GILBERT TULLOCH, examined.
11,307. Are you the shopkeeper at Scalloway for Messrs. Hay &
Co.?-I am.
11,308. They have a curing establishment here, and buy a quantity
of fish?-Yes.
11,309. They also have a shop in which goods of all descriptions
are sold?-Yes, all that are generally sold to fishermen.
11,310. Have you the entire management of their business here?-
Yes.
11,311. You take delivery of the fish from the men, and enter the
quantities received in the fishing book?-I settle with the men for
the fish as I receive them, and I charge the amount against my
employers.
11,312. You are now speaking of the winter fishing?-Yes.
11,313. In that fishing each transaction is separate and distinct?-
Yes. The men are paid over the counter as they deliver the fish,
for all that we purchase in Scalloway. They don't go into any
account at all. Where the fish are delivered at other places, they
are settled for at Lerwick.
11,314. Then with the regular summer fishing you have nothing to
do?-No; Messrs. Hay have curers at the islands for that.
[Page 278]
11,315. They have factors at Burra and other places who receive
the fish, and the settlement for them takes place at Lerwick?-
Yes.
11,316. Your duties consist in managing the business the shop, and
selling the goods there, and in purchasing fish or oil which the
men voluntarily bring to you?-Yes.
11,317. You have nothing to do with the men who are engaged to
fish in the home fishing?-Nothing.
11,318. When you take delivery of a quantity of fish from the men,
is no part of that entered in your books?-If the men have taken up
advances before, then these enter the books; and that is done
occasionally.
11,319. But when it does enter your books, it is entered as a
separate transaction at the time in the fisherman's account in the
ledger?-Yes.
11,320. That is to say, you have a ledger for the shop transactions
in which each man has an account?-Yes; and if he wishes any
part of his fish to go to his account, to help in clearing it off, I
enter it there.
11,321. But when you put it to his account, the quantity of fish
delivered at the particular time is stated, with the price, and the
sum is put into the money column?-Yes.
11,322. Have you many transactions of that kind with the men at
Burra?-Yes; principally in winter.
11,323. In spring and summer do they sometimes come to you
with fish?-They deliver them at the stations, and they are settled
for at Lerwick, with Messrs. Hay.
11,324. But do they sometimes endeavour to carry out transaction
with you for ready money or for goods?-Occasionally; when they
require it, they will come to us with a few fish, to get groceries or
any things they want. They are not prohibited from doing that if
they wish it.
11,325. Messrs. Hay do not forbid them, when they are engaged
for the season, to come to you for any supplies they may want, and
to give their fish in exchange?-That is not forbidden, so far as I
am aware.
11,326. And in these transactions with fishermen, from whatever
place they come, is the payment generally made in goods or in
money?-Part in both. They get what goods they want, and their
balance is paid in cash. I cannot say that more is paid in goods or
in cash.
11,327. Is not the great bulk of the fish paid for by out-takes?-
Generally.
11,328. About how many men are entered in your ledger with
whom you deal in that way?-I could not say exactly. They come
from different places, and could not state the exact number.
11,329. They are not merely the men who are employed by
Messrs. Hay for the summer fishing, but many others besides?-
Yes.
11,330. Will you have 100 of these accounts in your ledger?-I
could not say exactly.
11,331. Is there it separate ledger kept for the Burra men?-Yes.
11,332. Do they keep all their accounts here?-They keep
accounts with me for all their dealings here, but they deal both
here and in Lerwick.
11,333. In what season of the year do you make settlement with
the men who have accounts in the way you have described?-The
Burra men all settle at Lerwick. They only get their advances from
me, and they settle at the end of the year with my employers.
11,334. Is a note of their advances handed in to Lerwick?-Yes.
11,335. Do you settle here with others than Burra men who deal
with you?-No; they are all settled with at Lerwick. The whole of
the accounts are settled there, unless any man wishes to pay any
provisions he has had himself. He has it in his option to pay these
things to me if he likes; but that is only done in very rare cases.
11,336. Do you sometimes pay money for fish here?-Sometimes.
11,337. In what cases does that occur?-In the case of it neutral
man who is not connected with the Lerwick business.
11,338. Then it is only the men who are in the regular employment
of Messrs. Hay who settle at Lerwick?-Yes.
11,339. When you have a customer who fishes independently, or
for another firm, and who runs an account in your book, he settles
with you here?-Yes. He keeps an account with me, and I settle
with him.
11,340. At what season of the year is that done?-It is generally at
the end of the year, at the usual settling time in Shetland.
11,341. How many men of that description do you suppose there
may be in your books,-men who either sell their own fish all the
year round, or sell their fish to you cured?-There are very few of
them.
11,342. Most of your customers are in the regular employment of
Hay & Co.?-Yes.
11,343. And most of them, I suppose, including the Burra men,
are bound by agreement for the year to deliver their fish to that
firm?-They are not bound by agreement, so far as I know.
11,344. But they are engaged for the summer to fish for the firm,
in the boats of Messrs. Hay?-They are.
11,345. The bulk of the accounts kept in your shop will be with
such men?-Yes.
11,346. You were not asked to bring your books?-No.
11,347. Can you give me any idea of the amount of cash you pay
to these few men with whom you settle here?-I could not give an
exact account of it. I have bought about £100 worth of fish, ling
and cod, since May last up to this date.
11,348. Are you the largest purchaser of fish in that way in
Scalloway?-I could not say; there are other fish-buyers here.
11,349. There are other parties who buy fish in the same way, and
some other parties who employ boats of their own for the summer
fishing?-There are a few, but not many.
11,350. Mr. Nicholson has some?-Yes.
11,351. And Mr. Tait has one?-I suppose he has but he does not
do much in that way.
11,352. Is the amount you have stated the ordinary amount which
you purchase during the same period each year?-It is sometimes
more and sometimes less. It just depends on the success of the
fishing.
11,353. How much of that would be purchased in the summer and
autumn?-Not much in the summer. The greater part will be
purchased in winter.
11,354. In summer the men are delivering their fish at Burra, so
that less fish are brought to you at that time?-Yes.
11,355. Are your supplies of goods got from Lerwick from Messrs.
Hay?-Some come from Lerwick, and some come direct from the
south.
11,356. Are they invoiced to you at wholesale price, or at the price
at which you are expected to sell them?-They are invoiced at the
wholesale price and I fix the retail price myself.
11,357 What price do you pay for fish to the neutral man who
brings them to you in that way?-It is not always the same;
sometimes it is more and sometimes less.
11,358. What has been the price this season?-It depends upon the
size of the fish we get. For ling and large cod I paid 6s. a cwt up to
the commencement of this year, and since then I have paid 7s.
11,359. Do you generally pay that in money?-No; part in goods,
and part in money.
11,360. Do your books show in what proportion the payments
consist of money, and in what proportion of goods?-We keep no
account of what is paid directly over the counter. I charge my
employers with the amount of fish which I purchase from these
men, and settle with the men at once as I get them.
11,361. Are the fish brought to the counter?-No, they are
weighed in the store. There are people there for that purpose.
11,362. When you are weighing them and taking delivery of them,
do you ask the man what he wants?-Yes. He gets whatever
goods he wants.
11,363. Then when you have taken delivery you go with him to the
shop, and give him either goods or money?-Yes; we give him the
goods, and then the balance in cash.
[Page 279]
11,364. If it is not convenient for you to go yourself, suppose you
have a shopman who will act in the shop in your stead?-We have
a man for weighing, the fish, and he comes up with the account of
the fish he has got, and then we settle with the men according to
the weight which he gives in to us.
11,365. Does the man who takes in the fish enter their weight in
any book at the time?-No; he marks it down upon a board, or
anything, and comes up to the shop as soon as he has weighed for
a boat's crew, and gives in the weight. We enter that in our book,
and pay the price to the men.
11,366. Does the man who weighs the fish always come up to the
shop?-Yes.
11,367. He does not send a note of the weight he always comes
himself?-No, he always comes himself.
11,368. Do you ever pay the price altogether in cash-Sometimes;
if the men want no goods we pay it in cash.
11,369. Is that a usual thing?-It is not usual; but sometimes it is
the case.
11,370. Is there any particular reason for paying it all in cash when
that is done?-If the party wants no goods, then he gets the cash.
11,371. Or if he wants the cash for any particular purpose?-Yes.
11,372. I suppose he will generally tell you if he wants the cash for
any particular reason?-Sometimes he does.
11,373. And you make no objection to giving it to him?-No, not
if he wants it.
11,374. Do you give him the same price in cash as in goods?-
Quite the same; it makes no difference; we have a fixed price.
11,375. Is it entirely in the choice of the men whether they take
goods or cash?-Yes.
11,376. But is it not part of the system that the payment is for
the most part taken in goods?-That depends upon the parties
themselves.
11,377. Do you mean to say, that if the fishermen were all to
combine and ask for their payment in cash, they would get it, or
would that necessitate any change in your system of carrying on
business?-I suppose they would get it; but we might not have
enough cash to pay out such large sums as that. We are not near
any bank, and we might not have sufficient cash in hand for all
that we required, if the payment was wholly in cash.
11,378. Would you find it inconvenient to pay for these fish
altogether in cash?-Yes, unless my employers were to give
me sufficient cash to meet their demands.
11,379. Your arrangements are made upon the footing, I suppose,
that the bulk of the payments are to be taken in goods?-That is
understood, although there is no arrangement made about it.
11,380. There is no arrangement made with the men, but it is
understood that a great proportion of the transactions are to be
settled for in goods?-If the men get as good articles from us as
they can get from any other party, I don't see why they should not
take payments in that way.
11,381. It might very well happen, I suppose, that even if you did
pay in cash, the man would take his cash and spend it at your
shop?-Yes; and sometimes that is done.
11,382. But, in point of fact, your business arrangements are made
upon the footing that the great amount of the fish sales are to be
paid for in goods?-There is no arrangement at all.
11,383. But your own business arrangements are made on that
footing? You don't keep a sufficient supply of cash to meet the
requirements of a ready-money trade?-No, that has not been the
practice.
11,384. Then is it not an exceptional case, and a mere favour to
the fisherman, to pay him in money?-It is in his own option to
take either goods or money. If he wants the goods he gets them,
and if not we pay him in cash.
11,385. But is it not the case that a man is not paid in cash unless
he expressly asks for it?-He is not paid in cash unless he wishes
it. He gets whatever goods he requires, and the balance is paid
over to him in cash.
11,386. The first thing settled between you, after fixing the price,
is what goods the man is to take?-Yes.
11,387. And after that, if there is any balance over, it is paid to
him in cash?-Yes.
11,388. But, as a rule, he takes out his goods first?-Yes.
11,389. Do you suppose that three-fourths of the value of the fish
sold are paid for in goods?-I could hardly say. We never keep
any account of that.
11,390. What is the usual quantity of fish brought to you at one
time in winter from one boat?-It varies very much.
11,391. Will it be two or three cwts.?-Sometimes more, and
sometimes less.
11,392. Would five cwt. be a good catch for it day in winter?-
Yes, it would be a good catch.
11,393. Are there many ling caught in winter?-Not many. There
are very few tusk caught then. They are chiefly cod, and some
ling. There are three classes of cod. There is a large class, and a
small class, and a middle size, and the price is different. The price
for small cod is now 5s. per cwt., but the large cod that can be sent
to Spain are always paid for higher. The price for them is 7s. now.
11,394. Suppose a man were bringing five cwt. of cod to you, he
would get, I suppose, about 30s. for it, if it were equally composed
of large and small cod?-Yes. That would be divided among the
men in the boat,-say three or four men.
11,395. That would be about 7s. 6d. each?-Yes, supposing the
price to be at the rate you have mentioned.
11,396. Would it be usual for the man to get the whole of that 7s.
6d. in goods?-That would depend upon himself. Perhaps he
might require two-thirds of it in goods, and the other third in cash.
11,397. Would 2s. 6d. be about the largest sum would get in
money upon such a catch of fish?-It might be more or less.
11,398. But he would sometimes get it all in goods, I suppose?-
Sometimes.
11,399. Do you remember any case in which he got it all in
cash?-There have been several cases of that kind. I was looking
in the shop books before I came here, and I picked up some papers
in the shop showing how much cash they get. [The witness
handed in papers containing the following accounts:-
<Robert Goodlad>.
11s. 71/2d.
Tea, 1s. 4d.; sugar, 21/2d., £0 1 61/2
Loaf, 4d.; sugar, 11/2d. 0 0 51/2
Soap, 21/2d., sulphur, 11/2d., 0 0 4
Soda, 11/2d.; cotton, 1s. 6d. 0 1 71/2
Cotton, 0 0 3
Porter, 5d.; biscuit, 3d.; cash, 6s. 9d., 0 7 5
£0 11 71/2
<Thomas Goodlad>.
11s. 71/2d.
Tea, 1s. 4d.; sugar, 61/2d.; £0 1 101/2
Tobacco, 8d.; oatmeal, 1s. 3d., 0 1 11
Soap, 21/2d.; sund. 51/2d., 0 0 8
Cotton, 11d., 0 0 11
£0 5 41/2
Cash, 0 6 3
£0 11 71/2
<William Pottinger>.
8s. 3d.
Tobacco, £0 1 0
Tea, 0 0 8
Cash, 0 6 7
£0 8 3
[Page 280]
<Laurence Smith>.
8s. 3d.
Oatmeal, 1s. 101/2d.; tobacco, 6d. £0 2 41/2
Stamps. 2d.; paper, 21/2d., 0 0 41/2
Soap and sod, 4d.; sugar, 21/2d., 0 0 61/2
Shoe-brush, 6d, 0 0 6
Handkf., 10d.; loaf, 4d.; syrup, 3d., 0 1 5
Soda and thd., 11/2d. 0 0 11/2
Acct., 1s.; cash, 1s. 11d., 0 2 11
<P. Lesslie>.
17s. 5d.
Rum, 6d.; cash, 1s., £0 1 6
Do. 9d.; tea, 1s. 2d., 0 1 11
Tea, 1s. 2d.; sugar, 6d., 0 1 8
£0 5 1
Cash, . . 0 12 4
£0 17 5]
These are notes made at the time when the settlement was made
with the men.
11,400. Do you remember when these settlements took place?-
No. I merely found these papers in the shop, and brought them
here. It may have been about three or four weeks ago, or it may
have been longer.
11,401. Has there not been a much larger amount of cash paid in
these cases than is usual in such transactions?-It is larger than in
some cases.
11,402. And you might have found other slips or notes in which
the whole amount was taken out in goods?-I don't know about
that. But that is the way in which we settle, and the fish are
afterwards charged to my employers.
11,403. Is it not often the case that there is not more than 1s. paid
in cash on a transaction of 8s. or 10s.?-Sometimes that is the
case.
11,404. Is it not oftener under 1s. than over it?-I could hardly say
about that.
11,405. Is it not oftener under 1s. 6d. than over it?-I should say
that it is.
11,406. Can you say that, in half the cases that occur, there is a
cash balance paid at all?-No. I would not say that there was so
little cash paid as that.
11,407. But you could not say to the contrary?-I could not say
either the one way or the other.
11,408. In the case of a separate and distinct sale of fish, such as
we have been speaking of, the price is paid in full, and there are no
deductions of any kind to be made?-None.
11,409. The boats and the lines are the men's?-Yes, unless some
of them may have got credit for their boats and lines.
11,410. Do you hire out boats for the winter fishing?-No; the
men have boats of their own.
11,411. But they may have got the lines at your shop, and they
may be standing against them there?-Yes, either standing against
them, or they may have settled for them with Hay & Co.
11,412. In that case you may retain the price of the winter fish to
meet the price of the lines or boat?-Yes, if the men wish that to
be done.
11,413. Or if you have a heavy debt against the men, you may
retain the price of the fish whether the men choose or not?-That
is never done by me.
11,414. Has there never been an arrangement or understanding by
which a portion of the fish delivered to you in that way is retained
on account of the lines or boats supplied to the men?-No, not in
winter.
11,415. Have either you or Messrs. Hay & Co. any interest at all
in the boats used in the winter or spring fishing?-I have none. I
have only a share of one herring boat. I receive a salary from
Messrs. Hay.
11,416. Have Messrs. Hay any interest in the boats used in the
winter fishing?-No; the boats belong to the men, and they have
them on their own account.
11,417. Have you an interest in several of the boats engaged in the
summer fishing?-No. As I have said, I have only one share of a
herring boat.
11,418. You have no share in any of the smacks that go to the
Faroe fishing?-No.
11,419. Are you not part-owner of some boats employed in the
summer fishing?-No.
11,420. Were you ever so?-No. I have never had any share of
any boat except the herring boat that I have a share in now.
11,421. Have you the management of Messrs. Hay's curing
establishment here?-Yes.
11,422. There is a large curing establishment here, with
beaches?-Yes.
11,423. How many people are employed there in the fishing
season?-It depends on the success of the fishing in the summer,
and the amount of fish we get.
11,424. How many were employed last year?-I could not say
exactly. Perhaps about ten or a dozen were employed about the
beaches at Scalloway.
11,425. Had you the superintendence of the beaches at Burra?-
No; there were men appointed for that.
11,426. With regard to the ten or a dozen employed at Scalloway,
were those men, women and boys?-Yes.
11,427. Were they paid weekly wages?-Yes. They were paid
every Saturday, either by me or at the shop.
11,428. Were they paid in money every Saturday?-No, they had
to get supplies during the week; and at the end of the week any
balance they had was paid in cash.
11,429. Was there generally a balance due?-It was very rarely
that there was. They had generally to get supplies to the full
amount of their wages.
11,430. Is payment made to them in the shop at the counter?-
Yes. Their advances are entered against them in the book, and
then their wages are placed to their credit and if they have
anything to get it is given to them.
11,431. Is there a separate ledger account for each of these
parties?-Yes, every one has an account, and when he gets
advances these are put to that account.
11,432. Can you say that any money ever passes at any settlement
with these beach people?-Sometimes there has been a little, but
not a great deal.
11,433. Will their average wages be 8s. or 9s. a week?-Not so
much. In summer the women get 10d. a day, and in winter 1s.
We have a few people employed in winter, but not so many as in
summer.
11,434. Are you engaged in the hosiery business at all?-No.
11,435. Do you purchase any quantity of butter and eggs from the
people in the district?-Not a great quantity. There are no cattle
in the village to give butter, but I buy a small quantity from people
in the district.
11,436. Is that paid for in goods?-Yes.
11,437. Do the Burra people bring butter and eggs to you
sometimes?-Very little. They sometimes bring a few eggs in
summer, and they always get goods in return for them.
11,438. Do the Burra people bring all their eggs to you?-No; they
are at liberty to sell them to any person they choose.
11,439. When settling time comes, what have you to do with the
men who have accounts in your books?-I send in a note of each
man's account to Messrs. Hay, at Lerwick.
11,440. Has the man checked his account in any way before you
send it in?-If they choose, they can get their accounts read over
to them. Some of them have pass-books, while others have only
their accounts read over.
11,441. Do they all get them read over to there?-Generally they
do. If they have any doubt about their account, they get it read
over; but I have very few disputes of that sort with them.
11,442. Is it the general practice to read over the accounts to the
men?-If they wish it.
11,443. But do they generally wish it?-Some of them do, and
some do not.
11,444. I suppose the majority do not?-Yes.
11,445. Are they rather careless about these things?-Yes.
[Page 281]
11,446. Suppose you read over a man's account to him, and he
objects to any of the items, how could he get that corrected?-
Sometimes a man may forget, and he would come to recollect
afterwards; but it is very seldom that that occurs with us.
11,447. If he has not a pass-book, has he any means of checking
his account at all?-Yes; by his own memory.
11,448. But when you have an entry in your own book, and he says
it is wrong, do you correct that entry according to his memory?-
No; we would not do that.
11,449. You try to convince him that he is in error?-Yes, and we
generally succeed.
11,450. Do you always succeed?-I would say so but we have had
very few cases of that sort.
11,451. Don't you think it would be much better if the men would
all take pass-books?-Yes; it would prevent any doubt about these
matters.
11,452. But I suppose it would give you a good deal more
trouble?-It would.
11,453. Is there anything to hinder you from paying ready money
when you are settling the price of fish as they are delivered?-If
the law was that, we would have to do it the same as others.
11,454. But is there anything to prevent you from doing it,
although there is no law on the subject?-There is nothing to
prevent us.
11,455. Would it not facilitate your business a good deal?-Yes.
11,456. You could carry on your business with less trouble to
yourself ,-only the men might perhaps spend the money at
another shop, instead of yours?-Yes.
11,457. Is the price paid for winter fish, when they are bought by
you in small quantities, less than is usually paid for summer fish
#at settling-time?-No, it is the same price.
11,458. Have you the management of the oyster fishing here?-
There are very few of them caught. I have not the management of
that, but I sometimes buy a few.
11,459. Do you sometimes buy lobsters?-Not many.
11,460. Are they all paid for in goods in the same manner, and to
the same extent, that you have mentioned?-Yes, just in the same
way as the others.
Scalloway, January 22, 1872, LAURENCE MONCRIEFF, examined.
11,461. You are a baker and provision merchant in Scalloway?-I
am.
11,462. You are not a fish-merchant at all?-No.
11,463. Do you purchase hosiery to some extent?-I purchase
fancy hosiery to a small extent,-principally veils and shawls,
and things of that kind.
11,464. Do you usually pay for it in goods from your shop?-Yes.
11,465. Do you pay for it to any extent in money?-No. I never
give money for hosiery.
11,466. Is it always understood that people selling hosiery at your
shop are to take goods in exchange?-That is always understood.
11,467. Are you often asked for money?-No. It is always the
understanding that they are to take goods but I have been asked
once or twice for money.
11,468. Do you employ any people to knit with your wool?-Yes.
11,469. Are they paid in the same way?-Yes.
11,470. Are they employed entirely in knitting, or do they
sometimes work at other things?-Some of them depend entirely,
or almost entirely, on knitting; but when they require money for
their rent or for any particular article which they cannot get for
knitting, then, I suppose they have to work at something else.
11,471. Or perhaps they sell their knitting to a shop where they can
get what they want although you do not deal in it?-Yes.
11,472. They may go to Lerwick and sell it for soft goods?-They
may; but I keep a small assortment of soft goods.
11,473. Therefore they can get most of the articles they want in
your shop?-Yes.
11,474. If they cannot get the articles they want are you aware
whether they have sometimes been obliged to sell the goods they
have got for hosiery, in order to procure what they want?-A
case or two of that kind has come before me. I remember one
occasion, when I gave a woman some provisions for some soap
or something, when she was in a difficulty for the provisions; but
that is the only case of the kind that I remember clearly about.
Perhaps there may have been more.
11,475. What was the nature of that case?-I suppose she had
bartered her knitting for the soap in some place. She was requiring
provisions, and could not get them, and she exchanged the soap to
me for provisions.
11,476. Was that long ago?-It is some time ago but I don't
remember the exact time.
11,477. Did that case strike you as being in any way peculiar or
extraordinary?-No. Very few of the hosiery dealers keep
provisions, so that at the time the woman had no other way of
getting them.
11,478. What price did you give the woman for the soap which she
sold to you?-I think I gave her as near my own selling price as I
could. It was a small quantity only that she offered to me and it
was not worth making any difference upon it. That is generally
what I do in cases of that kind which happen to come before me.
11,479. Do you generally give them as near as possible your own
selling price for the soap?-Yes.
11,480. Just enough to allow yourself a little commission for
your trouble?-No, I don't think I could have any commission
on the like of that; at least I don't make a practice of charging a
commission in cases of that kind. I don't like to do it if it can be
avoided, but in cases of great necessity I sometimes find it my duty
to do so.
11,481. You sometimes find it your duty to relieve people's
necessities in that way?-Yes, sometimes, if I can manage it.
11,482. But don't you give them a lower price than that which they
have nominally purchased the soap for?-I don't think I do that.
11,483. Do you not buy the soap so as to make some little profit
upon it when you re-sell it?-The amount of the transactions in
that way is so small that I can hardly say. I try to avoid doing it at
all; and unless in a case of extreme necessity, I would not do it. It
is merely in a case where it is required in order to save life that I
do anything of the kind.
11,484. How many women do you usually employ in knitting with
your own wool?-I have had very few employed for some time
back, perhaps only two or three.
11,485. Do they keep accounts with you for what they want?-
Very few of them. I just pay them at the time; but I have a few
accounts that I run with some of them.
11,486. Are these accounts both with women who knit with your
wool, and with women who knit with their own wool and sell their
goods to you?-It is principally with those who knit with my wool
that I have accounts.
11,487. What was the name of the person from whom you bought
the soap on the occasion you have mentioned?-I think it was
either Margaret or Catherine Irvine.
11,488. Was that a very exceptional case?-I should think so.
11,489. Have you not frequently bought from women the goods
which they had got in shops at Lerwick?-No, not frequently.
That is the only case I remember of distinctly. I remember
something being said about the women bringing goods for sale at
other times, but I have no distinct recollection about that. It would
hardly do for me to make a practice of that, because I have to live
and support my family by my profits.
[Page 282]
11,490. But if the women were disposed to sell the goods to you at
such a price as would enable you to derive a profit on your re-sale
of them, that would be quite legitimate and fair?-Yes; but they
could not do that.
11,491. Why?-Because it would cause them a considerable loss.
I suppose the goods are priced at an advance before they get them,
and they could not afford to sell them to me at a less price than
they had paid for them themselves.
11,492. You said you had heard of other cases being mentioned, in
which women had offered their goods for sale: what have you
heard about that?-I have heard some of my family speaking about
the women getting their goods exchanged for provisions, or
something of that kind.
11,493. Is your shop generally attended by yourself, or by some of
your family?-It is generally attended by mny brother-in-law; he is
not here.
11,494. Can you say that he has not bought goods in that way from
knitters?-I think not. I don't think he would do that without
letting me know about it.
11,495. Do you know of any person here who purchases goods in
that way from women who have got them for their hosiery?-
There may be such persons but I am not aware of any one who
makes a trade of it, or who could make a trade of it. There may be
some who do that in order to oblige a woman or to relieve her
necessities, but I don't think they could make a practice of it. I
have heard of Mrs. Tait doing it in that way.
11,496. Would you show me where you keep your accounts with
these women?-Yes. [Produces book.] It is only a small part of
that book which I use for that purpose. This [showing] is an
account of a woman who dresses for me. Besides what is entered
to her account, she is sometimes paid by goods which do not
appear in the book at all.
11,497. I see here an entry: 'To amount from line:' do you give
lines?-I sometimes give a line to her when I do not care about
entering it in the book. I should like better to pay her at once what
I was due to her, if I could possibly do so.
11,498. What was the purpose of giving the line?-Just as a
security.
11,499. She did not want the goods at the time, and you did not
want to open an account?-No.
11,500. You would rather that these women would take the goods
at once than have the trouble of keeping an account with them?-
Yes.
11,501. What was the form of the line you gave?-It was just a
credit note, bearing the name of the party and the amount for
which they had to get credit from me.
11,502. Is the amount of that note understood to be paid in goods
or in money?-It is never understood to be paid in money. I could
not give the same price in money as I could give in goods.
11,503. Does the line express whether it is to be paid in goods or
in money?-No.
11,504. Do you issue many of these lines?-Not many; very few
require them. They generally take out goods to the full amount at
once.
11,505. How did you happen to enter that line in your book?-The
woman was getting fully more work from me than she could take
out in goods at once, and she preferred to continue working for me
and to get things for her family as she required them.
11,506. I see that the bulk of the entries in these accounts are for
provisions?-Yes, and for such other goods as we keep-tea,
sugar, loaves, butter, meal, flour, soda and other things.
11,507. Where do you get your supplies of worsted?-Principally
from Edinburgh or Leith.
11,508. Do you buy any Shetland worsted?-No; I cannot get it to
buy.
11,509. Have you tried to get it and found it difficult?-Not often.
It was only last spring that I began the hosiery trade at all.
11,510. Do you import all your worsted direct from Edinburgh, or
do you get any of it through the Lerwick houses?-I get it all from
a wholesale house in Edinburgh.
11,511. What is the quality of the worsted you get from there?-It
is generally the finest quality, but not mohair. I don't deal in
mohair at all. We generally use two qualities for veils, and these
qualities are distinguished by numbers, but I don't remember the
numbers just now. I buy it by the pound, and I think it costs me
from 5s. to 8s. per pound.
11,512. Do you sell the worsted to knitters?-Yes, when I have an
extra supply of it.
11,513. Are you paid for it in hosiery articles or in cash?-In
either way; I give it for either when I do sell it. When they have a
quantity of hosiery to sell, I prefer them to take an assortment of
goods, because provisions are a thing that most people have very
little profit upon. If they take the whole price in meal or in
anything of that kind, I would not have much profit upon it.
11,514. You would rather have them to take some of the price in
soft goods?-Not in soft goods, but in an assortment of groceries.
11,515. When a woman brings her hosiery to you first fix the
price, and then, I suppose, you ask her what she wants?-Yes.
11,516. When you come down to a balance of 1d. or 2d, how do
you settle that?-If they want nothing else, I often give them the
balance in cash. It is the understanding that they are to take the
price for their hosiery in goods, but still I don't hesitate to give
them 1d. or 2d., or any small thing in money.
11,517. You may give them a penny, or a postage stamp, or a
package of sweeties, or anything of that sort?-Yes.
11,518. Have you any accounts with fishermen?-No; they
generally run their accounts at the places where they are
employed. I would not like to run the risk of supplying them.
I think those who are getting the benefit of their fishing ought to
run the risk of giving them what supplies they want. I deal with
a good many of them in ready money for bread and provisions;
not to a very large extent but just in a general way.
11,519. Do you find that they always have ready money with
which to pay you for provisions and bread?-Most of those who
deal with me have.
11,520. Do you think businesses such as yours would be improved
if the fishermen were paid in ready money for the fish they
take?-It is possible they might.
11,521. Don't you think you would have a better chance of
succeeding in business if the fishermen did not have such long
credits?-It is very likely.
11,522. They would have more ready money in their hands
throughout the year?-Some of them would.
11,523. At what season of the year have you the largest receipts in
your ready money business?-In summer and harvest, I think; but
I attribute that more to the weather than to anything else. The
country people cannot get to the place in all weathers; they have
often to come by sea, and then if they leave home at all it is
generally just as easy for them to get to Lerwick as to go to
Scalloway.
11,524. Still I don't see how that accounts for your ready money
business being larger in summer and harvest than at other periods
of the year?-The boats can come from the west side and from the
islands in summer more readily than they can in winter, when,
perhaps, they cannot get away for weeks. It is chiefly upon people
in the country that my business depends. The village of Scalloway
is small, and the business from it is also small, so that it is only
when the weather is suitable that my customers from the country
cannot in to deal with me.
11,525. Do you have a larger amount of business from your
immediate neighbours in the spring than at other seasons?-No,
I have not noticed that. The business is so mixed up that I can
hardly say.
11,526. You don't think the fishermen round about you come to
deal with you to a larger extent after settling time in spring than at
other periods of the year?-I am not aware of that.
[Page 283]
Scalloway, January 22, 1872, CLEMENTINA GREIG, examined.
11,527. You live at Braehead, Scalloway, with your sister?-Yes.
11,528. Your mother died about two years ago a very old
woman?-Yes; she was 95.
11,529. Have you supported yourself for a long time by
knitting?-Yes; I began to knit thirty-three years ago, and
since then I have not earned a sixpence by anything else,
except my own family work. My mother also depended on
me.
11,530. What kind of knitting do you do?-Shawls and veils.
11,531. Have you ever got any money for your work?-I have sold
several shawls and veils to gentlemen who were travelling through
the country in July and August, and got money for them; but I
never got a penny in all my life from any of the merchants in
Lerwick. I was the first individual in Scalloway who commenced
to knit, and I have taught many of the people here.
11,532. Do you knit with your own wool, or with worsted that is
given out to you?-On several occasions, within the last three
years, I have bought some Scotch worsted; but before that I always
spun the wool myself, and sold my own goods. I never knitted a
shawl or a veil for a merchant in my life.
11,533. Did you think it better to knit with your own material?-I
think it paid a little better when we got a price for it, but it was
very seldom that a sufficient price was given. For shawls that I
used to get £1 for from gentlemen in the south, the merchants
never offered me more than 17s. or 18s., and that was paid in
goods.
11,534. Who did you knit most to?-To Mr. Robert Sinclair. I
scarcely ever sold a shawl to any other merchant than him.
11,535. Have you sometimes asked him for money?-Yes. Two
years ago, when my mother was dying, and my sister was brought
in with a broken limb, I took a shawl to Lerwick, in order to get a
doctor. I went to Mr. Sinclair with the shawl, and he asked what I
wanted. I said I was selling it in a case of necessity, and that I
wanted 18s., and he offered me 17s. I asked him, if he would give
me a little money if I sold it to him for 17s., but he said he would
not, and he rejected it. I sold the same shawl, when I came back,
to Mr. Garriock, Reawick, and I got £1 for it in money from him.
11,536. Does Mr. Garriock buy shawls for sale?-No. He told me
he had got an order from some ladies for such work; and generally
when he gets an order he buys one or two of these things from me,
and sends them off to his friends, but he is not a merchant.
11,537. The shawl which you sold for £1 would be a large fine
shawl?-Yes. I have got as high as 25s. in money for them.
11,538. How long does it take you to make such a shawl?-When
I spin the wool myself it takes me a month, but with clean worsted
I will make it in about three weeks.
11,539. How many cuts does it take to make a shawl of that
sort?-It takes 32 cuts of Shetland worsted to make a shawl of
about 22 or 23 scores, 21/2 yards square.
11,540. Where do you buy the wool that you spin?-I often buy it
in the shops in Lerwick when they have it to sell.
11,541. Do some of the merchants in Lerwick sell the wool?-
Yes, when it comes in. The poor people who bring it from the
country sell it for meal and goods, and the merchants send it out
again. I have bought it from Mr. George Laurenson for the last six
or seven years. He gets the best of it from Unst. His shop is in
Lerwick, beside Mr. Sinclair's.
11,542. Do you buy that wool by the lb.?-Yes; we pay 1s. 6d. for
the finest wool, and half pound of that makes a shawl. It will
produce 32 or 33 cuts, and make such a shawl as I sold for £1. I
last bought wool from Mr. Laurenson in July of last year. I got 11/2
lbs. at that time at 1s. 6d. a lb. When I am busy I buy some Scotch
worsted and knit it too.
11,543. Is the Scotch worsted what is called Pyrenees wool?-Yes.
11,544. Where do you buy it?-From Mr. Sinclair but when we
sell him a shawl he will not give us worsted back upon the shawl.
11,545. Not even Scotch worsted?-No. I must pay the money for
worsted, whether it is Scotch or Shetland. The Scotch worsted
sells by the oz., at 10d. or 1s., according to the fineness of thread.
It takes 6 oz. of that worsted to make a shawl for which I will get
£1.
11,546. Have you bought any Shetland worsted?-I have always
bought the wool and spun it myself.
11,547. How long will the spinning of half-a-pound take?-It will
take me a week to spin it sitting very close at it and sleeping very
little.
11,548. Would it be cheaper to buy the Scotch worsted?-Yes;
but articles made of it do not sell so well. The Shetland worsted
is preferred, as being much better.
11,549. Do you think you will have a larger profit on a shawl, the
wool for which you have been a week in spinning, and in knitting
which you have been employed another four weeks, than on a
shawl which you make of Scotch worsted?-Yes.
11,550. When you buy the Scotch worsted and make a shawl of it,
how long will it take you to knit it?-I will make it in less than
three weeks.
11,551. What will be the difference in the price which you get for
the shawl at the end of that time?-When I have sold a shawl
made of Scotch worsted to gentleman or lady who happened to be
in the country in July or August I have got as much for it as for one
made of Shetland worsted, because the one is as fine as the other,
but they prefer the Shetland thread to the Scotch thread. The
merchants in Lerwick will not buy a Scotch shawl from me. They
put out worsted of that kind to be knitted for themselves, but they
will not buy such things from us. They will only buy the real
Shetland work.
11,552. Have you ever done any knitting in silk?-No.
11,553. Is it as a favour that the merchants sell you worsted when
they do sell it?-No. They are quite willing to sell it if we have
money to pay for it.
11,554. Have you asked for worsted in return for your hosiery?-
Yes. I asked it from a Mr. Sinclair, and he would not give it. I
have asked that both from himself and from some of the men in
his shop, and they said it was not a customary thing, and they
could not give it.
11,555. Have you ever offered to take a lower price for your
knitting if you were paid in money?-Yes. In the case I have
mentioned, I offered to take a less price if they would give me 1s.
or 2s. in money; but they refused, and I took home my shawl, and
did not sell it to them.
11,556. In that case did you ask for the whole price in money?-
No; I only asked him if he would give me a little money upon it.
The price I asked for the shawl was 18s., and I offered to give it to
him for 17s. if he would give me some money.
11,557. Did he price the shawl at 20s.?-No; he priced it at 17s. I
priced it at £1 and I got that for it when I took it home.
11,558. Have you ever been obliged to exchange any of the goods
you got from the hosiery merchants?-I never exchanged anything
for provisions, because when parties came to the country in July
and August, I would often get two or three shawls sold to them for
money.
11,559. Do you know that people who knit have sometimes been
obliged to exchange soft goods for provisions?-I believe there are
some who have been under the necessity of doing that.
11,560. Do you know any people who make a practice of buying
goods from women in that way?-No, I don't know any one who
makes a practice of it.
[Page 284]
11,561. Are there not some people who go about the country
hawking goods, which they have bought from the women?-I
believe there are; but I do not know their names, because I have
never been in the habit of dealing with them.
Scalloway, January 22, 1872, EUPHEMIA RUSSELL, examined.
11,562. You live with your mother at Blackness, Scalloway?-
Yes.
11,563. Your mother is an old-woman and bedridden?-Yes; she
is seventy-two.
11,564. Do you support yourself by knitting?-Yes, or by out-door
work when knitting cannot be sold for money.
11,565. Would you give your whole time to knitting if you could
get money for your work?-Yes.
11,566. How long are you obliged to go to out-door work in the
year? Two or three months every year?-Yes; if it was all put
together, it would be two or three months.
11,567. Do you just go to that when you want money?-Yes.
11,568. Is it in the fields or the fish that you work?-Sometimes in
the fields and sometimes at the fish.
11,569. For how long have you been in the habit of knitting?-For
about twenty-five years.
11,570. Have you often been paid in money for it?-Never, except
on an occasion when a stranger was passing, or when Mr. Garriock
would take my work. He has sold several shawls for me.
11,571. Did you hear what Clementina Greig said about the
quantity of worsted required for a shawl?-Yes; I agree with her
evidence about that.
11,572. Have you bought wool yourself?-Yes; I have bought
wool from Widow Nicholson, who lives near here, and also from
James Williamson, when he had a little to spare. I paid 1s. 6d. for
his wool, and 1s. 4d. for hers; but that was not used entirely for
shawls. I took the best of it for shawls, and the rest was used for
other purposes.
11,573. Did you spin that wool yourself?-Yes. When my mother
was in health she spun it; but I spin it for myself now.
11,574. Do you take as long to spin it as Clementina Greig said?-
Yes, quite as long.
11,575. Do you sometimes get a little money for your hosiery?-
Not from the merchants in Lerwick. I never ask for it there,
because it is not the custom to give it.
11,576. Do you keep an account with any of these merchants?-
No. I just sell my goods right off, and settle for them at once.
11,577. Have you ever sold them any hosiery made of Scotch
worsted?-No. I never made with that Scotch worsted; I always
made my own worsted.
11,578. Have you ever had occasion to exchange any of the goods
which you got from the merchants for your hosiery?-I have
exchanged tea for meal with the country people round about, but
nothing else. I took more tea from the merchant than I intended to
use myself, and I have given it in exchange for meal several times.
11,579. Do you generally take a quantity of tea from Mr.
Sinclair?-Yes. When Mr. Sinclair bought my goods, as he
always did when I offered them to him, he never refused to give
me anything in his shop that asked from him, except worsted. I
once asked worsted from him, and I did not get it.
11,580. But you got everything except worsted or money?-Yes.
11,581. Have you lately taken more tea than you required, and
exchanged it for meal?-I have not done it this year, because I
sold a shawl to Mr. Garriock, which supplied me with money in
the meantime, and paid my rent and some other little things
besides.
11,582. When you want money, do you generally get it in that
way?-When I want money, I usually give a shawl to Mr.
Garriock, who will sell it for me when he has the chance. If he
cannot get the shawl sold at the time when we need the money, we
go to out-door work; but Mr. Garriock is kind enough to let the
shawl lie until he can get it sold for us.
11,583. But one way in which you get money is by selling the tea
which you have got in exchange for your hosiery?-I have never
sold tea for money-only for meal.
11,584. But when you have no meal, and no money with which to
buy it, that is the way you take to get it?-Yes
Scalloway, January 22, 1872, MARY COUTTS, examined.
11,585. You and your sister have lived for a long time in
Scalloway with your father and aunt?-Yes.
11,586. Are they old people?-Yes.
11,587 Have you and your sister been their chief support by your
knitting?-Yes, and by other work as well.
11,588. What kind of knitting have you done?-Shawls and veils.
11,589. Do you knit with your own wool, or have you got it out
from the merchants?-The most of it belonged to the Lerwick
merchants. I knitted it and took it to them.
11,590. How were you paid for your work?-In tea and goods.
11,591. Did you ever get money?-No.
11,592. Did you ever ask for it?-Yes.
11,593. Did you never get 6d. at a time?-I have got 3d., but that
was the most. I once asked 1s. from Mr. Robert Linklater, to pay
for mending my boots; but it was refused. That was about eight
years ago.
11,594. And I suppose that did not encourage you to ask it
again?-It did not. We ceased to knit for him.
11,595. Did you ask for money from anybody else?-Yes.
11,596. Did you get a little?-Nothing except a mere trifle,
perhaps 11/2d. or 2d. from Mr. Sinclair.
11,597. Was that merely a balance that you had to get on your
knitting?-No.
11,598. Have you an account there?-Yes. There is an account in
his books.
11,599 All your knitting goes into that account and all your
out-takes go into it too?-Yes.
11,600. You are just paid in goods, with 1d. or 2d. in cash now and
then?-Yes.
11,601. How do you get your provisions, such as meal and
potatoes?-We give tea to the farmers, and get meal and potatoes
for it. We have sometimes to go to the west side, to Walls and
Sandness, for that. Our aunt Elizabeth Coutts, has done that for
us. She has not been to Walls and Sandness for the last two years,
but she went regularly before. It was only for our own house, not
for other people, that she took the tea there and got the meal and
potatoes in exchange.
11,602. During the last two years how have you got your meal and
provisions?-We have knitted for Mr. Moncrieff last year.
11,603. And therefore you did not need to barter your tea?-No.
11,604. Did you get the full price for your tea from the farmers?-
I suppose we did sometimes, but I could not say. They did not
weigh out the meat and potatoes which they gave in exchange;
they merely gave a little for the tea which my aunt gave them. I
have known her go as far as Papa Stour, twenty-four miles away,
to make these exchanges. That was where most of her friends
were.
11,605. Have you often had to barter your goods for less than they
were worth?-Sometimes, if there had been 21/2 yards of cotton
lying and a peck of meal came in, we would give it for the meal.
The cotton would be worth 6d. it yard, or 15d.; and the meal
would be [Page 285] worth 1s. I remember doing that about three
years ago; but we frequently sold the goods for less than they had
cost us in Lerwick.
11,606. Do you make fine shawls?-Yes.
11,607. How much do you get for knitting a shawl of 21/2 yards
square?-10s. 6d.; and I have got as high 6s. from Mr Moncrieff,
but the worsted was his own.
11,608. What was the cause of that difference between 10s. 6d.
and 16s.?-The finer the worsted is, the more we get for knitting
it.
11,609. How many cuts of Shetland worsted would it take to make
such a shawl?-About 34 or 35. The shawl I got 16s. for took
about 7 oz. of Scotch worsted.
11,610. How long would it take you to make it?-My sister and I
are not in very good health, and we do not work very steadily, but
it would be some weeks from the time we got the worsted until we
returned it.
11,611. Do you know what these shawls would sell for?-No,
11,612. Have you never sold a shawl of that kind yourself?-I
have sold shawls to Mr. Sinclair of our own spinning, and got 18s.,
19s., and 20s. for them.
11,613. Were these shawls very much the same as that which you
got 16s. for?-No, they were not so fine.
11,614. Would they be much the same as those you got 10s. 6d. for
knitting?-Yes; they were quite as fine.
11,615. And you would sell them for 18s. or 20s. in goods?-Yes.
11,616. What would the wool of one of those shawls you sold to
Mr. Sinclair cost you?-It would cost 1s. 6d. per lb., and 1/2 lb.
would make one of them.
11,617. That would be 9d. for the wool. How long would the
spinning take you in the way you work?-Perhaps more than a
week. We have to go to the hill for our peats and turf, and that
takes up part of our time.
11,618. Which do you think pays you best,-getting 10s. 6d. for
knitting the shawl, or spinning your own wool and selling it?-
Spinning our own wool pays best.
11,619. Do you sell your shawls yourself?-Sometimes; but our
aunt generally goes with them.
11 620. Have you asked for money yourself and been refused
it?-Yes; I was only refused it once.
11,621. What was the largest sum of money you ever got from the
merchants?-3d. or 4d.
11,622. Did your aunt sometimes succeed better in getting money
than you did?-Sometimes. When visitors were here she would;
she always sold them to them.
11,623. But when she sold to a merchant, has she often got more
money than you have mentioned just now?-No; when she sold to
the merchants, and did not want to take goods for the whole, she
took a line. It was from Mr. Sinclair that she got lines, and when
we wanted goods we took back the line and got them. We once
got lines from Mr. Tulloch also. We only got goods for them, not
cash.
Scalloway, January 22, 1872, ISABELLA HENDERSON, examined.
11,624. You live in Scalloway with your father and sister?-Yes.
11,625. Is your father an old man?-Yes. He is between sixty and
seventy years old. He is not fit to work much, but he goes to sea
occasionally in fine weather.
11,626. Do you and your sister chiefly support the family by your
knitting and other work?-Yes.
11,627. Do you require cash sometimes for your rent and
provisions?-Yes.
11,628. Have you a little bit of ground?-Yes. We have a small
bit from the farmers during the season for potatoes.
11,629. Where do you generally sell your veils?-We just sell
them to any of the merchants. We make them chiefly with our
own wool, but sometimes we get worsted given out to us from Mr.
Sinclair and Mr. Arthur Laurenson.
11,630. Have you accounts with these merchants?-Yes. We
always had accounts when we got out worsted from them.
11,631. When you knit for them with their worsted, are you paid in
goods?-Yes.
11,632. And also when you sell an article of your own?-Yes.
11,633. Have you ever got any money from them?-No.
11,634. Have you ever asked for it?-Yes. It is some time ago,
but I asked once or twice, and was refused. After that I was
accustomed to get nothing but tea or soft goods, or anything else
they had in the shop, and I did not ask for money again.
11,635. Did they ever ask you to take a less price when you asked
for money?-No.
11,636. Did they never offer to give you money if you would take
less for your goods?-No
11,637. Have you ever had to exchange your goods for
provisions?-Often. I have done that with several people.
Sometimes, when I sold my veils, I would have to take a line
from Mr. Sinclair; and if I knew any person who was requiring
such goods as Mr. Sinclair kept, I would sell the line to them, and
they would go to Lerwick with it and get what they wanted.
11,638. Who have you bartered your lines with in that way?-I
am not inclined to tell their names, because it was done to me as a
favour, and they did not wish it to be made known. I may say,
however, that I have given the soft goods to Mrs. Tait in Charles
Nicholson's shop.
11,639. Was Mrs. Tait always ready to take your goods?-She was
not very ready, but when she saw it was necessary, she would do it
out of kindness.
11,640. When you dispose of your goods in that way, do you
generally get the full value for them?-Not always.
11,641. You have to take a little off them in order to get what you
want?-Yes.
11,642. Do you do that several times in the year?-I do it very
often.
11,643. Do you know that other knitters have to do the same
thing?-Very likely they do. I believe there are others who
have to do it besides me.
11,644. Have you often given away your lines in the way you have
mentioned?-Yes, very often.
11,645. Do you make a practice of it?-Yes, I have had to do it.
11,646. Do you get a great number of lines in the course of the
year?-Sometimes; not a great many. I just get them as I require
them.
11,647. What do you get for the lines when you part with them in
the way you have mentioned?-I have got money, and sometimes
provisions.
11,648. Have you got money for a line lately?-Yes, in harvest. It
was a line for 7s.
11,649. Did you get 7s. in money for it?-Yes; but when the
people came to take the goods, if they did not get them to their
own mind, I had to make up whatever loss they had upon them.
11,650. Was that the bargain, that if they did not get their
satisfaction in goods, you were to give them back some of the
money?-No, not the money. I was just to give them something
in addition. Of course, they could not expect the money back
from me.
11,651. Did you give them anything back?-They have not sought
for it yet, and I cannot say whether they will ask for anything or
not.
11,652. Have you always got the full amount of the line in money,
when you gave it in that way?-No; not altogether.
11,653. Have you sometimes given it for less than the sum named
in it?-Yes.
11,654. For 6d. or 1s. less?-That just depended on the amount of
the line. I could not say particularly.
11,655. Did you get the full value for all the lines [Page 286]
which you parted with last harvest?-Yes, I got the full value for
them, but it was as a favour to me that I got it.
11,656. Can you mention any case in which you got less for a line
than the sum that was named in it?-I could not remember any
particular case where that happened with a line; but I have often
suffered a good deal of loss by the soft goods. On one occasion I
lost 1s. 6d. upon 6s. 6d.
11,657. Did you get 6s. 6d. worth of soft goods, and give them
away for 5s.?-Yes.
11,658. Did you get 5s. in money?-No; not altogether in money,
but partly in meal. They said the cost price of the articles would
be 5s, and they gave me that value for them.
11,659. Have you ever given anything back, when the people that
you gave the lines to were not able to satisfy themselves at the
shop?-Yes, once. I gave them the worth of 1s. in other goods
that I had got from the shop.
11,660. What was the value of that line?-I cannot say. The lines
I have got have run between 3s. and 10s.; but I could not say the
exact amount of that particular line.
11,661. Do you know any people who make a trade of buying
goods from the knitters, and selling them through the country?-I
could not say that any person makes a trade of it. I don't think any
person would like to do that.
11,662. Are there not some women who hawk goods through the
country, which they have got in that way?-I know there are and I
have done that myself more than once.
11,663. What have you done more than once?-Taken the soft
goods which I got at Lerwick, and gone through the country and
sold them. The last time I did that was three years past in spring,
and I had done it before.
11,664. Was it in a bad year when you did that?-Yes.
11,665. And you wanted potatoes?-Yes.
11,666. Had you to travel far in order to get them?-Between two
and three miles.
11,667. Had you tried often before you got your goods sold?-Not
often. Of course, I had spoken to the people before I took the
goods to them. I did not go out on the chance of selling them.
11,668. Were the goods taken as a favour to you, and not in the
ordinary way of business?-Yes, it was done quite as a favour.
11,669. But do you know any person who travels through the
country regularly, and hawks goods which have been bought from
the knitters?-I don't know any person particularly who has done
that.
11,670. Have you ever heard that such things were done?-I
cannot say that I have.
Scalloway, January 22, 1872, Mrs. ANN LEASK or INKSTER,
examined.
11,671. You live in Scalloway?-I do.
11,672. Have you sometimes knitted hosiery goods for sale?-Yes;
I have knitted some for Mr. Sinclair.
11,673. Have you been paid for them in money or in goods?-
When I knitted goods for sale I was paid for them in money. I
knitted some for Dr. Hamilton, Bressay, and I was paid money for
them. He had got an order for them from the south.
11,674. But when you sold them to merchants, you were paid in
goods?-Yes; I never asked them for any money, because I did not
require it. I always took what I required in cottons, cloth, and so
on. Besides, I knew it was not the practice to give money.
11,675. Did you sell your own knitting?-No. I knitted for Mr.
Sinclair, except what I got orders to knit from the south.
11,676. Have you an aunt who knits also?-Yes.
11,677. Does she sometimes sell shawls made with her own
worsted?-She did formerly, but she does not do so now.
11,678. Do you think the merchants make any profit by the shawls
they buy?-I cannot say; perhaps they do.
11,679. They say they sell them to the merchants in the south at
exactly the same rate as they buy them here. Do you know of any
case where a merchant has sold a shawl at a great profit?-No.
11,680. Do you know of a merchant buying a shawl from you for
15s. or 16s., and then selling it within a few minutes after that for
double the money?-No. I do not remember any case of that kind.
11,681. Did you ever hear of such a case?-Not so far as I
recollect.
11,682. Did you or your aunt ever sell a shawl at 15s., or about that
price, which was sold immediately afterwards, in the same shop, to
a gentleman for about twice the money?-I never saw that done.
My aunt may have done so for anything I know, for I was not
always with her. I was in service for some time, and I cannot
answer for what she may have done at that time. My aunt's name
is Ann Williamson; she lives in Scalloway.
Scalloway, January 22, 1872, Mrs. ELIZABETH IRVINE or SMITH,
examined.
11,683. You live in Scalloway?-Yes.
11,684. Have you been in the habit of knitting?-Yes, a little. I
have knitted for several people, but chiefly for Mr. Sinclair. I have
knitted for him for eleven years, and I keep an account with him.