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; <e.g.>, 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.]