14,098. Do they get a small sum of cash, if they want it, in the course of the season, for any particular purpose?-Yes; I keep cash at the station for that particular purpose, so that none of the men may be disappointed if they want it.
14,099. But I suppose it is a very small proportion which they ask for in cash?-They cannot expect much. They don"t need it.
14,100. They have nothing to do with it at a place like that?-No; but whenever they want it they get it; and sometimes when they get cash, they don"t put it to the best purpose. They are near a spirit shop there.
14,101. Is that Mr. Adie"s?-Yes.
14,102. Is his the only spirit shop there?-Yes.
14,103. Do you think people supply themselves more with liberally with spirits and other luxuries in the fishing season than they do during the rest of the year?-I think not, generally.
14,104. They are working harder at that time, are they not?-Yes.
14,105. And they would require a larger supply?-Yes; but the men are not very much addicted to that. A few individuals may be; but the men, upon the whole, are not extravagant in that way.
14,106. I noticed that a purchase of meal was made by Thomas Hutchison in Skerries at your shop about January 1868. Can you tell me what the current price of meal was at that date?-I was told it was in 1867, and I looked up the prices for that year.
14,107. I have found, however, that it was in 1868. What do you think the price was at that time?-I would not like to say, because the price of meal varies so much; but I will look my books, and mention what it was.
14,108. You were engaged in the herring fishing one time, I understand?-Yes; and I unfortunately am a little engaged in it still. It has been a complete failure lately.
14,109. What is the nature of the arrangement with the men in that fishing?-The men are generally understood to have the nets and the boats. The boats are their own property. If a crew wants a boat, which costs from 17 to 18, I have to pay for it; but I wish them to have the name of owning the boat, and I charge them hire, although the hires really cannot pay the price. I wish them to call the boats their own, and I do not debit them with the price, but it is charged in a separate account to the crew.
14,110. Is that account debited yearly with the hire of the boat?- Yes.
14,111. How do you arrange about the nets?-They are also entered in a separate account for the crew.
14,112. How is the payment for the fish arranged?-The men get one half of the fish for their labour, and the other half goes to the credit of the boat and nets. It is entered to the credit of the boat and net account, and the other half of the fish goes to their own account.
14,113. Is there a fixed hire for the boat and nets?-There is no fixed hire. We generally charge 1 for the herring fishing, and 2, 10s. for the haaf or summer fishing.
14,114. How long does the herring fishing last?-About six weeks; but the men rarely go to it at all, because lately there have been no herrings on the coast.
14,115. Then it is hardly a hire that is paid for the boat and nets, but you furnish both and get one half of the fish?-Yes.
14,116. There is no account for the boat and nets, except that you take one half of the fish and the other half is divided among the men, without any other deduction, unless for the amount of any account which they may have incurred?-Yes.
14,117. Is the price of the herring fixed at the commencement of the season?-I never made any arrangement about that with them, but usually paid the price which Messrs. Hay & Co. paid. But we have got none to pay for lately at all.
14,118. How long has that fishing been in existence here?-For four years with me, but there has been a herring fishing existing here for a long time.
14,119. Are Messrs. Hay the princ.i.p.al parties engaged in it?-Yes.
14,120. Then the herring fishing here is not conducted on the same principle as at Wick?-It is not.
14,121. No price per cran has been fixed at the beginning of the season?-I think not.
14,122. Is there any particular reason for that?-I don"t know any reason for it at all.
14,123. I suppose it has been rather a.s.similated to the other fishing speculations of Shetland?-I believe so.
14,124. The arrangement you enter into is as nearly as possible the same as exists in the other branches of the fishing trade here?- Yes.
14,125. There is a settlement at the end of the year for the summer fishing?-Yes. The men are settled with for both branches of the fishing together.
14,126. In a letter which you wrote and sent along with the returns you have made, you say, "In the year 1868 I paid about 300 in cash advances for the people on the herring fishing alone, which has since then turned out a complete failure. These circ.u.mstances account for the large amount of debt shown to be due in the year 1870." Does that mean that when the people went to the herring fishing you had to make considerable advances to them in cash?- I may explain that these men had been fishing for Mr. Adie, and a number of them were due him money on account, and I paid all their advances and cleared them off with Mr. Adie. I took them into my own hands, and of course these sums had to be debited in the men"s accounts.
14,127. At that time had you gone into the herring fishing more largely than before?-Yes.
14,128. Had you no men engaged in the herring fishing then who had been fishing for you in the home fishing before?-No, I had not been in the herring fishing for twelve years before.
14,129. But had you any man who had been engaged in the home fishing of the year before for you?-Yes; the men had all been engaged at the ling fishing for me, but they fished for Mr. Adie in the herring fishing as soon as the ling fishing was over, and some of them seemed anxious for a change, and others not.
14,130. For what change?-That I should have the herring fishing as well as the ling fishing. It was their own request that I should begin the herring fishing again, and I thought it was as well to do it.
14,131. Had they had accounts with Mr. Adie, as regards the herring fishing, separate from what they ran for the time they were employed in the ling fishing with you?-Yes.
14,132. Did Mr. Adie go out of the herring fishing altogether when these men left him?-No. He is in it still, but he had not so many hands employed in after they left him as he had before.
14,133. You thought it a reasonable thing, when you took away his herring fishers, that you should take their accounts with them?- Yes; that was suggested by some of the men to me, and I intimated to Mr. Adie that some of the men wanted it, and that it would be as well to carry it out.
14,134. Did the men say to you that they had accounts with Mr.
Adie?-I knew that.
14,135. And perhaps they demurred a little, or felt little difficulty in leaving him in that state of matters?-They did not say much about that, but I thought it was fair to clear Mr. Adie if I took away the men who had been engaged to him.
14,136. Have you ever known such an arrangement [Page 353]
being made when a change of employment took place in any other branch of the fishing business?-No.
14,137. If a man shifted from one employer to another in the home fishing, has it been usual for the new employer to take over any debt that the man may have incurred to the previous employer?-I should suppose that would be reasonable, but I am not aware that it has been generally the case.
14,138. Have you known any instances where it has occurred?-I think I remember one or two instances.
14,139. But you don"t know of any special arrangement between merchants to that effect?-No.
14,140. And you have not entered into any such arrangement yourself?-No.
14,141. Did any of the men object to the debt which they had incurred to Mr. Adie being transferred to you?-No; I think they were rather pleased at it, because they were afraid Mr. Adie would have been hard upon them for it.
14,142. Might he have been harder after they left his service?- There is no doubt he would, and he would have had a right to be so.
14,143. Do you purchase kelp on the Lunna estate?-Yes.
14,144. Does your tack include a lease of the kelp sh.o.r.es?-In point of fact I have no tack, but merely a letter, and just now I am acting upon a verbal agreement from year to year. I can give it up whenever I choose, on giving it short intimation.
14,145. Does that arrangement include the kelp sh.o.r.es?-Yes.
14,146. What is the price allowed by you for kelp?-4s. 6d. when paid in goods.