4234. Then you think it would be better for the knitters that they should be paid in cash?-Yes, it would be better for all the Lerwick knitters especially.
4235. Why for the Lerwick knitters especially?-Because they are most dependent upon their knitting, especially in the winter season.
Lerwick, January 8, 1872, ROBERT MOUAT, examined.
4236. You are a blacksmith at Olnafirth Voe?-Yes.
4237. You get the princ.i.p.al part of your work from Messrs. Adie, and the fishermen and tenants in that district?-Yes.
4238. In dealing with Messrs. Adie, do you run an account with them?-No; I generally pay in cash for what I get in the shop.
4239. Are you aware whether the prices that you pay in cash are the same as are paid by the fishermen in the neighbourhood?-I am not quite sure about that, but I suppose so.
4240. Can you tell me the prices of any of the articles which you get from their shop? For instance, what do you pay for meal?- The meal that Messrs. Adie sell now is 1s. 5d. per peck, whereas I can get the same meal in Lerwick for 1s. 2d. now. Five months ago, when I lived in Lerwick, I could get it for 1s. 3d.
4241. What do you pay for tea?-There are three kinds of tea; we pay about 3s. 4d. per pound for one kind, about 4s. for another, and I think 3s. is about the lowest.
4242. Is there any other article that you get in any quant.i.ty in Messrs. Adie's shop?-I think these are the princ.i.p.al articles we get there.
4243. Do you deal for soft goods there?-A little.
4244. For boots?-No; I have not gone there for boots.
4245. What kind of soft goods do you get?-Winceys and cottons.
4246. Can you tell the prices which are charged for these things, compared with what you would get them for in Lerwick?-No.
4247. Is it commonly supposed that there is more than one price for goods at that shop? Have you heard the fishermen who settle up only once a year, complain that you get your goods cheaper than they did?-I have not heard them say so. It is not long since I went to that place, and I am not very well acquainted with the fishermen there yet.
4248. Where were you before?-I was born in Northmavine, and I was connected with the fishing there.
4249. How long is it since you ceased to fish there?-About fifteen years ago. After leaving Northmavine I came to Lerwick.
4250. Do the fishermen at Voe run an account at the store, which is settled at the end of the fishing season?-I think so.
4251. What reason have you for supposing that? Have they told you so?-They have not told me, but I have been aware of such cases since I went there.
4252. Does that mode of settlement affect you in your trade?-It affects me in this way, that I get a little more custom from the fishermen about the time when they settle, than I do during the rest of the year.
4253. Is that because they have money to pay you with?-Yes.
4254. Do you not give them credit in the rest of the year if they have work to do?-I give them some credit; but I have only been five months there.
Lerwick: Tuesday, January 9, 1872.
-Mr. Guthrie.
WILLIAM GOUDIE, examined.
4255. You are a fisherman at Toab, in Dunrossness, on the property of Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh?-I am.
4256. Are you under any obligation, by the terms on which you hold your land, to fish for any particular fish merchant?-Yes; we are under an obligation to fish for Mr. Bruce, younger of Sumburgh.
4257. Is that obligation part of a verbal contract or lease which you have with him?-It is generally known that we must not break that rule.
4258. You have no leases on the Sumburgh estate?-No; but we had an offer of a lease. The offer I had is here. [Produces paper.]
4259. The doc.u.ment you hand in is a printed copy of 'Rules for the better management of the Sumburgh estate?'-Yes.
4260. When did you get it?-Last year, at settlement, so far as I remember. That would be in the spring of 1871.
4261. When is your settling time?-There is not always one settling time. Some years it is later, and some years earlier.
4262. Have you settled this year yet?-No.
4263. Was anything said to you about that paper when it was handed to you?-No; it was just handed over to me in Mr. Bruce's office.
4264. Have you signed any copy of these rules?-No.
4265. You have not accepted them as binding upon you?-No.
4266. Do you prefer to continue to hold your land year by year?- No; we should like a lease.
4267. Have you any objection to these rules?-We [Page 106]
thought they were not altogether so much on our side of the leaf, as we say, as we should like.
4268. You are not going to accept them?-I don't believe we shall.
4269. But under your present tenure, as you hold your land at present, you say you are bound to deliver all your fish to young Mr. Bruce?-Yes; the fresh fish.
4270. In what way are you so bound? Did you agree to any obligation of that kind?-No; but before I became a tenant, the rule had been issued that all his tenants had to give their fish to him in a fresh state.
4271. When did you become a tenant?-About five or six years ago; and the rule was in force before I came. I have broken the rule very little so that I have not been called in question.
4272. But you took your land knowing that that was a condition of your having it?-Yes.
4273. Have you had to pay any fines for delivering any of your fish to other parties?-No, I have paid none.
4274. Do you understand that such fines are to be levied if you fail to deliver your fish to Mr. Bruce?-I have not heard of any fines; but it has been reported that the tenants would be warned if they did so. I have heard that reported publicly: that they would be warned, or might be warned, on that account.
4275. Did you agree, when taking your lease that you would be liable to pay a fine if you delivered your fish to any other merchant?-No, I was never called upon to agree to that; but it was generally known that we had to give all our fish to him, fresh.
4276. Who told you that you were to give your fish to him?-That was known publicly all over the district before I became a tenant.
I understood from my father and brothers and neighbours that they had had to do that, and I became a tenant on the same terms.
4277. Were your father and brothers tenants on the Sumburgh estate before you?-Yes; before I had land from Mr. Bruce.
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