Second Shetland Truck System Report

"It appears from the returns and doc.u.ments received by the Registrar-General of Seamen, that the indulgence granted by the Board of Trade under their special regulations, M. 2884/1864, to the owners and masters of sealing and whaling vessels, in respect to seamen engaged at Orkney and Shetland, has in a great measure been abused, and the whole object of the regulations defeated by the agents employed by and representing the owners at Lerwick. The Board of Trade are informed that many of the Shetland seamen who should have been discharged before the Superintendent there, within a reasonable time after their being landed on the termination of a first or second voyage, remain undischarged and unpaid even into the currency of the succeeding year, and that some of the releases for 1870 still remain incomplete.

"It should be borne in mind that the exceptional regulations referred to were issued by the Board of Trade, with a view to the convenience of the owners and masters of this cla.s.s of vessels, and the protection of the Shetland seamen; but as the latter intention seems to have been purposely frustrated, the Board of Trade direct you to inform the owners and masters of those vessels whose crews are engaged before you during the ensuing season, that unless they cause their agents to comply with the spirit as well as the letter of these regulations, and discharge the men within one month of their being landed, the Board will be necessitated either to render the regulations more stringent, or withdraw them altogether. If the latter alternative were adopted, the discharge of the Orkney and Shetland whaling crews would have to take place under the more rigid terms prescribed by the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, which of all other vessels at ports in the United Kingdom."

"CUSTOM HOUSE, PETERHEAD, "10

"SIR,-The foregoing is a copy of directions just received from the Board of Trade, dated 7th March, regarding the faulty way in which seamen are discharged from Peterhead whaling vessels at Lerwick; and I now beg to call your attention thereto, requesting that you would instruct your agent at Lerwick to attend to the previous instructions issued, which were circulated among the masters and agents when they were issued.

"W.R. BALFOUR.

"Mr. R. KIDD, Merchant."

[Page 86]

"LERWICK, 27

"HAY & CO. R. KIDD.

"We are duly favoured with your"s of 16th instant, enclosing a communication from the Board of Trade in reference to payment of wages to Shetlandmen on board of ships in the Greenland trade, and headed by the words, "Truck in Lerwick,"-a cry raised by a stranger who has taken up his residence in Shetland, and is now endeavouring, by every means in his power, to make himself prominent both here and elsewhere.

"We utterly deny that we have ever "purposely frustrated" the Board regulations in respect to the payment of these men; on the contrary, we have kept a clerk, whose time has been chiefly occupied in settling the wages in presence of the collector as they came to town one by one, according to their own convenience; and you know how far the commission we get from the ships can go towards his salary. n.o.body can compel the men to come to town all at one time for their wages; and if the releases of 1870 are not yet completed, it is not our fault.

"Without attaching any blame to you, we consider the doc.u.ment referred to-if it is meant to apply to us-a gratuitous insult. The Greenland agency is no great object, and after this season we shall not put ourselves in a position to have it repeated."

"PETERHEAD, 23 1871.

"R. KIDD HAY & CO.

"I sent the doc.u.ment from the Board of Trade, in case you should not have received a copy. I am of opinion that the men will suffer more by this new order than the merchants, from the experience I have had here. Were I not to give some credit to some of our own men during the winter, their families would starve. I do not wonder you feel sore upon the subject of the report."

"LERWICK, 27

"HAY & CO. R. KIDD.

"We have yours of 23d instant. With respect to advances, our people are differently circ.u.mstanced from yours. The married men have all farms in the country, and the young men live with their friends there, and we never see them from the time they settle the one year until they come to town to engage the next; so during the winter they neither ask, nor would we give them any supplies if they did, as in all probability they would offer their services first to agents who held no claim against them. Of the twenty men engaged for the "Mazinthien," not one was due us a shilling, and their month"s wages was paid to them in cash at the shipping office at the time they signed articles; and any advances their families may get during their absence is given on their monthly notes, which are the only authority we have for making the deduction from their wages when they return.

"A great deal of absurdity has been written lately on this subject by well-meaning people, but who were entirely ignorant of the whole matter, and ready to believe whatever was told them, without taking the trouble to ascertain whether it was true or false."

"LERWICK, 22 1871 "HAY & CO. R. KIDD.

"Referring to your letter of 16th March, we now send you enclosed abstract account of payments to Shetlandmen on board vessels for which we have acted as agents during the past three seasons, 1869, 1870, and 1871, to show how far we have benefited by what the Board of Trade are pleased to call the "Truck System in Lerwick."

"We are almost inclined to suppose the doc.u.ment now referred to, received in your letter of the above date, was t.i.tled at Peterhead, as we can scarcely believe it would be issued from a public office in London before previous inquiry had been made on the subject.

"As to signing the releases at the Custom House, neither the owners nor agents of the ship can compel the men to come to Lerwick for their wages, otherwise than they find it convenient for themselves. It would save us much trouble if they would wait in town a few hours after the ship"s arrival, and receive their wages all at once at the Custom House; or, when they happen to be landed at a distance from Lerwick, if they could arrange to meet together here for the purpose at the same time.

"While matters remain as at present, whether these releases are signed or not, we can only do as we have always done in time past: pay the men promptly when they call. The supplies mentioned in the account now enclosed consist mostly of meal given to the men"s families to account of their half-pay notes, and on which the profits cannot pay cellar rents, and servants" wages receiving and delivering it; so that, beyond the 21/2 per cent. commission on the wages, we have no inducement to continue in the trade."

The abstract account above referred to is given below.*

* ABSTRACT ACCOUNT of WAGES paid by HAY & CO., Lerwick, to Shetlandmen belonging to Ships engaged in the Greenland and Davis" Straits Seal and Whale Fishery, during the years 1869, 1870, and 1871:-

Name of ShipMenAmount of Supplies before Paid in Wages andSailing, and to Cash Oil-Money family during the Man"s Absence 1869 Labrador20 94 14 10 4 3 9 90 11 1 1869 Intrepid28 355 0 21/2 71 19 51/2 283 0 9 1869 Alexander21 272 19 8 31 14 11 241 4 9 Total69722 14 81/2107 18 11/2614 16 7 1870 Labrador21196 9 5 7 18 0188 11 5 1870 Mazinthien16 226 18 0 49 7 1 177 10 11 1870 Eclipse12 256 2 0 29 5 9 226 16 3 1870 Erik30 562 0 6 66 17 41/2 495 3 11/2 Total791241 9 11153 8 21/21088 1 1/2

1871 Labrador25221 7 4......221 7 4 1871 Erik26 138 2 5 8 15 3129 7 2 1871 Eclipse# 1871 Mazinthein# 1871 Erik to D. Straits#51359 9 98 15 3350 14 6 186969722 14 81/2107 18 11/2614 16 7 1870791241 9 11153 8 21/21088 1 81/2 187151359 9 9 8 15 3350 14 6 1992323 14 41/2270 1 72053 12 9 1/2 Average per man for the three years11 13 61 7 210 6 4

# Voyage not ended.

In conclusion, I have only to add, that Hay & Co. have given notice to their friends, the shipowners in Peterhead and Dundee, that they cannot continue any longer to act for them.

3624. You say in that statement that you manage four estates in the country: what are these estates?-There are two for which we act as factors-the estates of Lord Zetland, and Mr. Bruce of Simbister; and there are two of which we are lessees-the Burra islands, belonging to the Misses Scott of Scalloway, and the Gossaburgh estate, in Yell and Northmavine.

3625. You say that the tenants on the estate of Mr. Bruce of Simbister, with the exception of those on the island of Whalsay, and Whalsay Skerries, are free to fish for whom they like: what is the nature of the obligation under which the tenants in the island of Whalsay lie?-There is only one fish-curing establishment there, and the men could not conveniently fish out of the island.

We have a place rented from the proprietor as a curing establishment, with booths and beaches, and all curing preparations made for receiving their fish; and it is an understood thing that the tenants are to deliver the fish to us at the current price of the country.

3626. That is not an obligation that enters into any written lease?-No; it is merely an understanding with the proprietor. We have no lease of the island.

3627. Is it a condition of the verbal tacks of the [Page 87] tenants, that they shall fish for you?-Yes; they are made to understand that they are to deliver their fish to us at the current price.

3628. That applies to the home fishing?-To the home fishing only. The Whalsay men are not engaged in any other fishing.

3629. They don"t go to the Faroe fishing at all?-No.

3630. Is yours the only shop upon that island?-The only shop.

3631. Have you an establishment at the Out Skerries too?-Do you mean at the Skerries lying to the eastward, where the boats deliver their fish?

3632. Yes.-No, we have no establishment for supplying the people with goods; but we have beach boys and curing materials at the Skerries to the east of Whalsay.

3633. Is there not a firm who have an establishment there?-Yes, at Skerries; but that is a different Skerries, which lies farther out beyond where the lighthouse is. There is more than one curer there, but the Whalsay men don"t deliver any of their fish at that place.

3634. It is at the Out Skerries where other firms have establishments-both shops and curing places?-Yes; but we have nothing there.

3635. Do the Whalsay people fish for these other firms at the Out Skerries?-No.

3636. Where do their fishermen come from?-From Lunnasting, Delting, Nesting, and other places.

3637. They are not inhabitants of the islands?-No.

3638. Then the establishment at Out Skerries is a temporary one?-No. I think one curer has an establishment there all the year round, and a factor; but the fishermen don"t live there all the year round. They live in huts during the fishing, and go home to their families when the fishing is over.

3639. You say that some of the men fish to one curer and some to another, as they find convenient: in that statement do you refer to the Simbister estate, with the exception of Whalsay?-Yes, with the exception of Whalsay. It includes Whalsay also, so far as the cattle, ponies, hosiery, and other things are concerned. There is no restriction on them selling these where they like; it is simply the fish they take in the island that we expect to get.

3640. In Whalsay, are the fishermen expected to deal only in your store for their fishing materials and the supplies for their families?-That is quite optional. They can take their supplies from our store; and suppose they take most of them there, because it is more convenient for them than to go anywhere else.

3641. In point of fact they have no option, because there is no other shop in Whalsay?-There is not, but they can go to Lerwick, and they do go there sometimes. I think the note I have given in as to Burra answers that question.

3642. Is there any restriction on the establishment of other shops in Whalsay?-There is no means for any person opening a shop there. There is no shop, and no building, and no right to build in the island without the proprietor"s liberty. There is only the one shop there.

3643. What is the population of the island?-I don"t think the census of last year would show that, because it is mixed up with other parts of the parish.

3644. Have you any idea how many fishermen are employed by you in the island?-Yes, I can tell that. We have twenty-seven fully-manned boats, each with six men and boys. These are the fishermen; but there are tenants who are not fishermen, and fishermen who are not tenants.