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:-
'<Lerwick>, 22<d> 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.