In some districts the people make a grey woollen cloth, which
they dispose of to the merchants or shopkeepers. Mr. Anderson,
Hillswick, states that most of his dealings in this cloth are settled
for at the time in cash or goods. Another witness testifies to the
difficulty of getting money, and his being obliged to take goods;
and it appears that formerly there was one price in goods and
another in cash. There is little evidence about this industry, which
is now confined to particular districts. It shows that those who are
free prefer to settle in cash or goods, as they choose, at the time of
delivery; but that where the maker or her husband is indebted, it
enters the account, and the merchant gives such amount of cash or
goods as he judges fit. The wool is sometimes provided by the
merchants at a price fixed and marked in account, and the cloth
is paid for at the current price when returned, the cost of the
wool being deducted. The people never think of selling the
manufactured goods to another merchant. It may be a question
whether the colourable sale of the materials to the workwoman
saves transactions of this kind, in the making of woollen cloth,
from the operation of the existing Truck Act.
[Mrs. C. Johnston, 8163, 8124.]