Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 62

1767. Did you ask for money?-Yes; I asked for a little, and I got the sum which is marked on the line as having been paid to me in cash.

1768. He gave you 6s. in cash?-Yes.

1769. Was that all you wanted?-Yes. I did not ask for that sum, I only said I wanted a little money, he gave that.

1770. The line, is in these terms: 'C Z 91-Cr. bearer value in goods twenty six shillings 26s. stg.

'To cash 6s; to Vict. tartan 4s. 7d.

' ' White cotton, 6d.; wincey, 2s. 10d.

' ' Grey cotton, 6d.

'R. SINCLAIR & CO.

'C. S.

'28.12.71'

This was last Thursday?-Yes.

1771. Was the shawl with your own?-Yes.

1772. Then it was just a sale to Mr. Sinclair?-Yes.

1773. You got 6s. in cash and 8s. 5d. in goods, and the rest is still due?-Yes, for me to get when I require it.

1774. Is that a usual way of doing business in Lerwick?-Yes; but I have got the whole of the price in money from a merchant for a shawl when asked for it-not for myself, but for a country girl.

1775. From whom have you got it all in money?-From Mr William Johnston. The price was 20s.

1776. Is he a hosiery dealer, just in the same way as Sinclair & Co., and Mr. Laurenson, and Mr. Linklater?-Yes. I have had money from them all whenever I asked for it.

1777. Would the women get money from them if they were selling the shawls themselves?-I cannot answer for that. I don't know that they would.

1778. Is it not the fact that the reason why you are sometimes asked to sell shawls for these women is that you can get the money for them?-I don't ask any money for the country girls at all; they never asked me to seek it.

1779. Do not the girls employ you to sell their shawls because they think you may get some money from the merchants, when they would not?-It is just because they think I can get a better price; at least that is what I think is the reason. They don't bid me get money.

1780. Do you think the merchants give you a better price?-They think so.

1781. Perhaps you can make a better bargain for them?-They have that idea.

1782. Have you never been asked by a country girl to sell a shawl for her and to get money for it?-Never.

1783. Then, on the occasions when you have got money, it has been for shawls which you have sold either for yourself or for town girls?-Yes, but particularly for my self.

1784. Have you sold them for town girls, and got money for them?-No; I have never asked money for any person but myself, and I have always got it.

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1785. How many shawls may you sell for yourself in the course of a year?-Sometimes there may be two.

1786. May there sometimes be three?-I could not tell the number particularly, but I have always one or two in the course of the twelvemonth.

1787. I suppose you are chiefly engaged with your dressing business, and have not much time to knit shawls?-Yes; the dressing is my only way of living.

1788. Are you a widow?-Yes.

1789. Have you often got lines similar to the one you have now produced?-Yes. Whenever I sell a shawl to Mr. Sinclair I get these lines, and then I give them to the girls to whom the shawls belong.

1790. Then they don't always want the value of their shawls in goods, but they sometimes take a line-Yes; and they keep it until they want something else. They are always served with what they want when they come with a line.

1791. You have not a pa.s.s-book with any of the merchants?-No.

1792. I suppose pa.s.s-books are only used where girls knit with the merchants wool?-Yes.

1793. Do you keep a pa.s.s-book with any of the merchants for the shawls which you dress for them?-No; I just get the money.

1794. Are you paid for them at the time?-Yes.

1795. Will the merchant send you a large consignment of shawls at a time to be dressed?-Yes; sometimes he may send a good lot.

1796. And you return the lot you have got when they are finished, and get paid for them when you return them?-Yes; in money.

1797. There is nothing entered in any book between you about that?-No.

1798. Are you the largest dresser in Lerwick?-I don't know that I am.

1799. Are there any others in the business?-Yes; there are a good many.

1800. Do they live mostly at the Docks?-No; there are one or two dressers who live at the Docks. They don't do so much as I do, but Mr. Sinclair has dressers of his own who do more than I.

1801. Does he pay them day's wages?-No; I think he pays them just as they work for him. The veils, neckties, and scarfs go by dozens.

1802. Is that the way you charge for these things?-I charge 11s.

6d. for a dozen veils, and the same for a dozen neckties or scarfs. I charge 6d. for every shawl, sometimes 3d. or 4d. if it is small, or 1s. if it is a very fine one.

1803. Have you ever sold shawls to any people except merchants?-I have.

1804. Do you sometimes sell to private ladies?-Yes, and gentlemen too.

1805. Do you sell to visitors in summer, and to people living in Lerwick?-Yes.

1806. Do you consider you are likely to get a better bargain with them than with the merchants?-I get the money from them.

1807. But you have no reason for dealing with them for the purpose of getting the money, because you say you get money from the merchants if you ask it?-Yes; but if a gentleman comes and asks me for a shawl, he has nothing to give me except the money, and I get it all in money then.

1808. Would you rather do with a gentleman or lady in that way than with a merchant?-It is only sometimes that they can take a shawl in that way; but the merchant always takes them.

1809. But would you prefer to deal with strangers rather than with the merchants?-If they were always here, I should like it very well.

1810. That is because you get a better bargain, and you are sure to get all money?-Yes.