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,
<e.g.> 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.