2. It is maintained that a system of short payments in cash
would not be advantageous to the fishermen, because, in the first
place, their improvident habits would lead them to spend their
receipts at once, so that at the end of the year they would have
nothing left with which to pay their rents, and no means of living
in the spring, when the meal from their crofts is exhausted; and,
in the second place, because it is inconsistent with their being
paid according to the price actually realized for the fish, which is
commonly higher than the 'beach price' during the season, or the
market price at the time when agreements for the summer fishing
are made.
The first of these reasons is felt and stated by some of the
fishermen themselves. But are Shetland fishermen more
improvident than other people similarly situated would be?
Under the present system of credit transactions, indeed, it would
be strange if a part of them were not careless and extravagant,
and it would not be strange if a great majority were hopelessly
improvident and insolvent. No man is more likely to waste his
means than he who never knows how much he has to spend; and
this general truth is not likely to fail in its application to men
following a precarious calling in which there are great runs of
luck, and who have been brought up from their earliest years to
expect their employers to supply their pressing wants in times of
adversity. But the objectors themselves assert, and there is no
reason to doubt, that a very considerable proportion of the people
have saved money in spite of the influences under which they
live, and have, for their rank in life, large deposits in the banks.
If many of them are careless and improvident, that is a reason,
not for continuing, but for altering a system which is admirably
conceived for promoting extravagance and recklessness about
money. If some Shetlanders are improvident, it is the system
which has made them so; and if it be a fact that so many have
saved money, it proves that under a better system the people of
Shetland would compare favourably with those of any other
district in frugality and foresight. If the fisherman had his money
in his hand, it is not likely that he would forget rent day and the
time of short supplies which he has often to pass through in spring.
[R. Halcrow, 4700; R. Malcolmson, 4781; P.M. Sandison, 5227;
G. Gilbertson, 9578; J. Hay, 5375; P. Blanch, 8565; C. Young,
5815, 5918.]
It is said that in bad years, when the crops or the fishing, or both,
have failed, the population would starve in winter and spring if the
merchants were not to make advances of meal and provisions; and
that they could not do this, but for the security afforded by having
the men engaged to fish to them for a price to be settled only at a
distant day. Even if supplies of food are not required, men may be
unable to go to the fishing for want of boats, lines, and hooks,
which they have to get from the curer, and which, it is contended,
may properly form a first charge against the proceeds of the
enterprise. Fishing is always most productive when the men are
paid by shares, not by wages; and it is not desirable to introduce
any change which would necessitate the payment of the men by
wages.
[W. Irvine, 3896; T. Gifford, 8150; H. Hughson, 9599; W. Irvine,
3834; A. Sandison, 10,007; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,605.]
It may be replied, that however true this may be, it just
presents one of those cases in which the weaker party is likely
to be led into a disadvantageous bargain, and in which, upon
recognised principles, the law may interfere for his protection,
by regulating the bargain so made, or by teaching him how to
escape from the position of disadvantage. The transition to a
new state of things might in bad seasons be attended with some
difficulties and hardships, especially to those who are now
indebted. Thus Mr. A. Sandison, in recommending a system of
monthly payments, says, 'I think it would pauperize a number of
the fishermen, because there are a great number of them in debt,
and in the transition from the one system to the other they would
require to pay up their debts, so far as their means would go' (Q.
10,015).* One cannot avoid observing that this class of objectors
to cash payments exaggerate both the inability of the people to
provide against the evil future, and the value of the 'merchants' as
a source of credit in bad times. It is impossible to judge of the
energy that would be exerted under the stimulus of necessity by
a population which has always had landlords, tacksmen, and
merchants to depend on in adversity. Those who urge that the
men could not live, or at least could not go to fish, unless the
merchants were there to supply their wants, forget that, while the
existing system presents one ready source of credit to fishermen, it
closes up all others. The fish-merchants, by getting delivery of
their debtors' fish, have such a security for their accounts, that
other shopkeepers do not now venture to furnish any but the
smallest quantity of goods to the average fisherman on credit.
But if there was some certainty that the fish-merchant had not a
contra account against the fisherman, at least equal to the price of
his fish, other merchants would not have the same reason, in cases
of necessity, for refusing to give some credit to deserving men.
This is shown by the fact-certainly an exceptional one-that a
most successful business has been established in Dunrossness by
Mr. Gavin Henderson, in a district where the tenants are strictly
bound, and that he has been in the habit of giving credit to
considerable amounts to fishermen bound to other merchants.
And other cases of credit sales by others than the fish-merchant
are recorded. The extension of credit dealings with smaller
shopkeepers is, however, strongly deprecated by Mr. Spence and
Mr. Sandison, partners of the firm of Spence & Co. It is enough to
remark, that such credits would be subject to the ordinary rules of
the law; and that if they were found to be injurious, it would for
the Legislature to consider whether the rule of the Arrestment of
Wages (Scotland) Act 1871, or a short prescription, should not be
extended to them.
*'10,016. Do you think the fishermen under that new system
would not be able to get credit to a certain extent?-I don't see
how some of them could. For instance, take the year 1869. In
1868 the fishings were almost a failure. Our total catch in Unst
and Yell amounted to £1607, which could not average much over
£4, 10s. to each fisherman. That year we imported meal and flour
to the amount of £1824, cost price per invoice; we paid in cash
for rents to Major Cameron, Mr. Edmonstone, Lord Zetland, and
others, £1600; and we expended on fishing-boats and fish-curing
materials £780,-being a gross amount of outlay of £4223 against
the fishing, the return for which, as said, was only £1607.'
[R. Henderson, 12,855; M. Laurenson, 7342; D. Edmonstone,
10,658; J. Thomson, 11,711; L. Moncrieff, 11,518; G. Georgeson,
12,032, 12,118; J. Twatt, 12,186; J. Spence, 10,559; A. Sandison,
p. 248, f.n. 10, 494.]
It may be contended that a law which would restrict the freedom
of fishermen to contract for payment in proportion to the profits
realized on their fish, would be inexpedient; but it is not
impossible to frame an enactment which, leaving them this
power, should require payment, weekly or monthly, of such a
proportion of their earnings as would obviate the necessity of
living on credit.