4278. Before you took the land, were you living on the estate?-I had lived on the estate, for twenty-five years. I was born and brought up on it; then I was absent for eleven years, and then I came back to it. It was during the time I was absent that this rule came into force.
4279. Is there any obligation upon the tenants there to dispose of their cattle or other produce to any particular person?-Not so far as I know.
4280. There is no obligation upon them at all, except as to fish?- Not so far as I know.
4281. How are you paid for your fish?-We are paid so much per hundredweight of fresh fish, just as the price may be yearly. It is not always the same price.
4282. But there is one price for the whole fish of the year?-Yes, for the same kind of fish. There is one price for ling, and one price for saith.
4283. That price is fixed when?-Nearly the time when we settle.
We don"t know exactly what price we are to get until about that time.
4284. When is that?-It is not always in one month of the year. It has sometimes been as late as March before we settled for the fish we had caught in the previous spring. Sometimes it may have been a month earlier.
4285. Has it ever been earlier than February?-Not so far as I remember.
4286. When were the last of the fish delivered that were settled for at one of these settlements?-Last year, so far as I know, Mr.
Bruce settled up for all the fish that had been weighed to him up to the time of the settlement,; at least, most of it was settled for then.
4287. That includes the small fish you catch in winter?-Yes.
4288. Are you bound to deliver them to him, the same as the large fish you get in summer?-Yes.
4289. Then it is both the haaf fishing you are speaking of just now and the small fishing in winter?-Yes. All the fish we catch where I live are ling, cod, tusk, and saith.
4290. But the fishing that you go to in summer is what you call the haaf fishing, or the summer fishing?-Yes; in a sense it is the haaf fishing, though the saith fishing is with us properly the haaf fishing. Some go farther off in bigger boats and with longer lines, and fish for ling and cod; while there are others, in smaller boats and nearer the sh.o.r.e, pursuing the saith fishing. That is the only difference between the kinds of fishing with us.
4291. But the obligation and the settlement for the price of the fish that you have been speaking of applies to both the haaf fishing and the fishing in the smaller boats near the sh.o.r.e?-It applies to all the fishing.
4292. There is no Faroe fishing there?-Some of the men go to it.
4293. But Mr. Bruce does not fit out boats for the Faroe fishing?- Not so far as I know.
4294. And you are under no obligation to him with regard to it?- No.
4295. You say you don"t know of any case of fines being imposed for delivering fish to other merchants?-There is no case of that kind that I remember of.
4296. Do you know of any increase of rent being imposed upon that estate in consequence of liberty being given to fish for other merchants?-No. There was liberty asked and granted at one time, before most of those who are here were able to fish. That was under old Mr. Bruce.
4297. How long ago was that?-I don"t remember the time. It was when I was a boy. Some of the other witnesses may know about it.
4298. Are you under any obligation to buy your goods from Mr.
Bruce"s shop?-Not strictly speaking.
4299. What do you mean by "not strictly speaking?"-In one sense we are not bound, yet in another sense we are bound. There is no rule issued out that we must purchase our goods from there; but as we fish for Mr. Bruce, and have no ready money, we can hardly expect to run accounts with those who have no profit from us.
That confines many of us to purchase our goods from his shop.
4300. Are there other stores in the neighbourhood from which you could get your supplies as good and as cheap?-Yes. Messrs. Hay & Co. have a store near us. Some things might not be equally good, but there are other things there which are as good and as cheap.
4301. What other stores are there in your neighbourhood?-There is no store exactly near us until we come to Mr. Gavin Henderson"s.
4302. How far is his shop from your place?-It is above a mile.
4303. Is Messrs. Hay"s within a mile?-Yes, it is less than that.
4304. Are there fishermen in the neighbourhood of Mr.
Henderson"s shop, and living on Mr. Bruce"s estate?-Mr.
Henderson"s shop is not on Mr. Bruce"s property.
4305. Has he no fishermen living beyond Henderson"s shop?- There are some nearly as far north on the east side, but not so far north on the west side. Mr. Bruce"s property extends a little farther north on the east side than on the west side of the island, and Mr. Henderson"s place is on the west side.
4306. You live on the west side of Dunrossness?-Yes, rather; but we are on the south point, so it does not much matter.
4307. But are fishermen who live nearer to Mr. Henderson"s store virtually bound, in the same way as you are to deal at Mr. Bruce"s store?-The whole of Mr. Bruce"s tenants are on equal terms,-all in equal bondage.
4308. But are there men for whom it would be more convenient to deal at Henderson"s store, as they live nearer to it?-Yes.
4309. Are they in the habit of dealing at Mr. Bruce"s store for the reasons you have stated?-So far as I know, they are.
4310. The same reason of a want of credit elsewhere, [Page 107]
would apply to them as to you, and compel them to go to Mr.
Bruce"s store?-I don"t say that they don"t have credit; but we cannot expect to run a heavy account with a man who has no profit from us, when we are uncertain whether we will be able to clear that account or not. Therefore, as a rule, we do not run heavy accounts for such things as meal, for instance, when our crops are a failure, with any man except Mr. Bruce.
4311. That would be just as true of a man who was two miles nearer to Henderson"s store than to Mr. Bruce"s?-Yes.
4312. And for that reason he may find it necessary, and probably does find it necessary, to go to Mr. Bruce"s store, and pa.s.s Henderson"s, although it is much nearer?-Yes, he has that to do.
4313. Are you satisfied with the quality and the price of the articles which are sold at Mr. Bruce"s store?-With the qualities we have no reason to grumble; with the prices we do.
4314. Is that a general feeling in the district?-It is over all, so far as I know.
4315. Have you compared the prices of any particular articles at that store with what you could get them for elsewhere?-I have compared some of them,-not many. For instance, I have tried to compare meal, to see what I lost by having it from Mr. Bruce"s shop instead of from other places.
4316. What conclusion did you come to with regard to that?-I concluded in my own mind that the difference was not below 3s.
on the boll of meal. It might be more, but I don"t think it was less, in this way, that we have our meal weighed to us, not always, but generally, as 112 lbs. to the quarter boll.
4317. Of which store are you now speaking?-The store at Grutness, on Mr. Bruce"s property. The meal is weighed at 32 lbs.
to the lispund or quarter boll. Mr. Irvine, the storekeeper, told me there was a difference made when the lispunds and half-lispunds and pecks were summed up. I asked him whether there was a difference in the price between that and 35 lbs. to the quarter boll, and he said there was a difference; but I never knew what it was.
4318. Are you speaking just now of a difference in weight?- There is a difference in weight, besides the difference in price. He said he made a difference in the price on account of the short weight, but I never knew what that difference was.
4319. In what quant.i.ties do you buy your meal at Grutness store?-Sometimes in a boll, and sometimes in half a boll. Many of the men seldom get a boll, but take their meal in quarter bolls, and sometimes in an eighth of a boll, that is a peck, or 8 lbs.
4320. Is the boll you are speaking of the same as the boll by which you would buy in Lerwick, or at Hay"s or at Henderson"s shop?- When we get a boll unseparated, as it comes home, it is just the same, so far as I know; but when it is weighed out, 32 lbs. to the quarter boll, we are always under the impression that we lose on weight.
4321. How is that?-I cannot tell how it is.
4322. Why should there be a loss on weight if the meal is weighed out to you?-It is 32 lbs. to the quarter boll there, while in other places it is 35 lbs.