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.]