11,307. Are you the shopkeeper at Scalloway for Messrs. Hay & Co.?-I am.
11,308. They have a curing establishment here, and buy a quant.i.ty of fish?-Yes.
11,309. They also have a shop in which goods of all descriptions are sold?-Yes, all that are generally sold to fishermen.
11,310. Have you the entire management of their business here?- Yes.
11,311. You take delivery of the fish from the men, and enter the quant.i.ties received in the fishing book?-I settle with the men for the fish as I receive them, and I charge the amount against my employers.
11,312. You are now speaking of the winter fishing?-Yes.
11,313. In that fishing each transaction is separate and distinct?- Yes. The men are paid over the counter as they deliver the fish, for all that we purchase in Scalloway. They don"t go into any account at all. Where the fish are delivered at other places, they are settled for at Lerwick.
11,314. Then with the regular summer fishing you have nothing to do?-No; Messrs. Hay have curers at the islands for that.
[Page 278]
11,315. They have factors at Burra and other places who receive the fish, and the settlement for them takes place at Lerwick?- Yes.
11,316. Your duties consist in managing the business the shop, and selling the goods there, and in purchasing fish or oil which the men voluntarily bring to you?-Yes.
11,317. You have nothing to do with the men who are engaged to fish in the home fishing?-Nothing.
11,318. When you take delivery of a quant.i.ty of fish from the men, is no part of that entered in your books?-If the men have taken up advances before, then these enter the books; and that is done occasionally.
11,319. But when it does enter your books, it is entered as a separate transaction at the time in the fisherman"s account in the ledger?-Yes.
11,320. That is to say, you have a ledger for the shop transactions in which each man has an account?-Yes; and if he wishes any part of his fish to go to his account, to help in clearing it off, I enter it there.
11,321. But when you put it to his account, the quant.i.ty of fish delivered at the particular time is stated, with the price, and the sum is put into the money column?-Yes.
11,322. Have you many transactions of that kind with the men at Burra?-Yes; princ.i.p.ally in winter.
11,323. In spring and summer do they sometimes come to you with fish?-They deliver them at the stations, and they are settled for at Lerwick, with Messrs. Hay.
11,324. But do they sometimes endeavour to carry out transaction with you for ready money or for goods?-Occasionally; when they require it, they will come to us with a few fish, to get groceries or any things they want. They are not prohibited from doing that if they wish it.
11,325. Messrs. Hay do not forbid them, when they are engaged for the season, to come to you for any supplies they may want, and to give their fish in exchange?-That is not forbidden, so far as I am aware.
11,326. And in these transactions with fishermen, from whatever place they come, is the payment generally made in goods or in money?-Part in both. They get what goods they want, and their balance is paid in cash. I cannot say that more is paid in goods or in cash.
11,327. Is not the great bulk of the fish paid for by out-takes?- Generally.
11,328. About how many men are entered in your ledger with whom you deal in that way?-I could not say exactly. They come from different places, and could not state the exact number.
11,329. They are not merely the men who are employed by Messrs. Hay for the summer fishing, but many others besides?- Yes.
11,330. Will you have 100 of these accounts in your ledger?-I could not say exactly.
11,331. Is there it separate ledger kept for the Burra men?-Yes.
11,332. Do they keep all their accounts here?-They keep accounts with me for all their dealings here, but they deal both here and in Lerwick.
11,333. In what season of the year do you make settlement with the men who have accounts in the way you have described?-The Burra men all settle at Lerwick. They only get their advances from me, and they settle at the end of the year with my employers.
11,334. Is a note of their advances handed in to Lerwick?-Yes.
11,335. Do you settle here with others than Burra men who deal with you?-No; they are all settled with at Lerwick. The whole of the accounts are settled there, unless any man wishes to pay any provisions he has had himself. He has it in his option to pay these things to me if he likes; but that is only done in very rare cases.
11,336. Do you sometimes pay money for fish here?-Sometimes.
11,337. In what cases does that occur?-In the case of it neutral man who is not connected with the Lerwick business.
11,338. Then it is only the men who are in the regular employment of Messrs. Hay who settle at Lerwick?-Yes.
11,339. When you have a customer who fishes independently, or for another firm, and who runs an account in your book, he settles with you here?-Yes. He keeps an account with me, and I settle with him.
11,340. At what season of the year is that done?-It is generally at the end of the year, at the usual settling time in Shetland.
11,341. How many men of that description do you suppose there may be in your books,-men who either sell their own fish all the year round, or sell their fish to you cured?-There are very few of them.
11,342. Most of your customers are in the regular employment of Hay & Co.?-Yes.
11,343. And most of them, I suppose, including the Burra men, are bound by agreement for the year to deliver their fish to that firm?-They are not bound by agreement, so far as I know.
11,344. But they are engaged for the summer to fish for the firm, in the boats of Messrs. Hay?-They are.
11,345. The bulk of the accounts kept in your shop will be with such men?-Yes.
11,346. You were not asked to bring your books?-No.
11,347. Can you give me any idea of the amount of cash you pay to these few men with whom you settle here?-I could not give an exact account of it. I have bought about 100 worth of fish, ling and cod, since May last up to this date.
11,348. Are you the largest purchaser of fish in that way in Scalloway?-I could not say; there are other fish-buyers here.
11,349. There are other parties who buy fish in the same way, and some other parties who employ boats of their own for the summer fishing?-There are a few, but not many.
11,350. Mr. Nicholson has some?-Yes.
11,351. And Mr. Tait has one?-I suppose he has but he does not do much in that way.
11,352. Is the amount you have stated the ordinary amount which you purchase during the same period each year?-It is sometimes more and sometimes less. It just depends on the success of the fishing.
11,353. How much of that would be purchased in the summer and autumn?-Not much in the summer. The greater part will be purchased in winter.
11,354. In summer the men are delivering their fish at Burra, so that less fish are brought to you at that time?-Yes.