Second Shetland Truck System Report

Chapter 30

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261. You have more money pa.s.sing through your hands now than you had formerly?-Yes. I am able now to pay my rent.

262. How did you pay your rent formerly?-I did not require it then so much. My father was alive then.

263. But you have now to pay rent?-Yes; and to support my stepmother partly.

264. Have you within the last six years asked for money instead of these lines?-Yes; I have asked almost daily for money, and I get a little.

265. When did you ask last for money?-On Sat.u.r.day.

266. Who did you ask?-Mr. Sinclair.

267. What did he say?-He gave me what I asked.

268. How much was that?-I just asked 1s.

269. Did you present one of his lines?-No; I sold him a shawl, and bought goods, and got a line for the rest, and 1s. of cash.

270. How much was it altogether?-I got 10s. 6d. for the shawl.

271. And you got 1s. in cash, and 9s. 6d. in goods or in line?- Yes.

272. Did you ask for more money than that?-Not on Sat.u.r.day.

273. You got all the money you wanted then?-Yes.

274. How much did you the time before?-I got 2s. 6d. then.

275. From whom?-From Mr. Sinclair.

276. How much were you selling at that time?-15s. worth, I think.

277. Was that a fortnight"s work?-It was more than that; it would be about three weeks".

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278. How much money did you ask that time?-I asked for 5s.

279. What was said?-There was no more money at hand at the counter at that time, and I got 2s. 6d.

280. What did you get for the 12s. 6d.?-It was some other little things I was purchasing. I don"t remember what they were.

281. You did not get a line at that time?-No.

282. The things you got you really wanted?-Yes.

283. Suppose you had got 15s. in cash, would you have purchased your goods there?-Yes. Whatever wearing goods I required, I would not have purchased them anywhere else. I am quite satisfied with Mr. Sinclair"s goods; but I am always needing money so much that I have always to ask it.

284. Does this system of not getting money, or being paid in goods, make you buy more dress or clothing than you would otherwise care for?-Yes; I would not need one half the clothes I get, if I could get money.

285. That is to say, you would prefer to take the money, and spend it upon food?-Yes.

286. Or lay it by?-I should not think much of laying it by, if I could only get enough to serve the present time.

287. Have you handed the I O U"s to anybody else than Miss Robertson?-Yes; to lots of people.

288. For money?-Yes; for money, and for peats or fuel for the winter. My acquaintances will sometimes take a line from me to oblige me, because I have no money to give them.

289. Name one of them?-John Ridling, Burn"s Lane, is one of them.

290. What would he do with it?-Mrs. Ridling would send it to the shop and purchase anything she wanted.

291. Have you known these lines pa.s.sing through more hands than one before coming to the shop?-Yes; they would do that.

292. For instance, if Mrs. Ridling wanted money instead of goods at the shop, might she pa.s.s the line to somebody who would give her money for it?-No, not that I know of.

293. You said you had known the lines pa.s.sing from hand to hand before going back to the shop?-Yes; sometimes they do that.

294. That is to say, if you handed a line to a person for money, that person might sell it again for money to another neighbour?-I do not know of selling the lines for money; but they might pa.s.s from one person to another in a quiet way.

295. For goods?-Yes; but not for money, so far as I know.

296. For fish?-Yes; I have got that on lines.

297. And bread?-Yes.

298. And then the party from whom the fish or bread was got would hand the line to the merchant?-Yes; and get what things suited them.

299. Is that it common thing in Lerwick?-No, it is not common; but it is the case with me.

300. Have you known any one else who has pa.s.sed her lines in that way?-Yes; I have heard of some people who have taken lines from others. I know that Miss Hutchison has taken lines from people, and given them money for them. [The witness produced a line, in the following terms:

"C. W. 20.-Cr. Bearer value in goods for thirteen shillings stg. 13s.

To hat, 3s.R. SINCLAIR & Co.

. W.T.M.

Lerwick, 5. 12. 71."]

I think the letters "C.W." are a private mark. It used to be I O U.

The entry, "To hat, 3s." is an article I have got since, and there is therefore a balance of 10s. left on the line.

301. Have you any particular reason for preferring these lines to the old way of getting goods?-Yes; sometimes I can get the lines turned into cash.

302. You can turn them into money more readily?-Yes; through Miss Robertson taking them from me.

303. Are there many such lines given to people at shops?-Yes.

304. Do most of the people prefer the lines to being paid in goods?-Sometimes they don"t perhaps require the articles at the time; but when they require them, they go with the lines and get them.

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