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.]