13,123. How did it happen in this case?-Because we wanted our liberty. We did not want to agree to fish for Mr. John Robertson.
13,124. Would you not have been at liberty if you had fished for Mr. Robertson?-Our reason for not fishing for him was because Robert Mouat called all his tenants to the Moul, and ordered them to agree to fish for Mr. John Robertson for him two rising years.
13,125. Was Mr. John Robertson Mouat"s trustee in his sequestration?-Yes.
13,126. Some of you declined to fish for him, and others engaged to fish?-Yes.
Boddam, Dunrossness, January 26, 1872, GILBERT IRVINE, examined.
13,127. Are you shopkeeper at Grutness to Mr. John Bruce, jun.?-I am.
13,128. Do you also act as factor on the estate?-I don"t know that I could be called a factor exactly. I just do things about the estate as Mr. Bruce wishes me.
13,129. But you are sometimes employed as, a factor or overseer going about the estate?-Yes, at times.
13,130. Are you aware that the tenants on the Sumburgh estate in Dunrossness parish are under tack to Mr. John Bruce, jun., and are bound to deliver their fish to him?-It is understood that they are to do so, but some of them don"t do it. There are some of them who have not fished for Mr. Bruce, and are not are very doing so at the present time; but these are very few. The general understanding is, that they are to deliver their fish to him.
13,131. How long have you been at Grutness?-About twenty-three or twenty-four years.
13,132. I believe it was about 1860 that Mr Bruce took the tack?- Yes.
13,133. How were you employed at Grutness before [Page 325]
then?-I was there for Messrs. Hay & Co. They had the shop there formerly, and some of the men belonging to that estate were employed by them as fishermen.
13,134. Do you remember intimation being made to the tenants about 1860 that they were expected to fish for Mr. Bruce?-Yes. I think there was some person sent round with a letter to that effect, but I did not see the letter.
13,135. However, you know that such an intimation was made?-I understood so.
13,136 Do you remember, a good many years ago, of one James Brown at Toab selling some fish to Robert Leslie?-I don"t remember about that at present.
13,137. Do you remember of James Brown"s farm being advertised to be let at the shop, a ticket being put up there?-I don"t remember about that.
13,138. May it have happened, although you do not remember?- It is possible it may have happened; but I don"t remember anything about it at the present moment.
13,139. Can you say that such a thing did not happen twelve years ago?-I think James Brown had not got a farm twelve years ago.
13,140. Perhaps it was his father?-I never knew his father. I think his father was dead before James Brown came to the parish.
13,141. Do you remember any case of a farm being advertised because the tenant had sold his fish, or attempted to sell them, to another merchant?-I do not remember any case of a farm being advertised for man selling fish. The tenants have been reproved for doing so; but I cannot remember of any farm being advertised for that.
13,142. Have you spoken to them about doing such things?-Very likely I have.
13,143. Do you know one Thomas Aitken?-Yes.
13,144 Do you know whether he had to sign a paper agreeing to fish for Mr. Bruce so long as he lived on the ground?-I did not see the paper.
13,145. It was not through you that that was done?-No.
13,146. Was there any special arrangement with him about fishing?-I don"t remember anything about it. If there was such an arrangement, it would be with Mr. Bruce.
13,147. You say you have sometimes reproved the tenants for selling their fish to others?-Yes. There have been some seasons when, from the end of October until May, they delivered none at all, or not more than perhaps one cwt. or so. I believe most of them have not delivered more than that during the whole time.
13,148. But that was their winter fishing?-Yes.
13,149. Have you said to them that they ought to deliver some of their winter fish to you?-I told them, even last year, that if the proprietor was aware that they were selling all their fish to other merchants, he would be offended at them, or something to that effect.
13,150. Had that any effect?-Not much.
13,151. They did not bring their winter fish to you?-No.
13,152. Would it be as convenient for them to bring their winter fish to you as to another?-Mr. Bruce had a station at the beach head, and a factor, who was paid all the season round, for taking fish, and salt and everything ready for them, but they would not bring them to him.
13,153. Where did they go with them?-I don"t know, I suppose to the merchants round about.
13,154. Did they go to Messrs. Hay & Co., or to Quendale?-I could not say where they went.
13,155. Why did they not choose to come to you?-I don"t know.
It is a general practice in Shetland, that tenants fishing for landlords try to do as much trade with other merchants as they can.
13,156. What has been their reason for that practice?-I think the fact that they fish for their landlords has created a kind of feeling that they are rather in bondage.
13,157. And they like to have their liberty in winter?-I think their feeling is, that they don"t like the proprietor to know all their transactions. That has been a practice in Shetland for a long time, both in the north and the south.
13,158. Have you had occasion to reprove the tenants for carrying off their fish or smuggling them to other merchants in summer?-I think I have done so once or twice. I remember on one occasion seeing a boat coming from the sea to land their fish. I counted the fish they had in the boat; I don"t recollect the number, but they were not all brought to the store. I made inquiry about that, and found that some of the fish had been taken to other merchants; but I never told Mr. Bruce about it.
13,159. Your settlements at Grutness are made every year?-Yes, once a year.
13,160. What is the usual period at which the settlements are completed?-In some years Mr. Bruce has begun towards the end of January; but last year, on account of him being out of the way, and me not having the accounts ready, the settlement went on as late as April.
13,161. Are the balances of these settlements always paid in cash?-Yes; they are readily paid. Mr. Bruce always did that.
13,162. Do you sometimes make advances in money to the men in the course of the summer?-I do not make these advances. Mr.
Bruce sometimes does so and when at settlement some of them are in debt, he gives them money in advance. It very seldom happens that a man, even when he is in debt at settlement, will not ask him for some shillings, or for 2 or 3, and he always gives it to them, although they have no money to get, but have been in his debt for some time.
13,163. Do the men run accounts at your shop at Grutness as they do with other merchants, for the purpose of supplying their families and of getting supplies for the fishing?-Yes; what they get is chiefly meal and hooks, and things of that kind. We do not do much in dry goods.
13,164. Except outfits for the fishermen?-Yes, except what we cannot avoid giving them.
13,165. At what time of the year are your transactions with the fishermen largest?-In summer. While the fishing is going on, our place is very busy.
13,166. Is that the season when the meal of the fishermen themselves is exhausted?-Yes. I have seen in bad years, when there was a poor crop in Shetland, that they had to get meal supplied to them so early as February; but for 2 or 3 years back the crops have been better, and most of the men have carried on till April or May without requiring any advances of that kind.
13,167. Then your princ.i.p.al sales of meal are in the summer time?-Yes. We seldom do anything in it after the crop has been got in, except perhaps in the case of a person who has had a very poor crop, or no crop at all, and then we may give him some.
13,168. The quant.i.ty of meal which each man gets is entered in the ledger account in your book at the time that he gets it?-Yes; we just keep one ledger account. Sometimes the meal is marked on slips of paper or in a little book when I am out of the way, but I try to enter all these things in the ledger daily.
13,169. But they are all entered in the ledger account, although there may be some little delay in entering them?-Yes; every person has all his dealings entered in one account.