Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 31

Lerwick, January 1, 1872, Mrs. ANDRINA SIMPSON, examined.

305. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes.

306. For whom do you knit?-For myself.

307. Have you always done so?-I have always done so for a good many years back.

308. Where do you purchase your wool?-I purchase it just from any person, and I spin it for myself.

309. Do you purchase it from farmers?-Yes.

310. To whom do you sell your work?-To any the merchants who will take it. I generally sold it to Mr. Spence when he was in the town, and to his sister Miss Spence since he went away.

311. Does she still deal in hosiery?-Yes.

312. How are you paid?-Generally just by goods.

313. Do you ask for money?-For the last shawl I sold I asked 2s.

in money. She did not appear very willing to give it; but I got 2s.

on it, and the rest in goods.

314. What was the value of the shawl?-It was 12s.

315. Did you not ask for more than 2s. upon it?-No. I did not ask for any more, because she did not wish to give any more.

316. You did not ask for the whole price of the shawl in money?- No.

317. Did you want it all in money?-I would have liked it all in money.

318. Why? What would you have done with the money if you had had it?-There is many a thing that can be done with money.

319. But had you any particular reason for wanting the money instead of the goods? Did you not want the goods?-I could have been doing at that time without the articles that I got; but I just had to take them, because I could get no more than 2s. in money on the shawl.

320. Is that the usual practice in your dealings with the merchants?-Not always. Sometimes I have seen me getting a few shillings more from her; and at other times, if she did not have a particular order for the articles, she seemed not to be willing to give any, money at all.

321. How do you square your accounts when you get goods in that way? For instance, when you sold that 12s. shawl and got the 2s.

in money, did you also get so many yards of cloth?-Yes; of print.

322. At how much?-At 7d. per yard. I also got some wincey.

323. Did that balance the account exactly?-Yes.

324. You got what made exactly the 10s. worth?-Yes.

325. Do you generally take just so much cloth as makes up the value of the shawl?-Yes; generally.

326. Do you do anything else in the way of working for your living than by knitting these articles?-Yes. I am married.

327. Then knitting is an extra sort of thing with you?-Yes.

328. Have you tried any of the other shops in the town to see if they would give you money for your hosiery?-No, none for a good while back; but it is not very much that I can do at it, on account of the house-work. My husband is a shoemaker.

329. Have you ever got lines for your shawls?-No: I generally settle up for the whole in goods at the time when I sell the shawls.

330. Is that all you want to say?-Yes.

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Lerwick, January 1, 1872, Mrs. JEMIMA BROWN or TAIT, examined.

331. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes.

332. Do you live with your parents?-Yes.

333. What is your father?-A shoemaker.

334. And you knit for your own benefit?-Yes.

335. For whom do you knit-For Mr. Robert Linklater.

336. What kind of goods do you knit?-Generally veils.

337. How much do you make in a week?-Sometimes 3s., and sometimes not so much, just according as the merchant buys the articles we make.

338. Is it his worsted you work?-Yes.

339. And he pays you so much for the work you put upon it?- Yes.

340. What is the value of the work you put upon the veil?-The last veils I made I got 9d. apiece for them.

341. Does what you get for them depend upon the size of the veils?-A good deal. These were the largest veils of all.

342. Then you will sometimes make four or five of them in a week?-I just made three of these. They were large ones.

343. How often do you get settled with for your work?-We have a pa.s.s-book, and the merchant lets it go on until he thinks we have got goods up to the value we have knitted for. He then makes up the book. [Produces pa.s.s-book in name of Harriet Brown, and another in name of Amelia Brown.] These are my sisters. One book served for the whole of us.

344. Did any one tell you to come here and bring those books?- No; I just heard what was to be done, and I came of my own accord.

345. These books contain the goods which you have purchased from Mr. Linklater?-Yes.

346. The last one begins on April 16; 1870, and is added up in January 1871. The amount at your credit is 5, 5s. 2d.: what does that mean?-It means, that we have knitted articles to that amount, and we have also got goods of that value. That was a square balance. The articles we have knitted bringing out that sum, are entered in a separate account at the end of the same book.

347. Is that account the same as appears in Mr. Linklater's books?-Yes.

348. It is-April 16, By balance at account, 10s. 111/2d.; May 5, twenty veils at 1s., 1: are these entered at the time you hand them back?-Yes; I took twenty veils to Mr. Linklater at that time.

349. The next entry is-September 6, twenty veils at 1s., 1. I thought you said you got 9d. for the largest veils you made?-Yes, for the largest size; but the veils I took in then were finer work, and the price for them was 1s. each.

350. Then-December 29, twenty veils at 1s, 1; March 30, two shawls at 3s. 6d, 7s.; August 19, nine veils at 1s., 9s.; same date, one shawl, 3s. 6d.-in all, 5, 10s. 51/2d. There is deducted 5, 5s.

2d., leaving a balance in your favour of. 5s. 31/2d.; and then the account begins again, and is continued down till December 26?- Yes.