Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 42

815. Do you get money advanced to you in the course of the season when you ask for it?-Yes, I have always, or generally, got it when I asked for it.

816. Suppose that at the close of the fishing season-that is, in September-you were to ask for all the money that was due for your fish, or for a sum about equal to the value of your fish, would you get it?-I don't expect I would get it.

817. Have you ever asked for it?-Yes.

818. In September, or about that time?-I asked it on 1st November, thirteen years ago.

819. That is a long time ago?-That was the first year I was resident in Burra; I had been there for a twelvemonth then.

820. What did you ask for, then?-I asked for the value of the fish that belonged to a fee'd man who had been along with me for three months in autumn. I fee'd a young man for these months to go along with me to the summer fishing at that time; he was to get one-third of the fish, and I was to supply him with boat, lines, and lodging. At the end of autumn he went home, and he wanted me to introduce him to Messrs. Hay's agent, so that he might get his money.

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821. Did he want to leave the island?-He did not belong to the island; and as he was going home, he wanted to be paid, and he asked me to introduce to the agent, which I did.

822. Did you apply for his money?-Yes, as being a stranger I wanted them to settle with him; but they would not settle with him at all, I then asked for an advance of 20s. on my own account, and I would give it to him for his trouble; but they would not give that either.

823. At that time had you and he a large contra account against you in the shop?-Neither of us had any account against us at all.

He told me that at the time he had not a penny taken out from either of their stores.

824. Was he offered goods at that time?-Yes; in my hearing.

825. What was said about that?-He was told to take anything he wanted out of the store.

826. Where was that?-At Scalloway, I expect, or Lerwick.

827. Can you tell me of anything of the same kind happening within the last two or three years?-I don't recollect anything of the kind happening within that time, so far as I was personally concerned.

828. Have you, within the last two or three years, always had a large account against you at the beginning of the winter?-Not of a bad debt.

829. But have you had a large account against you for goods supplied during the course of the season?-Yes; I have generally had a considerable account so far as our accounts go.

830. Was that the reason for your not asking for a settlement of it at that time?-I cannot say whether that would be the reason or not.

831. Did you know that you had got the value of your fish, or something approaching to it, in provisions?-Some of us in Burra had, no doubt, got the whole value in goods, and had even overdrawn their accounts, but others of us had not.

832. But if you want money in the course of the autumn or in the early part of the winter, do you not get an advance on applying for it at Messrs. Hay's place?-I only know of those getting it who might be worthy of it, who had not overdrawn their accounts.

833. But they will give you money as readily as they will give you goods now?-I suppose they would in Lerwick, but I don't think they would do that at Scalloway.

834. What is your reason for supposing that?-About twelve months ago I went once, twice, and at last three times with some fish to their fish-curing place in Scalloway; and their law there was that we should only get goods for our fish, but no money.

835. Who told you that?-Mr. Gilbert Tulloch, the shopkeeper, the master of the store.

836. Is he the shopkeeper for Messrs. Hay at Scalloway?-Yes.

837. Did you on that occasion ask for money for the fish you delivered?-The last time I went up, after taking a number of small things that I was requiring, there was a shilling due to me on the fish which I had delivered, and I asked for it. Mr. Tulloch said that I knew it was not the custom to give money. I said I knew that too well, but that it could not affect him very much to give me a few pence, as he had got much more from me in the course of the year. He hung on for a little bit and then put his hand on the counter and gave it to me; but he bade me remember it was to be the last.

838. You say the amount of your account is made up in the beginning of the year: how did you know that the cost of the provisions you were getting at the time you have now mentioned came to within 1s. of what was due?-There is a misunderstanding between us there. We have an opportunity of taking goods out of their stores; but when we come to their store at Scalloway with a little fish, we get goods from them there, without them entering into the annual settlement. That is not the proper place where we deliver our fish to Messrs. Hay-the proper place is in the island of Burra itself, but we have a chance of coming to Scalloway occasionally when we have got a few small fish, and we get goods home with us.

839. Then, when you want goods, you take the fish to Scalloway?-Yes, but we can also get goods there, although we deliver the fish at the proper place in Burra.

840. In that case, do you get a line from the manager at Burra stating that you have delivered so much fish?-No.

841. Then how do they know to allow you goods?-When we take the fish up to the store at Scalloway, we only get goods for their exact value. In the case I have mentioned I got goods up to the value of my fish within a shilling.

842. Did you not say you could also get goods at Scalloway although you delivered the fish at Burra?-Yes; that is on account of the fish which we give to the local factor.

843. And the goods you get in that case go to the general account for the whole year?-Yes.

844. Then those which you deliver at Scalloway are not put into the general account at all?-No.

845. That is to say, you are at liberty to deliver your fish elsewhere than to the factor at Burra?-Yes.

846. But the only place where you are at liberty to deliver them, if you do not deliver them to the factor in Burra, is to the store at Scalloway?-Yes.

847. And you take them there if you want a supply of goods?- Yes.

848. Is there any reason for preferring that way of dealing?-We have none.

849. But have you any reason for preferring to take the fish to Scalloway and getting the goods, rather than delivering them to the factor at Burra and having the goods entered in your general account?-We have then got the pleasure of seeing our fish paid for all at once. That is all the advantage we have about it, so far as I know.

850. Have you a chance of getting more money in hand if you take the fish to Scalloway?-Not one farthing more. I have got none this year.

851. But on the other system you may still get an advance of money if you ask for it?-Yes; I believe I might get some money if I wanted it.

852. Would you get it from the factor at Burra, or at Scalloway or Lerwick?-So far as I am aware, I would only get it at Lerwick.

853. Do you purchase in that way, from Messrs. Hay, all your provisions and clothing, and everything you want for the support of your families?-As a general thing over the islands, it is only from them we can get them. It is only from them we need ask them, because we have no power to sell the labour of our hands to any one else.

854. And you have no credit with any one else?-Some of us would have credit; but the system prevents us from getting credit, because we could not pay the parties from whom we got the goods.

855. But if these parties knew that you were getting money from Messrs. Hay for your fish, would it not be possible for you to get the money from Messrs. Hay, and with it to pay the other dealers?-That may be done no doubt on a very small scale, for anything I know. I believe it is done, to a certain extent, by persons who get a few pence or a few pounds from Messrs. Hay; but it is only a few of the men who are able to deal in that way.

856. You say in your letter that you don't know the prices you are to get for your fish until the end of the year: is that so?-Yes, it is so.

857. Messrs. Hay & Co. do not fix the price until what time of the year?-They do not fix it until we settle-about a month after the New Year.

858. So that you don't know before then what you are to get?-We never do.

859. Have you ever been to agree to fish at a certain price per cwt.?-I never was asked to agree to that during the whole fourteen years I have served them.

860. Would you like to have a certain price per cwt. [Page 18]

fixed before the commencement of the season?-We should like that well enough if we had power ourselves to inquire after it, but we should not like it if it was to be left in the hands of another who had power to make the price what he pleased.

861. You also say, in your letter, 'If we capture whales, we have to pay one-third of the proceeds to the landlord.' Is that a frequent source of profit to you in Shetland?-It is not, a very frequent source. It is occasional, but not frequent.

862. What is your objection to that system?-We think that as we the fishermen, drive the whales ash.o.r.e, and they are all flinched and wrought below high-water mark, we have a right to the whole proceeds. We think the proprietor has no right to anything at all, any more than he has to the fish that come ash.o.r.e in our boats.