15,819. Was that loaf sugar?-Yes; I have a sample of it.
15,820. How much soap did you get?-The soap was 6d. per lb.
[The witness here produced a sample of the tea for which she had
paid 1s. 1d. per 1/4 lb.; a sample of the loaf sugar for which she had
paid 21/2d. per 1/4 lb.; a sample of the rice for which she had paid
31/2d. per lb.; a sample of the soap for which she had paid 6d. per
lb.; and a sample of flour for which she paid 2d. per lb. These
were all docketed by the clerk as having been produced by
witness, and purchased from Mr. Laurenson's shop at Lochend.]
15,821. Did Mr. Laurenson know that you were to bring these
goods here?-No.
15,822. Did you get them for your own use?-Yes.
15,823. Were you asked by your summons to bring them here?-
Yes.
15,824. Are the articles which you get at the shop at Ollaberry of
the same quality as you get at Lochend?-Mr. Irvine, who keeps
the shop there, is very kind to me. If I want all cash at any time,
he gives it; and Mr. George Henry and Mr. William Smith have
also been very kind to me. They would give me cash at any time
on my hosiery if I asked for it.
15,825. Are you quite sure that the samples you have produced
were got at the same price that is charged for similar goods in your
account by Mr. Laurenson?-The prices in the account are those
which are charged when the goods are given for work, but the
samples I have produced were given in exchange for hosiery.
15,826. Are there two prices for goods at that shop?-Yes, they
always charged two prices. When we pay for goods in hosiery,
they are always above the price which is charged when cash is
paid for them.
15,827. Do you get the goods cheaper when you pay for them by
your work, such as you are dressing, than when you are selling
hosiery?-Yes. The price is then perhaps 1d. less for the 1/4 lb. of
tea.
15,828. How do you know that?-Because I see it marked.
15,829. Was the tea for which you were charged 4s. 4d., when
you paid for it by hosiery, the same tea that is charged 4s. in the
account?-I think so.
15,830. Are you not sure of it?-I did not see them take it out of
the chest. I asked them for the same tea, but I don't know if they
gave the same kind.
15,831. But did you ask for the best tea in the shop in both
cases?-Yes, I always do.
15,832. Then all you know is that you asked for the best tea in the
shop, and it was charged 4s. 4d. when you gave hosiery for it,
and it was charged 4s. when it was put into your account for
dressing?-That is all I know; but it is a very short time since it
was 4s. 4d. It was always 4s. 8d. before.
15,833. I see that on September 29, 1870, you are charged 1s. 6d.
for oatmeal: was that a peck?-Yes.
15,834. Were you paying 1s. 6d. for the peck of oatmeal at that
time?-Yes; and I suppose there were others paying it as well as
me.
15,835. Would you have paid the same for it in any other shop in
the neighbourhood?-No. It was dearer [Page 399] than if I had
had the cash and gone into another shop to get it.
15,836. What did you say when you went to Mr. Laurenson with
the hosiery which you sold to him on the 22d?-It was my sister
who went, not me.
15,837. Did she tell you what she said?-I don't think it.
15,838. Are you quite sure your sister did not say what the goods
were wanted for?-I told her what goods to ask for, and she got
what I told her to get.
15,839. Did you tell her what you were to do with them?-No; I
had not got the summons then.
15,840. Would you have got these goods from Mr. Laurenson even
although you had not got the summons?-Yes.
15,841. Did you want them for your own use?-Yes. I got them
on the Monday, and I did not get the summons until the Tuesday
night.
15,842. You have not brought the whole of the goods which you
bought then. You have merely brought samples from what you
bought?-Yes. I was only told in the summons to bring samples.
15,843. Was the note which you have produced, given in the shop
at the time when the goods were bought?-Yes. The shop lad
marked down the things on that slip of paper and gave it to my
sister, so that she might show me what she had got, and what the
prices were.
15,844. You have handed me a letter from one Laurence Clark,
dated 25th January 1872, in which he says, 'I have to inform you
that I built Miss Charlotte Johnston a house in 1863, and I could
not get 1s. from her, because she wrought all her work to Mr.
Laurenson, at dressing hosiery, and could not get so much cash as
1s. Therefore I had to take anything that she had to give me, that
could do me any good. That kind of payment is not so good as
cash.'-For what purpose was this letter written?-It is merely a
line from the man who built my house, to show that I could not get
cash with which to pay him.
15,845. What did you pay Clark with for building your house?-I
got meal, tea, tobacco, sugar, and anything that was in the shop at
the times which he required; but I had to reduce the goods to him
to cash price, because he would have required his money of me,
and I did not have it to give him.
15,846. What was the price charged for building your house
altogether?-He charged 15d. a day and his food; I think it
came to about £2.
15,847. Did you give him a great deal more in goods, according to
the price which was charged to you for them?-Yes. I gave him
six yards of cloth for jacket, and other things.
15,848. I see there is a lot of tobacco entered in your book about
1863?-Yes; that was for the men who were working at the house.
15,849. When was the house finished?-It is about eight years in
October since it was done.
15,850. I see there is some tobacco in December 1864. Was your
house finished before then?-No. It was finished outside, but not
inside. We went into it in October, but the windows were not in,
and it was two years before I was able to get the flooring put in
one of the ends of it.
15,851. Did you give him a little tobacco every now and then until
it was finished?-Yes; but he got other things besides tobacco.
15,852. Does that account for the entries of tobacco in August and
September 1865 in your book?-Clark was paid by that time, but I
had to get my house thatched.
15,853. Was it not to pay him that you got that tobacco?-It was
either to pay him or some one else who was working for me. I did
not have any money; and when any one did any job for me, I had
to pay them in some way or other.
15,854. What did you give them besides tobacco?-I sometimes
had a few dishes that they required, and they took them or tea.
15,855. Does that account for there being so many entries of tea in
your book?-Yes. I got wool and potatoes for tea.
15,856. At the settlement in July last there was a balance due by
you to Mr. Laurenson?-Yes.
15,857. Have you not been working to him since?-I was not able
to work.
15,858. About a month ago you got a notice from him that you
would be summoned to court unless you paid the balance of your
debt, 14s. 31/2d?-Yes; but I did not expect that I should have had
anything to pay.
15,859. Did you think the balance was in your favour?-Yes, I
expected that.
15,860. But you were running up an account, and you did not
know?-Yes, but that was not my blame. I always wanted a
settlement; and if he had paid me for my work and my goods, I
would not have been due him anything.
15,861. When did you leave home?-I left home on Thursday, and
came by the steamboat. I did not go on board of her at Ollaberry
until Saturday night, but I had left home two days before, and had
to wait for her.
15,862. How old are you?-I was fifty-two in July.
15,863. You are not in good health, and you are not able to walk
a long distance?-No. I cannot walk far on account of the
rheumatics.
15,864. Have you any idea when you will get home?-No.
15,865. Do you intend to go back by the steamboat if you can?-If
the steamboat goes I will go with her but if not, I will have to stay
until the packet comes back from Northmaven.
<Mr Guthrie>.-I have to give notice that I do not think at present
that I shall summon any more witnesses to appear in Shetland; but
there will be a meeting at half-past nine o'clock, and if any one
wishes to make any statement, or to bring forward any additional
evidence, he will then have an opportunity of doing so.
<Adjourned>.