Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 220

9012. Why? If they had agreed to fish for you, were they not bound to fulfil their bargain?-I thought I could not legally hold them, and I just let them go.

9013. Were you not afraid of them suffering for it if they fulfilled their bargain with you?-They must have suffered for it too.

9014. Did you make any representation on the subject to Mr.

Sievwright?-No. The only communication I had was with the men themselves.

9015. How many men did you lose in that way?-Twelve.

9016. Were some of these men in your debt at the time?-Some of them were. They had a sort of running account.

9017. Have you any men fishing for you this year at all?-For the rising year I believe we will have two or three boats' crews.

9018. Had you any last year?-We had two. I and another man are in a sort of company, and we had two boats last year-one each.

9019. Did you find that the fact of Mrs. Budge's tenants leaving you and going across the water materially affected your business in the shop?-I cannot say that it injured it very much.

9020. But it would make some difference?-I don't think it made a great deal.

9021. Were not their accounts taken away from you?-There are a good many of them who deal with me still, but not to the same extent.

9022. From what quarter did you get your fishermen who engaged with you for the rising season?-From the parish of North Yell.

That is the next parish to this.

9023. How far do they live from you?-Some of them are 10 miles from here.

9024. What estates are they on?-I could hardly tell, except about some of them.

9025. Have any of these men accounts for supplies in your shop?-Yes; perhaps 4 or 5 of them.

9026. For whom were they fishing last year?-Some of them fished for Pole, Hoseason, & Co, and some for Spence & Co.

9027. Do you know why they are leaving these merchants?-I cannot say.

9028. Have you offered them better terms?-I don't think so.

They hardly ever say what they have been getting before. We just make them an offer, and if they accept it we come to an understanding.

9029. Do you know whether any of them were indebted, at last settlement, to Pole, Hoseason, & Co., or Spence & Co.?-I cannot say.

9030. Are these men nearer to Greenbank than to you?-Yes, a great deal.

9031. Are your accounts with fishermen kept in a ledger?-I keep them in a sort of shop ledger. Each boat's crew has a company account, and each man has private account. [Produces ledger.]

9032. Your fish-book is a separate book?-Yes; with columns showing the weight of the fish delivered.

9033. What are these pages which you have turned down in your ledger?-They contain the account of William Stewart, who has just been examined.

9034. I see that for 1869 the balance of his account carried forward was 10, 0s. 41/2d., the total of his out-takes at the end of 1869, including that balance was 17, 8s. 11d. The balance due by him then was 6, 19s., after allowing 10, 9s. 11d. for his fish, which was reduced by half of skipper's fee 1, being a balance of 5, 19s. carried to the year 1870?-Yes.

9035. Then in 1870 there is an entry of 13s. 11/2d. account at North Yell: what does that mean?-That is for some small things he got there. We cure our fish there.

9036. The amount of his account at the settlement of 1870 was 17, 6s. 01/2d., and the amount of his fishing was 14, 18s. 41/2d., leaving a balance of 2, 7s. 8d. There is it deduction of 17s. 6d.: what was that for?-It was for a man who went off for Stewart.

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9037. Then there is it check for 19s.?-That was a check he gave me for that sum.

9038. The balance which is left is 2, 6s. 2d.?-Yes.

9039. On January 4, 1871, there are-spirits 2s. 21/2d., and on November 18 and November 29 there are additional supplies to the amount of 11s. 6d., making the balance now due 2, 19s.

101/2d?-Yes.

9040. Are these all the supplies that you have given him since he ceased to fish for you?-Yes. These are all that have been entered in the book.

9041. But he may have got others and paid for them in cash?- Yes.

9042. And he would get goods in payment for his winter fishing?-He has not been at the winter fishing this year.

9043. Or at the spring fishing last year?-He was at the spring fishing for Mr. Thomas Williamson.

9044. What men have you engaged for the rising year?-The engagement has been made partly with my partner in North Yell, and I don't know the names of them yet.

9045. But you know which men have opened accounts with you from North Yell?-Yes. There is Charles More, Gutcher, North Yell; he has got supplies to the amount of 19s. 8d.; and Thomas Brown, who has got supplies to the amount of 17s.

9046. Are these men bound to you now by written engagement?- No, it is merely verbal. Their boat's crew is made up.

9047. Who is your partner in North Yell?-Arthur Nicholson; he has a shop of his own at Gutcher.

9048. Has he boats of his own besides those he has in company with you?-No; but we have never been rightly in company. He has been doing my work in North Yell, and getting a fee for it, and our fish have been thrown together, and sold together.

9049. Is this [showing] the only book you keep?-It is the only book I keep for accounts. I keep an invoice-book and it fish-book also.

9050. Do you keep a day-book?-I keep a book for scrawling things into, until they are posted up in the ledger.

9051. Do you buy kelp?-No.

9052. Do you buy hosiery?-A little sometimes.

9053. Do you pay for it in the way that is usual in the country, by goods across the counter?-Yes, mostly.

9054. Do you give out wool to knit?-I sometimes give out worsted, and I pay for the knitting of it in the same way.

9055. Have you a knitters' book, or are the knitters' accounts kept in the ledger?-I keep a book for women's accounts.

9056. Is that book used entirely for sales of hosiery?-No. We don't do a great deal in hosiery. We buy few haps and small shawls, but the princ.i.p.al thing we buy is worsted. I buy a good deal in the course year from the spinners, and I sell it chiefly in Lerwick to the merchants there. I sell most of it to Mr. Robert Linklater. I invoice it to the merchants, and I take a note of the quant.i.ties when I send them away.

9057. When did you send away the last?-I suppose it would be about a couple of months ago.

9058. At what price did you send it out?-We get 3d. per cut for very fine, and 21/2d. and 2d. for the coa.r.s.est.