632. Was there not a copy of it sent to each tenant?-I don"t think there was. It is eleven years ago; and I don"t remember any of the particulars that were in it.
633. Do you mean to say that that letter was the beginning of the understanding which now exists about fishing?-Certainly it was.
634. What did it say about that matter?-I really cannot say now what was in the letter.
635. Did it intimate that he had handed over the Dunrossness tenants to his son?-Yes; I think that was the purport of the thing.
636. Did it say anything about the fishing?-It was understood that he handed over the fishing. At that time there were different merchants in Lerwick who were receiving fish from the tenants, and they had all to remove their goods from that district.
637. Had they stores?-Yes, they had stores and goods for supplying the fishermen; and they had all to remove except Messrs. Hay & Co.
638. Were these merchants warned out?-I cannot say.
639. I suppose they paid rent to Mr. Bruce for these stores?-Yes; at least for liberty to have the stores there.
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640. Who were these merchants?-Hay & Co. were put out of the store that Mr. Bruce now occupies.
641. But they have a store at Dunrossness yet?-Yes, they have a store there.
642. How far is it from you?-I think about a quarter of an hour"s walk.
643. Is it nearer your place than Gavin Henderson"s store?-Yes.
644. Is Hay & Company"s store on Mr. Bruce"s property?-Yes; but they have a lease of it, otherwise I believe they would not have been there.
645. Can you not sell your fish to Messrs. Hay & Co.?-No.
646. From whom do they buy fish in that quarter?-The tenants of Mr. Bruce of Simbister, through the parish, have liberty to sell their fish where they please, and some of them are sold to Hay & Co.
647. Have you ever been prevented from selling your fish to Messrs. Hay?-I never tried to sell my fish to any other person than Mr. Bruce since he took the fishing.
648. Do you know if any man has tried to do that?-Yes; there are various men who have sold a few to other merchants. On one occasion young Mr. Bruce asked me whether I had sold any fish to any other person than him.
649. When was that?-It would be about half a dozen years ago. I told him I had sold a little, and I did not think I was doing any sin before G.o.d or man for doing it.
650. You were not turned out for that?-No.
651. Have you any grievance in Dunrossness with regard to whales?-Yes, we often drive whales on sh.o.r.e there; and after they are killed and pulled ash.o.r.e, and the oil all taken out, the landlord takes one-third.
652. But you are allowed to sell the other two-thirds?-Yes.
653. To whom do you sell the two-thirds of the oil?-Generally to merchants in Lerwick.
654. How are you paid for that?-Not very well at the present time.
655. Are you paid in money?-Yes; in cash. Of course it comes through the proprietor"s hands.
656. Does it enter into your annual accounting with the proprietor?-Yes.
657. The proprietor gets the whole money for the oil, retains his third, and hands you over or puts to your credit the remaining two-thirds?-Yes. Of course if a man requires the money to clear his way with the proprietor, it answers that end. If not, then the proprietors pa.s.s over the money to him.
658. Do you really think that if the proprietor had no store there, and you could buy your dry goods and provisions from anybody you like, you would be better off with respect to what you buy?- No; we could not do without the proprietor"s store, because, if we have to give our earnings to the proprietor, we are obliged to take goods from his store in return.
659. But supposing you had liberty to sell your fish where you pleased, and to buy your goods where you pleased, do you think you would be any better off than you are?-Yes. There is a man named Laurence Leslie who went to the fishing in the same boat with me last summer. He lives in Lerwick, and was a free man, and he dried his fish for himself, and after he had paid for salt and curing he had about 5 more than any of us.
660. Do you mean that he had about 5 more from the home fishing than you had?-Yes.
661. Can you tell now the proceeds of your last summer"s fishing?- We will be paid the price that has been paid already in the country.
662. But you don"t know yet what you are to get?-No; Mr. Bruce said at the commencement that he would give us the currency of the country. Now Mr. Bruce is one of the greatest fish-dealers in the country, and of course he has it so far in his power to make the currency; but it is likely we will get the same as the other merchants are paying.
663. Then, in speaking of the sum which Leslie has earned more than you, you are calculating in this way: you know the price which other merchants have paid, and you know the quant.i.ty you have delivered?-Yes; and we know in that way what the amount will be.
664. What do you think the amount of your take will be?-About 18.
665. You think your fishing for the whole of last season will be 18, at the prices which are going in Lerwick?-Yes.
666. And you know how much Laurence Leslie has got?-Yes.
667. Had he about the same quant.i.ty of fish as you-Yes; he had the same quant.i.ty divided green.
668. What quant.i.ty had you?-I cannot exactly say. We had so much ling, so much cod, and so much saith.
669. You say he was in the same boat with you: were not all the boat"s crew obliged to fish to Mr. Bruce?-All but that one man.
670. You separated your fish: did you just give Leslie his proportion of the whole fish in the boat?-Yes. We kept an account of his fish and of ours, and we gave him his share; and then he dried his part for himself.
671. How many men were in the boat?-Six.
672. Then, when you came to sh.o.r.e, you delivered five-sixths of the fish to Mr. Bruce, and Leslie got one sixth?-Yes; that was the way it generally went. Sometimes we would give all the fish to Mr. Bruce, and sometimes all to Laurence Leslie, and we kept an account; so that we could put the thing all right in the end.
673. Did you do that among yourselves?-Yes.
674. How did Leslie happen to go in that boat among Mr. Bruce"s men?-Because he belonged to the place originally, and he agreed with us to go. He only left the place last year.
675. Has he not had a farm there for the last year?-No.
676. And therefore he did not consider himself bound to deliver his fish to Mr. Bruce?-Yes.
677. Who did he sell his fish to?-To Hay.
678. Were they cured when he sold them?-Yes. Mr. Bruce would not allow him to weigh his fish on his scales and weights, because he would not give them to him.
679. Who forbade him?-Mr. Bruce"s factor.
680. Was that Mr. Irvine?-It was not Mr. Irvine; it was the man who was there in his place. I recollect that one day we were a good deal put about in consequence of that. It was a very coa.r.s.e day at the fishing, and Hay & Co. did not have weights at the place, and Mr. Bruce"s man would not allow us to weigh the fish on his weights.