504. But you have no serious complaint to make about that
system?-No; we cannot complain about the regulations in
Shetland.
505. Could you make a better bargain with anybody else?-I don't
think we could-in Shetland.
[Page 10]
506. Is that your fault, or the fault of the
fish-merchant?-I think, for my own part, I would stick into any
place where I could get the best bargain. We have been fishing for
some years to some of the merchants who would give 3d. or 6d.
per cwt. more for the fish than we could get in Lerwick, and
therefore we have stuck by them.
507. Suppose another merchant were at hand at Cunningsburgh,
would you be quite at liberty to sell your fish to him?-Yes.
508. Is there any such merchant there within reach of you?-There
is another merchant close by, named James Smith. Part of the men
on the beach I belong to fish for him, and part to Thomas Tulloch.
509. Are there any other stores than Mr. Tulloch's at
Cunningsburgh or in the neighbourhood?-There are some small
shops that we could get small groceries from, but I do not do much
with them.
510. Suppose you were to agree at the beginning of the season to
sell your fish to another than Mr. Tulloch, would you have any
difficulty in getting credit at his store for your supplies?-He
would not like that very well.
511. Would you not get your supplies there?-No, not unless the
man who asked them was one he was well acquainted with.
512. Would you be able to get them anywhere else?-I don't
know. I don't think I would try to get them, unless at the place I
was sending my fish to.
513. But if you had not the money yourself, would you get
credit for your supplies during the summer from any other
shopkeeper, either in Lerwick or Cunningsburgh?-Yes. All
the fish-merchants we deal with in Lerwick I can get a little credit
from up to the present day.
514. And in that way you are not bound over to Mr. Tulloch in any
way?-No. We can leave him this season if we have a mind.
515. You were to say something about the herring fishing: I
thought there was not much herring fishing here?-There will be
nothing at all this season in Shetland. We generally fished to
Messrs. Hay & Co. when we were in it.
516. Have you any complaint to make about it?-Much the same
as about the ling fishing The don't like to give a stated price.
517. Where do you deliver the fish when you go to the herring
fishing?-There is a small ghioe* close by our own place at
Cunningsburgh. Hay & Co. send down a cooper there, and they
have a booth for their stores close by.
518. What is the bargain you make with them about that?-They
generally wish us to go to the fishing, and they will pay us
accordingly.
519. What do you do about a boat?-We use the same boat as we
have in the ling fishing.
520. Then your only complaint about the herring fishery is, that
you don't know the price until settling time?-Yes. But there has
been no herring fishery on the island at all this season, to speak of.
521. Do you require advances of money at all during the season?-
We are often in want of a few shillings.
522. How do you get that?-The man we are dealing with just now
(Mr. Tulloch) has never said no, so far as what we asked was
reasonable. I got an advance of £2 from him last season to buy a
cow. We were out of milk that season, and he did not refuse me
the money when I asked it.
523. Do you get advances from Messrs. Hay also when you need
it?-1 don't think they are so very frank about that, and I don't
like to ask it; but they will give us any small thing we need from
their shops.
* <Gio>-A deep ravine which admits the sea.-<Edmonstone's
Glossary>.