6863. Have you got any of these lines this year?-No.
6864. What did you do with these lines?-When we came back with the line, we got anything we required for it.
6865. Did the line name any particular sum of money?-Yes.
The haul was divided between four men, and every man got his haul marked down on a separate line, with his name on it.
Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, ANDREW ANDERSON, examined.
6866. Are you a fisherman at Hillyar?-I am.
6867. Do you live there?-Yes.
6868. Who do you fish for?-I have fished for Laurence Smith for the last two years.
6869. Who did you fish for before?-I fished for different men, for Mr. Inkster, Mr. Anderson, Mr. Williamson, and now for Mr.
Smith.
6870. Who did you fish for last before Mr. Smith?-For Gideon Williamson, or James Williamson, his uncle.
6871. Is your fishing paid for every year in the winter?-Yes.
6872. Do you generally get a payment in cash at settlement?-I have been a poor man, and very unfortunate, and I never had much cash to get; but sometimes I did get some, and sometimes not.
6873. What was the reason why you did not get it?-A poor man sometimes did not have it to get.
6874. Were you generally in debt to the merchants?-Sometimes I was a good deal in their debt and sometimes not, just as the season turned out. In some years I cleared off all my debt, and in other years I was a good bit behind.
6875. How long have you been in debt?-I have been in debt now for a good while, I cannot tell for how many years; and when I could not pay my debt, then I could not get my supplies, and that was what made me shift from man to man.
6876. Have you shifted often for that reason?-I have shifted twice because I was in debt.
6877. When did you shift first because you were in debt?-I cannot tell how long it is ago.
6878. Who did you shift from then?-From Mr. Anderson to Mr.
Williamson.
6879. You were in debt to Mr. Anderson at that time?-Yes.
6880. And you could get no more supplies?-I could not get the supply that I asked for, and for that cause I left.
6881. When your supplies were stopped, did you go on fishing for Mr. Anderson until the end of the season?-I had not commenced then, and my family required meat, and I had no money to buy it with.
6882. Why were your supplies stopped? Was it because you were in debt?-Mr. Anderson never said anything about that; but when I asked for bread, he said they would not give it until fishing time.
6883. How much were you in debt at that time?-I don't recollect.
6884. Had your debt been running on for a number of years?- Not for a great many years; but I was a good bit in debt to him, although I don't recollect how much, as I had no pa.s.s-book, and no copy of my account.
6885. Was it ten years ago since that happened?-I cannot say rightly, because I was away from him for a while, and then I had to go back again, and afterwards I left him again.
6886. How much were you due him? Was it as much as 10?-I don't think it was so much as that, but I don't remember.
6887. Was it not quite reasonable that he should ask you for payment of your debt?-Certainly; but I had no money, and I could not give it. He had a right to ask for his debt, as everybody has; and I had a right to pay it, if I had been able.
6888. Did you leave Williamson because you were in his debt too?-No; the old man died, and then this man broke. I was serving him after that, but he was not able to give me my supplies, either clothes or meal, and therefore I left him.
6889. Were you in his debt?-I was due him a little.
6890. But you did not leave him because you were in his debt?- No; it was only because he could not give me supplies.
6891. And you get your supplies now from Mr. Smith?-Yes; I have got them from him for the last two years, when I have been fishing for him.
6892. Do you generally get a balance in cash at the end of the year?-No; I have not settled with him this year, and I don't know yet what I am to get.
6893. Had you a balance to get last year?-No; I was nearly clear with him.
6894. But there was a balance against you?-Yes; but it was not much-a mere trifle.
6895. Do you get cash from him during the season if you want it?-No; I will get anything he has in his shop to supply me with, either meat or anything else; but cash is seldom to be got.
6896. Why is that?-I don't know. I suppose it is because the man has not got much himself. Cash is not often very plentiful with him.
6897. Have you often asked for cash?-Not often. I may have asked for a shilling or two at a time. I could get anything else he had in his shop, but money was a thing that was seldom or never got.
Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, LAURENCE PETERSON, examined.
6898. You are a fisherman, and the son of a previous witness?-I am.
6899. Whom do you fish for?-I fished first for Mr. Anderson for two years.
6900. Whom do you fish for now?-For Mr. Joseph Leask, Lerwick, at the Faroe fishing.
6901. When did you give over going to the home-fishing?-In 1868.
6902. You fished for Mr. Anderson then?-Yes.
6903. Had you an account in his shop?-Yes.
6904. When you settled up at the end of the year, had you a balance to receive in cash?-Yes; in both years when I fished for him.
6905. Did you get money in the course of the season if you wanted it?-No.
6906. Did you ask for it?-Yes.
6907. Was it refused to you?-Yes.
6908. Why?-I don't know.
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