14,241. Was that the first intimation you had got of his intention to keep part of the money?-I think so.
14,242. Did you object to that, and tell him he must pay the whole?-I did.
14,243. Did you intimate what the consequences would be if he did not?-Yes; I daresay I told him that we would pull him up. I considered that we had run a considerable risk in giving him an outfit for his first year at Greenland, and that we were ent.i.tled to get the advance repaid, because we might never see him again.
14,244. Have you had occasion to advise any of the men on other occasions as to the propriety of paying agents" accounts, or giving them similar advice to what you gave in the case of Grains?-No; I think that was the only case which has occurred out of many hundreds.
14,245. Have the men always walked down quietly enough to your office?-Yes.
14,246. And often in company with you?-Very often. Perhaps, if there was one, he came back with me; but, as a rule, I would often stay behind for a little, or go down to the office by some other way.
14,247. Then possibly the men may have gone to the office before you?-They often did.
14,248. When you had a batch of them at the Custom House, did you not send some of them down to the office direct, while you waited to finish your settlement with the others?-They were settled with one by one; and they went away as they were settled with.
14,249. But as they were settled with, did you not send them down to the office?-They went of their own accord.
14,250. Did you never tell them to go to the office?-They knew to go.
14,251. Did you never tell them?-I have seen me telling them to go as soon as possible, because I wanted them to be settled with and away before I came down. Mr. Robertson generally would be waiting for them, and he might have to go out.
14,252. Do you mean that Mr. Robertson would be expecting them?-Yes.
14,253. And he might have other engagements which he had to attend to as soon as their business was over?-Yes.
14,254. Therefore I suppose you may often have had occasion to tell them to go down to the shop direct from the Custom House?- I may have told them to go as soon as possible.
14,255. Did you not always do so?-No.
14,256. Did you not always tell them so when you thought it was necessary?-No.
14,257. Do you mean that you may have thought it necessary for them to go to the shop and settle, and that yet you refrained from telling them so?-I never thought much about it at all. I just gave them the money; and sometimes I would tell them to go to the shop as soon as possible, because Mr. Robertson would be waiting for them. Sometimes that was about the dinner-hour, and very often they would not be there until I came down myself. I would be engaged settling with them up till three o"clock.
14,258. Did you consider that it was not necessary on every occasion to tell them to go back to the shop?-Yes.
14,259. Was that because the men understood quite well that they were to go to the shop and settle their accounts?-The men understood that quite well. They understood they had got the money that was due to them from the shop, and they understood that in general they had accounts in the shop for cash or goods, and sometimes for advances to their families, and they required no persuasion to go and repay these sums when they had got their money.
14,260. Did they know that they were expected to go down to the shop?-They were expected to go.
14,261. But did they know that they were expected?-They knew it.
14,262. So that, although they might have had debts due to other merchants, they were expected to go down and pay Mr. Leask in the first instance?-Yes.
14,263. And you expected that, although those debts to other merchants might have been incurred earlier than Mr. Leask"s?- The debt contracted on the voyage was the first debt to be settled, and it was always understood that that debt had first to be paid, because it was all incurred during the voyage.
14,264. You mean that it had been incurred for the purpose of the voyage, and you held that you had a [Page 356] prior claim on the proceeds of that voyage for the amount of your account, just as a merchant has a lien on the supplies he furnishes to a shop?-Yes.
14,265. Would you have objected to the men going away and paying the earlier accounts before they paid Mr. Leask"s?-Of course, if they paid them out of that money.
14,266. Had you instructions from Mr. Leask, or Mr. Robertson, or any one in Mr. Leask"s employment, to see that the men did come down and pay their accounts?-I had no such instructions.
14,267. Did you consider that a part of your duty?-I did not consider it to be any part of my duty at all. If I had a dozen men to settle with, I settled with them one after another, and they went away. I did not tell them to stay there until I came with them, or follow them down by any means.
14,268. Was it no part of your duty to warn a man who was going away without paying, that he had first to settle his account at the shop?-No, I never saw a man who went away without paying.
14,269. But suppose the case of a man who did so: was it any part of your duty to remind him of the debt which he was due to Mr.
Leask?-No. They did not require any reminding. They knew quite well about it.
14,270. Why did you cease to settle with the men in the Custom House after 1868?-Because the shipping master objected, and would not allow it to be done.
14,271. Was it to you, or in your presence, that he took that objection?-Yes, I was present.
14,272. Did he take the objection in any particular case when a settlement of that kind was going on with the men?-No, there was no particular case.
14,273. Did he do so at a time when you were settling with a man?-Yes; either with a man, or two or three men, I forget which.
14,274. What took place then?-The men just went to the office.
14,275. Did you remonstrate with the superintendent?-No.
14,276. You just went down to the office with the men, and settled with them there?-The men went to the office, and I finished my business at the Custom House and went down too.
14,277. Did you consider it a grievance to be prevented from settling with the men in the Custom House?-If the men were agreeable for it, I thought there was nothing wrong in it. It was entirely with their concurrence that it was done.
14,278. Is there anything else you wish to say wish to say?-I wish to say that I have examined the books, and I find that Mr. Jack Williamson"s rent at Ulsta was not advanced after Mr. Leask purchased the property. I now show the valuation roll of 1860, where it is entered at 8, 10s., and in 1871 it is entered at the same sum. That rent included the farm and all accommodation-the shop, beach, booth, and everything.
14,279. I see he was tenant of an additional subject in 1871, for which he paid a rent of 10s.; and of grazing park at Ulsta at a rent of 6?-Yes; but the 10s. includes the dwelling-house, shop, farm, and all accommodation he had about the place.
Lerwick, January 27, 1872, ADAM TAIT, examined.
14,280. You are a shopman to Mr. Robert Sinclair?-I am.
14,281. Did you purchase a hap lately from Margaret Jamieson, Quarff, who has been examined today?-Mr. Sinclair purchased it, and I settled with her for it the time she sold it.
14,282. When was that?-About three days ago. It was a long plaid she sold.
14,283. What was the price of it?-20s. in goods; and that was paid.
14,284. To what extent did you supply her with goods?-I gave her 19s. 6d. worth of goods and 6d. in cash. She wanted 3s. in cash. I told her the bargain was made in goods, and I could not give it to her in cash. Besides, there was no cash in the drawer at the time. Then she thought of something else she wanted, and I borrowed 6d. from the clerk in the end gave it to her.
14,285. Did you tell her that if she got 1s. 6d. in cash it would be charged as 1s. 9d. against her?-I believe I did say that she would be charged 2d. in the shilling if she wanted cash, as the bargain had been made in goods.
14,286. Did you tell her that if she got 1s. in cash it would be charged as 1s. 3d. against her?-No. I merely said it would be 2d. in the shilling. I might have given her the cash she asked if we had had it, but there was no change in the shop at the time, and I had to borrow the sixpence that I gave her.
14,287. On what day was that?-I think it was on Wednesday last, but I am not certain, and about twelve or one o"clock in the day.
I recollect the transaction very well, as the woman seemed to be ill-pleased when she went out.
14,288. Is it a frequent thing to tell a woman who asks for cash; that there is no cash in the shop?-No; that does not often happen.