933. Had you not a holding of your own there?-No; I got married,
and had to look out for a holding somewhere; and I was, by the
law of necessity, compelled to move against my will.
934. Are there any dealers in Scalloway who would buy your fish
from you if you were allowed to sell them?-Yes; there are
Charles Nicholson and Robert Tait.
935. Do they buy fish cured?-They buy them either cured or
uncured, and also what may be properly called half-cured-that is,
salted but not dried.
936. Do they employ fishermen?-Charles Nicholson employs
fishermen.
937. Do the fishermen who are employed by Nicholson and Tait
supply their fish to them green or dry, as they like?-They only
give them to them green, so far as I know.
938. But these merchants also buy cured fish from independent
fishermen?-Yes.
939. With regard to your farm, do you sell any produce off your
land?-We sell none.
940. What does it bear?-Oats and barley, or bere, and potatoes or
turnips, and some cabbage.
941. Do you sell these things, or do you consume them
yourselves?-We consume them either by ourselves, or by the
stock on our farm. We have some cattle and sheep and pigs .
942. Do you sell your stock?-The cattle are generally sold to
relieve the tenant's necessities, and in order to let him have a few
shillings in money.
943. What is that money used for? Is it for things that you cannot
buy in the store?-Yes; and sometimes for paying our rent.
944. I thought the rent was entered as part of your account with
Messrs. Hay?-If our earnings are not sufficient to meet Messrs.
Hay's account, or if we have overdrawn our account with them,
then we sell an animal, and the price of it is put into the account.
945. Is there anything else for which you have to sell your
cattle?-I am not aware of anything.
946. How do you sell them? Is it at a roup or at a public
market?-We sell our cattle where we can dispose of them to the
best advantage-sometimes at the market at Lerwick, and at other
times cattle-dealers come round and ask us for them. If we choose
to give them to the dealers, we have every advantage in selling our
cattle.