10,342. Don"t you think you would be able to buy your goods cheaper if you could pay for them at the time?-I don"t know.
Baltasound, Unst, January 19, 1872, PETER SMITH, examined.
10,343. Are you a fisherman at Westing?-I was formerly a fisherman, but it is about twenty years ago since I gave it up. I am now curing fish for Messrs. Spence & Co. at Westing.
10,344. Do you cure by contract?-Yes. I get 10s. per ton of dry fish for my trouble.
10,345. Do you employ a number of beach boys and men in the curing?-Yes; about eight. They get fees varying from 30s. up to above
10,346. Do you keep a book in which you enter the payments you make to them?-No. I do not keep any book except a pa.s.s-book, in which I enter the fish that are delivered to me.
10,347. Are the wages of these boys paid by you?-Not wholly by me, but I pay them in part.
10,348. But you are their employer, and are liable to them for their wages?-Yes.
10,349. Do they take part of their wages in goods from the shop?-When they want them in that way, they get a line for their money to the shop.
10,350. Do you give them a line when they want goods?-Yes. I give them a line stating the amount that Mr. Sandison is to give them, either in goods or in money.
10,351. Is that entered against you in the books at Uyea Sound?- Yes.
10,352. Before paying them their wages, do you ascertain how much has been taken out by them in that way?-No.
10,353. Then how is the balance of their wages settled? Is it paid directly by the company?-It is paid by the company. I state in my line what fee I give them; and what they may give them over and above that I cannot tell. I am not responsible for that.
10,354. The line you give to the company does not state so much money, 5s. or 10s., that is to be allowed to them in goods or in cash, at a particular time, but it simply states the fee that you have agreed to give them at the end of the year?-It states the balance they have not actually got from me. If they want a certain amount at any time, I give them a line; or if they ask the money from me, then I give it to them, and they get a line to Mr. Sandison for the balance.
10,355. Do you sometimes give them money yourself?-Yes; when they ask for money they get it.
10,356. But more commonly they get a line to Mr. Sandison for goods?-More commonly for the greater share of it.
10,357. How many lines do they get in the course of a year? Is it one or more?-Generally one at the end of the season, when the fish have been dried.
10,358. Then how do they get their goods in the course of the season?-I cannot tell as to that, for I don"t know.
10,359. But how does Mr. Sandison know how far to give them credit in the course of the season, before he gets the line from you, which you say you give him at the end?-Mr. Sandison no doubt knows what the amount of a beach fee will be; but I cannot say as to that. I am not responsible for any excess he may give them.
10,360. Then all you do with regard to these out-takes at the shop is to give the boy a line at the end of the season, telling Mr.
Sandison what the agreed-on fee was?-Yes, and what balance I have not already paid him.
10,361. And in that line you make no mention of what he has got at the shop, because you don"t know?-No.
10,362. In that way of working, is there not a risk of the boy asking more at the end of the season than is really due to him, and of your overpaying him?-Mr. Sandison might overpay him, but I could not.
10,363. Why?-Because I fix the fee, and I know what I have given him, and then I only give a line to Mr. Sandison to pay the balance.
10,364. But he might have got the whole amount of his fee in out-takes from Mr. Sandison, before you gave him payment in cash at the end of the season?-He might; but I am generally well acquainted with the boys, and have confidence in them that they will not run an account of that kind.
10,365. Suppose a boy were to come to you in July, and asked for 5s. in cash, would you be likely to give it to him?-Yes, I would give it.
10,366. Might it not happen that at that very time he had run up an account in the shop for 2 or 3?-If he did so, I would expect Mr.
Sandison to make me acquainted with it.
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10,367. Did Mr. Sandison ever give you intimation that a particular boy was in debt to such an amount?-No.
10,368. So that these boys can get a cash advance from you, and credit at the shop at Uyea Sound at the same time?-Yes, if they choose. That might be done for a certain time, but I don"t think it could go on very long without being known.
10,369. I suppose it is not very likely that you would give him much money?-He could get it all in money if he asked for it when the work is done, but not before.
10,370. But you would not pay him the money until you had ascertained the amount of his account at the shop?-I never asked that.
10,371. Is your work done about September?-Yes.
10,372. Suppose in September a boy were to come and ask you for the whole of his fee in money, would you pay it down to him?-I have done that.
10,373. Did he tell you that he had no account at the shop?-Yes; and that proved to be the case.
10,374. Has that happened often?-Not often. It has happened once with regard to the whole, and oftener with regard to a part.
10,375. Have you an account at Uyea Sound for supplies to yourself?-Yes.
10,376. The contract price of your curing is entered in that account against your supplies?-Yes; and I am paid the balance in cash.
10,377. And out of that balance you have to pay any balances that are due to the beach boys?-Yes.
10,378. How much money will you require to get at the end of the season, in order to settle with your beach boys?-Generally the money which the beach boys get from me is paid to them during the season.
10,379. When do you settle at the shop?-In December or January.
I have not settled yet for last year.
10,380. Therefore you have not settled with the beach boys?-All the beach boys are all settled with in November.
10,381. How much money did you require last November in order to settle with them?-It is Mr. Sandison who settles with them at the end of the season, and I don"t know how much money they had to get.
10,382. Do you generally have the same beach boys for some years in succession?-Yes. I have had some for six years, and some for shorter periods.
10,383. What proportion of your payment for curing do you get in money? Do you get most of it at the end of the season?- Sometimes. In some years we have to buy a good deal of meal and other things; but in a year such as the present, when we have had a good crop, I get the most of it in money. Besides, I can get money any time when I ask for it. I have never been refused it within the last twenty years.
Baltasound, Unst, January 19, 1872, JAMES HARPER, examined.
10,384. You are a fisherman to Messrs. Spence & Co. at Haroldswick?-Yes. I fish at Norwick, but the books are at Haroldswick.
10,385. Have you a bit of land from Spence & Co?-Yes.