1869.
May 18.24 Ind. ml.,030 16 o. meal,030 29.35 o. meal,043 June 14.1/4 boll In. meal.
July 8.35 sec. paring flour.
30.35 overhd. flour.
Oct. 23.1/4 gall. oil, 9d.
Dec. 10.16 lbs. flour, 2s.
Was the oil mentioned in the entry of October 23, oil which you required for burning?-Yes; and I could have got it at the same time at Mr. Robertson"s for not above 2s. per gallon.
15,008. In the continuation of that book there are the following entries:-"1871. May 31: 35 Ind. meal; 35 Shetland groats:" did you get these articles?-Yes.
15,009. Have you had any price fixed for them yet?-No; but I knew the price current at the time.
15,010. There is also in the same book an entry under date June 2, "1/2 boll overhead flour," and 1s. 3d. is marked in small figures above the entry: what does that mean?-I don"t know. It was there when I got the book home, but what it meant I could not say.
15,011. There are other two entries under date June 16, of "35 Indian meal, and 35 flour," with the small figures 1s. and 1s. 3d.
respectively written above them in the same way?-These figures may mean the price of the meal and flour per peck at that time.
15,012. There are also the following entries in the book:-"June 26, 35 flour, 5s.; July 5, 35 flour, 5s; and July 13, 28 Shetland meal, 3s. 91/2d.:" have you any doubt that all these entries which have been read are entries of articles which you got at the times stated from Mr. Adie at Voe, and that they were charged at the prices marked in the pa.s.s-book?-I have no doubt the entries are quite correct as to that.
15,013. You have also produced to me a pa.s.s-book kept by you with Mr. Robert Sutherland at Vidlin, in which I find the following entries. "Nov. 11, 1869: 16 lb. oatmeal, 2s. 6d. Feb. 11, 1870: 16 lb. oatmeal, 2s. 3d.:" have you any doubt that these articles were got and charged at the prices stated?-I have no doubt of that, and that these were the regular prices they were being sold at.
15,014. Is there anything else in these books to which you wish to direct my attention?-There [showing] is an entry in the book with Mr. Adie, September 26, sack pease-meal, and there is no price stated.
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15,015. But there is no price fixed of fifty things in the book?- No; that is what I say.
15,016. Did you not ask to have the price of that pease-meal fixed at the time?-No.
Lerwick, January 29, 1872, CHARLES ROBERTSON, examined.
15,017. Your firm of R. & C. Robertson have an extensive trade in provisions in Lerwick?-Yes; we do fair business, both wholesale and retail.
15,018. Is it generally one kind of meal that is kept by each merchant for ordinary retail purposes?-So far as I know, it is.
15,019. Do you generally have only one quality of oatmeal in stock at a time?-Yes.
15,020. Is it the same with Indian meal?-We have not been in the habit of selling Indian meal.
15,021. Can you tell me the price of oatmeal on 21st April 1868?-It was 26s. 6d. per boll of 140 lbs. is the credit price; for cash it would be 6d. less.
15,022. How much would that be for 24 lbs.?-About 4s. 6d., or about 1s. 7d. per peck.
15,023. Would is 7d. per peck be your selling price at that time?- Yes.
15,024. Would 1s. 9d. per peck have been a high price for it in Lerwick then?-It would have been much higher than we would get for it.
15,025. Would you be surprised to find that at that date it was selling in the country districts at is. 9d.?-I would.
15,026. Was the price in a fluctuating condition about that time?- I see that a month later it was 1s. less, and two months later it was 2s. less per boll. The market was falling in April.
15,027. Did it continue to fall during the rest of the year?-I see that a month later than the last quotation I have given it was just about the same price.
15,028. Was there a good harvest in 1868?-No; but the crop here does not affect the market price.
15,029. But was there a good harvest that year over Scotland and England?-I don"t remember just now. I see that in August 1868 the price was up 6d. per boll.
15,030. Was the price as high as 1s. 9d. per peck in January 1869?-It was not. I see on 26th January we have it charged at 23s. per boll, which would be about 1s. 6d. less per boll than it was in July, and 3s. 6d. less than it was in April 1868.
15,031. Therefore you would say that in January 1869 meal was considerably cheaper than it had been in April of the previous year?-Yes.
15,032. What was the price of oatmeal on February 11, 1870?-I don"t have the price on the 11th; but on 5th February it was 17s.
3d., and on the 15th 17s., or about 1s. per peck.
15,033. Have you any means of telling me the price of Indian meal, although you do not sell it?-I have bought two or three bolls of it within the last year or two, and I have paid somewhere about 13s. or 14s. per boll for it. That would be somewhere about 9d. per peck, or rather 10d., because in weighing out there is generally about half a peck of loss per boll, and allowance must be made for that.
15,034. Then 1s. per peck would be rather a high price for it by retail?-Yes, it would be high enough.
15,035. I suppose the qualities of flour that you sell in your trade are more various than the qualities of meal?-Yes, we have several qualities.
15,036. What would be the price of your best flour on October 6, 1869?-I see the finest quality of flour would be about 14d. per peck. The next quality below that was 16s. per boll, which would retail at 1s. per peck; that is overhead flour, what we call fine.
15,037. On 2d June 1871 what would be the price of overhead flour?-It was 16s. 6d. per boll on 30th May, which would retail at 1s. per peck. There are two qualities of overhead flour, fine and common.
15,038. At that date would 1s. 3d. per peck have been a high price for overhead flour of any quality?-Yes, it would have been a top price. 1s. per peck was the price of the common kind; but there is only a difference in price of about 2s. per boll between common and fine.
15,039. Therefore, even for the fine quality, 1s. 3d. would be it very high price?-Yes.
15,040. What were the average prices of oatmeal in 1870?-
In Jan. about 17s. 9d.In April, about 17s. 6d.
" Feb. " 17s. 3d. " May, " 18s. 9d.
" March, "17s. 6d. " June " 19s. 0d.
Up to the middle of July it was 19s. 6d., and then it took it start in the beginning of the French War up to 22s. In a week it was down 1s., to 21s., at which it continued during the first three weeks of August, and the last week 19s. 6d. September, 19s. The first week of October, 19s.; second week, and to the end of the month, 18s.
6d. November, 19s. December, about 19s. 3d. In 1871 the prices, taking them about the middle of each month, were-
s.d.s.d.
January,196July,216 February,200August,210.
March,206September,210 April,210October, 200 May,216November,190 June,216December.196
In January 1872, 19s. cash, or 19s. 6d. credit. The prices I have given are all credit prices. If the cash was paid for meal at any of these times, it was always 6d. per boll less.
15,041. How do you proceed when you sell by the peck?-We always allow half a peck or a peck per sack for weighing out, and that comes to about 1/2d. a peck.
15,042. So that, when meal is 19s. 6d., as at present, it is 131/2d.
per peck?-Yes, either cash or credit. We would not make any difference on the peck.