5303. Who told you that?-Gilbert Irvine, the factor.
5304. Did he tell you that he only gave you 32 lbs. for a quarter boll?-I saw the weight myself. What we call a quarter boll is 35 lbs, and what is called a lispund is 32 lbs.; so that there should be a difference between what we call boll weight, and 32 lbs. for the quarter boll.
5305. Then you suspect or believe that you only got a lispund instead of a quarter boll?-Yes; I am under that impression, whether I am correct or not.
5306. Had you not the means of satisfying yourself about that?- Perhaps I might if I had inquired, but I never made any strict inquiry about it.
Lerwick, January 9, 1872, HENRY SINCLAIR, examined.
5307. You are a tenant on the Simbister estate at Levenwick?- Yes; and I was formerly bound under a tacks-master.
5308. That was Robert Mouat?-Yes.
5309. You were bound to fish for him?-Yes.
5310. Who told you that you were so bound?-He told me himself.
5311. Did anybody else tell you that?-No.
5312. Was it understood in the neighbourhood that you were bound to give all your fish to him?-Yes; all my neighbours understood the same.
5313. Did you at any time deliver your fish to another?-Not one tail. I delivered them all to him during his tack.
5314. Was there one time when he gave you warning to leave?- On one occasion, when we had a good fishing, he sent away 7 cwt.
of wet fish and kept it off us. My son was fishing with me at the time, and he went to Mouat; and they rather cast out about it at Mouat"s house, and he told my son then that we should not be allowed to sit.
5315. Then it was because of a quarrel about the quant.i.ty of fish entered in the fish-book that you got your warning?-Yes.
5316. You were not warned out because you gave your fish to another dealer?-No; that was not the cause of it. Then, Mouat would not give me half of the land to sit in, in case my son sat beside me.
5317. Do you mean that he wanted your son to fish for him?-No; he thought that because they had cast out, if I got any land at all, my son would stay beside me; and that upset my son and made him lose his senses, so that he is now in the Asylum.
5318. How did that upset your son?-Because he was of a quick spirit, and he was grieved that we should have been put out of the land.
5319. But you were not put out of the land?-We were. I went to the sea, and Mouat took my wife to a piece of the hill-side and showed her there where we should build our house on a piece of the open hill.
5320. Did you build your house there?-Yes. He said that if we would not build our house there, we might lie at the back of a d.y.k.e.
5321. Did you fish for him after that?-Yes.
5322. Were you bound to do so?-My son would not fish, but I was still upon the land, and I just fished for him.
5323. Did you get your provisions at Mouat"s store at Sandwick?-Yes; I could do nothing else than go to him, and he has brought me to poverty.
5324. Did you get your meal and other things there?-Yes; I had to go there for them all.
5325. Did you run an account with him, and settle it when you settled for your fish at the end of the year?-Yes.
5326. Had you ever a balance to get in money?-I had money in his hands when I was put out of the land.
5327. Up till the time when Mouat left the place, were you getting money from him year by year?-I was just getting out of the shop what I required, for I never got into debt to him.
5328. If anything was over did you get it in money [Page 132] at the settlement?-No; but the worst thing he did was he last time when he was going about looking for cattle which he could pick out and put away.
5329. Did he pick out any from you?-Yes. He took the last one I had, and he promised to give me a cow for it next week, but it has never come yet.
5330. Did you get any meal at Mouat"s store?-The greater part of it was fit for nothing but the pigs.
5331. Could you have got it better at any other place near you?- Yes; but we could not get money from him, and therefore we had to take the meal from his store.
5332. Would he never advance you money for your fish?-No.
5333. You are not under that obligation now, but you can fish for anybody you like?-I am not fishing now; I am too old.
5334. But the people thereabout can fish for anybody they like?- Yes.
Brae: Wednesday, January 10, 1872.
-Mr. Guthrie.
JAMES HAY, examined
5335. Are you a fisherman at Mossbank?-I am a fisherman, but I have not been at Mossbank. I live at a place called Firth, about a mile from Mossbank, to the south and east of it.
5336. Have you a bit of land there?-Yes; a small farm.
5337. Who do you fish for?-Mr. Thomas Adie. I go to the ling-fishing in the summer time.
5338. What bargain do you make with Mr. Adie about selling your fish to him?-I have never had any bargain made when I commenced to fish
5339. You just make up a boat"s crew, and you are paid for your fish at the end of the season according to the current rate?-Yes
5340. Is it the understanding with all the boats" crews that they are to be paid at the current rate?-Yes.
5341. When is the price of your fish paid to you? At Martinmas when we settle.
5342. Have you an account in Mr. Adie"s books for supplies to
yourself and your family in the meantime?-Yes.
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.