yourself and your family in the meantime?-Yes.
5343. Do you deal at his shop for all your provisions and your
purchases of cotton and other things?-I do, for the principal part
of what I need, but not altogether.
5344. How far do you live from Mr. Adie's nearest shop?-About
71/2 miles; his shop is at Voe.
5345. Do you always go there for what you want-Yes; generally I
do that, unless sometimes, when I am needing some small things, I
may go to another: but I am not bound to go to his shop unless I
choose to go.
5346. Then why do you go so far?-Because I generally fish to
Mr. Adie, and I have the greatest part of my dealings with him. I
have not been accustomed to shift very much, unless it might be an
inconvenience to me, and sometimes I have gone to another shop.
5347. How long have you fished for him?-For about fourteen or
fifteen years.
5348. When you settle in November or December, have you
generally a balance of cash to receive?-Sometimes I have and
sometimes not.
5349. Does that depend upon the season?-Yes.
5350. When it has been a good season, you have generally
something to receive?-Yes.
5351. How much did you get at last settlement in cash?-I think I
got about £19 in money.
5352. What was the amount of your account for goods furnished at
the shop?-I had more things in Mr. Adie's hands then than my
summer's winnings; I had cattle in to sell.
5353. Had you sold cattle to Mr. Adie as well as your fish?-Yes.
I had sold a young stot and a cow; I think they came to about £8.
5354. Were they sold at a public auction?-Yes.
5355. And bought by Mr. Adie there?-Mr. Adie.
became good to pay me for them. I could not say exactly who was
the purchaser.
5356. The price of these animals was included in the £19 you got
in cash?-Yes; I paid my shop account, and then I got that money.
5357. Then, deducting the price you got for your cattle, there is
£11 remaining as the price you got for your fish?-Yes; but I
owned the boat myself, and I had the other men's hires to get in.
5358. Were these accounted for to you through Adie's books?-
Yes. There were five of these hires to be paid; there were six of us
in the boat altogether.
5359. What would be their share of the hire?-I think the hire of a
boat is 50s.
5360. Then each of them would pay about 8s. 6d.?-Yes.
5361. So that would be 44s. off for boat-hire, leaving little less
than £9 as the price of your fish, after deducting your shop
account?-No; my share of the summer winning was more than that.
5362. But I am asking you what you got in cash at settlement?-I
think it was about £19, or perhaps a little more.
5363. And £8 was taken off for the cow and about 44s. for the
boat-hire?-The price of the cow and stot and my summer's
earnings were all summed up together, and came to a certain
amount; what I had got from Mr. Adie came to a certain amount
too, and when I paid that off I had about £19 to get in clear money.
5364. But after taking the price of the cow and the value of the
boat-hire off the £19, there would be something like £9 remaining:
was that £9 due to you for anything besides your fish? Was
anything due to you by Mr. Adie, except the price of the cow and
the boat hire, and the price of your fish?-I don't remember
anything else.
5365. Then £9 would be something like the price of your fish?-I
don't remember.
5366. Have you a pass-book?-I have one but I have not brought it
with me.
5367. How much was your shop account?-I think it was about
£17.
5368. Then your fish would be worth about £26 altogether: was
that the value of your take of fish last year?-No; my fish did not
come to that. I think my sixth share came to about £18; but then,
as I owned boat of my own, and had the expense of her to pay I
was paid a little more than the others, so that I might have more
than £18 to get.
5369. How do you square up your account at the shop and your
account for fish at the end of the year?-At the end of the year I
may have more things put into Mr. Adie's hands than my fishing.
For instance last year I had that cow and stot, and perhaps some
other things, and these and my fishing are all put together to my
credit. Then my out-takes and things I have been requiring from
Mr. Adie are put too, and the amount they come to is stated to me.
5370. Is that read over to you, or have you got it [Page 133]
already in your pass-book?-Sometimes I have a passbook, and
sometimes I don't require one. Sometimes I don't fash with it;
that is the truth.
5371. Why is that?-I thought there was very little need for it,
because Mr. Adie and I never disputed about these things, and
when I had a pass-book I was not very particular about keeping it.
5372. Do you get money advanced to you in the course of the
season if you want it?-I never was refused it when I asked for it.
5373. Is there generally something due to you for fish at the end
of the season?-Sometimes I have been due Mr. Adie, and
sometimes I have had a little in his hand; but, taking one time with
another, we are generally square, and I am happy to say we are
square in the meantime.
5374. Is there anything you think could be mended in that way of
settling your accounts?-I don't know, I am sure.
5375. Was there anything particular you came here to-day to say
about it?-There is one thing I would say, that we fishermen never
know what we are to have when we commence our fishing. We
work away as if we were blind. We don't know what the price is
to be until the time of settlement, and then we must just take what
currency is given, and we can get no further, and can make no
more for ourselves.
5376. Do you think you could make any better arrangement than
that?-I don't know, I am sure.
5377. Do you think you would be better off if you made a bargain
for a fixed price to be paid to you at the delivery of your fish?-I
might be better off with that in one season, and I might be worse
off in others; but if I made my bargain for that, I could not
grumble, although the fish could be paid better. At settlement I
must stand by my bargain. Then, if the price of fish was less, the
merchant might lose; so that I don't know which way would be
best.
5378. But in that way you would know what you were working
for?-Yes; and I would have no reason to grumble if I had made a
bargain, even although I could have made a better thing of it in
another way.
5379. Have you ever been asked to make a bargain of that kind?-
No.
5380. Have you ever proposed it yourself?-I have turned it over,
and said that it was a hard thing for a poor fisherman like me to
fish and not know what I was fishing for, when other seamen knew
what they were working for; but I never came to any conclusion
about it.
5381. Do you think, if you were paid in that way in the course of
the season as the fishing went on, you could make a better use of
your money by purchasing your goods at other places than Mr.
Adie's shop?-I could not say much about that.
5382. Could you buy your goods as well and as cheaply nearer
home?-I don't think it, because the merchants appear to be all
much about the same in our neighbourhood. They have all one
price for their articles.
5353. Are the merchants about you all engaged in the fishing
business as well as in the shop business?-Not all of them; but
some of them are. Mr. Pole engaged in it; he is the principal
merchant near us.
5384. Are there some of them who are not engaged the fishing
business at all?-There is Robert Murray at Swinister; he is not
much engaged in it. His shop about half a mile from where I live.
5385. Would you be as well served there, and as cheaply, as you
are at Mr. Adie's and at Mr. Pole's?-I don't think would be any
better.
5386. Would it be any advantage to you to have your money at
your own command?-I might think so. A man is always glad to
have some money to lay his hands upon.
5387. In answering my question in that way, do you mean to say
that your money is not at your own disposal?-What I have to get
when I settle I get without a word, and it is at my own disposal;
but I would not like to take money from a man when I was due
him anything. I would like always to pay my debts; and what I had
over when I would know was my own, and I would make the best
of it that I could.
5388. Does that mean that what money you get before settlement
is not your own, and is not at your own disposal?-When I was
standing in need of anything and wanted a little money, which I
did not have myself, I could go to Mr. Adie when I was fishing for
him, and ask him for £1 or £2, and he would give it to me, and
then when I settled I would pay it back to him.
5389. That is to say, it would be charged against you at
settlement?-Yes.
5390. But do you mean to say that if you get £1 or £2 in that way,
you would not be at liberty to spend it as you pleased, and to buy
goods with it at any shop you liked?-No. I could go where I
liked with it, if I got it from him, because, of course, I would pay it
back to him again, and he would not care what use I made of it.
5391. Would you rather have more cash advanced to you during
the season than you have in an ordinary way at present, and not get
all your goods at Voe?-I could not exactly say about that; I
might. If I was paying down cash for the goods, I might get them a
little cheaper than by marking them down.
5392. Would you get them cheaper for cash at Mr. Adie's own
shop at Voe?-Well, money is a thing that every person is always
glad to get hold of; and he might give me 1d. or 2d. down upon an
article for ready money, which I would not get if he were to mark
it down in his book.
5393. Do you know that you get a discount of 5 per cent. there for
cash?-I have got it before. I have got 5 per cent. discount when I
settled.
5394. Was that on goods that were entered in your account?-Yes;
I have got that. I am not perfectly sure if I will get it this year, but
I know that I have got it before.
5395. If you get that when you settle at the end of the year, would
you get anything more if you were to pay in cash?-I am not able
to say.
5396. You just think you would like to have your money in your
hand as you deliver your fish: is that the notion you have?-I don't
know whether it would be better to get it in my hand then, or to
wait until I got it all at once at the conclusion.
5397. Are there some advantages in both ways of dealing?-I
believe there are.
5398. Perhaps you would spend it too fast if you had it in your own
hands?-I don't know about that. I would not like to spend it if I
had it, unless it was for something that I really required to spend it
on.
5399. Are you under any obligation to go to Mr. Adie's shop for
the goods you want in the course of the year?-None that I am
aware of.
5400. You have never been told it of course; but is it a great deal
more convenient for you to go there than to deal at another
shop?-No; it is not more convenient. I could go to it shop
somewhat nearer; but still I don't think I would be any better; and
as it has always been my custom to go there, I just continue to go.
5401. Is it only because it is your custom to go, or is it because you
are in the way of delivering your fish to Mr. Adie, that you go to
his store?-Mr. Adie has been very obliging to me many times by
helping me when I could not help myself, and therefore I always
felt a warm heart towards him, and went to his store.
5402. But is it the way with fishermen here, that they got to the
shop of the man that they sell their fish to?-I am not able to
speak to that except for myself.
5403. Do you not know what your neighbours do? It depends on
the circumstances that my neighbours are in. If they are indebted
to the man they are fishing to, of course they will go to that man,
and perhaps have very little to go to him with.
5404. Are those neighbours of yours who are so indebted also
likely to engage to fish for the same merchant during the following
season?-Yes. When man is short of money, and has not enough
with [Page 134] which to pay his land rent, he may go to the man
he is fishing to, and he will help him with what he requires, but the
understanding in that case is that he will serve him at the fishing
for the rising year. That is generally the way it is done.
5405. Do you mean that when a man gets advances at a merchant's
shop, it is understood that he must fish to him in the coming
year?-Yes; that is generally understood.
5406. Have you had to do that yourself?-No; I have never been so
hard up as that in my time.
5407. You have never been behind at the settlement?-Not very
often. Sometimes I have been, and I have got advances from Mr.
Adie without a word; but I was intending to fish for him in the
coming year before I asked them.
5408. And you would make as good a bargain with him as with
any other fishmaster?-I have always thought so.
5409. So that you did not fish to him because you were under any
compulsion?-No.
5410. Were you under any obligation to do it because you were in
his debt?-No. I have never been so deep in his debt but what, if I
had it to do, I could have made some effort to get myself clear.
5411. Therefore the answer you previously gave only meant that
there might be some men among your neighbours so far in debt
that they were obliged to fish to a particular merchant?-Yes;
when he supplied them with goods.
5412. Do you think there are many of those men among your
neighbours?-I have no doubt there are more that way than there
are the other way.
5413. Do you think that arises from the length of time that passes
before you can get your money, or is there anything else you can
think of that might mend that state of matters?-I cannot say.
5414. Is there anything else you want to tell me about the way in
which dealings are carried on here?-No.
5415. You know you are on your oath, and you bound to speak the
truth, and nobody can hurt you for anything you say to-day?-I
trust that I shall say nothing but the truth, so far as I know.
5416. From whom do you hold your land and house?-From Mr.
Bell of Lunna.
5417. Are you not bound by the terms of your lease to fish for any
particular person?-No; he did not bind me to do that. I got
liberty to serve myself and to fish for any one I pleased when I
took the land from him; only if I went to Skerries I would have had
to fish for John Robertson, who had a tack of Mr. Bell's land; but
if I fished in any other way, he did not stop me from fishing for
any person.
5418. But if you went to Skerries, and fished there during the
summer, you would be bound by your bargain to fish for Mr.
Robertson?-Yes.
5419. How do you know that that is an obligation upon you?-I
was told so by the proprietor when I took the land.
5420. Was that told you by Mr. Bell himself?-Yes.
5421. Did he tell you at the same time, that if you fished elsewhere
than at Skerries, you were at perfect liberty to fish for any one you
liked?-Yes. He told me I was not bound to fish for Mr Robertson
unless I fished at Skerries; but that if I fished at Skerries I must
fish for him.
5422. Are there people in your neighbourhood who go to fish at
Skerries?-There is one boat which generally fishes there.
5423. But they might go elsewhere if they chose?-I cannot say
for that.
5424. Do you know of any person who has been threatened or
turned off his ground on the estate of Lunna in your
neighbourhood for refusing to fish to a particular person?-I do
not.
5425. Are the fishermen there all free?-About us they are, so far
as I know: that is about Firth, a mile from Mossbank. There are
some of Mr. Bell's tenants who have fished along with me, and
there was nothing said to them any more than to me because they
did not fish at Skerries.
Brae, January 10, 1872, ANDREW TULLOCH, examined.
5426. Where do you live?-In a town called Brough, near
Mossbank.
5427. Whom do you fish for?-I have been fishing for myself for
two years, and my fish have been sold to Mr. Leask and delivered
at Lerwick.
5428. Do you cure for yourself?-Yes; I get a man to cure my fish.
5429. Do you engage a man to cure the whole fish of your boat's
crew?-Yes; it is a small boat. There are three men and two boys
in the crew.
5430. Do you think you make more of your fish in that way than if
you delivered them green to a fishcurer?-I think so.
5431. Does Mr. Leask buy them from you cured?-Yes.
5432. He also cures fish himself?-Yes.
5433. When is the price fixed for your fish?-I think it was on 1st
November last that we were paid.
5434. You take all your fish to Lerwick at once, once a year, and
you get your money paid to you at the time?-Yes.
5435. Is it paid to you in cash?-Yes.
5436. Do you deal at any shop of Mr. Leask's?-No. I commonly
deal at Mossbank, at Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co.'s shop.
5437. Do you deal for cash?-Yes.
5438. You pay ready money for what you get?-Yes. Sometimes I
take things on credit too; but I am not compelled to do it. I need
not do it unless I choose.
5439. Then you are perfectly free to fish for anybody you like, or
for yourself if you prefer it?-Yes; and I think it is the best way to
fish for myself.
5440. Is that a common thing in your neighbourhood?-It is not.
5441. Why don't the men in your neighbourhood adopt that system
if it is the best way?-I don't know. I think for myself, and I
suppose other people do the same.
5442. On whose ground are you?-I am on ground belonging to
the estate of Busta.
5443. Are the fishermen on the Busta estate all free?-Yes.
5444. There is no tacksman over them, but the fishermen as a rule
fish to anybody they like?-I suppose they do; at least, so far as I
know, that is the case.
5445. In what way do you think you make more of the fish by
curing them yourself than by selling them green?-When I cure
them or get them cured for myself, and sell them, I think I can get
the turn upon them; and I get cash, which enables me to buy my
goods where I can get them cheapest.
5446. Do you get goods cheaper at the shop at Mossbank by
paying cash than if you were getting them on credit?-No.
5447. Do you pay the same price for goods there in cash as if they
were to be settled for at the end of the year?-Yes.
5448. Have you tried both ways?-Yes.
5449. How long is it since you began to cure your own fish?-It is
only two years ago.
5450. How much did you make during the last two years for each
man's share?-For the last year we had £8, 13s. each.
5451. Do you think that was more than the average of men who
fished for other people?-Yes; taking the price of green fish, I
think it was.
5452. Do you know what any of your neighbours got for their
green fish?-They got 8s. for ling, and 6s. 6d. for cod and tusk.
These were the prices I heard.
5453. Were you fishing during the whole season?-Yes.
5454. How many cwts. of cured fish did you take to Mr. Leask?-I
think we had thirty odd cwt. of cured fish; one part of that was
ling, and one part was tusk and cod. We had about nineteen cwt.
of ling and we sold them at £23.
[Page 135]
5455. When you say that the price for ling is 8s. a cwt., that is the
price for green ling?-Yes.
5456. And 21/4 -cwt. of green ling make one cwt. dry?-Yes; that is
what the fish-curers calculate upon.
5457. So that nineteen cwt. of cured fish would have been
something less than forty-three cwt. green, and you got £23 for
that?-Yes.
5458. But from that price you must allow something for the
expense of curing?-Yes; it would be from £2 to £2, 10s. per ton
for curing.
5459. So that you made some profit by selling your fish in that
way?-Yes.
5460. Do you think that, when you cure for yourself, you have any
benefit by having the money in your hands to buy goods with
where you please?-I think so.
5461. Do you buy cheaper when you have the money in your
hands?-Yes; we can buy cheaper in Lerwick than we can do
elsewhere.
5462. Do you often buy things at Lerwick?-Some times I do.
5463. I thought you said you bought generally at Mossbank?-
Some things I buy at Mossbank; but I buy at several places.
5464. If you were fishing for a particular fish-merchant, would you
buy more at his shop than you do when you are fishing for
yourself?-That is the general way.
5465. What is the reason for that?-Because a great many of the
men have not money to go anywhere else.
5466. And therefore they are induced to go where they can get
credit?-Yes.
5467. You think that is not such a good way of doing as curing
for yourself, and having the money in your own hands?-It is
not; but, at the same time, even when I was fishing to a particular
fish-curer, I endeavoured to keep my credit; and if I had asked
money from him to go on with, I would have got money as well as
goods.
5468. It would not have been refused; but I suppose you would
have got more advanced to you in goods than in money?-I could
not say that.
5469. Suppose that in July, about the middle of the season, when
about half of your fish had been caught, you wanted supplies:
would you generally be allowed in the fish-merchant's shop to get
any quantity of goods you liked on credit?-Yes.
5470. And would you at that time be advanced any amount of
money that you chose to ask?-Yes; on a moderate scale. I could
get money as well as goods.
5471. Suppose you were likely to get £20 as the amount of your
fish account at the end of the season and that one half of the
season was over, would they allow you to run up an account at the
fish-merchant's shop to the amount of £10 or £12 to the end of
July?-I don't know. I never tried the experiment.
5472. But you know the practice among your neighbours and in
the shops where you deal: do you think there would be any
objection to allow an account to run up to £10 or £15 for shop
goods?-I don't think there would. .
5473. Would there be any objection to advancing you £10 or £15
in money?-I could not say that.
5474. Was that ever tried by anybody you know?-No; I never
tried it myself, and I never heard of it being tried, and therefore I
cannot say whether it would be allowed or not.
5475. But you have no doubt you would get £12 or £15 in
goods?-I have little doubt that I would,-that is, if I were fishing
for that particular fish-curer.
5476. What fish-curer were you employed by last?-When I was
last employed by any one, it was Mr. Pole, Mossbank.
5477. At that time did you deal at his shop for your supplies?-
Yes; for the most part. I dealt more with him then than I have
done since.
5478. Your account was settled, at the end of the year?-Yes.
5479. What kind of account had you generally at settling time for
supplies to your family?-I cannot recollect exactly how much it
was; but sometimes it may have been £3 or £4.
5480. Then you will not be spending so much as that in the shop
now?-No; I have not had occasion to do it for the last two years.
5481. Were you under any sort of obligation to deal at Mr. Pole's
shop more than at another shop when you were fishing for him?-
Not a bit. They did not prevent me from going anywhere I chose.
When I chose to ask anything in their shop, I took it at their own
price; but if I did not like it, they did not compel me to take it.
5482. Is there anything else you want to say on the subject of this
inquiry?-For my part, I have little to say, because I am not so
much concerned in it as some men are. I have my freedom and my
liberty.
5483. You think that some other men are more interested in these
matters than you?-Yes.
5484. In what way are they interested?-Owing to their
circumstances; some of them have families, and they must go to
the fish-curer and be supplied by him. They get most of their
payment in goods, and they cannot get money.
5485. How can they not get money? Is it because they run up an
account at the merchant's shop?-Yes.
5486. But they will get money if they ask it?-Yes; they might get
money too.
5487. Why is it that they do not get money?-I don't know. What
I mean is, that if they run up an account at the shop, they cannot
have money of their own with which to buy things cheaper
elsewhere.
5488. What makes them run up an account for goods? Is it
because they cannot get money easily?-Very likely it is.
5489. But you say they would get money if they asked it?-If they
were to ask for money, I don't see any reason why they should not
get it as well as goods.
5490. And to the same amount?-I cannot say for that.
5492. Do you mean that the money which they would get if they
were asking for it in the course of the fishing season would be
regarded as a loan, and not as a payment for their fishing?-No.
5492. Suppose a man were to ask a fish-curer for an advance of
money in July, would not that advance of money in July, would
not that advance be looked upon as if he were asking for a loan of
money?-No; that is not generally the way they would do. If I
were fishing to a fish-curer, and giving him my fish, and if I were
to ask for some money, it would just go to my account in the same
way as if I was taking out goods until the fish were sold at the end
of the year when I settled, and my fish would pay for that money
as well as for the goods.
5493. But would it not be considered a favour to give money in
that way?-I don't think so.
5494. Do you think the fish-curer would be bound to give you
money if you asked for it in the beginning of the season?-Yes.
5495. And would he be as ready to give it to you as he would be to
give you goods?-No; I don't think he could be expected to do
that. However, I cannot say much upon that subject, because I
never asked for much money,
5496. Did you think it would be asking a favour to ask for
money?-I cannot say.
5497. Did you think the merchant would rather give you goods?-
Of course he would expect us to take the goods, from the way of
dealing which prevails.
5498. Do you mean that the practice is for the men to get goods
advances rather than cash advances during the season and before
the settlement?-That depends upon the circumstances of the men
who are fishing. Sometimes they require money to pay their rent
with, and that is generally advanced to them in money; but when
they require goods they usually take them from the fish-curer by
whom they are employed.
5499. Do you mean that they don't get money unless it is required
by them for some particular purpose?-No; unless they have
money to get on their own earnings. If they have money over at
settlement time, they will get it in cash when the account is
balanced.
[Page 136]
5500. Of course they get it at settlement time; but before then can
they get money from the man who employs them, unless for some
particular purpose?-No.
5501. Any advances that are made then are made in goods?-Yes;
unless they are required in money.
Brae, January 10, 1872, JOHN HENDERSON, examined.
5502. You are a fisherman at Mossbank?-I am.
5503. On whose land do you live?-On Sheriff Bell's.
5504. Are you bound to fish to any particular merchant?-No; not
unless I go to the Skerries.
5505. Who do you fish for just now?-For Mr. Pole.
5506. Are you settled with at the end of the year like the other
men?-Yes.
5507. Do you deal at Mr. Pole's shop?-Very little.
5508. Where else do you go for your articles?-To any shop where
I think I can get them cheapest and best.
5509. You are quite at liberty to go where you please?-I am.
5510. You can deal at Lerwick or at Voe, without running any
chance of losing your engagement for the next season?-I can.
5511. Have you generally a good lot of cash to get from Messrs.
Pole, Hoseason, & Co., at the end of the year?-I have generally
the principal part of my earning to get.
5512. Why don't you deal more at Mr. Pole's store?-Because,
when I have money, and can go anywhere else, I can perhaps get
my goods a little cheaper.
5513. Is it not handy for you to deal at the Mossbank shop?-It is
handy, but it is no great hardship for me to go anywhere else if I
think I can get my things a little cheaper.
5514. Can you tell me any articles that are cheaper in the one place
than in the other?-Meal, for instance, is always higher in
Mossbank than it is in Lerwick. Taking the meal from Mossbank
at the retail price, there will be a difference of perhaps 8s. or 9s.
per sack on that, and on buying a sack in Lerwick for cash. The
sack is 280 lbs. weight, or 2 bolls, and that is a difference of 4s. or
4s. 6d. per boll.
5515. When did you try that?-I have tried it now for a good few
years.
5516. Is that the difference if you buy it wholesale,-a sack at a
time?-Yes.
5517. If you were buying a sack at Mr. Pole's store, how much
would you pay for it?-I have never been under the necessity of
buying a sack there. What meal I have bought at their shop has
always been in small quantities: perhaps about a quarter boll
weekly.
5518. What is the price of a quarter boll?-It is different prices:
sometimes higher and sometimes lower.
5519. What did you pay for it last?-I have not had a quarter boll
of meal from Mossbank this year at all, because last year we
thought it too dear, and therefore we gave up taking it.
5520. Tell me any particular time when you bought meal at
Mossbank, and found that at the same time, or within a short time
after it or before it, you could have got the same meal in Lerwick
for less money?-Not the past summer, but the summer before, I
had meal from Mossbank, taking it in small portions as it was
required, such as a quarter boll weekly; and at the same date, when
I was getting these small portions, I got meal from Lerwick to my
own house for about 10s. of difference on the sack,-only the
meal that I bought from Lerwick was a whole sack, and ready
money was given for it, while the meal bought from Mossbank
was in small portions, and it was got on credit until the time of
settlement.
5521. Do you think that difference was not accounted for by the
difference between wholesale and retail prices?-For instance,
would you not have got the two bolls at Mossbank, if you had
bought that quantity there, as cheaply as you got them at
Lerwick?-No; there would have been 5s. of difference if I had
bought two bolls there.
5522. But there would be the expense of carrying the meal from
Lerwick: that would be worth something?-That was 8d., and the
shipping of it 2d.
5523. Is there any other article you think you have an advantage on
in the same way?-Yes; there are different articles. For instance,
lines are one principal thing we require, and for my sixth share, I
would have nineteen lines in my bundle.
5524. Do you buy your own lines?-I do.
5525. Is it the practice with men fishing for Pole, Hoseason, & Co.
to do so?-Some of them do, and some do not; some of them
have lines of their own; some buy them and pay for them by
instalments; and others hire them. Last year I went to Lerwick and
bought my own lines; and my nineteen lines, when they were
ready to go to sea, cost me £2, 1s. I heard some of the men who
were in the boat say that their portion of the lines, of the same
quantity, cost them 51s. or 52s.; that would be paid for at
settlement.
5526. Could they have got them cheaper at Mossbank if they had
paid for them there in cash?-I could not say for that, because I
never inquired into it.
5527. Is there anything else you can mention which you can buy
cheaper elsewhere than you can at Mossbank?-If a man has ready
money, he will always get little discount wherever he may
purchase his goods.
5528. Then I suppose it is the fault of the men themselves that they
do not get their ready money from Pole, Hoseason, & Co., and use
it as they like?-Mr. Pole won't refuse money to any man who has
it to get; or if he knows he is an honest man, he will give him an
advance of money, although he does not have it earned.
5529. But if a man could carry on to the end of the year, he would
get all the price of his fish in cash?-Every penny.
5530. And then he could do with it as he pleased, and buy where
he chose?-Yes; he could go to any place that was cheapest.
5531. Have you heard the evidence of James Hay and Andrew
Tulloch?-Yes.
5532. Do you think that what they stated about the system of
things here was generally correct?-I cannot say that there was
much wrong in what they said; but I think there would not be a
better plan than ready money if it could be obtained.
5533. Would not all the fishermen get ready money if they
contracted to have a fixed price for their fish, to be paid to them as
the fish were delivered?-They would. There is no fish-merchant
who would not pay them the value of their fish in money if they
have it to get; but how can they get it in money if they take it out
in goods? They cannot expect that.
5534. But if the men made a bargain that they were to be paid in
money for their fish every time they were delivered, they would
not take it out in goods then?-No; they would have money.
5535. Is that ever done? Is the bargain ever made for a fixed price
at the beginning of the season to be paid according to the weight of
fish when it is delivered and every time it is delivered?-No; I
never had that bargain, and I never heard of it.
5536. Have you ever heard of any different bargain from the
common one of settling at the end of the year?-Yes; there is
sometimes a difference in the bargains with regard to the lines,
when men have lines of their own, and do not require to hire them.