Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 8

The real or imaginary necessity under which the men are placed, of dealing at the merchant's shop, is demonstrated by their taking meal and other bulky articles a distance of many miles to their own houses, although there are shops nearer home where they could be purchased of as good quality, and it would seem sometimes better and cheaper. Thus James Hay says:

'5343. Do you deal at his shop for all your provisions and your purchases of cotton and other things?-I do for the princ.i.p.al part of what I need, but not altogether.'

'5344. How far do you live from Mr. Adie's nearest shop?-About 71/2 miles; his shop is at Voe.'

'5345. Do you always go there for what you want?-Yes; generally I do that, unless sometimes when I am needing some small things, I may go to another: but I am not bound to go to his shop unless I choose to go.'

'5346. Then why do you go so far?-Because I generally fish to Mr. Adie, and I have the greatest part of my dealings with him. I have not been accustomed to shift very much, unless it might be an inconvenience to me, and sometimes I have gone to another shop.'. . .

'5399. Are you under any obligation to go to Mr. Adie's shop for the goods you want in the course of the year?-None that I am aware of.'

'5400. You have never been told it of course; but is it a great deal more convenient for you to go there than to deal at another shop?-No; it is not more convenient. I could go to a shop somewhat nearer; but still I don't think I would be any better; and as it has always been my custom to go there, I just continue to go.'

'5401. Is it only because it is your custom to go, or is it because you are in the way of delivering your fish to Mr. Adie, that you go to his store?-Mr. Adie has been very obliging to me many a time, by helping me when I could not help myself, and therefore I always felt a warm heart towards him, and went to his store.'

'5402. But is it the way with the fishermen here, that they go to the shop of the man that they sell their fish to?-I am not able to speak to that except for myself.'

'5403. Do you not know what your neighbours do? -It depends on the circ.u.mstances that my neighbours are in. If they are indebted to the man they are fishing to, of course they will go to that man, and perhaps have very little to go to him with.'

'5404. Are those neighbours of yours who are so indebted also likely to engage to fish for the same the merchant during the following season?-Yes. When a man is short of money, and has not enough with [Page 19 rpt.] which to pay his land rent, he may go to the man he is fishing to, and he will help him with what he requires; but the understanding in that case is, that he will serve him at the fishing for the rising year. That is generally the way it is done.'

'5405. Do you mean that when a man gets advances at a merchant's shop, it is understood that he must fish to him in the coming year?-Yes; that is generally understood.'

[James Hay, 5352 etc.; W. Green, 5860 (Voe to Sullom); W.

Blance, 6057, 6118 (Voe to Ollaberry); G. Scollay, 8417; J.

Robertson, 8454 (Muckle Roe to Hillswick); J. Johnston, 9552 (Voe to Burravoe); T. Robertson, 8590.]

So John t.w.a.tt, a merchant, says:

'12,210. Is it not the fact that men who live near you do go to Reawick for supplies, although it is much farther away?-Yes.'

'12,211. And although it is inconvenient?-Yes, it is inconvenient.

They could do much better by coming to my shop, which is next door to them, and they could get as good articles at the same price as they can at Reawick.'

'12,212. How far is it from your place to Reawick?-I think it is about 10 or 12 miles.'

'12,213. When the men go there for meal or other supplies, are these supplies brought across the country?-Sometimes they are brought by boats, and sometimes round by the rocks.'

BOATS AND FISHING MATERIALS.

Advances by the fish-curer to fishermen, in the form of boats and fishing materials, form a very material portion of the debits in the men's accounts. For the most part the boats used in the ling fishing belong to the men. It is generally understood that when a crew gets a new boat, it is to be paid up in three years. Sometimes a good fishing enables them to pay it the first year; more frequently the payment extends beyond the three years-generally for five fishing seasons. The price of the boat is charged against the crew, which has a company account in the merchant's books, and they are labourersjointly and severally liable for the whole.

When a boat is furnished, it is always understood that the men are to continue to fish for the merchant who furnishes it until the whole price is paid; and this of course const.i.tutes a bond over the men for three or more years, as the case may be. Sometimes hire is charged for the boat, or for the boat and lines. A new boat, ready for sea, costs 20; if supplied with new lines, the whole cost will be from 35 to 40. The men agree to pay 6 as hire for boat and lines, or 2 to 3 for the boat, for the period of the summer fishing. In Yell and other places, the merchant, for this hire, undertakes the risk of the whole. On the west coast of Shetland, the rate charged as hire and the amount of the annual instalment of the price of the boat and lines appear to be the same; and the lines, if lost, are understood, it is said, to be at the risk of the men in both cases, which is an inversion of the ordinary rule of law in location.

It is generally said that little or no profit is derived by merchants from boat hires or the sale of boats. In some places, however, those who are anxious to get into business make deductions from the boat hire; in order to get men to agree to fish to depending entirely for their profit on the fish and goods sold. Hence it may be inferred, either that the hires charged are sufficient to remunerate the merchant for his outlay and risk, or that the profits made from the fish and goods sold are so large as to allow of this bonus being given.

[W. Irvine, 3838; T.M. Adie, 5607; T. Tulloch, 12,960; G. Irvine, 13,272; O. Jamieson, 13,396; P.M. Sandison, 5206; T.M. Adie, 5610; W. Pole, 5881, 5890, 5953; D. Greig, 7125, 7153, 7209; L.

Williamson, 9092; John Laurenson, 9856; T. Tulloch, 12,958; A.

Johnson, 14,933; T.M. Adie, 5638, 5642; P. Peterson, 6808; A.

Sandison, 10,133; C. Nicholson, 11,950; L. Williamson, 9092; T.

Williamson, 9514.]

With regard to lines and hooks, and such things as the men require for the fishing, they are bound or expected at most places to buy them from the merchant for whom they fish.

[J. Robertson, 8454; P. Blanch, 8717.]

Turning from the debit to the credit side of the account between the curer and the fisherman, the most important branch of the latter is the price of the fish. This is fixed in Shetland only when the annual sales of cured fish have been effected, in September or October. The understanding is that the men shall get the current price. This is not ascertained in any formal way; but as there is little difference between the prices obtained by the various curers, each calculates for himself how much he can afford to give to the crews for the green fish, and pays accordingly. There is always, of course, some knowledge, more or less vague and general, of the prices obtained and given by other curers, and there may be a consultation of some kind between the leading merchants. In some cases, curers, especially those who are in a small way, wait until the leading merchants have settled with their men, and thus avoid questions with their men. In all cases the men hear how much their neighbours have got for their green fish; and it may be supposed that there is sufficient compet.i.tion for men to ensure that the highest possible sum will be given. The fishermen themselves, however, do not seem to be satisfied of this, and there is an impression among some of them that 'the current price' of green fish is fixed by arrangement among the merchants at a lower rate than they might afford. This belief has originated, or has been encouraged, by the fact that the dealers of Cunningsburgh, in Sandwick parish, have for some years paid considerably more than 'the current price.' In 1871, the usual payment to fishermen was 8s. per cwt. of wet fish, which was thus ascertained: 21/4 cwt. of wet fish are calculated to produce [Page 20 rpt.] cwt dry. The current price of dry fish was 23s. per cwt.; cost of curing is usually estimated at 2s. 6d. per cwt. dry (or by Mr. Irvine at 3s.). Thus:-

Price of 21/2- cwt. wet ling, at 8s.,18s. 0d.

Cost of curing, at 2s. 6d., 2s. 6d.

Merchants' profit and commission, 2s. 6d.,2s. 6d.

Total,23s.

or about 11 per cent.* Merchants say that the cost of curing is actually greater than 2s. 6d. per cwt., and that their profit has to cover not only the risk of bad debts and insurance, but likewise a loss upon boat hires and sales, which never remunerate.

Fishermen, on the other hand, a.s.sert that curing never costs so much as 2s. 6d. per cwt.; and they appeal, in support of this, not only to their experience in curing their own fish, but to the higher rates paid by Messrs. Smith & Tulloch in Sandwick parish The reply, as regards these merchants, is that they sell to retail merchants direct, and thus save profit of the middlemen or wholesale purchasers; but there is evidently a feeling of irritation among other fishcurers, because they have broken in upon the practice of paying a uniform price throughout the islands. A similar question with regard to the cost of curing has been raised in the Faroe fishing.

[L.F.U. Garriock, 12,581; W. Irvine, 3742; J.L. Pole, 9423; J.

Bruce, jun., 13,332; J. Flawes, 4919; A.J. Grierson, 15,105; L.

Williamson, 9085; A. Sandison, 10,154; L. Williamson, 9097; T.

Williamson, 9515, 9536; L. Mail, 662; R. Halcrow, 4694; G.

Blance; 5561; A. Sandison, 7062; J. Nicholson, 8721; J. Flawes, 4990; J.S. Houston, 9673; W. Irvine, 3623; W. Pole, 5882 sqq.; J.S. Houston, 9698; A. Sandison, 10,125; W. Robertson, 13, 646; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,565.]

Some men complain because they do not know what they are to get for their fish and that they 'work away as if they were blind;'

but it is said on in a few cases where a price has been fixed at the beginning of the season and the price that has risen, the men have grumbled, and the curer has been obliged to pay the higher current price in order to retain the future services of the men. There is not, however, sufficient evidence to justify the conclusion that Shetland fishermen would, as a body, resent a merchant's adherence to a bargain which on other occasions must turn out to be a favourable one for themselves and a losing one for him. If there is any advantage in the present system, it is, as the Rev. Mr.

Fraser points out, on the side of the fisherman, who is less able than the merchant to foresee the probable course of the market, and who, if the suggested change were adopted, would have to take, in the run of cases, such a price as the merchant might judge safe for himself.

[James Hay, 5375; A.J. Grierson, 15,081; P. Garriock, 15,228; J. S.

Houston, 9862; A. Sandison, 10,009; Rev. J. Fraser, 8071, but see P.

Blanch, 8546.]

*CURERS' PROFITS.

Mr. Irvine (3623) says the prices of last year leave only 40s. per ton to the curer, out of which he has to pay store rent, weighing, skippers' fees, gratuities to fishermen, and to meet loss by small and damaged fish, and of interest and risk. The total quant.i.ty of cod, ling, and hake landed from open boats and cured in Shetland in the year ending 31st December 1871, according to the returns made to the Fisheries Board, was 46,391 cwt.

If we suppose that the expenses which are to be paid out of the fishcurers' 2s. per cwt. amount to 6d. per cwt., there remains a sum of 3479, 6s. 8d., as the total profit earned by thirty-seven fish-curers and fish-curing firms. If we suppose that these expenses absorb 1s. of this surplus, then the total profit amounts only to 2319, 11s. It may be observed, however that other sources of profit are open to these fish-curers. All of them have shops, in which the aggregate credit sales to fishermen amounted in the year 1871 (from settlement to settlement) to probably 14,000. A considerable amount of cash transactions, and sales of goods for b.u.t.ter and eggs, also take place at their counters; and many of them deal in cattle and kelp, and are engaged in the Faroe fishing. With all these sources of income, however, it is difficult to believe that no larger direct profit per cent. is earned from so complicated and hazardous a business as the ling fishing.

STOCK SOLD TO MERCHANTS

Next to fish, cattle sold form the largest and most common credit in the account of the fisherman farmer, although this is not, like fish, an indispensable item in the account. Cattle, ponies, sheep, and pigs, are an important part of the Shetlander's means, and they, like the rest of his saleable produce, are generally purchased by the merchant, who buys all that leaves the country, from a whale to an egg, and sells everything that the country people want, from a boll of meal or a suit of clothes to a darning-needle. The stock goes into the account, and is settled for at the yearly settlement. There is a custom throughout the country of holding public sales twice, sometimes four times in the year 'for the benefit of the tenant' as a witness puts it' but also for the benefit of the landlords and merchants. The sales are managed by the proprietor of the estate for whichthey are held, or by his tacksman or factor, and the prices of all the animals sold are paid, under the conditions of sale, into his hands. He has thus, just as in purchasing the fish of his tenants, an opportunity of retaining what is due to him for rent, and of making effectual his hypothec, or rather of avoiding the necessity of enforcing it at all. No cases have been alleged or proved in which advantage has been taken by proprietors or merchants of the power given them by their position, or by the indebtedness of tenants, for the purpose of getting cattle at low prices; and, indeed, the publicity of these sales to be a sufficient safeguard against such abuses. There is a practice, formerly much more widely prevalent than it is now, of marking the horns of animals with the initials of a creditor, which is supposed to hypothecate the debtor's cattle effectually as against all but the landlord's claim for rent. The practical effects appear to have been formerly injurious; , a well-informed and reliable witness says that, twenty years ago, when a merchant bought a beast from one of his debtors, he could really fix the price himself. [Page 21 rpt.] But the practice seems now to be so rare, probably because its legal inefficacy is better understood, that it need not be more particularly referred to.

[J. Laurenson, 9873; T. Gifford, 8133; A. Sandison, 10,079.]

There is evidence as to the sales of cattle on the Sumburgh, Busta, Gossaburgh, and Ollaberry estates, and in the islands of Unst and Yell. A man who is in debt to the landlord or merchant-tacksman is expected to offer his cow or pony which is for sale to him first. If the owner is dissatisfied with the price offered, he has an opportunity of exposing it at the next half-yearly or quarterly sale, where all the money pa.s.ses through the hands of the merchant or landlord, and is settled for at the end of the year, the owner getting supplies from the shop if he requires them in the meantime. Intimation is given to all the tenants of the sale; and a man who is very deeply in debt is 'so far forced to bring his cattle and sell them.'

[W. Irvine, 3772; R. Halcrow, 4673; P.M. Sandison, 5271; D.

Greig, 7228; Rev. J. Sutherland, 7600; T. Gifford, 8130; J.S.

Houston, 9686; J. Laurenson, 9873; G. Irvine, 13,241; J. Bruce, jun., 13,329; R. Halcrow, 4684.]

An instance of a sale of wool to a merchant-tacksman by an indebted tenant, at a lower price than might have been obtained (according to the tenant's own statement), is given by Robert Simpson:

'14,014. Was 111/2d. the current price for wool last autumn?-I cannot say. That was what we got for it from Mr. Sutherland.'

'14,015. Did anybody else offer to buy it from you?-We did not offer it to anybody else, because we thought he had a better right to it, as he was paying the rent. There were several people asking me for it, but I would not sell it to them.'

'14,016. How much did they offer you for the wool?-We never came to any particular agreement about the price, because I would not consent to sell it to them at all.'

'14,017. Did they not say anything about what they would give you?-They spoke of 1s.; but I thought it better to sell it for 111/2d.

wholesale than to sell it to them for 1s., even although I had had power to do it. Besides, I thought Mr. Robertson had the best right to it.'

'14,018. Had Mr. Robertson told you that he expected to get your wool?-I cannot say that he had.'

'14,019. Had Mr. Sutherland told you that?-If I could have paid my debt he would not have asked it.'

'14,020. But did Mr. Sutherland tell you that he expected to get your wool?-Sometimes he would ask me if I would give him the wool, and that I would be better to give it to him than to sell it to another.'

'14,021. Even at a halfpenny less?-Yes.'

This is probably a true enough picture of the transactions in regard to cattle, which in bad times are still commonly resorted to for the purpose of reducing large debts; but of which, in the late prosperous years, little has been heard.

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