6909. But you got as much goods as you wanted?-Yes.
6910. What was the balance you received in cash at the end of these years?-I don"t remember how much it was the first year; but in the second year I had 10s. to get.
6911. In the Faroe fishing you are paid at the end of the year too?-Yes.
6912. Are you paid in cash?-Yes; if we want it, we are paid in cash.
6913. Have you an account in Mr. Leask"s shop?-Yes. I have an account the whole time, from the time I go out until I come back and go again.
6914. Is that account closed when you come back from the fishing?-Yes; I have no account after that.
6915. Is that because you live at a distance from Lerwick during the winter?-I suppose that is the reason.
6916. What is your account for?-For tea, coffee, b.u.t.ter, pork, and such things as that.
6917. Have you got a pa.s.s-book?-No, I asked for [Page 167] one in 1870, but they refused to mark anything into a pa.s.s-book, and I never asked for it again.
6918. Who refused it?-The people in the shop; and they did not give a pa.s.s-book to any one more than to me.
6919. Was it refused to you in Mr. Leask"s shop in Lerwick?- Yes.
6920. Did they give you any reason for refusing?-They thought it too much bother, I suppose. I knew of no other reason.
6921. Were the things you got for your own use at the fishing?- Yes.
6922. Did you take them all to the fishing with you?-Yes; we buy cloth and all other things for ourselves. We are only supplied with bread.
6923. What you got from the shop was what you call small stores?-Yes.
6924. Did you get anything from Mr. Leask"s shop except your small stores and your outfit?-Yes; I bought some meal and took it home.
6925. Did you do that more than once?-I bought some for myself, and I bought some when I went out first in spring, and sent it home.
6926. Were these the things that you wanted to have entered in the pa.s.s-book?-Yes; these things of my own small stores and clothes, and anything I required.
6927. Did you get these articles at many different times in the course of the year, or did you just get them once or twice when you came home?-I got them twice.
6928. How often does your boat generally come home from the Faroe fishing in the course of the season?-We generally make two voyages; last year we made three.
6929. And you would be getting something additional each time you came home?-Yes. All we require is small stores for every voyage.
6930. What amount of the price of your fish did you get at settling time in these two years when you were at the Faroe fishing?-Last year I got an account for 17, and this year it was 22.
6931. That was the whole price of your fish?-Yes.
6932. But how much had you to get in money at the end of the year on the whole of your account?-I had 16 odds to get last year, and this year I had 10.
6933. Was that all paid to you in money at the settlement?-If I had liked to take it all in money I could have got it, but I did not take it all. I left some money in the book in Mr. Leask"s shop.
6934. Then your account is still standing in his book?-Yes.
6935. What was your reason for sending meal home to your people from Lerwick?-I suppose the reason was, because they could not get a supply at home from Mr. Anderson, whom they were serving.
6936. Was that about the time when your father left off fishing for him?-Yes, that was about the time.
6937. Did you ever work as a beach boy here?-No; I was always at school before I went to the fishing.
Hillswick, Northmavine, January 11, 1872, JOHN SANDISON, examined.
6938. Are you a fisherman?-I am.
6939. Have you got some land?-Yes; I live on a farm in Hillswick along with my father. The land we have belongs to the Busta estate.
6940. Do you go to the home fishing?-Yes.
6941. For whom do you fish?-For Mr. Anderson. I have fished for him and his brother for upwards of twenty years. I went to the fishing when I was a little boy. I never was at the beach.
6942. Do you settle every year for your fishing?-Yes; about the middle of November.
6943. You have an account of your own in Mr. Anderson"s ledger?-Yes.
6944. Do you get supplies of goods from his shop?-Yes.
6945. Do you get your goods anywhere else?-Yes, occasionally.
6946. Where?-Perhaps from Laurence Smith or from Arthur Harrison, just as may suit my convenience.
6947. What quant.i.ty do you get at these different shops? Do you get more at one than at another?-Yes; I get most from Mr.
Anderson"s.
6948. Do you get the same kind of goods there as at Smith"s and Harrison"s?-Yes, much the same.
6949. Then what is your reason for going to them?-I have had little employment from Smith for the last two years, which led me to take a few supplies from him.
6950. Did you fish for him?-No; I was employed by him at other kinds of work-princ.i.p.ally boat-building during the winter and spring.
6951. Have you an account with Mr. Smith for boat-building?- Yes.
6952. Do you take goods in settlement of that account?-Yes; but it is just because I think it right myself. I am in no way compelled to do so.
6953. But you keep an account with Smith, and the goods you get are put on one side of it, and the amount of your payment for boat-building is put on the other?-Yes; until the time of settlement.
6954. What is the time of settlement for boat-building?-Much about the same time as for the other-some time in November or December.
6955. Do you get money whenever you ask it for your boat-building?-Yes; if I was to ask for money, I would get it.
6956. Do you get money during the season from Mr. Anderson for your fishing when you ask for it?-Yes; I never was refused money at any time.