas or Martinmas, at the time of settlement, and one of the crews had agreed to fish for me for the rising season, not knowing then that they were to be taken away. Of course they had to leave me, because they knew, or at least they believed, they would be differently dealt with if they did not leave. 9004. Did you make any objection to them leaving after having struck a bargain with you?-Yes, I slightly objected to it; but, of course, I could not help it. 9005. In what way did you object?-The men who formed that boat's crew had signed a sort of written agreement that they were to fish for me in the rising year, on the same terms as they had agreed with me before. Sometimes they don't have a written agreement, only a verbal one, but on this occasion there was written agreement entered into. 9006. I suppose a verbal agreement is the usual way of arranging for the season's fishing?-Yes, generally. 9007. Did these men happen to have a written agreement?-Yes; we had a little bit form drawn up and agreed to. 9008. Had you any reason for having a written agreement at that time?-I was rather doubtful in my own mind that they would be leaving me, or rather that they would be forced to leave. 9009. Was that because there had been some talk about Mr. Thomas Williamson getting these fishermen?-The talk was not about Mr. Thomas Williamson at that time, but about Mr. Magnus Mouat. I think his name was mentioned when the talk commenced about the men leaving. 9010. But you did not insist in your objection to your agreement with the men being departed from?-No. 9011. Was that for fear of injuring the men?-Yes. Of course I saw that I could not legally hold them. 9012. Why? If they had agreed to fish for you, were they not bound to fulfil their bargain?-I thought I could not legally hold them, and I just let them go. 9013. Were you not afraid of them suffering for it if they fulfilled their bargain with you?-They must have suffered for it too. 9014. Did you make any representation on the subject to Mr. Sievwright?-No. The only communication I had was with the men themselves. 9015. How many men did you lose in that way?-Twelve. 9016. Were some of these men in your debt at the time?-Some of them were. They had a sort of running account. 9017. Have you any men fishing for you this year at all?-For the rising year I believe we will have two or three boats' crews. 9018. Had you any last year?-We had two. I and another man are in a sort of company, and we had two boats last year-one each. 9019. Did you find that the fact of Mrs. Budge's tenants leaving you and going across the water materially affected your business in the shop?-I cannot say that it injured it very much. 9020. But it would make some difference?-I don't think it made a great deal. 9021. Were not their accounts taken away from you?-There are a good many of them who deal with me still, but not to the same extent. 9022. From what quarter did you get your fishermen who engaged with you for the rising season?-From the parish of North Yell. That is the next parish to this. 9023. How far do they live from you?-Some of them are 10 miles from here. 9024. What estates are they on?-I could hardly tell, except about some of them. 9025. Have any of these men accounts for supplies in your shop?-Yes; perhaps 4 or 5 of them. 9026. For whom were they fishing last year?-Some of them fished for Pole, Hoseason, & Co, and some for Spence & Co. 9027. Do you know why they are leaving these merchants?-I cannot say. 9028. Have you offered them better terms?-I don't think so. They hardly ever say what they have been getting before. We just make them an offer, and if they accept it we come to an understanding. 9029. Do you know whether any of them were indebted, at last settlement, to Pole, Hoseason, & Co., or Spence & Co.?-I cannot say. 9030. Are these men nearer to Greenbank than to you?-Yes, a great deal. 9031. Are your accounts with fishermen kept in a ledger?-I keep them in a sort of shop ledger. Each boat's crew has a company account, and each man has private account. [Produces ledger.] 9032. Your fish-book is a separate book?-Yes; with columns showing the weight of the fish delivered. 9033. What are these pages which you have turned down in your ledger?-They contain the account of William Stewart, who has just been examined. 9034. I see that for 1869 the balance of his account carried forward was £10, 0s. 41/2d., the total of his out-takes at the end of 1869, including that balance was £17, 8s. 11d. The balance due by him then was £6, 19s., after allowing £10, 9s. 11d. for his fish, which was reduced by half of skipper's fee £1, being a balance of £5, 19s. carried to the year 1870?-Yes. 9035. Then in 1870 there is an entry of 13s. 11/2d. account at North Yell: what does that mean?-That is for some small things he got there. We cure our fish there. 9036. The amount of his account at the settlement of 1870 was £17, 6s. 01/2d., and the amount of his fishing was £14, 18s. 41/2d., leaving a balance of £2, 7s. 8d. There is it deduction of 17s. 6d.: what was that for?-It was for a man who went off for Stewart. [Page 219] 9037. Then there is it check for 19s.?-That was a check he gave me for that sum. 9038. The balance which is left is £2, 6s. 2d.?-Yes. 9039. On January 4, 1871, there are-spirits 2s. 21/2d., and on November 18 and November 29 there are additional supplies to the amount of 11s. 6d., making the balance now due £2, 19s. 101/2d?-Yes. 9040. Are these all the supplies that you have given him since he ceased to fish for you?-Yes. These are all that have been entered in the book. 9041. But he may have got others and paid for them in cash?- Yes. 9042. And he would get goods in payment for his winter fishing?-He has not been at the winter fishing this year. 9043. Or at the spring fishing last year?-He was at the spring fishing for Mr. Thomas Williamson. 9044. What men have you engaged for the rising year?-The engagement has been made partly with my partner in North Yell, and I don't know the names of them yet. 9045. But you know which men have opened accounts with you from North Yell?-Yes. There is Charles More, Gutcher, North Yell; he has got supplies to the amount of 19s. 8d.; and Thomas Brown, who has got supplies to the amount of 17s. 9046. Are these men bound to you now by written engagement?- No, it is merely verbal. Their boat's crew is made up. 9047. Who is your partner in North Yell?-Arthur Nicholson; he has a shop of his own at Gutcher. 9048. Has he boats of his own besides those he has in company with you?-No; but we have never been rightly in company. He has been doing my work in North Yell, and getting a fee for it, and our fish have been thrown together, and sold together. 9049. Is this [showing] the only book you keep?-It is the only book I keep for accounts. I keep an invoice-book and it fish-book also. 9050. Do you keep a day-book?-I keep a book for scrawling things into, until they are posted up in the ledger. 9051. Do you buy kelp?-No. 9052. Do you buy hosiery?-A little sometimes. 9053. Do you pay for it in the way that is usual in the country, by goods across the counter?-Yes, mostly. 9054. Do you give out wool to knit?-I sometimes give out worsted, and I pay for the knitting of it in the same way. 9055. Have you a knitters' book, or are the knitters' accounts kept in the ledger?-I keep a book for women's accounts. 9056. Is that book used entirely for sales of hosiery?-No. We don't do a great deal in hosiery. We buy few haps and small shawls, but the principal thing we buy is worsted. I buy a good deal in the course year from the spinners, and I sell it chiefly in Lerwick to the merchants there. I sell most of it to Mr. Robert Linklater. I invoice it to the merchants, and I take a note of the quantities when I send them away. 9057. When did you send away the last?-I suppose it would be about a couple of months ago. 9058. At what price did you send it out?-We get 3d. per cut for very fine, and 21/2d. and 2d. for the coarsest. 9059. You sell to the merchants as a sort of wholesale dealer?- Yes. 9060. The price per pound of that worsted varies according to the quality?-Yes. 9061. It does not correspond with the price per cut in any way?- No. Of course the finer the worsted the finer the thread is. 9062. You do not calculate the price of that worsted, by the pound at all?-No. We just judge of the fineness or the thickness of it. 9063. The names of the men who were fishing for you in 1871 are entered in the ledger?-Yes. 9064. Had you generally more than two boats previous to last year?-Yes. We sometimes had four, but that was the most I ever had. This [showing] is the company account for one of the boats, Basil Ramsay & Co., and then there are the private accounts of the men. 9065. In Basil Ramsay's private account, the entry 'to cash to rent' on November 17, 1869, referred to cash advanced to him for the purpose of paying his rent?-Yes. He was at that time £2, 11s. 61/2d. in my debt upon the settlement of the previous year. After a bad year I have to advance money to the fishermen in that way, in order to prevent them from being turned out. 9066. Here [showing] is an account of Janet Sinclair, Herra: who is she?-She keeps a small shop of her own, and sells things for me at Herra and buys worsted for me. 9067. Have you many women employed in that way selling goods for you?-Only that one. 9068. In another account there is meal 3s.-that would be half a lispund-in August 1871: was that the selling price at the time?- Very likely it was. 9069. There is also flour 1s. 2d. on the same date: how much was that?-8 lbs., or a peck. 9070. Where do you get your supplies of meal and flour?-Chiefly from Lerwick, from R. & C. Robertson. 9071. Would you consider yourself likely to drive a much larger business if you had a number of fishermen in your employment?- I don't know. Of course there would be more men and more stir and more traffic, and I would likely turn over more goods, because if the men could buy as cheaply from me they would not go anywhere else. 9072. Have you ever had any difficulty in getting the men from another merchant to fish for you in consequence of them being in debt to that other merchant-I never tried that. 9073. But have you found that men had difficulty in engaging with you on that account?-No. 9074. Have you ever been asked by any merchant to undertake the debt due to him by any man whom you employed?-I have never been asked by the merchant, but I have been asked by the men for a little money to clear off their account with another merchant when I engaged them. 9075. Have you been asked to be a security for them?-No. I have only given them cash. 9076. When did you do that last?-It is five years ago. There was a boat's crew who left Pole, Hoseason, & Co. at that time and came over to me. That was Basil Ramsay's boat. 9077. And you advanced them money with which to pay their debt to Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-Yes; there was a little advance required. 9078. Do you suppose you will have that to do with the boats' crews you have engaged this year?-I don't think so. 9079. Do you know whether they are clear?-I don't know. 9080. How do you ascertain the current price at the end of the year for settling with your men?-We know what the fish cost, and we know what they sell for. We know what the wet fish turn out dry. We can make a calculation of that from the quantity of green fish delivered to us and from the quantity of dry fish which we have to sell. 9081. How much was the proportion in your settlement last year?-I cannot tell exactly what it was last year, but on an average it is 2 cwt. 14 lbs. to 2 cwt. 20 lbs. of wet fish to 1 cwt. of dry fish. 9082. Do you make the allowance according to the proportion you ascertain in each year to exist between your total weight of dry fish and your total weight of green fish?-Yes; there are calculations of that kind made. I don't do it personally, but I believe some of the big curers do it, and then we pay after them. 9083. Do all the large curers agree upon a certain average for each year?-No; they don't make each other acquainted with that. They just pay according to what they sell the fish for, and they give the fishermen the benefit of the rise or fall in the market. [Page 220] 9084. I am not talking of the average of the current price; I am talking of the average weight of the dry fish as against the green. Does each merchant make his own calculation with regard to that?-I suppose so. I have made calculations in some years, and in others I have not. 9085. How do you take it when you do not make it calculation?-I wait until I see what is current, and then I pay the same. 9086. That is for the money price, but the current price depends on the proportion of dry fish to green?-Yes. 9087. You find out what the large curers have been selling for or have been allowing their men, and you give the same?-Yes. 9088. Are you aware whether all the large curers give the same current price or does it vary with the different houses?-In North Yell, Spence & Co. have some fishermen, and Pole, Hoseason, & Co. have some. We hear what their men are paid, and then our men are paid the same. 9089. Do Pole Hoseason, & Co, and Spence & Co., so far as you know, always pay the same rate?-Yes. 9090. Do you know how their current rate is fixed, or how it is ascertained what the men are to get?-I suppose they just make a calculation in the way I have mentioned. 9091. But you don't know anything about it except that you hear what they pay?-No. I make a calculation for myself to see whether it is over or under, but we tell our men that we will give the current price stated for these parties if they will come and fish for us. 9092. Is your bargain with regard to boat hire the price of lines, and so on, the same with your men as Pole, Hoseason, & Co. have with their men?-Sometimes it varies a little; it is not always fixed. Sometimes we give the men half-a-year's hire off, as an encouragement. They are what are called freemen, and we have to give them some inducement before they will come to us. 9093. What is the usual hire in Yell?-The hire is divided into two. It is £6: £2, 8s. for the boat, and £3, 12s. for the lines. 9094. Is that charged against the boat in the company account?- It is just made up in the balance with the men, and settled for by them. They always carry pass-books. 9095. Then that does not enter the company account?-No. 9096. What is entered in the company account?-It is just the goods got for the supply of the men during the fishing season at the fishing station. [Shows one account.] The North Yell account is an account kept at the station in a pass-book. The boat's hire is estimated before the earnings are divided into six; we make a balance sheet of it, which is added up, and then we place each man's balance to his account. 9097. When you make a deduction from the boat hire as an inducement for the men to fish for you, do you mean that instead of £2, 8s. you charge them only £1, 4s.?-Sometimes we take more off than that. Perhaps on a £6 hire we will take off £3. 9098. Is not that a very liberal deduction?-Yes. 9099. You cannot have much profit on your boats when you do that?-There is no profit on the boats whatever. 9100. What profit do you get on hiring out boats at all?-We get no benefit from that. We only get little benefit from the fish and from the goods sold. 9101. Is it usual to allow so large a deduction from the boat hire?-I cannot say what is done by any one but myself. We have not been in the habit of doing it much. We sometimes take a little off the hire of the boat, in order to make it as moderate for the men as possible. 9102. Are you doing that just now in order to induce fishermen to come to you?-Yes. They come and say they will fish for us if we will give them the currency, and perhaps half the hire down, or the whole hire down. 9103. So that the deduction on the boat hire is really a premium for them coming to fish for you?-Exactly. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, ROBERT SMITH, examined. 9104. You are now a fisherman and tenant at Burravoe, on the land of Mr. Henderson?-I am. 9105. Were you formerly resident on the island of Samphray?- Yes. I was there for 35 years. 9106. For whom did you fish when you were there?-For Mr. Robert Hoseason, and his son-in-law James Hoseason, all that time. 9107. Did the island belong to them?-Half of it did, and the other half belonged to Lord Zetland. I lived on Mr. Hoseason's half. 9108. Were you bound to fish for them at that time?-Yes. 9109. Did you ever sell your fish to any one else?-No; we had no occasion to do so, because we got the same payment from him as from another. 9110. Did you never sell your winter fish to another?-No. 9111. Where did you get your supplies at that time?-From Mr. Hoseason at Mossbank. 9112. You kept an account with him, and settled at the end of the year?-Yes, every year. 9113. Had you generally anything to get at the settlement?- Sometimes we had a few pounds to get, and sometimes we could not afford to pay the balance. 9114. You never dealt anywhere else at all?-No; there was no one else near hand that we could have gone to. 9115. Did you never think of going to Lerwick?-No; we went very often to Lerwick, but not in the way of dealing. It was always from Mr. Hoseason that we got what we wanted when he was employing 9116. When you left Samphray you came to Burravoe?-Yes. 9117. Why did you leave?-Because Samphray was thrown waste and made into a park for sheep and cattle. 9118. You have since lived at Burravoe and fished for Mr. Henderson?-Yes. 9119. You have been a skipper of his?-Yes. 9120. Are you to fish for him next year?-I don't know if I will be able to go; I am getting too old. I have been at the fishing every year since 1820. 9121. Is it the bargain with you at Burravoe that you are to fish for your landlord?-Yes. 9122. But you will not be put out of your land if you give up fishing altogether?-No, not that I know of. I have no thought of that at the present time; at least I have no knowledge of it. 9123. Have you spoken to Mr. Henderson about not fishing for him next year?-I have not. I have not made a settlement yet. 9124. Did he not tell you that he would not remove you this year?-No, he has not told me that; but I expect that he will not remove me if I can pay my rent. He has been very kind to me. 9125. Are you sure that he did not tell you that you might remain this year?-I am sure he did not, but he told me that he would not throw me off while I was able to do anything. That is all the security I have. 9126. What do you mean by doing anything?-Any employment that he may put me to, or anything in the way of fishing if I am able to go to it. 9127. Does not the payment of your rent depend upon your fishing?-Sometimes it does; but if I have a cow to dispose of and he requires it, he takes it. If he does not require it, I am at liberty to dispose of it to any one that I can sell it to. 9128. When he takes it, how do you settle about the price?-It generally goes into my account. [Page 221] 9129. But who fixes the price that is put upon it?-I do. I ask him if he will give me so much for it, and if I can get a better price elsewhere I can sell it there. 9130. Did you ever sell a cow to anybody else than Mr. Henderson?-Yes. I have not sold cows, but I have sold young stots. About three years ago I sold three young stots- one to Mr. Joseph Leask, Lerwick, and another to a man who came round; I don't know his name. 9131. Did not Mr. Henderson want these?-No. He engaged for one, and then when the man came about asking if he could get beasts to buy, Mr. Henderson told him to call upon us for them. 9132. Did Mr. Leask and the other man pay the money down to you for the beasts they bought?-Yes; it was sent from Lerwick to me. 9133. Were you due rent to Mr. Henderson at that time, or any account for goods?-Perhaps I was; it was very seldom that I was not due him an account. 9134. Why was that?-Because the fishing often did not turn out well. 9135. Did you ever go to any one except Mr. Henderson for your goods since you went to live at Burravoe?-If Mr. Henderson did not have what we wanted, then we would go to another for it. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, ANDREW BLANCE, examined. 9136. Are you a fisherman, living at Burravoe?-Yes. I am a fisherman, but part of my time has been employed in the seal and whale fishing. 9137. Have you any land at Burravoe?-Yes, I occupy some land there under Mr. M'Queen. 9138. Have you ever been at the summer fishing?-Yes; I was at the ling fishing for two years, one year for Mr. William Williamson, who has lately left Ulsta, and the other year for Mr. Henderson. 9139. When you were at Ulsta did you run an account for what you wanted from Mr. Williamson?-Yes, a small account. If he had any small things that I wanted, and if I saw that I could get them a bargain, I took them from him. 9140. That account was settled at the end of the year?-Yes. 9141. And you got the other things you wanted at Burravoe or Lerwick, or wherever you liked?-Yes. 9142. Where did you get most of your goods?-At Lerwick. 9143. Did you find it more profitable to get them there?-I don't know that it was more profitable; but for a long time the most of my accounts have been in Lerwick. 9144. How often have you been at the seal and whale fishing?-I have been there every year for, I think, the last fifteen or fourteen years. 9145. Is that the reason why most of your accounts are in Lerwick?-I suppose it is. 9146. It is handier for you to have them there when you go to the whale fishing?-Yes. 9147. What agent do you generally engage with for that fishing?- Messrs. Hay & Co. I have always engaged through them, except one season when I was engaged for six weeks by Mr. Leask. That was for the sealing voyage in 1867. 9148. When do you generally go to Lerwick to engage for the whaling?-About the end of February or beginning of March. 9149. Do you go straight to Messrs. Hay's office and tell them you want an engagement?-No, I don't go straight there; but I have always found them very favourable towards me, and therefore I have always been inclined to go out from them. 9150. Do you get your outfit supplied there?-Yes, if I require it. 9151. Do you require a new outfit for the whaling every year?- We always require something new. 9152. Do you also require supplies for your family while you are away at the fishing, such as meal, tea, flour, and things of that sort, and clothing?-Yes. 9153. Where do you keep your account for these things?-With Messrs. Hay & Co. 9154. You always get an advance paid down to you when you are first engaged?-Yes; we get our first month's advance, and then we get a half-pay ticket. 9155. Do you always get a half-pay ticket?-Yes, those who require it. 9156. But do you always get it?-Yes; I have got it ever since it came up. I think it is only four or five years since it came to be used in Shetland. 9157. Were there no allotment tickets in use before four or five years ago?-No, not in Shetland. I never saw them before that time. 9158. Do you leave your allotment ticket with your wife?-We can leave it with any one we choose. I have generally left it with Messrs. Hay. 9159. Did you write anything upon it when you left it with them?-No. 9160. Is the allotment ticket an order to pay to you?-Yes, or to any name which is signed on it. 9161. Was it generally taken in your own name?-I had to mention the name of some person to be filled into the note, and the name of any person that I wanted to draw the money was signed there. 9162. What name did you generally give to be entered in the note?-I forget; but I think the name of Mr. William Robertson, in Messrs. Hay's shop, has been upon it. 9163. Was that done last year?-Yes. 9164. Was his name on it in 1870 also?-I cannot exactly say. 9165. But last year you know that it was?-Yes. 9166. And he was to draw the money on your half-pay allotment ticket?-Yes; he has the ticket, and while he keeps it he knows that no person can be drawing the money. They know that the money is lying, but I don't think Mr. Robertson has drawn the halfpay for me ever since the system commenced. 9167. Was the purpose of giving the allotment ticket to Mr. Robertson, that Messrs. Hay might give your family credit for goods in your absence; or was it a sort of security?-It was a sort of security; but I had no fear about them providing for my family, even although they had not got the ticket. 9168. You think they would have made the advances at any rate?-Yes. They never refused either goods or money. 9169. But still the allotment ticket was a sort of security to them?-Yes. 9170. When you return from your voyage do you generally go straight home or do you take your wages at Lerwick?-I take my wages at Lerwick. 9171. Before you come home?-Yes, if possible. 9172. Do you go up and settle before the shipping-master or superintendent?-Yes, I must do that. 9173. That did not use to be done at Lerwick?-It did not. 9174. Why has it been done lately?-I don't know. 9175. Was it not because it was not easy to get the Shetland men to wait for a settlement-they were so anxious to get home?- Perhaps it was. I and several others have to go to the North Isles and it is not every day we can get there. Staying one day in Lerwick might make us stay half a dozen, or perhaps a dozen, days; and therefore if we see a chance to get home whenever we land we are glad to take it. 9176. Then you go back when you find it convenient?-Yes. 9177. And you go before Mr. Gatherer the superintendent, and receive your wages in cash?-Yes; but many a time we have the chance of getting our money before we leave Lerwick if we could only wait another day. 9178. When you have an account standing in Messrs. Hay's books, how do you settle it?-We go back to the shop from the shipping office and pay the money. [Page 222] 9179. How long has that been done?-I suppose for the last four or five years. 9180. Before that, you had a settlement at the office, and only got the balance in cash?-Yes. 9181. Is there any deduction made now from the cash you receive at the superintendent's office?-Nothing except the advance of our first month's wages, and the amount drawn under allotment tickets. 9182. But when you give an allotment ticket in the way you have mentioned, how do you do: do you get your half-pay handed over to you in cash?-Yes, if it is not drawn. 9183. Is it sometimes drawn?-No; my half-pay has not been drawn, so far as I recollect. [Produces four accounts of wages.] 9184. Who is William Manson, agent for master?-He is Messrs. Hay's clerk. 9185. The only deduction here is for stores in the ship, and your advance, and the fees?-That is all. 9186. Then in that year, 1870, you got the balance of £16, 3s. 6d. paid to you?-Yes. 9187. What was the amount of your account at Hay & Co.'s?-I don't remember in that year. 9188. Here [showing] is your account for 1871 when you had a balance of £19, 2s. to receive: do you remember the amount of your account, that year?-I do not. 9189. How much ready cash did you bring home with you when you had settled on 25th July?-I am not quite sure, but I think it was about £16. 9190. Then your account for the season would only be about £3?- That was all. 9191. Would that be the whole of the supplies you got for your family that year?-Yes; it was short voyage. 9192. Had you also a short and a very successful voyage last year?-Yes. 9193. You have not got your final payment of oil-money for 1871?-No. 9194. Have you got it for 1870?-Yes. 9195. Was that settled for before the superintendent, Mr. Gatherer?-Yes, it was paid at the custom-house. I think I got an account of wages for that too, but I could not say exactly. The oil on which the money was paid was 42 tons. The first payment of oil-money was upon 150 tons, making 192 altogether. 9196. Was the whole of that paid at the custom house?-Yes. 9197. Are you quite sure about that?-I am sure enough. 9198. And are you sure you got an account of the second payment of oil-money, although you have not got it now?-I am not sure about that. I think I got an account of wages for that too but I cannot say. 9199. How did you manage to keep the accounts of wages you have produced, when you did not keep the account for the last payment of oil-money?-Because I got these accounts of wages when I was going home, but at the time when I got the account for the last payment I was going away. 9200. Is your last payment of oil-money generally made to you when you are shipping in the following year?-I never get it until I am going away next year, and therefore it is easy to see how I may have lost the papers which I got then. 9201. Have you any accounts running with Messrs. Hay between the end of one whaling voyage and the beginning of another?- Very often I have. If I require anything I send to Messrs. Hay for it, or to any other man in Lerwick. 9202. Do you also get advances of cash from them when you want them?-Yes. 9203. Do you generally settle with Messrs. Hay at the time when you are engaged for the next year's voyage?-No. I settle with them at the time when I get paid. 9204. But you don't get your second payment of oil-money until you are going away for a new voyage?-I get it whenever it comes; but I told you that last year I did not get it until I was going away. 9205. Did that never happen before?-It has happened before. 9206. You have produced a receipt granted by you to Mr. Leask for £1, 5s. 3d. in 1867: how does that receipt happen to be in your possession?-That was a short voyage, only six weeks, in the 'Polynia' of Dundee and there were no half-pay tickets. I got an advance from him, and when I paid the money again at the end of the voyage the receipt was handed back to me. 9207. Was that advance given to you in cash?-No, I got my first month's advance in cash, and then I got that advance in goods. 9208. Was that for your own outfit, or for your family?-I think it was for my own outfit. 9209. Have you got payments of that kind frequently from the agents who have engaged you?-No; that was the only one. 9210. Did you get your first month's advance in addition to this?- Yes. 9211. Did you get it in cash or in goods?-I got it in a line to be cashed a day or two after we sailed. I gave the line to Mr. Leask's man, and got the principal part of it in money. Then they drew the money from the shipowner after I left. 9212. You took your first month's advance partly in money and partly in goods?-Yes, I think that was the way of it. 9213. And you got £1, 5s. 3d. in goods in addition to that?-Yes. 9214. Why did you want that amount of goods?-I have wanted three times that amount, according to circumstances. For one voyage I would require that amount, if I had not a good stock. 9215. Why did you not get the whole of your first month's advance in goods when you say you were requiring them?-Perhaps I was requiring money for some other purpose. I had perhaps to send part of it home. 9216. Why did you not take the whole of your month's advance in goods, and then get that advance in cash?-Perhaps I got more than that in cash. That advance was only 25s., and I had £2, 10s. per month. 9217. Did you get the whole payment of your wages for that voyage before you left?-Yes, except the second payment of oil-money. That second payment is made after the oil is boiled. There is a calculation made when we come home with regard to the whole amount of oil that is in the ship, and when we arrive we are paid a proportion of that. Then, when the oil is boiled; they see what it actually amounts to and we are paid the balance of our oil-money. 9218. Then on this voyage in 1867, which you made for Mr. Leask, you were advanced at sailing the whole amount of your wages and the first payment your oil-money?-Yes. 9219. And all that you had to get afterwards was your last payment of oil-money?-Yes. 9220. You got the whole of the amount in cash or goods?-Yes. 9221. But mostly in goods?-I could not say that it was mostly in goods, because, except the £1, 5s. 3d. and perhaps 10s. of my first month's advance I do not think I got more goods from them. I am not sure; about that; but I cannot say that I got more. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, JOHN JOHNSTON, examined. 9222. You hold some land now from Mr. M'Queen at Burravoe?- Yes. 9223. Do you fish for Mr. Henderson?-No; I fish for Mr. Adie at the Out Skerries. 9224. Were you formerly a tenant on the Lunna estate?-Yes. I left it seven years ago because Sheriff Bell's tenantry there were handed over to Mr. Robertson, and were bound to fish for him. He and I had disputed at one time, and I was not very well satisfied about fishing for him. I was paying my land rent to the Sheriff, and I thought that when a man was [Page 223] paying his land rent he ought to have freedom to fish to the best advantage for himself that he could. 9225. Where did you engage to fish that season?-At the Skerries, to Mr. Adie. 9226. You thought you could make a better thing of it by fishing for Mr. Adie, and you went to him?-Yes. 9227. What happened in consequence of that?-Nothing happened, except that I must either be bound to fish for Mr. Robertson or leave the property. 9228. Were you told that you must leave the property?-Yes; the Sheriff himself told me that. 9229. Was Mr. Robertson his factor or his tacksman?-His tacksman. 9230. To whom did you pay your rent at Lunna?-To Mr. Robertson when he came to be tacksman, but the Sheriff before that. 9231. Who first told you that you were to leave your ground at Lunna?-The Sheriff himself. 9232. When was that?-The year before I left. That was nine years ago. 9233. Was that when you had first engaged with Mr. Adie?-No. I fished for two years for Mr. Robertson after that, after I removed to Yell. 9234. Then why did you leave Lunna? I thought you told me it was because you engaged with Mr. Adie that you were turned out of your ground there?-No; it was not because I engaged with Mr. Adie. It was because I would not fish for Mr. Robertson. 9235. Why did you fish for Mr. Robertson for two years after that, although you were not bound?-We were fishing then at our own freedom. 9236. Were you asked to sign any obligation to fish for Mr. Robertson?-No. 9237. How did you intimate that you were not going to be bound to fish for him? Had you a conversation with Mr. Bell on the subject?-Yes. At the time when Mr. Bell's tenants were handed over to Mr. Robertson, I was in the merchant service; but they made a statement then that the tenants were to be bound to fish for him. 9238. Who made the statement?-Mr. Bell and Mr. Robertson made it after I came home. For the last ten years I have been at the ling fishing. The first winter I came home I caught some cod, small and big, and I salted them, and went down to Lerwick and sold them to Messrs. Hay. Mr. Robertson got word of that, and got an account from Messrs. Hay of the cod that I had sold. He handed that to the Sheriff, who came to Lunnasting; and I was called up and found fault with for not selling the fish to Mr. Robertson as tacksman. He asked me my reason for that; and I said that I had signed no agreement to fish for him; that I was due him nothing; and that I did not see why I could not sell my fish to any man I liked. Bell said very little to that; but he gave me to understand that after that I was either to leave the property, or to pay £1 of a fine if I sold my fish to any other person. 9239. Was that a written notice?-Yes. 9240. Have you got it now?-No, I have lost it. 9241. Did you pay the fine?-Yes. 9242. Did you not try to get off with it?-No. 9243. Did you think you were legally bound to pay it?-No; and that was the reason why I would not stay upon his property. If I could have got a 'downsitting' handy that suited me at the time, I would not have paid it, because I did not think it right. 9244. Did you fish for Mr. Robertson after that?-Yes, for two years. 9245. How did you happen to fish for him?-We just made a kind of agreement with him, first for two years; but still we were not satisfied, and as we did not wish to be bound to fish for him, we stopped. 9246. Did anything more pass between you and Mr. Robertson or Mr. Bell, about leaving the ground or about being bound to fish?- No. 9247. Then how did you come at last to leave Lunna? Did you give them notice that you were going, or did they give you notice to quit?-I was on the look-out after that for some other place, because I was determined, after paying that £1, which I was not due to shift to a convenient place at the first opportunity. 9248. You got a place at Burravoe; and since then have you been at liberty to fish for any person you pleased?-Yes. 9249. Do you get your supplies at Mr. Adie's store at Skerries?- Yes; our sea stock, and all that we require during the fishing season 9250. When you are at home, where do you get your supplies?- Sometimes from Lerwick, and sometimes we get something from Mr. Adie when we settle. 9251. Do you bring home supplies with you from Skerries?-No, we never settle at Skerries; we settle at Voe in Mr. Adie's office. 9252. Have you an account at Voe as well as at Skerries?-Yes. Our Skerries account for the fishing season is always handed over to Voe, and it is all settled there. 9253. Do you sometimes bring a large supply of provisions home from Voe?-Sometimes, and sometimes not. When we think we can make a better of it, we will send to Lerwick for them. 9254. Have you not to bring them a good bit by land when you get them from Voe?-Yes. 9255. Why do you take the trouble to carry your supplies so far as that?-We have no particular reason for it, only we are there at any rate, and we can get them there as good a bargain as we can get them in Lerwick and nearer us, and it saves us the freight. 9256. How often do you go to Voe in the course the year?-Once a year. 9257. When you go there to settle, are you asked to take some goods home with you?-Not at all, unless we require them ourselves. 9258. Of course you are not obliged to do it unless you like; but don't they ask you whether you want any goods?-Yes, they will do that. Sometimes Mr. Adie's shop people will ask if we are requiring anything. 9259. Is that before you settle or afterwards?-It is generally after we have settled. 9260. Does that supply go into the next year's account?-If we are requiring the cash we have got, either for paying the land-master or any other purpose, they will let the goods stand until next account. 9261. But sometimes you got goods before settlement, and they went into the past year's account if you did not want the cash?- No. Since we fished for Mr. Adie, there were no goods we got at that time which went into the past year's account. They always went into the rising year's account, unless they were paid for in cash. 9262. Sometimes you paid them in cash?-Yes. 9263. And in that case they would not enter any account?-No. I generally pay all my goods with cash, so far as I can. 9264. Do you find them cheaper when they are paid for in that way?-Yes. 9265. And that is what you do generally when you go to Lerwick?-Yes. 9266. Have you generally had a balance to get from Mr. Adie at the end of the year since you fished for him?-Yes, always. 9267. Could you get the same goods that you get at Voe as cheap nearer home, and as good?-I cannot say. 9268. Is there any difference in quality between Mr. Adie's goods and those you get at Burravoe or at Lerwick?-I cannot say that there is. There is often a great difference in the quality of goods, even although they are sold at one price, and as being the same quality. 9269. Where have you found that?-I have bought tea on different occasions at one place, and at the same price, and have found differences in the quality. I don't think that was due so much to the people selling it, as to the chest decaying. I have sometimes found it good and sometimes bad in every place I have had it from. 9270. Do you take goods from Mr. Henderson's shop at Burravoe?-I have had very few goods from him. I never had any meal or tea from him. All I have got has been a few nails or anything I required for my boats. [Page 224] Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, ARTHUR ANDERSON, examined. 9271. You are a fisherman at Burravoe, on Mr. M'Queen's property?-I am. 9272. Were you formerly a tenant and fisherman at Lunna?-Yes. I was not very long a tenant, but I was a fisherman. I left it 7 years ago at Martinmas, at the same time as Johnston. 9273. Had you been bound there to fish for Mr. Robertson?-I did fish for him; but while I was a young man, and unmarried, they could not compel me. 9274. Had you some land there afterwards?-Yes. I had some for two years before I left. 9275. Were you told then that you were bound to fish for Mr. Robertson?-Yes. The Sheriff told me that at the same time that he told Johnston. 9276. Were you both together at the time?-No. 9277. Had you both been sent for at the same time?-There was a meeting in a place near Lunna, and the whole tenantry were told that they were to be under one control, and to fish for Mr. Robertson. I think that meeting was held in the schoolroom. I think both Sheriff Bell and Mr. Robertson were present. 9278. Did Mr. Bell tell you that he expected you all to fish for Mr. Robertson?-Yes. 9279. What else did he say?-I was not very old then, and I don't remember. 9280. Why did you leave Lunna?-I was in a double family, and I thought the place I was in was too small for the whole of us; therefore I thought I would try to look out for some place in which to live. 9281. You did not leave it because you wanted your freedom?- Not altogether. 9282. Had you been fined for selling your fish anywhere else?- No. 9283. Do you know any other man in Lunna who was fined for that except Johnston?-I don't remember of any. 9284. Who do you fish for now?-For Mr. Adie, the same as Johnston does. 9285. Do you deal in the same way as he described?-Yes. 9286. How do you get your supplies, for your family?-Sometimes Mr. Adie will send us meal for our families from Aberdeen or from Leith, and we will pay the freight. It is not easy for him to send it to us from his place at Voe, but he will send it from these other places if we ask him. 9287. Do these supplies go to your account?-Yes. 9288. Do you ever get supplies anywhere else?-Sometimes in Skerries, where we fish. 9289. These go into the same account, and are settled for at Voe?-Yes. 9290. Do you bring goods from Voe at settling time when you want them?-We always bring something. 9291. Are you asked if you want goods when you go there to settle?-Yes; they will ask us if we desire anything. 9292. But you need not take them unless you like?-No. 9293. Do you get any goods at Burravoe?-Not very much. We don't run very large accounts there. 9294. Mr. Henderson's shop is not very far from where you live?-It is not very far. 9295. Would it not be handier for you to get your goods there?- We don't run very large accounts with him. I might get my goods from him if I was fishing for him, but when I am not putting any fish or any produce his way I don't ask anything. 9296. Could you not get the money for your fish, and buy your goods where it was most convenient for you?-We might. 9297. Did you never think of doing that?-No. 9298. Why?-I don't know. 9299. Do you think Mr. Henderson will charge higher prices from those who do not fish for him?-I cannot say. 9300. You never were afraid of that?-No. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, GILBERT ROBERTSON, examined. 9301. You are a fisherman and tenant at Hamnavoe on Mr. M'Queen's property?-I am. 9302. You are an elder of the Established Church in South Yell parish?-Yes. 9303. How long have you been at Hamnavoe?-All my life. I am 56 years of age, and I was born on the property. 9304. Were you formerly bound to fish to the tacksman on the property?-No; I have had liberty all my time to fish for any one I liked, except for three years, when my landlord, the late Mr. Robert Bruce, required us to fish for him. He succeeded to the property about 1853, and it was in 1857 or 1858 that he required our services. 9305. You have been a skipper for a number of years?-For two years, but not for the last two years. I was two years at the whale fishing in 1868 and 1869. In 1868 I engaged with Messrs. Hay, and in 1869 I engaged with Mr. George Reid Tait. I got my first month's advance laid down at the custom-house, and when I came back I got the rest at the custom-house. If I was due a small thing to the agent I went to him and paid it. 9306. Did you get an outfit?-Only a small thing. I had some things myself, and it was only a few things that I required from the agents. Anything that I required for my family I got from Robertson & Co. I have had an account with them for a long time. I have had as much as £7, 3s. from them in a year. 9307. Why did you deal with them?-I found them to be good men. They always try to advance people as far as they can, and especially people who strive to pay them back again. 9308. Have you ever fished in the ling fishing?-Yes; I have been there for the last two years. The year before last I fished for Mr. Henderson, Burravoe, and last year I fished for William Jack Williamson at Ulsta. 9309. Did you run accounts with them?-Very little. 9310. Was that because you dealt with R. & C. Robertson?-Yes. 9311. Do most of the men deal with the merchants they fish for?- They do, because they have no money of their own, and they require their fishing to pay for what they get. 9312. Do they get their out-takes on credit?-Yes, until the fishing is done, and then they clear it off. I had no dealings with these two merchants except for my living in the summer time-meal and tea and sugar. 9313. Were these for your company account?-Yes. 9314. Do you think you get your supplies cheaper from R. & C. Robertson than you would get them from the merchants you fish for?-I think so. 9315. And better, or at least as good?-Yes. If I send to Messrs. Robertson for a sack of meal, I get it at the Lerwick price, with the addition of the freight, but when the meal comes to a merchant in the North Isles, he has to take a little profit on it besides. 9316. Are any of the merchants here supplied with their meal from R. & C. Robertson?-I cannot say. 9317. Because if they are not they might possibly get their supplies from the south, and land them here cheap as Messrs. Robertson can land them at Lerwick?-They might. I believe Mr. Henderson, Burravoe, fetches his meal from the south occasionally. 9318. And as easily as the Robertsons can fetch it to Lerwick?- Yes; he has just the freight between Lerwick and Burravoe to pay. 9319. But he might bring it by a sailing vessel from Aberdeen?- He might, but it always comes by the steamer. 9320. Do you know as a fact that the price at Lerwick is less than the price you would be charged meal at Burravoe?-It is a little less. 9321. Do you also find that the quality of the meal better there?- It is sometimes as good in Lerwick at a price of 2s., or 2s. 6d., or 3s. cheaper at Burravoe than it is in the North Isles. I have bought flour lately from [Page 225] Messrs. Robertson at 16s. or 18s. a boll, and have bought it as low as 14s. 6d. 9322. Have you bought any meal during the last year?-No; I did not require it. 9323. But before that you found a difference of 2s. on the flour, and 3s. or 4s. on the sack of meal?-Yes. 9324. Have you bought provisions or supplies from Mr. Henderson, Burravoe, lately?-Not for a long time. Perhaps I might buy a 1/4 lb. of tea or something like that, if I was at his door; but I paid for it then, and there was no account. 9325. You say you have been quite free to fish for any one you pleased except during three years: did Mr. M'Queen ever forbid you to fish for Mr. Henderson?-Once. I think that was about three years ago; but he (Mr. M'Queen) came to see that that would not do and it was never more spoken of. 9326. Did you fish that year for Mr. Henderson?-No. I went to Greenland; but in the following year I fished for him. 9327. Did you go to Greenland because Mr. M'Queen asked you to do so?-It was almost because of him telling me not to fish for Mr. Henderson. 9328. But you did not like to be interfered with?-No. If I paid my rent to my landlord at the end of the season, I liked to be at liberty to go where I pleased. With regard to the winter fishing, it does not matter much, because they will pay ready money for it whenever we bring in the fish. 9329. Don't you think it would be better if the people here were paid ready money for everything, instead of running such long accounts, and settling only once year?-It might, but I don't know how things would go then. If we were to pay ready money for everything that we got from the merchants, it might not come to answer very well. 9330. Why is that?-Because if I were taking anything to a merchant to sell, such as hosiery, and asking ready money for it, I would not get so much as if I were to let the price lie in his hands for some time. 9331. But don't you think the merchant would sell his goods cheaper to you if you were paying him in ready money?-I believe he would do that. 9332. Don't you think the people would manage their affairs better if they had the money in their own hands?-I think so; because if a man does a day's work, and is not paid for it until the end of five or six months, he is not likely to do so well with it as if the money was paid down to him at once and he could go where he liked with it, to make the best bargain for himself in buying things. 9333. Is it not a great trouble to keep in mind all the things that you have got to your credit-a day's work now, and your fish again, and a beast, perhaps which you have sold, and then to recollect all the outtakes you have had besides?-Yes. I have sold few beasts now for several years, but I always got the money paid down to me on the day when I sold them. 9334. You think that is handier than getting them put down into an account?-Yes. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, JOSEPH LEASK POLE, examined. 9335. Are you a partner of the firm of Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-I am not a partner. 9336. Are you the manager at Greenbank?-Yes. 9337. You were cited to bring some books?-I was and I have brought the only book which can give any information as to our intromissions with fishermen. Our principal books are kept at Mossbank, because that is the head-quarters of the firm. 9338. What books do you keep at Greenbank?-We only keep a ledger into which the account of each fisherman who has one is entered. 9339. Are there some fishermen whom you employ at Greenbank who do not open accounts?-I don't know if there are any; there may be one or two. 9340. In that account at Greenbank do you enter on the one side all the out-takes of the fishermen, and on the other the sums which are due to them for fish or any other matters?-No. The ledger I have with me shows merely the shop accounts of the fishermen. The ledger you refer to is kept at Mossbank. 9341. Are all the balances made at Mossbank?-Yes. 9342. Do the men go there for settlement?-No, they settle at Greenbank; but my brother settles with them, and he brings the book over with him and takes it back with him when he goes to Mossbank again. 9343. What quantity of fish did you sell from Greenbank last year?-About 54 tons of dry fish. 9344. What number of boats had you engaged to produce that quantity?-We had 14 boats altogether. One boat had three men fishing in it, another had four, and the rest had six apiece. 9345. Then the only book you have at Greenbank the ledger containing the accounts for shop goods furnished to your men?- That is the only book we keep there. 9346. Is there a woman's book besides?-No; we don't keep a woman's book at Greenbank. 9347. Do you purchase kelp?-Yes, we do; and we enter it in the kelp-book by itself. 9348. Is not that a sort of woman's book?-No. 9349. Is it not women mostly whom you employ at that?-It is women mostly, indeed altogether, who are employed in making the kelp at Greenbank. 9350. What quantity of kelp did you sell last year?-I think only about nine tons. 9351. What price do you allow to women for kelp?-We have two prices for kelp: 4s. in goods, and 3s. 6d. in cash. 9352. Is that a lower price than on the mainland?-I am not aware that it is, but I cannot speak as to that. 9353. Then, of course, you have a fish-book?-It is kept at Mossbank. 9354. How do your factors mark down the fish at landing?-There is a book kept at Gloup, which is the station in summer, and the factor marks the fish there. Then, as soon as the season is over, the amount is added up and sent to Mossbank to be entered in the fish-book. 9355. It is merely the amount of fish that is added up in the book at Gloup?-Yes. 9356. And the balance is made in a separate book at Mossbank?- Yes; in a ledger by itself, which is kept there. 9357. In that book the total goods supplied at Greenbank are entered in a slump sum?-Yes. The fishermen keep their shop account in one part of our business premises, and their slump account, as it were, in another part. 9358. That is to say, that at Greenbank they check their shop account?-Yes. 9359. Do they come to check it generally themselves, or do they have pass-books?-Some of them get pass-books, and others do not. 9360. If they have no pass-book, how do they check it?-I suppose they check it from their own memory. 9361. Do they come for that purpose before settling time?-No; they generally come about settling time. 9362. Do they not settle at Mossbank?-No; we settle with all our Greenbank fishermen at Greenbank. 9363. Are your books brought from Mossbank for that purpose?- Yes. As I said before, the principal of our business brings them along with him when he comes to settle with the men, and he takes them back with him when he goes back. 9364. Is it at that time that the totals of the shop accounts at Greenbank are entered into the principal ledger?-Yes; and the fisherman gets a note of the amount of his account from me. He settles with me for that, and takes the note in to my brother, who settles the whole account. 9365. Have you also a day-book at Greenbank?-Yes. [Page 226] 9366. Is that for cash transactions, or do the whole of your transactions first pass into it before being carried into the ledger?-Almost all our transactions pass through it. 9367. What transactions do not pass through it?-If I happened to be posting my ledger at the time when a person was getting anything to be marked down, I might mark it straight into the ledger without putting it through the day-book, in order to save the trouble of posting. 9368. Do most of the fishermen whom you employ at Greenbank and Gloup reside within a short distance of these places?-No; they are scattered over the parish of North Yell, and a few of them are in this parish. 9369. Your brother, when examined at Brae, mentioned the properties which belonged to the members of the firm, and of which he was tacksman, but I forget whether he mentioned if there were any properties of which members of the firm are tacksmen: are there any such?-My brother is tacksman of Mr. Walker's property in North Yell, and Pole, Hoseason, Co. are factors for George Hoseason of Basta, in North Yell, also. I think the number of tenants on Mr. Walker's estate might be fourteen, and the number on George Hoseason's may be nine or ten. 9370. Are these men bound to fish to you by the terms on which they hold their land?-They are not bound by any written or special engagement, but it is understood that they will fish to us, and most of them do so. 9371. Are they bound to fish for you in the Faroe fishing?-No; we have no Faroe fishing in connection with Greenbank at all. 9372. But you have at Mossbank?-Yes. 9373. If one of these men were to go to the Faroe fishing, would you consider yourself entitled to the first offer of his services in one of your smacks?-We would. 9374. Then there is an understanding to that effect?-It is understood that these men will fish to us if we require them. 9375. In point of fact, do any men on these properties in North Yell engage for the Faroe fishing with any other merchants?- There are very few, if who go from North Yell to the Faroe fishing now. It is principally young men who go there. I cannot at this moment recollect any one who goes to Faroe from the north district. 9376. The day-book and ledger and fish-book are, I understand, the only books which are used at Greenbank and Gloup?-At Gloup we have a sort of wastebook, in which any goods are entered which are bought by anybody during the season when we have goods there. 9377. But that is merely for the purpose of being carried into the permanent ledger at Greenbank or at Mossbank?-At Greenbank. These accounts, of course, are settled for at Gloup before the men leave there. 9378. Are these company accounts?-Some are company accounts and some are private accounts. 9379. Can a man have his private supplies at Gloup while he is residing there as well as his company supplies?-Yes. 9380. Have you a publican's licence for the premises at Greenbank?-No; we have a certificate for getting a licence if we wish to take it out, but we have not taken it out for years. I don't care for selling liquor, and therefore I do not take it out. 9381. How do the men get supplies of that kind: is there a public-house in the district?-No. 9382. Therefore they must buy in a stock of spirits when they want them?-I suppose so; but they very temperate class altogether. I don't think they use much liquor. 9383. Do they not require it at the station and when they are going to fish?-At the station we allowed to keep a small quantity of liquor, with which to supply our fishermen during the season. 9384. Is that under the Excise regulations?-I understand it is. It is my brother who takes charge of these matters; but I understand the Excise permit us to have a small quantity, for the purpose of supplying our fishermen only. 9385. Are your supplies of provisions and soft goods at Greenbank furnished from Mossbank, or do you get them direct from the wholesale merchants?-Generally we get them direct from the wholesale merchants. 9386. Are they landed in Yell?-Yes. 9387. But I suppose they are invoiced to the firm at Mossbank?- Yes. 9388. From whom do you get your principal supplies of meal and flour?-I should prefer to give the names privately. [Writes the names of two firms.] 9389. I see in your ledger the account of Lawrence Danielson, Houlland: is that a fisherman?-Yes. 9390. I observe that cash is sometimes entered in his account: does he come to you when he wants a small advance of cash for any immediate need?-Yes. 9391. Are applications of that kind common, or does a man generally get on without cash until settlement?-Occasionally a man may require a little advance in cash, but, as a general rule, any cash which we give out is at the time when the fishermen settle. After man has settled his account, he perhaps does not have as much money as he requires, and he may wish small advance, and it is generally given to him. He may also get a trifle occasionally at other times in the season, but it is generally about that time that the bulk of advances in cash are made. 9392. Do you square off your accounts in the ledger after settlement?-No; before the settlement. 9393. Then the entry here on November 27th, 'By Mossbank ledger, so much,' means what?-It means that the account there was transferred to the Mossbank ledger. 9394. And that indicates the amount which the man was entitled to receive in cash, unless there was something standing against him in the Mossbank ledger as well?-Certainly; there might be a balance against him there. 9395. 'By amount of Gloup account, £1, 13s: 11d.:' was that entirely for his supplies at Gloup during the fishing season?-That was for the amount of his private account at Gloup; and that account, as I have said, is settled between him and our factor at Gloup, and is entered here. 9396. I see entries of meal, 1s. 5d. and 5s. 8d.: what quantity of meal would that be which is charged 5s. 8d.?-It would be a lispund, or four pecks. 9397. What is the quantity charged 1s. 5d.?-One peck, or eight lbs. 9398. Was that the selling price of your meal last summer?-Yes, by the peck. 9399. Do you charge less when a larger quantity is taken?-Yes; we charge sometimes 1s. or 1s. 3d. and sometimes as much as 2s. less per boll. The price per boll would be somewhere about 25s. or 26s. when the lispund was at 5s. 8d. 9400. What did you sell meal at per boll last summer?-It is very rarely that I sell bolls at Greenbank. Generally when a quantity of that kind is required, we order it direct from the south, and it is charged to the men at Mossbank. 9401. Do you purchase hosiery at Greenbank?-We do very little in that way. 9402. I see one woman credited in the ledger with shawl: is that an exceptional transaction?-Yes, most exceptional transaction. We used to do a good deal in hosiery, but we found it was a very bad speculation, and so we gave it up. We were losing money by it every year: we would have been in the debtors' prison, I suppose, if we had continued to go on with that trade. 9403. Are the women's accounts for kelp kept in the same book?-Yes; if a woman is to be credited with kelp it is entered there. 9404. Do you purchase wool?-No; but we have some sheep: at least I had the management of some sheep this season, and I sold the wool for behoof of the party who owned the sheep. [Page 227] 9405. When you employ people to work for you, are they paid at the time, or at the settlement?-We sometimes pay them at the time, and sometimes at settlement. 9406. Are people employed in curing fish always paid at settlement?-Not wholly. We have a class of hands who are paid by beach fees, and another class whom we employ as day labourers, and we pay these either daily, weekly, or monthly, or whenever they like. 9407. Or at settlement, if they have an account?-Not necessarily. Some of them may have an account, and yet be paid daily. 9408. I see in the ledger that one woman is credited on July 1st, 'By work in full, 7s. 7d.,' and the account is made up: that work, I suppose, only went into the account. What kind of work would it be?-It was dressing worsted. 9409. Then, on January 14, there is, 'By work, 3s. 2d.:' was that dressing worsted also?-So far as I recollect, it was. 9410. I see here a special entry, 'By dressing, 3s. 9d?'-That is the same thing only differently expressed. That woman dresses any little worsted we may buy. 9411. Was that hosiery goods?-No; it was the worsted itself, the yarn. 9412. Do you buy the yarn ready made, or do you give the wool out to be spun?-We buy it ready spun and dress it, and send it south. 9413. You don't get it made up?-We do not. 9414. But the dressing here is paid for on the same principle of accounting which you adopt in your transactions with the fishermen?-Just in the same way. 9415. And you just settle for it at the end of the year?-Not at the end of the year; just whenever the woman likes. 9416. I see that this balance has been made at March 31, and another balance is made in April, and another in July?-Yes. 9417. Are the sales of fish transacted by you at Greenbank, or through the firm at Mossbank?-Through the firm at Mossbank entirely. 9418. Are you generally acquainted with the transactions in that department?-No. I may happen to know occasionally about some things; but I don't know particularly, as a general rule. 9419. Do you know the price at which the fish were sold last year?-I have an idea about what it was, but I could not say the exact figure. 9420. Do you know to whom they were sold? Were any of them sent to Spain?-I am not aware that any were sent to Spain. I don't think there were any sent abroad at all. I think they were all sold in Scotland and Shetland. 9421. Who buys from you in Shetland?-Mr. Joseph Leask at Lerwick; he is a very large fishbuyer. 9422. Why do you not sell your fish direct to the south?-I suppose we find it to be an advantage to sell to him. The Greenbank fish were all sold to him last year, and I believe some were sold from Mossbank too, but I could not say the exact amount. 9423. Can you explain how the current price of the season is ascertained, according to which you settle with your fishermen?- I cannot explain it exactly; but I believe some of the curers may correspond with one another about what they consider to be a fair price. 9424. Did you sell last year at the same price as your neighbours, Spence & Co.?-I don't know. 9425. If there is a difference in the price obtained by two or three neighbouring firms for their fish, do you strike an average in order to deal with your fishermen, or how is it that the fishermen are settled with?-I am not aware that there is any average struck. I think, as a general rule, the fishermen are paid to the full extent of the highest price realized by the large curers. 9426. Suppose you were selling 10s. or £1 a ton cheaper than your nearest neighbours, in consequence perhaps of having to sell earlier, or when the market was in a depressed state?-Such it thing occurs sometimes. 9427. Would you in that case settle with your fishermen according to the price obtained by the other party?-Certainly. 9428. Is that an invariable rule?-In my experience it has been the rule. 9429. Is that because the fishermen are sure to find out who got the highest price and would be dissatisfied, or is it part of the understanding that it is the highest current price according to which they are to be paid?-I believe the fishermen generally understand that they are to be paid according to the highest price. 9430. Then if a merchant is specially fortunate and gets a price much higher than the ordinary prices of the year, does that regulate the whole prices throughout Shetland so far as the fishermen are concerned?-I should say not; but I think that is a thing that very rarely happens. I think the principal curers, so far as I know, get much about the same price for their fish. There may be a slight variation here and there, but it small. 9431. They will get pretty much the same, I fancy, if they sell in Shetland to one gentleman or two?-Yes; but I am not aware that they all do that. 9432. Do you ever sell any fish for exportation to Spain?-I cannot say that we have ever sold any for that purpose. No doubt some of the fish we have sold may have gone to Spain indirectly. 9433. But you have not sent them there on your own account?- No. 9434. I presume the bulk of the transactions at Greenbank are credit transactions, and enter the ledger?-No. We do a great deal in cash payments. 9435. Is that with fishermen?-In some cases with our own fishermen, and in other cases with other people. We do a considerable business across the counter for ready money. I should say that in our shop business we sell as much goods for cash and butter and eggs, and so forth, as we do for fish. 9436. Are these cash transactions, as they may be called, speaking generally, with the same parties, or with different parties from those whose names appear in the book as having got goods which are set against their fish?-In some cases they would be with the same parties, and in other cases with others. For example, it is generally women that we buy yarn from, and it is very often women who bring us eggs and butter. 9437. Do you settle the whole of these transactions at the time?- Yes, as a general rule. 9438. But these women may have an account which enters the women's book?-We keep no women's book. 9439. Then when a woman does deal with you that way, she settles her transactions at once?-Generally at once. 9440. When you sell a quarter lb. of tea, or a lispund of meal, or a bit of cotton over the counter in a ready money transaction, is the same price charged as if it were entering the book?-Exactly the same, in all cases. 9441. Does it not follow from that that your profit upon the transactions which enter the book and are settled for at the end of the year is much less than what you make upon the cash transactions?-If we were to make no bad debts, it would not be much less. It would be much the same. 9442. Would it not be less in this way, that you might turn your money over twice before these accounts were settled, and you would either have the interest for the year or you might make another profit?-True; but the rate of interest is so exceedingly small at present, that the money is worth scarcely anything at all. 9443. I suppose it is a consideration in that matter that if you lose the interest upon the money that is invested in goods, you gain by the interest upon the money that is not paid to the men until the end of the season?-There is not much gain there, because we have often to pay the fishermen their money some months before we receive it. 9444. When are your fish sales made?-Towards the end of September or beginning of October, and they are generally made on a three months bill. 9445. That is on a bill payable in January, and the [Page 228] men are settled with in December?-In the end of November or 1st of December. 9446. So that the men are paid a month before you receive the proceeds of your fish sales?-Yes, a month or two. 9447. In that way, therefore you do not stand upon an equality with the men in the matter of interest, but on all these credit sales of goods you are losing interest?-Looking at it in that way, that would be so. 9448. I should have thought it not unreasonable that you should have a discount for these cash payments: why have you not?-I believe the reason is, that there is a great difficulty in having two prices for your goods-I mean honestly. 9449. You think the people would complain?-Not only would the people complain, but I am afraid your own conscience would cry out sometimes. 9450. Why should your conscience cry out if you are really equalizing the two classes of buyers?-The buyer who does not pay until November has the advantage of having his money in hand, and of getting an advance made to him on credit; whereas the buyer who pays you in March or in April for the same goods which the other man does not pay for until November, gives you his money six or eight or ten months sooner, and you have the advantage of having the money in your pocket, and you could make of it, as the case may be: is not that so?-Yes. A discount might be taken off if we could decide upon a certain percentage to take off for cash; but I believe the reason we have never done anything in that way is, that if you once begin to make an alteration, there is a great difficulty in fixing your prices, and a difficulty in sticking to an exact rate. Perhaps you will allow me to illustrate what I mean. Suppose I go into a shop and ask for a cloth jacket, and the jacket is brought down. I am well acquainted with the price of these goods, but I have plenty of impudence, and I beat down the price until the seller consents to give me the jacket at 3s. less than he asked at first. Then my brother, who is a quiet man, goes in and asks for jacket exactly the same. Perhaps he gets five per cent. taken off, which would be 1s. 6d., and he pays cash for it. That would be 1s. 6d. of an advantage to me, and I consider that it would be unfair and dishonest to him. 9451. But you get out of that difficulty by raising the price a little to everybody?-We do not. We just price our goods at what we consider to be a living profit, and we do not sell them at less than that to anybody. 9452. Are not your prices fixed, in the first instance, at such a figure as you calculate would cover the risk of bad debts upon your credit transactions, and also the loss of interest upon the money?-I cannot say that they are. We try to make as few bad debts as possible, and I cannot say that the prices are fixed with a view to that at all. 9453. Are the goods invoiced to you at Greenbank from Mossbank?-They are all invoiced from Mossbank. 9454. At the cost price, or at the price at which you are to sell them?-At the retail price. 9455. Have you known many cases of fishermen leaving your employment and going to other merchants?-No; as a general rule, fishermen continue in our employment for a very long time. No doubt there exceptions. 9456. I suppose there is a difficulty sometimes in man changing because of its disarranging the boat's crew?-In some cases there is. 9457. Do you know of any cases in which single men have come to you from other employers within the last half-dozen years?-I cannot speak for the last half-dozen years. I can only speak particularly for two years. 9458. Within that time have you got many men coming to you from other merchants?-There have been a few. 9459. Have these men generally been clear of debt to their former employers when they came to you?-So far as I know, they have. 9460. They have not asked you to undertake, their debts, or to advance them money with which to pay their debts to their former employers?-No. I have no case of that kind in my mind at present. 9461. Does any arrangement exist between you and any other fish-merchant, to the effect that a man leaving the one merchant and seeking employment with the other shall have his debt cleared off by the new employer?-There is no such arrangement between us and any other employer. 9462. Do you know of any case in which that has been done?-I cannot say that I do. Such a thing might have occurred, but there is no case of that sort which has come within my own knowledge. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, THOMAS WILLIAMSON, examined. 9463. You are a merchant and fish-curer at Seafield?-I am. I have been there for a short time. I commenced with the fishing in 1871, and I commenced for myself there as a merchant on 20th May 1870. 9464. Where had you been before?-I was shopman for one year before to the man who had the place previously-Magnus Mouat. 9465. Before that where had you been?-In 1867 and 1868 I was in Robert Mouat's shop at Coningsburgh as his shopman, but he took charge of the shop chiefly himself. I was not quite two years there. 9466. I understand the men in that neighbourhood were under an obligation to fish to Mouat, who was the tacksman of the property?-I cannot say about that. I did not know anything about their private matters. 9467. Do you mean to say that you were shopman to Mouat for two years and did not know that?-I did not know their private affairs, whether they were bound or not. I saw the men fishing, but I could not say whether they were under an obligation to fish for him more than for any other one. 9468. Did you not know of any cases in which men were threatened or ejected for not fishing for him, or for selling their fish to other merchants?-I was not aware of that at the time I was there. 9469. Were the men's accounts with Mouat settled annually in the same way as they are in other places in Shetland?-Yes, during the time I was there. 9470. Had you anything to do with settling these accounts?-No; he settled with the men himself. 9471. Did you keep the books in which the goods taken from the shop were entered?-Yes; the daybook. 9472. Do you remember anything about the prices charged there?-They varied, just as they did at other places. 9473. Were you aware at the time that the prices charged in Mouat's shop were much higher than those at other places?- I cannot say that they were higher for a country shop. 9474. Were they dearer than are charged in this neighbourhood now?-I cannot say that they were for the groceries; but indeed they would require to have been dearer, because he had to take his goods overland at a heavy expense from Lerwick. It was pretty expensive keeping a horse and cart for that purpose, and taking his goods down on a winter day. When he did not do that, he had either to employ a sloop for himself, or a big six-oared boat. 9475. But you have to do that in many places in Shetland?-They do that throughout the mainland, in Quendale and other places. 9476. Did the men about Coningsburgh ever complain to you of the quality of the goods sold in Mouat's store?-Of course I might have heard a man complain, just as parties will do when buying goods. Some customers will always complain. They may perhaps despise the thing, and yet at the same time they like very well to take it, but they pretend not to want it in [Page 229] order to get it a little reduced in price. I don't think the goods were any dearer or any worse than in most country shops in Shetland, because they came from the south country, and from the same men from whom most country merchants in Shetland purchase. 9477. Did Mouat buy from a merchant in Aberdeen?-He got most of his soft goods from Mr. D. L. Shirras there. 9478. Where did he get his meal and flour?-Sometimes from Macduff in Banffshire, and sometimes from Tod Brothers, Stockbridge. 9479. Who was his merchant at Macduff?-I forget; I think it was Messrs. Laing. He had one cargo from them during the time I was there. I think Mr. Adie, Voe, had some in the vessel at the same time. 9480. Was the cargo landed at Coningsburgh?-Some of it, and some at other places, just as the party got orders for it. 9481. Did the cargo belong to Mouat, or was it a joint concern?-I cannot say. 9482. Where did he get his flour?-He did not get very much flour during the time I was there, except for house use. 9483. Where did he get his tea and groceries?-From Mackintosh & Co. Glasgow, and from Bremner & Grant, Aberdeen. 9484. Did you ever know of any of Mouat's men getting money at the settlement?-Yes; those who had it to get got it, the year I was there. 9485. Were they sometimes paid by receipts or lines?-I cannot say how they were paid. The men, as they came out of the place where they had been settling, spoke about being paid. 9486. But you don't know whether they got cash?-No; they might have got a cheque on the bank. I only saw the entry in the ledger, of cash being paid in full. 9487. Your department was merely to sell in the shop?-Yes; and I was oftener travelling. I travelled a good deal buying up stock for him. 9488. Where were your principal purchases of stock made?-In winter they were chiefly at the Walls Martinmas sale. 9489. Was that in the neighbourhood of Coningsburgh?-No, it was in the west side of Shetland; but Mouat would perhaps buy a beast or two in the neighbourhood of Coningsburgh as he had orders for them. 9490. How were these cattle settled for?-Those that I bought were paid in money at the time. I cannot tell how he paid for those he bought himself. 9491. Were these cattle sent out of the country?-Some of them were, and others were re-sold in the country. 9492. Do you really think that upon the whole the stock of goods in Mouat's shop was as fair in quality as is usual in Shetland?-I could not say any other. The goods might have been lying for some time, and I could not tell what strength was in them, but they looked very well. They just looked like any goods that you would see brought into a country shop. 9493. I understand you have taken Mrs. Budge's premises at Seafield for curing and salting your fish?-Yes. Of course we had an understanding when we took them, that we were to have the men on equal terms with what they would get from another, but there was no more agreement about it. There is scarcely any man who could keep the premises there and carry on business in them without the privilege of having the men to fish for him. It would hardly have been fair to have made them fish for me unless they were as well served as by fishing for another; but I told them that I did not want any of them to fish for me unless they came voluntarily. 9494. Do you mean that the premises are inconveniently situated for such a business?-Of course. They lie so far inland that we require to have a push like that. 9495. And in order to get men to deliver their fish there, it is necessary that they should be under some sort of obligation?- We thought that unless the men had something to do at the place, it would not be worth keeping it. Of course you cannot very easily force a business there, without a few men that you can depend upon. 9496. Do you mean to force a business in the way of fish-curing, or in the way of selling goods or provisions?-Of course it would require a man with more capital than I have to force a business so far inland. 9497. But which do you mean; the fish-curing business, or the general business?-I mean the general business. 9498. I suppose the drapery and provision business depends very much on the success of the fish-curing business?-Yes. There is nothing else to depend upon. There are no works or anything like that in the neighbourhood. 9499. Do the men who are employed by you in the fishing live near your shop?-Yes. 9500. But you say that for fish-curing this is not a very convenient place, because it is too far inland?-I say it is not convenient for driving a business, unless you have some means to depend upon in the fishing or such like. There are not many people round about who could purchase goods over the counter, so that the business cannot be carried on in that way. 9501. But do you suppose that in any part of Shetland a good business over the counter could be carried on unless there were fishermen employed by the merchants?-Yes. I know places in Shetland where they do carry on a good business over the counter without having fishermen. For instance, they could do so in Unst. 9502. Don't merchants who try to establish a business find it exceedingly difficult to get on in the neighbourhood of a large merchant who has a number of fishermen employed, unless they have fishermen of their own?-No doubt but then there are some places a good distance from these large fish-curers where they could drive a very good business over the counter. Of course they could not make a large business of it, because there is not a large business to be done in Shetland. 9503. But they could make something if they were far enough away from the large fish-curers?-Yes. 9504. Still at any place I suppose it is an advantage for a merchant to be a fish-curer?-I don't know as to that. I cannot say much for it this year. Last year was my first year at it, and I had two boats. 9505. Did you not make a good thing of your fishing last year?- They did very well in the way of fishing, but I lost a good few lines and I had to pay most in cash. I paid the men cash down, and when they do not take their goods in return we make very little by the fish. 9506. Did the men not run accounts with you as they would do with another fish-curer?-No doubt some of them did, but some of them did not. 9507. Had they all cash to receive at the end of the year?-Yes. 9508. Was there not one of them who was in debt to you at the settlement?-Not one. The lowest had about £6 to get. 9509. Then you would not make so much of them as some merchants do?-I don't know as to that. I don't expect that I would make anything. 9510. Did you not expect to drive a fair business at Seafield?- Hardly, upon that footing. 9511. Are you not satisfied with your first year's trial here?- Sometimes we must be doing, although we are not satisfied with everything that comes across us. Sometimes we must just endure it, and hope for better success in another year. 9512. How do you account for your shop business not being larger last year?-The men were in pretty good circumstances, and perhaps they found that they could get their things a little cheaper in Lerwick, and they ran accounts there. Of course I could not sell so cheap as they do in Lerwick, because I was buying most of my goods there. I got part of my goods from the south, and part from Mr. Leask. 9513. Did you hear Mr. Laurence Williamson's evidence?-Yes. 9514. Do you make the same bargain with your fishermen about boats and lines and other things as he described?-The captain of the boat got something extra from me. [Page 230] 9515. But did you give as much off the boat hire as a premium to the men?-No; but of course it came to the same thing. I got £4 for the boat and lines. Laurence Williamson charged £6, and of course I charged £6 too, but I gave the lines free to the captain of the boat, and £1, 6s., which is equal to £2. 9516. Do any of the men in your experience buy their boats and lines?-They do in other places but not on this island, so far as I am aware. 9517. And that is always a debt against a boat's crew at starting?- Yes. In Dunrossness the crew buy their boat and lines, and I believe in Whalsay too. 9518. Have you engaged your boats for next year?-Of course it was understood when I bought my new boats last year, that the men would continue to fish for me; and this year they have not said anything against continuing to fish. 9519. Therefore you will have the same two boats' crews of Mrs. Budge's tenants?-I hope so. 9520. It was an understanding between you and Mr. Sievwright when you took the premises that these men were to fish for you?- Yes. 9521. Was that understanding put into writing?-No. 9522. Have you any lease of the premises?-No. I have them taken from year to year. 9523. But it was understood in conversation between you and Mr. Sievwright that the men should fish for you?-Yes, that the men should fish on the same terms to me as they would to another person; but still I don't want any of the men who do not come to me voluntarily. 9524. Still you had no objection to the landlord bidding them fish for you?-None whatever. 9525. Were you aware of the letter being written which has been produced to-day?-Yes. I did not see it before it was sent, but I saw it in the hands of the man who produced it. 9526. Did you know it was to be written?-No. I did not know whether Mr. Sievwright was to ask them or to write to them. 9527. But it was quite understood between you and Mr. Sievwright that there was such an arrangement?-Yes, of course I spoke to Mr. Sievwright about it. 9528. And your rent was fixed on that footing?-No; my rent was fixed before that matter was spoken of. I spoke to Mrs. Budge first about it, and she advised me to try it, and said she thought the men would have no objection to fish for me more than to any other party. 9529. Had the premises been unlet for some time?-Yes. 9530. Magnus Mouat had them for two years before you?-Yes. 9531. Had they been unlet before that?-Yes, they were never let before. 9532. Why did Mouat leave?-He did not do very much in the place. He is in Unst now. 9533. Would you pay the same rent for your premises if that understanding did not exist about the men fishing for you?-No, I would not keep them at all. 9534. Why?-Because I could have nothing to do in them. I would have nobody buying anything from me. 9535. And you would have no men to fish for you?-No. 9536. Is that because you cannot get free men to fish for you, or is it because they prefer to fish for the big fish-curers?-When the men are engaged to the big fish-curers, if I were to go and ask them to come and fish for me then I would require to give them a better bargain than they have with the merchants by whom they are employed now, and if I were to do that it would take away all the profit I would have on the fish, and I would have to work for nothing. Therefore I would be as well to want them. 9537. How do you fix the current price at the end of the year?- That is a thing I am hardly able to tell. 9538. How did you manage to ascertain it last year?-My bargain with the men was to give them the current price of the country, and accordingly I did so. I ascertained what the big fish-curers were giving, and I regulated my price by theirs. 9539. You did not settle until you ascertained what price they were getting?-No, I settled just at the general time. 9540. But after you had found out what the large fish-curers were getting?-Yes. 9541. Did you sell to Mr. Leask?-Yes. 9542. Have you any difficulty in getting men employed by the large fish-curers because they are bound to them too?-No, it is not exactly that; but I have not so much money as these fish-curers, and if the men make two or three small fishings, the curers can help them with money or goods, while I could not afford to do that. 9543. You have not the means of carrying them through?-Of course I have not. Men who have been long in business and who have plenty of capital can manage to do the thing in different ways; and small shops like mine need not try to fight against the great. 9544. It was only the balances you paid in cash this year?-Yes; but some of the men had £7 or £8 before settlement time came, and some had before they went to the fishing at all. 9545. Then their accounts at the shop would be rather small on the whole: what would you say was about the average?-They ran from 5s. to £9. 9546. Did they get that in goods?-They could take it either in cash or in goods. When they did not want to take the goods, they got cash if I had it; and if I did not have it at the time, they had just to wait until I could make some shift to get it for them. 9547. Do you buy hosiery?-Very little. If I can get a little good worsted-yarn, that is all I buy. 9548. Who do you sell the yarn to?-All I have done in that is a mere trifle, as I have not been long in the business; but perhaps I take a parcel to Lerwick, and hawk it through the shops, and get goods in exchange which I want for my own business. 9549. Is it understood that you are to take the price out in goods?-Yes. Of course I may meet with a private individual who may buy a few good cuts of worsted from me for cash. 9550. Is the worsted you get generally of good quality?-It is generally thick worsted, worth 2d. or 3d. a cut. 9551. That is not the very finest Shetland worsted?-No. There is some of it as high as 6d. a cut. 9552. Do the merchants re-sell the worsted at the same price or do they charge a profit upon it?-I cannot say much about that; only I know that all that worsted and hosiery is a bad spec. to meddle with. If it lies any time it gets spoiled, and it is very difficult to get a market even for the best quality of it in the south. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, GILBERT GILBERTSON, examined. 9553. You are a fisherman and tenant at Harra, Mid Yell?-Yes. 9554. Is that on the Gossaburgh estate?-No, it is on Mr. Hay's own property. 9555. Are you free to fish for anybody you like?-I have been so in time past, and I am so now, so far as I know. 9556. Have you ever fished for any person except Hay & Co.?- Yes. I fished five years for Mr. Sandison at Cullivoe, two for Mr. Henderson, and one for Mr. Williamson at Ulsta. 9557. Where do you get your supplies?-Generally from the merchant for whom I am fishing. We don't have means to get them anywhere else. 9558. Are you generally a little bit in arrear end of the year?-No; I always manage to have something over to help to pay the land rent. [Page 231] 9559. Do you pay your rent to Hay & Co.?-Yes, to the man whom they send up to make the settlement. They send a man every year to West Sandwick. 9560. Are you fishing for them just now?-No; the last one I fished for was Mr. Williamson. I have made no arrangement for the present year. 9561. Where are you getting your supplies for the incoming year?-We are shifting along the best way we can. We have some corn and potatoes of our own. 9562. Is not the time past for making up the boats' crews?-No; sometimes it is done before now, but sometimes it is as late as the month of April. 9563. Are there many men near you who have not made any arrangement for this year?-There are a good few, principally those who fished along with me last year. 9564. Then I suppose you are quite at liberty to go and fish for anybody you please?-So far as I know, I am. 9565. Have you no account running anywhere just now?-No. 9566. Are you not in debt to anybody?-I may be about 1s. or 2s. in debt at the shop at Linkshouse, but that is all. 9567. If you engage to fish for Mr. Leask at Ulsta, will you open an account at his shop at once?-I should like to be as long as possible in opening an account. 9568. But I suppose you won't get through the summer without doing so?-No. Of course I could not get through the summer without a little supplies. 9569. Do you think it would be an advantage to you if you could get your fish paid earlier in the season?-It would be an advantage in some respects. If I was not fishing for the proprietor, and if he wanted his rent at Martinmas and I did not settle with the fishcurer, then the proprietor might come upon me for the rent before I had money to pay him, and put me to expenses for that. 9570. Don't the proprietors generally wait for your rent till after the settlement?-In some cases they do, but not always. 9571. Have you known cases where they would not wait until after settlement?-I have not known any but in some cases they would like to have the money as soon as it is due. 9572. Have you known any case in which the fishcurer would not advance money for the rent when the proprietor was needing it?-I never knew that. 9573. Does the fish-curer generally advance you money for that purpose?-Yes, if there is money coming to me at the settlement. 9574. Have you known a fish-curer giving a line to the proprietor for the rent?-Yes. I have got an order from one of our curers to the proprietor himself. I have got an order from Mr. Henderson to Messrs. Hay, and it was accepted the same as cash. That was last year; the order was for about £5. It was a stamped order on the bank. It was only for part of my rent, and I had to shift for the rest somewhere else. 9575. Was it a cheque for the whole balance due to you?-Yes. 9576. Did you get it at settling time?-I got it at the time when Messrs. Hay settled, but I did not get an account from Mr. Henderson until after that. 9577. Then there was more due to you by Mr. Henderson than that?-A trifle. He took care to keep on the right side. 9578. Then you think it would not be of much difference to you to have an earlier payment?-I don't know. It might suit a temperate man very well who could manage his own affairs; but for the man who required all his pence, I don't think it would suit very well. 9579. Don't you think it would be better if you were to be paid so much, perhaps every week or every month, during the course of the fishing, and then to be paid the balance according to the actual price at the end of the season?-I think that would be a very good plan, so far as I can see. It would keep the men from turning into debt, and it would enable them to go to the best market; whereas we who have no money are compelled to take our supplies from the fish-curer. 9580. Do you think that is often a loss to you?-I am certain it is, because his prices must be a little higher in consequence. 9581. Have you felt that yourself?-I felt it last year. 9582. Then anything would be an improvement which would enable you to keep out of debt and deal where you pleased?-Yes; if we had the means of dealing where we pleased, then we would be enabled to go to the best market. 9583. Have you compared the goods you have got from the merchants for whom you were fishing with those you could get elsewhere?-Yes. Last summer we were paying 1s. 3d. per peck for the flour which we were getting from Mr. Williamson at Ulsta, and there was as good flour in Messrs. Hay's at Feideland at 1s. 1d. 9584. Have you ever made any other comparison of that kind?- No. Sometimes when we found the tea or sugar to be bad, we would try where we could get it best; but we could not run an account at these places, in case we might not be able to pay it from our fishing. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, HUGH HUGHSON, examined. 9585. You are a merchant at Gossaburgh?-Yes. 9586. Do you cure fish?-A few. 9587. How many boats had you last year?-I had no boats at all. I deal altogether in ready money. I pay ready cash for all that is brought to me, but I only do in that way on a small scale. I have no bondmen, and I wish for no bondmen. 9588. Do you pay for the fish as they are delivered?-Yes; cash down. 9589. Do you purchase generally from men who are fishing promiscuously along the coast?-Yes. 9590. Do you buy from men who are engaged to other merchants?-No. There are it few small boats that fish along the shore, and when they come along the shore with their fish I buy them. 9591. How do you fix the price of the green fish which you buy from them?-I fix it from the merchants' price. Supposing I can get £20 in cash for dry fish, I consider that I can give about 7s. per cwt. for the same fish green, calculating 21/4 of green to 1 cwt. of dry. 9592. Do you think that kind of business might be carried on on a large scale?-I think it could; and am sure it would be much better for the men. I have been twelve years in the country, and I have found that by paying ready money I have got more custom. 9593. Have you no credit transactions at all?-Yes. I try to oblige people at times when they want goods. 9594. But you have no security in the shape of fish which you are to receive?-No. 9595. In fact you have no security at all except their honesty?- No. I now produce my fish-book, which contains entries of the fish as they are landed, and the prices which I pay for them. 9596. Do you find that the existence of long credits prevents you from driving as large a business as you might otherwise do?-The islands have groaned under the system of long credits for many years. 9597. But do you find that it interferes with your driving a larger business?-I have no command over men, and I do not wish to have, but I always find that when there is any money going I get my fair share of it; and I think if every one did the same, they would get a fair proportion of business. 9598. If the men could not get credit from the larger fish-curers, do you think they would be ready to deliver their fish to you for ready money at the current price?-I think they would. I believe I would be able to [Page 232] buy £100 worth for every £20 worth I buy now, if the men could not get supplies on credit elsewhere. 9599. Do you think the introduction of a cash system of that kind would greatly injure the men, and make them unable to get through the winter?-I think the introduction of a cash system into the islands would not do very well for the poor men, because they must often have £2 or £3 of supplies from the curers before they can begin work. What they complain of is, that the merchants charge them a little as commission upon the money which they pay for the goods. 9600. But instead of getting supplies as they do now, they would be paid for their fish every time they delivered them, and then they could purchase goods as they pleased with the cash?-Yes; but there are many men at present who have no means, and who must come to me and ask me for a few pounds at a time with which to pay their rents. If I refuse them that assistance they could not carry through at all. They could not wait until they got money from their fishing; they would become paupers; and therefore they require advances. 9601. Do you buy any fish in winter and spring?-Yes; I buy a good few in winter when I can get them. 9602. But not enough to keep a man going with his family?-No. I made some money in Australia, and that is what keeps me going. 9603. But the men do not catch enough fish in winter and spring to keep their wives and families?-No. There are sometimes weeks when they can get none at all, the weather is often so stormy. 9604. If you have been in Australia, you know that there are storms elsewhere as well as here?-In Scotland they fish along the coast, but they have better boats and there are vessels always passing, while here there are currents from the Gulf Stream which would frighten any man. 9605. You think they have not so good boats here?-They have not, but they work them wonderfully, and they sometimes frighten me when I come across them. 9606. Have you any idea why it is that these men come to you for credit instead of going to the merchants to whom they sell their fish?-Of course they cannot all deal in one place. 9607. But would they not get their credit much easier from the merchant who is to receive their fish?-They might get it from him, but perhaps they might have the same reason that the man had when he was courting; one man might like me whilst others might not. They might take fancies of that kind. 9608. Do you sell your goods at a lower price than the large merchants?-I cannot say I do. I sell as low as I can, and if I was not selling reasonably low I could not carry on at all. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, GEORGE WILLIAMSON examined. 9609. You are a fisherman at Mid Yell?-Yes. I go to the whaling and sealing. 9610. You hold a bit of land here?-Yes. 9611. Do you also go to the ling fishing?-Yes, when I am at home any time; but I generally go to the whaling. 9612. Do you go to Lerwick for an engagement?-Yes. I generally engage through Messrs. Hay. 9613. Do you get your month's wages in advance?-Yes; it is paid down in cash at the Custom House. 9614. You also get an allotment note?-Yes. I leave it with Messrs. Hay, and then they supply my family with what they require. 9615. Does your wife live at Mid Yell when you are away?-Yes. 9616. How does she get her supplies from Lerwick?-She sends an order down to them, and they send her up what she requires by the steamer. 9617. Is that the only account you keep?-That the only account I keep with them; but I keep some accounts with other men. 9618. Do you keep an account with the merchant for whom you go to the ling fishing afterwards?-Yes. 9619. When you come home from Greenland you settle with Messrs. Hay at the Custom House?-Yes, as soon as I come home. 9620. You did not use to do that formerly?-No; we always used to settle in the office. 9621. When you settled in the office, the amount of your account was deducted from what you were to get?-Yes; but what money we had to get was paid down to us in cash. 9622. But now you get all your money except what you have got in the ship, and the first month's advance?-Yes. 9623. And with the balance you walk down to Hay & Co.'s office and pay off their account?-Yes. 9624. I suppose you just go down with the clerk who has been along with you at the Custom House?-Yes. 9625. Do you always pay off their account on the same day that you are settled with?-Yes; but it only two years since we began to be paid in that way. 9626. Have you been at the whale fishing every year for some time back?-I have been eleven voyages at it but from 1852 I have been in the south as well as at Greenland, and I have been at the ling fishing too, and all sorts of trades. 9627. When is your last payment of oil-money generally settled for?-When the oil has been boiled at Dundee or Peterhead, and they know how much there is of it, the money is sent on to Lerwick. If we are there to receive it we will get it as soon as it comes and if not, it will lie until we come. 9628. Do you get it at the Custom House or Messrs. Hay's office?-If we like, we get it at the Custom House; but this year I would not go there and I got it at the office. It was at night, and we could not get access to the Custom House; but as I wanted to get clear. I was just paid at the office. 9629. Is your first payment of wages and oil-money after you come home generally made before you leave Lerwick and come to Yell?-It is now. They are very strict about that. They like you to settle up before you leave the town. 9630. What amount of cash do you generally get as the first payment on a Greenland voyage?-It depends on what kind of voyage we make. Sometimes we have very little to get. Last year I had somewhere about £10 or £12 to get for wages and the first payment of oil-money. I had taken £2, 5s. of out-takes from Messrs. Hay besides my first month's advance. That was for supplies to my family at home while I was away. I was only absent for six weeks. 9631. What ship were you in?-The 'Labrador' of London. We made a good voyage. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, DANIEL MORE, examined. 9632. You are a fisherman and tenant at Cunningster?-I am a fisherman, but not a tenant. I have got a house of my own. 9633. How long have you been there?-About two months-since Martinmas. I was at Basta before, and at Colvister, and at Basta before that. 9634. Why have you changed so often? Could you not get a bit of ground to sit upon?-I was twenty-two years at first in Basta, and then I lost my health, and I began some little business in groceries. The landlord of the ground was Mr. George Hoseason, but the tacksman was his half-brother, Mr. Hoseason of Mossbank. He thought I was doing too well in my grocery business, and taking away too much from their shop, and he put me away from there. [Page 233] 9635. How did you know that he put you away for that reason?- Because they told me that. 9636. How long is it since that occurred?-About twelve years ago. 9637. Where did you go next?-To Colvister, where I was under Mr. William Henderson of Gloup, brother of Mr. George Henderson of Burravoe. I had a small shop there. 9638. Why did you leave that?-I left because I was not a fisherman. Mr. Henderson wanted me to go to the fishing; but as I would not he got another in my place, and thought he would make better of it. 9639. Is it usual for a proprietor to turn away a man who does not fish?-Yes. I paid £1 more than every man who fished every year since I left the fishing, except to Mr. Hoseason of Basta. 9640. Did you pay that to Mr. Henderson while you were at Colvister?-Yes. 9641. How long were you there?-Eight years. 9642. Did you pay £8 of additional rent to him during that time?- Yes. The other tenants paid £4 for the same amount of land that I paid £5 for. 9643. Did he tell you that that was because you did not fish?- Yes. 9644. Did he tell you that when you took the ground?-No; he did not say very much about it at that time. 9645. But he told you afterwards that you must pay £1 a year more if you did not fish?-Yes. 9646. Why did you leave?-I did not leave until he warned me. 9647. Why did he warn you?-Because he wanted a skipper for a boat. 9648. Where have you been since?-I was on Basta for three years. 9649. Where are you now?-On Major Cameron's property, under Mr. Walker. I have no shop there; but I have a house and a bit of ground, which I bought with money I had saved. I am not doing anything at present. 9650. Have you known many men who have been turned out of their holdings because they did not fish?-I have known a few in Yell. The proprietors of the land, if they did not fish for them, would turn them out. 9651. Is that a common understanding among the people?-Yes. 9659. Is there anything else you want to say about it?-Nothing particular, but that I know I have been harshly handled because they thought I made a living by selling some groceries and one thing and another. They did not like it very well, and in that way they turned me out of both places. Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, JOHN S. HOUSTON, examined. 9653. You are parochial schoolmaster of North Yell?-I am. 9654. You have had considerable experience in the management of property?-Yes, and in dividing runrig lands. 9655. How long have you been in the country?-Between 15 and 16 years. 9656. Have you had experience as to the relations existing between proprietors of land and fish-merchants in Shetland?- A little. 9657. Would you explain the nature of the arrangements that have been made in former times, and which are now made, by which the rent of the proprietor is paid through or by the fish-merchant?-When I came to Shetland, Major Cameron's property in Yell was let to Mr. Sandison as tacksman; but when the Major came from India, the lease had expired, and he appointed me to take charge of his property. Frequently at rent time the parties had not received their money for fish, and as a necessary consequence they got lines from their curer, the sums in which were placed to their credit by Major Cameron. The sum of these lines when all was over was sent to the fish-curer, the party who gave the lines, and a cheque on the bank was given for them. 9658. Was that merely a practice resorted to for the convenience of the fishermen and the proprietor, or was there an understanding with the fish-curer that he should make these advances?-It was a convenience for all parties. 9659. You are not aware that there was any understanding between the fish-curer and the proprietor to that effect?-There was an understanding between Major Cameron and Mr. Sandison. 9660. Was Mr. Sandison the fish-curer you have referred to?- Yes, Sandison Brothers. There was an understanding that any of Major Cameron's tenants who were what might be called reckless or careless, should not be allowed to overdraw their earnings, but that something should be left for their rent. 9661. Was Mr. Sandison a tenant of Major Cameron's in his fishcuring premises?-Yes. 9662. Were these lines always in the same form?-Generally they were the same. I have plenty of them at home.* 9663. Are you aware of a similar practice having existed on any other estate?-I believe it has existed but I cannot speak so positively about it on other estates. I may say that similar lines have also been given to Major Cameron and myself from another curer in North Yell, Mr. William Pole, jun. before he became a partner of the Mossbank firm. 9664. Had he premises from Major Cameron also?-No; he had his father's premises. With regard to these lines, I may state that, although there was no understanding on the subject, Major Cameron made it a practice not to come to his tenants asking for their rents until he was pretty sure that everything was nearly cut-and-dry for him. 9665. Do you think it is a general practice in Shetland for the landlord to fix his rent day so as to be convenient for the fishermen?-I think it is. They fix it after settlement. Mr. Walker, the first year he was factor for Major Cameron, came nearly close to his time, 11th November, but since then he has not done so. 9666. You are not aware whether that practice of giving lines exists in Yell now?-It does exist. I myself have paid rents by orders for cattle bought from Major Cameron's tenants. 9667. Have you had much intercourse with the fishermen in your district of the country?-Yes; I often hear their conversations. 9668. Do you know generally the way in which business is conducted in the fish trade?-I think I do. 9669. Are you aware that much complaint exists with regard to the way in which the current price for fish is fixed at the end of the season?-The fishermen, as a general rule always complain. 9670. What are the grounds of their complaint?-I think the reason why they complain is, that they believe the curers never give them so large a price as they should do. There is a sort of jealousy abroad amongst all the fishermen, which perhaps originated in formerdays, but which is still rankling in their bosoms. 9671. A jealousy of whom?-A jealousy of the fish-curers, that they don't give them fair play. 9672. Have you seen any cases where you thought they did not get fair play?-Not for some time past. 9673. Are you able to form an opinion upon the question whether the fishermen are justified in complaining of the manner in which the current price is fixed?-I think, as a general rule, they are not. I know practically, from curers books that I had access to, that the current price is fairly fixed. 9674. Have you been employed as an [Page 234] accountant?- No; but I have had confidence placed in me, and I have seen their books. 9675. Have you any means of knowing whether there are more prices than one for the fish, according to the market to which they are sent?-I am aware that each curer does not receive the same price. There are exceptions to the rule. Some send their fish direct to the foreign market, and some sell to a home firm, who require something for their risk and trouble. 9676. Do you think the present system of distant payments for the fish could be altered, and a better one introduced?-I don't well see how it could be altered for the benefit of the fishermen. 9677. Is that on account of the bad seasons which occur occasionally?-Not altogether on account of the bad season, but it suits them better. Many of them prefer to leave their money with their curer until they require it for their rents. 9678. They prefer him to act as their banker?-Exactly. 9679. Is it not the case that many fishermen who ask advances from their curers before the fishing season begins, or during its course, are really capitalists with considerable sums in the bank?-I am not aware of any case of that kind, but I know plenty of fishermen who have money in the bank. I should say that the system would perhaps be more healthy if the fishermen were paid when the fishing was over. That would remove many grievances now complained of. 9680. Do you think they should be paid in July or August?-In the end of August. 9681. But if they were paid then they might get a lower price than the fish-merchants eventually got?-They would have to be paid at a rate by which the curer would be certain to be safe as his fish had not gone to market, and they did not know what they would realize; but the same holds good on the coast of Scotland in the herring fishing. 9682. Would the fishermen, so far as you know them, be content with a system of that sort?-I cannot say; I rather think not. 9683. Do you think they would like to have the chance of a larger price?-They would engage just now for the next season if they were satisfied that they would realize 1s. more than the market would afford them at Martinmas. 9684. But they would not engage otherwise?-No. 9685. Do you think they would endeavour to get quit of such a bargain if the price at Martinmas should turn out to be higher than what they had agreed for the commencement of the season?- Attempts are made of that nature in their dealings in the selling of cattle. 9686. Are cattle sometimes sold according to a current price at a later period?-Cattle are sometimes bought during the spring. If not bought then, they are sold by auction at fixed sales in May, and in the mainland they have a Martinmas sale for fat cattle. 9687. But they are sometimes sold before these sales?-They are sold in spring to parties going through the district seeking cattle to buy; and during the last season the prices were so very high at the spring sales, that I know parties who had sold their cattle before, and then came back upon the purchaser asking him for the currency of the sale, although their animals had been sold months before. 9688. Did they get what they asked?-In one case they did. 9689. Was that from a proprietor?-No. 9690. Does the practice of marking the horns of cattle exist in Yell?-It does. 9691. In what circumstances is that done?-If a tenant becomes indebted to me and cannot pay me in cash, he offers me one of his cattle and to make sure of it I cut the initials of my name on its horns. 9692. Are you assuming that you are the landlord?-It does not matter whether I am the landlord or not. I may be a merchant, and it is the merchants who do it; the landlord does not require to do it, because the hypothec protects him. 9693. But the merchant takes his chance of the landlord's hypothec interfering with him?-Yes. 9694. If a merchant marks a beast in that way, is it generally exposed at the next periodical sale?-Sometimes it is, but sometimes it is taken away at a price fixed upon at the time. If not, it is sold, and the merchant gets his money. 9695. Do you think the debtor in that case has perfect freedom in fixing the price?-Both parties fix it. 9696. But do you think the debtor is under no constraint?-None. Arbitration would decide it. 9697. Arbitration might decide it, but is arbitration resorted to?- Sometimes. A person understood to be qualified puts a value upon the cattle, or the currency at which such animals are selling at that time is taken. 9698. It has been alleged that when merchants got people deeply in debt they mark their cattle, and they can take them at any price they choose: is that so?-I have never seen a case of that kind. Such a practice may have existed 20 or 30 years ago, but I am entirely ignorant of it. I may further state something which was not exactly implied in your questions, but which in the south is generally misunderstood. As a general rule, the fishermen get one-third of the selling price of the fish. Fish dry in 5-9ths-that is 21/4 cwt. of green fish make 1 cwt. dry, fit for the market,-and it is understood that the curer pays one-third; but when the price may be £20 and upwards, he pays more than one-third of the selling prices. When the price is £14 or £15 he can only afford to pay one-third, the expenses being the same per ton for curing at the high price as at the low price. Suppose he sells his fish at £20 per ton, he pays his fishermen £7; 21/4 times 7 are £15, 15s. The curing of that ton of fish costs him £2, 10s., that is £18, 5s., leaving him £1, 15s. to pay for his salt, to transport them to his store, and ship them on board a vessel, and to pay their freight to Leith. Hence it follows that the fish-curer has very little profit indeed. 9699. Upon what data is that conclusion of yours rounded?-Upon facts which I know with regard to the prices paid by curers. 9700. Do you know the price of the salt and the expenses of curing, through the curers themselves?-The fixed price for curing has always been 50s. 9701. That is the price which they charge?-That is the price which a party would charge a curer for curing his fish. 9702. That would be for salting and curing?-They would salt them, but the salt belongs to the curer. 9703. But the price of the salt is included in the 50s.?-No. I have my information from a curer of long standing, but who is not now in the trade. 9704. Have you any information to give with regard to the obligations of fishermen upon other estates in Shetland to fish for the landlords?-I have had a good deal to do with the property of Simbister, on which there were no tenants bound to fish, except those belonging to the Coningsburgh district, who were under tack to Mouat. Their leases bound them to do so; but, on the expiry of that lease, Mr. Bruce did not intend to let any of his lands again after that fashion. To my knowledge he refused to let them to a party who would have been a good tenant. 9705. Is there any other point falling within this inquiry upon which you are prepared to make any statement?-The only other statement I should wish to make would be a sort of qualification as to why the fishermen are generally dissatisfied with the prices they get. It is understood that they get one-third, or a little more when the prices are high, and if that is the understanding they argue that they ought to see the bills of sale. They say, 'Why not lay down to us when you settle, the document according to which you have sold your fish; we don't know what you have sold them at, we only have that from hearsay.' That is the only reason why I think the fishermen actually complain. 9706. Do you see any reason why they should not see the bills of sale?-I think they are entitled to see them. [Page 235] 9707. Are they not really partners with the curer?-They are; for they are risking the market as well as the curer. 9708. Have you read the evidence that was given before this Commission in Edinburgh?-I have; and the only observation I would make upon it is, that I am not a believer in it generally. Facts are stated as existing many years ago, but which are not applicable to the present day, as a general rule, throughout Shetland. 9709. Do you think the condition of Shetland has improved during the sixteen years you have lived in it?-Yes; especially during the last five, and more especially during the last three years. The prices of cattle have been so high that a tenant could pay his rent at once with an animal, when he could not do that before. The price of fish has also improved. 9710. These, however, may be transient facts?-They may be. 9711. Prices may fall?-They may. 9712. Is there any permanent cause operating to improve the condition of Shetland?-There is more direct communication with the south. Purchasers come into it now and buy directly, instead of buying through natives resident here acting as their agents, and who perhaps might charge something extra for their own trouble, and that had to come off the people. There is one part of Mr. Walker's evidence which I consider to be perfectly true, where he referred to the giving of credit to children or almost children. I believe that to be an injurious practice, because children are initiated into the system of getting credit when they are eleven or twelve years old, and it never ceases with them unless they leave home. It may in certain cases cease; but as a general rule it does not, and I think it is like learning them to smoke tobacco, or anything of that sort. 9713. Is there any other point in Mr. Walker's evidence, or the evidence given in Edinburgh, which you consider to be true?-The evidence given in Edinburgh contained a great many facts highly coloured, and I may add somewhat exaggerated. 9714. Do you think the present state of the hosiery trade is a wholesome one?-No. I consider the hosiery trade, as a whole, to be a morally unhealthy one as it present exists. 9715. Is that because of the facilities which offers for the younger members of the family to get into debt?-It is not that. I speak particularly of Yell, where yarn is produced; the merchants have to lay a higher price on their goods when they give them for yarn than they would do for cash, or for any other article brought to them which was worth its value in cash. 9716. Do they put a higher price upon the goods which they sell for yarn?-They must do it. 9717. Is not that high price charged in all other sales as well as in sales which they make for yarn?-No; the country merchants here have two prices. 9718. You heard the evidence of Mr. Pole to-day, in which he said they had only one price for all their goods?-Yes. Mr. Pole seems to have adopted a new system. I know they had two prices some time ago. 9719. You are aware that two prices did exist there?-Yes, and in many other places. 9720. You believe that to be unwholesome?-I do. 9721. Does it create a bad feeling towards the merchant?-I think the practice is morally wrong. To meet these things, many females come, not with 100 threads in each cut, but with from 90 down to 80, obliging the merchant to count the yarn which he buys from certain parties in whom he has not implicit confidence. 9722. Of course that encourages deception?-Yes. With regard to the trade in yarn, the merchant buys it according to its quality. If he is to sell it in Lerwick, he employs a party for the purpose, who receives a percentage for selling it. The merchant has also to pay freight, and he has to lay these things upon his goods. 9723. Are you aware that in Lerwick the practice of the merchants is not to sell worsted at all, but merely to purchase what they want for their own use?-I am not aware of that. I know there are merchants in Lerwick who do sell worsted, but they could scarcely be called hosiery merchants. They are generally people who sell for some one in the country, sometimes as a favour, and sometimes for commission. 9724. These are not hosiery shops?-No; they are sometimes grocers. 9725. I fancy that a party selling yarn may more readily take it to a grocer if she wants provisions rather than dry goods, as she will not get provisions in Lerwick from the merchants?-The grocer won't buy it unless he requires it for family use, but he will take it from a merchant as a favour, and sell it for him. 9726. But I have been informed by many merchants in Lerwick that they always purchase Shetland worsted for money; and as they require all they can get and more for their own use, they do not sell it again at all; so that, according to that information, any person going from Yell to Lerwick and selling worsted, could get the highest cash price for it from one of the hosiery merchants: is that not consistent with your knowledge of the matter?-I am aware that cash has been given. I have known a firm that dealt with a Lerwick hosiery merchant to a very large extent, and perhaps received £90 in cash for hosiery and yarn in one season. That, however, I looked upon as an exception. 9727. You heard the evidence of William Stewart with regard to Whalsay?-Yes. 9728. You were employed by the late Mr. Bruce to divide the toons there?-Yes. He wished to abolish the run-rig system, and to place his tenants on a money-paying system-to fish for whom they chose, and to pay him a rent. I was employed to make the division, and I divided every toon in the island, except one. 9729. At that time did you find that the system which Stewart described was either prevailing, or had been prevailing shortly before?-It was just dying out.** [Page 236] 9730. Does any other person wish to be examined, or to make any statement? [No answer.] Then I adjourn the sittings here until further notice. *The witness afterwards forwarded a number of these lines. They were in similar terms to the following:- 'CULLIVOE, 8. 1864. '£7, 0s. 7d. 'Mr. HOUSTON,-Please credit A.B. in rent account the sum of seven pounds and sevenpence, and charge to account of ' SANDISON BROTHERS.' **Mr. Houston afterwards submitted the following remarks by way of supplement to his evidence;-The collecting of rents and of long standing, and the dividing and renting of farms, and other unavoidable accompaniments, placed me as a temporary link between landlord and tenant, and tended to give me a knowledge of Shetland affairs in general, as existing between landlord and tenant, between fish-curer and fishermen, and between merchant and customer. Although the dividing and letting of farms may not be considered relevant to the present inquiry into the truck system, I hold a . No doubt poverty is the foundation upon which the truck system has been reared, and may justly be called its parent; and the origin may be traced, very clearly too, to the subdividing of farms, it being the interest of the landlord-curer to accommodate as many fishermen as possible. In many districts, and on small properties where the landlord is storekeeper and curer, that system is still upheld, and with pious care; while on many of the larger properties the proprietors are endeavouring to abolish it. The islands being over-populated, and the farms so insignificantly small, it follows as a result that the inhabitants have to depend on external aid, and throw themselves, although reluctantly it may be, into the arms of a system which, however honestly conducted, has a tendency to hamper their movements, to bereave them of independence, and to plunge parents and their children into debt, out of which they may never be able to extricate themselves. There is an antidote, but its application would require to be a work of