Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 358

15,266. How were you humbugged by it?-I would sometimes take goods in that had perhaps been stolen, and I lost them altogether. It was a kind of broker's business that I did.

15,267. Did you do a good deal of that business at one time?-Not much.

15,268. But still you were a broker to some extent?-It was not worth speaking of.

15,269. What kind of goods were you in the habit of getting in that way?-Various sorts of goods, such as wearing apparel. There was nothing else that I recollect of particularly just now.

15,270. Did you sometimes get cottons and other goods that were not made up into wearing apparel?-Not that I remember.

15,271. I thought you said you had dealt to some extent in cottons and calicoes?-I got them from the south along with my other goods.

15,272. Did you sometimes lay in a small stock of these?-Yes.

15,273. Have you never purchased any cotton, or [Page 387]

calicoes, or dress stuffs not made up, from people at your counter?-I cannot recollect just now. I had a small book in which I entered these purchases.

15,274. Have you got that book with you?-I have not seen it for the last six months.

15,275. You will go for that book, and show it to me here?-Yes.

Lerwick, January 30, 1872, LAURENCE THOMPSON, examined.

15,276. Are you a seaman in Lerwick?-I am.

15,277. Have you gone frequently on sealing and whaling voyages from this port?-Yes.

15,278. By what agent, have you been engaged?-I have gone from them all.

15,279. Did you have an account for outfit and supplies from the agent who engaged you every time you went?-Yes.

15,280. When did you go first?-In 1858.

15,281. Did you go as a green hand then?-Yes.

15,282. Where did you get your outfit?-From Mr. Leask.

15,283. Did you settle for it at the end of the voyage?-Yes.

15,284. Did you manage to pay it up the first year?-Yes; and I had 5s. clear.

15,285. Did you ask on that occasion for payment of part of your earnings in cash?-Yes; when I came home I got the 5s. which I had clear. I had had all the rest in goods.

15,286. Did you not want to let part of the goods stand on an account?-No.

15,287. You wanted to pay it all up and to be clear?-Yes.

15,288. Did you continue to engage with Mr. Leask for some years after that?-For two years; and then I went to Mr. Tait.

15,289. Why did you go to him then?-Partly because I wanted a longer voyage; I wanted to go to Davis Straits.

15,290. Had Mr. Leask no ships going the long voyage that year?-Yes.

15,291. Could you not have got a berth from him?-Yes, if I had asked for it.

15,292. Why did you not ask for it?-I did not just incline.

15,293. Why did you not incline?-I had no particular reason for it.

15,294. Had you run up an account with Mr. Leask the year before?-Yes.

15,295. Had you left him clear?-Yes; and I had got 2 in cash.

15,296. Had you a second payment of oil-money to get that year?-Yes.

15,297. Did you get payment of that in money?-Yes.

15,298. Was that before or after you had engaged with Mr. Tait?- It was before.

15,299. How long did you continue with Mr. Tait?-I went five voyages with him.

15,300. Did you get all your supplies during that time from him?- Yes, whatever I asked or wanted.

15,301. Did you always get your balances paid to you in cash?- Yes.

15,302. Had you no difficulty in getting that?-No; whenever I asked them I always got them.

15,303. Were you not sometimes asked to take them in goods?- No. They would ask you if you wanted anything, but that was all; and I got my things as good there as at any other place.

15,304. Had you not, in one of these years, to ask more than once for the money?-No, not to my recollection. If I asked for the money I always got it.

15,305. Was it paid to you in Mr. Tait's office beside the shop?- Yes. I went through the shop into the office, and Mr. Tait settled with me there.

15,306. Did he or any of his people always ask you if you wanted any goods when you went to get your settlement?-No, he did not ask me; but sometimes they would ask me if I wanted anything when I came out from settlement. We could either take it or leave it, any way we liked.

15,307. In some of these years, were there a great number of men going to Greenland?-Yes.

15,308. Were there sometimes more than there were berths for?- Yes.

15,309. But you never lost a berth?-No; whenever I asked it I got it.

15,310. Were you not known to the agents to be a good seaman, and were you not always on good terms with them?-I never was on bad terms with them, and I always got a berth when I wanted it.

15,311. But you always had an account with your agent?-Yes.

15,312. And a good lot of supplies?-Sometimes not very much, but sometimes I had a good lot.

15,313. Do you think the fact of your having a pretty large account had anything to do with your always getting a berth?-I don't think it. Sometimes I would have a good account with one agent, and go to another agent and get a ship from him.