Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 34

446. Have you ever bought worsted for your own knitting?-No; I could not get it bought, because I was not in the way of earning money.

447. Have you tried to buy it?-I could not try without the money.

He would not give worsted for nothing.

448. And you had no money to pay for it?-No; I could not have it.

449. But when you were taking back your work to him, have you never asked to take part of the value of it in worsted?-I have; and I have been refused.

450. When did you do that?-It is long ago now; but I have done it.

451. What did he say when he refused you the worsted?-That it was a money article and he could not give it without the money.

452. Was it Mr. Linklater or Mr. Anderson who, said so?-I cannot remember now, it is so long ago.

453. Has that happened with you more than once?[Page 9]-I only remember asking it once. I never did it again, when I got a denial the first time.

454. Your sister also knits, and many of your acquaintances?- Yes. I would like to speak on my sister's behalf as well as my own. She is not here, but she wants to say the same thing that I have done.

455. She wants to make the same complaint?-Yes. She is not well, and is unable to come in.

Lerwick, January 1, 1872, ANDREW TULLOCH, examined.

456. You are a fisherman at Cunningsburgh?-Yes.

457. Have you got a piece of ground there?-Yes.

458. You are a tenant of whom?-Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh.

459. Who do you fish for?-Thomas Tulloch at present.

460. Is he a relation of yours?-No.

461. Where is his place?-At Lebidden, close by Sand Lodge.

There are some houses there.

462. Do you live there?-No; I live at Cunningsburgh.

463. Is Mr. Thomas Tulloch a tacks-master under Mr. Bruce.

464. What is he?-He is just a merchant carrying on business there, and he has stepped into the fishing. He sold goods before he began to it.

465. Does he keep a shop at Lebidden?-Yes, for the fishermen; and to sell to other people as well.

466. You engage to fish to him: is that for the summer fishing?- Yes, chiefly; or for the whole season, if we can follow it up.

467. Do you go to the Faroe fishing for him?-No; only to the ling fishing, in the six-oared boats.

468. What have you come here to say?-Chiefly, that we should like to have our freedom. We have freedom at present; but we are afraid of young Mr. Bruce taking the tack of the tenants into his own hands. He got a lease of the tenants from his father last season.

469. What did he get a lease of?-Of his father's premises at Cunningsburgh.

470. Then he got a lease of the whole lands of Cunningsburgh?- Yes, from his father. That was his statement the last time we settled with him.

471. What did he say then?-He said he was prepared to settle with the tenants, because he had got a lease from his father of the lands.

472. But you say you have your freedom?-Yes, at present; but we are doubtful if we can keep it, because young Mr. Bruce has taken the tenants at the place where he is living himself-at Dunrossness. He took the tenants there some three or four years ago, and he has built a house; and both we and the merchant are doubtful that he may take us into his own hand too. We rather think we might be worse off if we were taken back.

473. What do you mean by being taken back?-I mean, if the tenants were taken into his own hands again.

474. Have you any objection to the arrangement you have just now with Mr. Thomas Tulloch?-We cannot complain of it, further than that we don't know the price we are to get until we settle. We never had any chance of knowing that from any merchant we ever dealt with.

475. When do you arrange to go out to fish?-About the beginning of May. In some years it may be a month or a fortnight earlier, just as the weather is.

476. At that time do you make a bargain with Mr. Tulloch about the fishing, to fish for him, during the whole season?-Yes. We have so much confidence in him that we do not make any written agreement; it is all done by word of mouth.

477. To whom do the boats belong that you go out in?-The boat I go in is our own. It belongs to the crew.

478. How many of you are there?-Five men and a boy.

479. How long have you had your boat?-We have had our present boat for about seven or eight years. She was a second-hand boat, about five years old, when we got her.

480. You bought her yourselves?-Yes.

481. Is the price all paid up now?-Yes; it was paid a few years ago.

482. Then Mr. Tulloch makes his arrangement with you to go to fish about the 1st of May?-Yes.

483. What is the bargain? Is it that you are to fish for him during the whole season?-No; only till Lammas that is, the end of July; and after that we stick to the herring fishing.

484. But when you are at the ling fishing you give him all your fish?-Yes; the whole. Every time we come ash.o.r.e we deliver them to his factor.

485. That is for the purpose of being cured?-Yes.

486. He takes an account of them as he receives them?-Yes.

487. And the only complaint you have against Mr. Tulloch is, that you don't get settled until when?-We get settled generally at settlement time but we don't know our price until we come to settle.

488. When is the settlement made?-We are not quite settled yet for last year; but when we are called on by our landlord to pay our rent, Mr. Tulloch has no objection to give us money for that.

489. Who do you pay your rent to?-To Mr. Bruce; he is the proprietor.

490. Then your complaint is, that you don't know the price of your fish until January?-Yes.

491. Would you rather contract with Mr. Tulloch to supply all your fish at so much per cwt.?-Yes.

492. But you cannot get that bargain made?-Some of the men seem very reluctant to agree to it. A few of them have said that they would leave and go to another merchant before they would have that.

493. Does Mr. Tulloch keep a store?-Yes; he has a store, and he supplies all the fishermen.