5395. If you get that when you settle at the end of the year, would you get anything more if you were to pay in cash?-I am not able to say.
5396. You just think you would like to have your money in your hand as you deliver your fish: is that the notion you have?-I don"t know whether it would be better to get it in my hand then, or to wait until I got it all at once at the conclusion.
5397. Are there some advantages in both ways of dealing?-I believe there are.
5398. Perhaps you would spend it too fast if you had it in your own hands?-I don"t know about that. I would not like to spend it if I had it, unless it was for something that I really required to spend it on.
5399. Are you under any obligation to go to Mr. Adie"s shop for the goods you want in the course of the year?-None that I am aware of.
5400. You have never been told it of course; but is it a great deal more convenient for you to go there than to deal at another shop?-No; it is not more convenient. I could go to it shop somewhat nearer; but still I don"t think I would be any better; and as it has always been my custom to go there, I just continue to go.
5401. Is it only because it is your custom to go, or is it because you are in the way of delivering your fish to Mr. Adie, that you go to his store?-Mr. Adie has been very obliging to me many times by helping me when I could not help myself, and therefore I always felt a warm heart towards him, and went to his store.
5402. But is it the way with fishermen here, that they got to the shop of the man that they sell their fish to?-I am not able to speak to that except for myself.
5403. Do you not know what your neighbours do? It depends on the circ.u.mstances that my neighbours are in. If they are indebted to the man they are fishing to, of course they will go to that man, and perhaps have very little to go to him with.
5404. Are those neighbours of yours who are so indebted also likely to engage to fish for the same merchant during the following season?-Yes. When man is short of money, and has not enough with [Page 134] which to pay his land rent, he may go to the man he is fishing to, and he will help him with what he requires, but the understanding in that case is that he will serve him at the fishing for the rising year. That is generally the way it is done.
5405. Do you mean that when a man gets advances at a merchant"s shop, it is understood that he must fish to him in the coming year?-Yes; that is generally understood.
5406. Have you had to do that yourself?-No; I have never been so hard up as that in my time.
5407. You have never been behind at the settlement?-Not very often. Sometimes I have been, and I have got advances from Mr.
Adie without a word; but I was intending to fish for him in the coming year before I asked them.
5408. And you would make as good a bargain with him as with any other fishmaster?-I have always thought so.
5409. So that you did not fish to him because you were under any compulsion?-No.
5410. Were you under any obligation to do it because you were in his debt?-No. I have never been so deep in his debt but what, if I had it to do, I could have made some effort to get myself clear.
5411. Therefore the answer you previously gave only meant that there might be some men among your neighbours so far in debt that they were obliged to fish to a particular merchant?-Yes; when he supplied them with goods.
5412. Do you think there are many of those men among your neighbours?-I have no doubt there are more that way than there are the other way.
5413. Do you think that arises from the length of time that pa.s.ses before you can get your money, or is there anything else you can think of that might mend that state of matters?-I cannot say.
5414. Is there anything else you want to tell me about the way in which dealings are carried on here?-No.
5415. You know you are on your oath, and you bound to speak the truth, and n.o.body can hurt you for anything you say to-day?-I trust that I shall say nothing but the truth, so far as I know.
5416. From whom do you hold your land and house?-From Mr.
Bell of Lunna.
5417. Are you not bound by the terms of your lease to fish for any particular person?-No; he did not bind me to do that. I got liberty to serve myself and to fish for any one I pleased when I took the land from him; only if I went to Skerries I would have had to fish for John Robertson, who had a tack of Mr. Bell"s land; but if I fished in any other way, he did not stop me from fishing for any person.
5418. But if you went to Skerries, and fished there during the summer, you would be bound by your bargain to fish for Mr.
Robertson?-Yes.
5419. How do you know that that is an obligation upon you?-I was told so by the proprietor when I took the land.
5420. Was that told you by Mr. Bell himself?-Yes.
5421. Did he tell you at the same time, that if you fished elsewhere than at Skerries, you were at perfect liberty to fish for any one you liked?-Yes. He told me I was not bound to fish for Mr Robertson unless I fished at Skerries; but that if I fished at Skerries I must fish for him.
5422. Are there people in your neighbourhood who go to fish at Skerries?-There is one boat which generally fishes there.
5423. But they might go elsewhere if they chose?-I cannot say for that.
5424. Do you know of any person who has been threatened or turned off his ground on the estate of Lunna in your neighbourhood for refusing to fish to a particular person?-I do not.
5425. Are the fishermen there all free?-About us they are, so far as I know: that is about Firth, a mile from Mossbank. There are some of Mr. Bell"s tenants who have fished along with me, and there was nothing said to them any more than to me because they did not fish at Skerries.
Brae, January 10, 1872, ANDREW TULLOCH, examined.
5426. Where do you live?-In a town called Brough, near Mossbank.
5427. Whom do you fish for?-I have been fishing for myself for two years, and my fish have been sold to Mr. Leask and delivered at Lerwick.
5428. Do you cure for yourself?-Yes; I get a man to cure my fish.
5429. Do you engage a man to cure the whole fish of your boat"s crew?-Yes; it is a small boat. There are three men and two boys in the crew.
5430. Do you think you make more of your fish in that way than if you delivered them green to a fishcurer?-I think so.
5431. Does Mr. Leask buy them from you cured?-Yes.
5432. He also cures fish himself?-Yes.
5433. When is the price fixed for your fish?-I think it was on 1st November last that we were paid.
5434. You take all your fish to Lerwick at once, once a year, and you get your money paid to you at the time?-Yes.
5435. Is it paid to you in cash?-Yes.
5436. Do you deal at any shop of Mr. Leask"s?-No. I commonly deal at Mossbank, at Messrs. Pole, Hoseason, & Co."s shop.
5437. Do you deal for cash?-Yes.
5438. You pay ready money for what you get?-Yes. Sometimes I take things on credit too; but I am not compelled to do it. I need not do it unless I choose.
5439. Then you are perfectly free to fish for anybody you like, or for yourself if you prefer it?-Yes; and I think it is the best way to fish for myself.
5440. Is that a common thing in your neighbourhood?-It is not.
5441. Why don"t the men in your neighbourhood adopt that system if it is the best way?-I don"t know. I think for myself, and I suppose other people do the same.