Second Shetland Truck System Report

Chapter 36

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540. You are a fisherman at Cunningsburgh?-Yes.

541. Do you fish for Mr. Tulloch?-No; I fish for James Smith.

542. You have heard the evidence of the previous witness, Andrew Tulloch?-Yes.

543. Is the statement you wish to make very much the same as his?-Very much the same. We want to know, as British subjects, whether, if we pay our rent annually, we are ent.i.tled to our freedom.

544. You mean, whether you are to be allowed to fish to any person you choose?-Yes; to fish to any person, or to work at any kind of work for which we have a mind.

545. Have you been told by young Mr. Bruce, or any one else on his behalf, that you are not to have your freedom?-No. We only got a hint of it from the fish-merchant.

546. And your alarm has been excited by what you have heard from the people at Dunrossness?-Yes.

547. Do you know what Mr. Bruce"s system is with the tenants under him there?-I cannot say exactly, except that they are not well satisfied with it. At least I know that some of them are not satisfied.

[Page 11] Lerwick: Tuesday, January 2, 1872.

LAURENCE MAIL, examined.

548. You are a fisherman at Scatness, in Dunrossness?-I am.

549. Are you a tenant of land?-Yes.

550. Under whom?-Under Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh.

551. How much rent do you pay?-For the present year I pay between 10 and 11 of rent.

552. Have you more land this year than usual?-Yes; I have more than I used to have.

553. Do you fish in the home fishing?-Yes.

554. Do you fish in the Faroe fishing?-No; I don"t go to it.

555. How long have you been at Dunrossness?-Ever since I was a child.

556. Have you always been in the same house?-Yes; except for about two and a half years.

557. What is your age?-I am thirty-eight years old.

558. You have come here today to make some statement about the system of fishing?-Yes.

559. What is the complaint you wish to make?-There is one thing we complain of: that we are bound to deliver our fish, wet or green, to the landlord.

560. That is, you have to deliver the fish as they are caught?-Yes; of course we have to take out the bowels and cut off the heads: it is the bodies of the fish we give. We think it would be much better if we had liberty to dry the fish ourselves, as we used to do formerly.

561. To whom are you bound to give your fish?-To Mr. Bruce, our landlord.

562. Is he a fish-curer or fish-merchant?-Yes.

563. Is it Mr. Bruce or his son that you are speaking of?-It is young Mr. Bruce. He is the landlord or tack-master. His father is alive; but I think young Mr. Bruce has got power from his father to manage the tenants according to his own pleasure.

564. Do you pay your rent to young Mr. Bruce?-Yes.

565. And does he give you a receipt for it in his own name?-We settle once a year with him for our fishing, and for the store goods we have got, and rent and everything together.

566. Do you get an account for the whole?-He generally gives us a copy of our account. Sometimes, perhaps, he does not do so; but he will give it if we ask for it.

567. Have you got a copy of your account for any year with you?- I have not got one here, but I will send one.

568. Is that all you have got to say on the subject of your complaint?-No; I have something more. Of course, as we are bound to fish for Mr. Bruce, a man, unless he has money of his own, is shut up to deal at Mr. Bruce"s shop. His credit is gone at every other place, and that binds us to take our goods from his store; and generally the goods there are sold at the highest value.

Meal, particularly, has for some years been 4s. a boll above what it was in Lerwick; and very often, when we ask the price of goods at the time we get them, they do not know the price which they are to charge us, and we never learn what the price is until we come to settle.

569. Is there any other store in the neighbourhood from which you could purchase at a cheaper rate?-There are some other stores in the parish that we could purchase from.

570. Where is the store situated that you are speaking of?-It is situated not very far from us-perhaps about a mile or more from Scatness.

571. Is that the most populous part of Dunrossness parish?-No; Scatness is at the very land"s end, near Sumburgh point.

572. Are there many fishermen there?-There are good many.

There is a population down that way of nearly 500, most of whom are fishermen; and out of the whole lot of them there was not a man who would come here and represent their case except myself.

Every man among them was frightened he would get his warning if he came forward.

573. How do you know that?-They said so themselves.

574. Was there any meeting on the subject?-Yes; there was a meeting held last Friday night.

575. What were the names of the men who said they were afraid to come?-There was one Sinclair Cheyne: he said that perhaps they might get their warning; and I think Robert Malcolmson also signified something of the same kind. However, I know it was the general feeling among the whole lot of them.

576. Was there any particular ground stated for that apprehension?-I don"t know. Of course every one suspected that if the landlord heard that they were coming forward with any case against him, he would warn them out. That was the general suspicion.

577. Has the landlord or his factor ever told you that a man not dealing at the store, or refusing to deliver his fish to him (the landlord), would be turned out of his farm?-The landlord never told me exactly that if I did not fish for him I would be turned out, but I have seen an evidence of that in the case of a neighbour.

578. What was the name of that neighbour?-James Harper. His son dried a few hundredweight of fish for himself and gave them to Mr. Bruce, and on that account his father was warned.

579. Do you say that the father was warned although the son gave the fish to Mr. Bruce?-Yes, he gave then to him dried; and because he did not give them to him wet, his father was warned.

580. When was that?-I think it was seven or eight years ago; and, if I am not mistaken, the father had to pay 30s. so that he might sit still.

581. But he did sit still?-Yes; he is there yet.

582. Do you know anything about the case of a James Brown?- Yes; it was reported, I believe, to Mr. Bruce that Brown had given some fish to some other merchant, and directly his house was put up for let.

583. In what way was it put up for let? Was it advertised?-Yes; it was advertised at the store, as it was a public place.

584. Did you see the notice?-No; I did not see it, but I was informed that some notice was put up. The thing was found out to be false, and Brown got leave to stay where he was.

585. How long ago was that?-I could not exactly say, but I think it was somewhere about eight or ten years ago.

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