The fisherman's profits in good years are swallowed up by the charges and drawbacks of bad and indifferent years, unless happily there be for him a succession of good years. But, considering how little the average value of the fishing exceeds the actual outlays of the year, it is not surprising that this great fishing should be carried on under a mass of debt, spread over fully two-thirds of the fleet. It is unquestionably a national misfortune that any great enterprise like the Caithness herring-fishing should be conducted under such serious disadvantages, and with such unfortunate results to the large and adventurous class of men who labour in it.

These results are mainly owing to the great error of the fishermen in accepting the use of capital on terms unreasonably to their own disadvantage, standing debtor for the whole charges of the fishing, and submitting to the large deduction of 20 per cent. on the value of their fish. But they do it with their eyes open; and it is of contract, partly expressed and partly understood, and regulated by local custom. If it were desirable to regulate the arrangements of the trade by Act of Parliament, and if it were provided (1) that no person could advance money or money's worth to a fisherman, with the view of engaging in or equipping him for the fishing, without thereby constituting himself a partner of the fisherman, to the extent of such advance, proportionately to the value of the boat, drift of nets, etc. possessed by the fisherman and used in the fishing, and becoming liable as such partner for a proportional share of the charges of the fisherman's adventure, and (2) that the custom of fixing the price 'by general terms' be abolished; the trade would, it is thought, soon revert to legitimate methods of dealing. The real capitalist would share the risks and generally engross them; while the labour and zeal of the individual fisherman, who may have only his labour and zeal to give, would find their value in wages or other remuneration. But it is not to be denied that any such legislation would be extremely arbitrary and indefensible in principle.

It should here be stated that what the fishermen earn in white-fishing, and in the winter and Lewis herring-fishing, is always paid in cash, irrespective of the debt resting owing in respect of the Caithness herring-fishing. The individual debtor of the herring-fishing is lost in the five, six, or eight joint-adventurers who man the boats in the fishings first mentioned.

The men who hire themselves as boatmen for the herring-fishing season bargain for wages to be paid in cash at the end of the season. These wages vary from 4 to 8, according to the skill or strength of the boatman. Besides the money wages, these men have lodgings and cooking of their food supplied to them, and each receives a stone of meal weekly. The money wage is payable at the close of the fishing, and is always paid in cash. The number of men so employed is about 4000 at Wick alone.

These men make their engagements with the boatmasters, who, as already stated, are ostensibly owners of the boats. They used to experience much hardship by the failure of the boatmasters to pay them in bad years. To enforce payment was difficult, for the fish-curers were invariably found to be the owners of the boats and nets, the sole possessions of the boatmasters. This has come to be remedied to a great extent by the men refusing to engage without receiving a guarantee for payment by the curer.

With regard to coopers, they are engaged for terms longer or shorter, to make barrels at current wages or rates, and payments are fortnightly and always in cash.

The women employed in gutting and curing the herring are engaged for the season. They are paid 6d. per barrel, and 1s. 3d. a day for repacking and filling up the barrels. 1500 of them may be employed. The payments are made in cash at the end of the season.

Thus it will be seen that the whole business of the Caithness fishings is based on cash payments; and if it were not for the specialties of the herring-fishing, the whole would be sound and equitable. These specialties operate so extensive an injury, that they well merit the attention of the Legislature.

It remains to be noticed that the inducements to engage in the herring-fishing under all the disadvantages set forth are very great. It has all the precarious and enticing character of a lottery. Every year a few lucky men fish large hauls, exceeding 200 in value in the brief fishing season. As a rule, fishermen marry young; and how can the young fisherman so easily procure the means or chance of livelihood as by accepting the boat and nets which the curer so readily offers? But, apart from any such special prompting, our fishermen, essentially venturous, all too eagerly incur the debt and risk a life of indebtedness for the chance of winning the comparative comfort to which a few, a very few, of their class attain. I know of no class requiring protection from their own recklessness in these contracts more than do the fishermen of Caithness.

III.— EXTRACTS FROM LETTER FROM REV. MR. ARTHUR, UYEA SOUND, UNST.

UYEA SOUND, 1. 1872. I have yours of the 26th Jan. '72, making inquiries about the price and quality of provisions, etc. in the Fair Isle. When I arrived there in summer '70, my furniture and provisions I had brought with me from Edinburgh had not arrived, through the gross misconduct of Mr. Bruce's skipper; so I had no alternative but to get provisions from his store, the only shop in the island. Tea, equal to 2s. or 2s. 2d. a pound in Glasgow, which I had tried from curiosity, was sold to me for 4s.; sugar (East India brown) worth 31/2d. a pound, cost 7d.; soap, the same; coarse biscuit (the only bread), 4d. a pound. All these articles were, I conceived, about 100 per cent. above the ordinary selling price, or profits, in other places. I afterwards bought other articles, but I forget the price, and could not tell the profits.

Meal is the great demand of the island, besides tea, tobacco, etc. I heard great complaints of the price of the meal, but I needed none. They said the bere-meal cost about 20s. a boll, but they did not know the precise price till settling day, once a year or two years. Then they had to pay whatever Mr. Bruce chose to name, after it was all eaten. He kept off the price from that of their fish; and there too, they had to take whatever he named. I found from an Orkney newspaper that bere-meal was selling there at 13s. a boll. As the meal was bought with their own money, and the price of their own fish of last year, I suppose a penny letter could order 100 bolls, shipped at Aberdeen or Kirkwall; the price of carriage to Lerwick would be, say 6d. a boll; then conveyed to Fair Isle in Mr. Bruce's own vessel, with a reasonable freight would clear about one thousand per cent. on the actual outlay or he would pocket 30 for a penny letter.

The people 'were restricted (as you say you have been informed) to buy from any one else, both by word and writing, and by the fact that they had nothing to pay it with till July last from 1869-1871. Mr. Bruce tried to establish a complete monopoly, but he did not altogether succeed. Others came and undersold him vastly, though even they were VERY DEAR, and would not sell above high- water mark. Every time any one came to the island to sell tea, sugar, coffee, soap, etc., it was reported that any one buying from such would get their warning to leave the island—the grand and only punishment known there. Of course, they all bought more or less secretly or openly and none were turned away I was at first astounded to find they did not believe a word I said, and I soon learned not to believe a word they said. I don't mean all were liars alike, but only a stranger can't tell whom to trust.

One seller came three times to the island that summer(1870) and took away a good deal of money and goods each time. I bought bread, sugar, fowls, etc, for Mr Bruce's laws did not apply to me Good sugar 6d. a pound, would have cost 5d. and 51/2d. in Glasgow. Soap equally cheap, I was told. Bread 2d. above Kirkwall price, a 4 lb. loaf 8d. instead of 6d. at Kirkwall. This man and his boat's crew of two or three men remained six days on one occasion in good weather selling and collecting accounts, and took away cattle, etc. It was in regard to him that the notice was stuck up in the store window by Mr Bruce that he advised his tenants not to deal with strangers, nor to receive them into their houses.

As to the fish, the people complained that they got 9d. a cwt. less than those at Sumburgh for the same fish; their prices varying from 2s. 6d. to 3s., about 25 per cent. below the same article twenty-four miles distant, so that 75 would pay as much fish there as 100 at Sumburgh. If the Sumburgh fishermen complain you may guess what the islanders will do if they dare speak out. I am told the Unst fishermen have got this year 8s. a cwt. for cod and ling — the cod-fish of Fair Isle are bought at half-price. When I was there for my furniture in July last I asked for curiosity, what they got for their fish as Mr. Bruce was there settling. They said 2s. 9d. and 3s. that would be 5s 6d. and 6s. for cod. Now 6s. is to 8s. as 75 is to 100. If the fish are not paid till a year or two after they are delivered, the only capital required is the outlay for salt; and I should think 20 of salt should serve 200 of clear profit on the fish — equal to 1000 per cent. on the outlay as

You may think their plots of ground are let cheap with a view to profit on the fish. The reverse is the fact. The price of land there is nearly double that of the lots I have priced in Sutherlandshire and the rest of Shetland The land is the source of the people's and <bitterest complaints>. They say Mr. Bruce has doubled the rents since he got the island, four or five years ago and the tacksmen had overtaxed them before he got it. Many have left the island since then, on the plea of oppression voluntarily submitting to the only punishment they have to fear. ......................................... I received letters in October dated July, and none after till I came for them in March, although the people were fishing every month in the year, and we could speak the mail steamer going north twice in three trips. Going south, she is generally under night or very early in the morning. I have gone to the mail and spoken to the captain in October, November and December, and my letters and papers on board were carried fifty miles past me, to be obtained when anybody coming to the island chose to ask them; and thus I might obtain them in a few months, OR NEVER. And so of letters the island. Now, a few pounds could establish a post-office in the island and the mail steamer could deliver a bag forty or fifty times in the year when going north; indeed always, unless she passed in a fog, or in the dark, or in a storm from a south or south-east wind. In a north wind, the harbour is perfectly calm, and the island shelters the steamer.

IV.—EXTRACT FROM LETTER BY WM. MOUAT, ESQ. OF GARTH, ADVOCATE, TO MACCULLOCH, AUTHOR OF 'THE HIGHLANDS AND WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND' (DISCOVERED AMONGST THE GARTH PAPERS IN MARCH 1872).

1820. . . . With regard to the points in question, I think, if I can make myself understood, I should be able to satisfy you; but our mode of holding, or rather of describing property, is so different from anything practised either in England or Scotland, that I suspect it will be necessary to take a very elementary view before I can be sure of succeeding.

In the first place, then, there are no , or anything analogous to them, either in the person of Lord Dundas or of any other person. The reason why you have heard his Lordship spoken of as so universal a proprietor in the commons is, that although his is only a third or fourth rate property, it is so much scattered, that there are few commons (scattales or scattholes) in the country in which he has not something to say, <simply, however, as a proprietor>. The Crown is the universal superior, and all the land is freehold. It is true that Lord Dundas lately possessed over all the country, and does still possess over some few estates, the right to the Crown rents. These were the feu-duties exigible from the feued lands, and a payment called scatt, exigible both from Udal and feued land; but this was simply a right to collect the payments, and did not infer any right of superiority. Etymologically, scatt certainly seems to have some connection with , but practically it has none whatever, so far as the receiver is concerned, and is as to him simply a feu-duty. The opinion of the country, however, is so far in favour of the etymological view, that it is generally conceived that all towns ( townships) paying scatt have right to a share of the commons, while those who do not have none; but this point has never been settled by any judicial authority.

In the second place, you are mistaken in supposing that tenants pay no rent for the scattholds. Every township its own scatthold, the boundaries of which are, or ought to be, known. I say 'ought to be,' because I believe in many instances a knowledge of the marches has been lost. Any scatthold, therefore, is common merely as respects the township to which it belongs; and it is the exclusive property of the owners of that township, or, more strictly speaking, forms a part of the township itself. Each township consists of a certain number of merks. The following history of the origin of this term (which is our universal denomination of land, both in letting it to tenants and in conveying it from one proprietor to another) may help to explain its nature. It seems, then, to have arisen in the times when rents were fixed by public authority, each township being valued, , at so many merks of money as it was considered worth. The share of each landlord was then naturally said to consist of so many merks, because the rent was in fact his whole interest, the farmer being, according to the old Danish law, the real proprietor, and the landlord only a sort of lord of the manor. The term, by a very easy change, came, with the changes of laws, to apply to that portion of land which had originally paid a money merk of rent, but did not, and does not to this day, denote any particular spot or measurement, but merely such proportion of the whole township as had been equivalent to one money merk of rent, when the whole was valued at a given number. This hypothesis, for I acknowledge it is little more, at least gives a result corresponding precisely to our present idea of a merk of land, and also accounts for the great variety of contents which we find in merk, since, to be equal in value, they must have been of very different extent in different situations. The number of merks in each town is known from old records and traditions, or, practically, from the sum of all the proprietors. Thus, if in the town of M. 40 merks belong to A., 30 to B., and 20 to C., then is M. a town of 40 + 30 + 20 = 90 merks. It is of no consequence here whether M. contains five acres or five hundred, 40-90ths of the whole belong to A., and 30-90ths to B., etc. And, on the other hand, the number of merks might be double, triple, or in any other proportion, without at all altering the extent or state of the property, except that the interest of each proprietor would be expressed by proportionally higher figures. A. would have 80-180ths, B. 60-180ths, and so forth. In these circumstances, if a landlord lets to a tenant any given number of merks, it is just giving him a fractional share, of which the total number of merks in the town is the denominators, and the number let the numerator. A tenant taking ten merks in the above supposed town of M., would just have right to 10-90ths of the corn land, 10-90ths of the meadow land, 10-90ths of the stinted pasture within the dyke, and 10-90ths of the unstinted pasture, or 'scatthold,' without the dyke. But the rent is charged at so much per merk — , the tenant does pay rent for the scatthold, Q.E.D.!!

I do not, however, allege that the rent thus paid is anything like what it might easily be under a better system.

That the rents were anciently fixed by public authority, is, I believe, an established fact, and there is reason to believe that the practice continued long after the transference of this country from Norway to Scotland, when, of course, it ceased to be law. This practice, and the long period for which both rents and improvements were stationary, had produced so strong an impression upon our habits of thinking on this subject, that, at so late a period as to be distinctly within my own recollection, landlords, in general, had no clear practical confidence in their own right to demand a direct rise of rent, and, under this feeling, resorted, in many instances, to indirect methods of doing that which they had a right to have done openly and avowedly. The sight of this sort of thing, without an understanding of the circumstances and habits of thinking which lie to it, gave superficial observers an idea that much oppression and injustice was exercised towards the tenantry, and produced much of that obloquy (some of which may possibly have fallen in your way) which has been thrown upon the Shetland landholders.

This idea has now, however, completely vanished, and many Shetland proprietors have let their lands at a raised money rent, without reserving any further claim upon the tenants: and if all have not done so, it arises from other causes, and not from any feeling of the kind described above, or from any inclination to take undue advantages.

As to your question why the scattholds remain undivided, the general backwardness of improvement, and want of agricultural skill and capital, are the immediate causes. The present tenantry are so ignorant of the means of turning these commons to any proper account, that the fee-simple of most of them would, under the present management, hardly pay a common land-measurer for surveying them, far less could they bear any litigation. There are, however, many considerable scattholds at present the exclusive property of one or a few persons. Improved management has begun, and will probably take root, first in such situations, and afterwards, when its advantages are seen, and a sufficient number of people trained to practise it has arisen, it will spread over those lands where the difficulty and expense of divisions have to be previously incurred. Your alternative of levying a rent of so much per head of beasts pasturing, would not answer, because, as I have already endeavoured to explain, the tenants, in paying a rent per merk, pay for their scattholds as well as for their other ]and. Your other suggestion, however, numerically limiting the stock according to the rent, or, which is the same thing, according to the moths, would be highly beneficial both to tenants and landlords. If you ask, Why then is it not carried into effect? I can only answer that we have not long turned our attention the way of agricultural improvement, and have only begun to discover that what is difficult is not always impossible.

V. — EXCERPT FROM REPORT OF MR. PETERKIN, GENERAL INSPECTOR OF BOARD SUPERVISION OF THE POOR IN SCOTLAND. <Shop Dealings with Paupers>.—The Board are aware of the constantly recurring reference I have had to make for many years to the tendency of Inspectors and members of Parochial Boards, here and there, over the whole of Scotland, to traffic with paupers, by furnishing them with goods of all kinds, and with lodgings, and intercepting the parochial allowances in payment thereof. On this subject there has, since the institution of the Board, been a constant struggle; for here and there, all over Scotland, in the large towns as well as in rural and remote parishes, the practice prevailed, and was occasionally discovered— generally by accident. The Board long ago expressed decided opinions on the impropriety of the practice. Now in Shetland, it so happens that almost the only persons who are practically the administrators of the Poor Law are more or less directly or indirectly interested in the local trade — in the fish-curing, or in the shops, or in the stores of one kind or another. In one parish the Poor Law is practically administered by these merchants and fish-curers, and to their shops the paupers must of necessity go to make their purchases. In two other parishes nearly the same thing occurs. There is probably no parish in Shetland, where, to a greater or less extent, this is not the case; and to find there persons capable of transacting business, and of acting as members of Boards or Inspectors of Poor, who are not, in some way or other, directly or indirectly interested in a shop, or connected with a shopkeeper, is perhaps impossible. Where the line is to be drawn, when all interest in the business of the shop will cease, is beyond my powers of discovery. Even among the more recent appointments of Inspectors we have one who is personally unobjectionable, having no shop; but his mother keeps "" of the district. Another was a shopkeeper; and on his appointment as Inspector he gave up his shop and goods, and with them, of course, it was to be supposed all interest in the business; but he made them all over to his niece, ! And the third, having ceased to keep a shop, acts as agent for his brother and his partners, who have shops and stores and curing stations; but at present he sells nothing. These three men seem to me in themselves to be really as competent as can be for their duties, and are, I believe, as good and efficient men as can be found in their respective parishes. In another parish we have as an Inspector the paid shopman or servant of the firm who has "." In another parish the chairman of the Board has "," and his brother has "." In short, everything in Shetland gravitates towards "." To it the child takes a dozen eggs in a morning, and obtains for the family breakfast what is called a ";" to it the young woman takes her knitted hosiery, and in exchange will receive either tea or some article or material of dress; to it the pauper takes the pass-book, or pay-ticket of the parish, and on that guarantee will get the "," or the ";' and he who supplies the goods over the counter is almost certain to be a member of the Board, or a near relative of one who is, or of the Inspector, — he may even be the chairman of the Board himself.

'I do not pretend to be able to offer any suggestions to remedy such a state of matters, but too rely state the facts as they have come under my observation. I have, however, no doubt that the poors' rates in Shetland are, to a great extent, but the natural results of such parochial arrangements as I have referred to.'

VI.—NOTES OF PRICES PAID BY JAMES METHUEN, LEITH, FOR (CURED) SALT FISH, FREE ON BOARD AT LERWICK, FROM 1853 TO 1871.

Year Ling Cod Tusk Saith 1853 20, 10s. 18 20. 10s. 10. 10s. 1854-5 .... .... .... .... 1856 .... 15 .... 11, 10s. to 12 1857 21 to 22 18 to 17 19, 5s. 12, 10s. 1858 21, 10s. 16, 10s. .... 12 1859 20 to 22 15, 10s. .... 10 to 11 1860 19 to 21 17. 15s 20 13 1861 18 to 17, 10s. 17, 10s. 18 12 to 13 1862 17 to 18 15 to 16 17 8, 10s. 1863 18 to 20, 10s. 18 20 9 1864 18 to 21 17 to 19 21, 5s. 12 1865 23 to 24 21 to 22 23 15 1866 23 to 25, 10s. 19 to 23 24 13, 10s. 1867 17 to 18 16 17 7 1868 18 to 19 16 .... .... 1869 20 to 20, 10s. 17 18, 10s. 11 1870 21, 10s. to 22 18 20 .... 1871 22, 10s. to 24 20 .... 13, 10s.

Priced per ton

VII.—ABSTRACTS OF SETTLEMENTS PRODUCED BY MR. GARRIOCK.

1. ABSTRACT of SETTLEMENT with FAROE FISHERMEN by GARRIOCK & CO.

Vessel Earning Paid in Lines, Clothes, Cash Hooks Meal, etc., and Stores for Self and used on Family Board 'Mizpah' 1870. 585 2 1 374 13 6 81 7 11 129 0 8 'Mizpah' 1871. 328 19 11 198 9 7 63 3 4 67 7 0 'Sylvia' 1870. 427 19 2 239 17 0 71 7 9 16 4 5

2. ABSTRACT OF SETTLEMENT with CREWS of FISHERMEN at DALE and WALLS — Season 1871.

Name of Crew Gross Earning Lines, Nets, Salt, Meal, and Goods Amount paid in Cash James Twatt and crew 66 8 6 16 4 4 50 4 2 John Jeromson and crew 88 16 111/2 18 4 4 70 12 71/2 Wm. Jameson and crew 74 11 11 36 12 11 37 19 0 Fraser Henry and crew 100 0 41/2 20 1 61/2 79 18 10 Thomas Laurenson and crew 100 2 7 27 14 6 72 8 1 Jacob Christie and crew 96 6 6 15 2 71/2 81 3 101/2 36 men Total 526 6 10 134 0 3 392 6 7 Scott Williamson and crew 21 2 11/2 9 8 91/2 11 13 4 Chas. Williamson and crew 33 2 11/2 19 16 81/2 13 5 6 William Smith and crew 21 17 7 10 2 31/2 11 15 31/2 Jas. Tait and crew 34 3 41/2 7 19 21/2 26 4 2 Geo. Georgeson and crew 16 0 7 .... 16 0 7 Thomas Moffat and crew 18 15 41/2 4 14 81/2 14 0 8 Magnus Thomson and crew* Thos. Thomson and crew* Mat. Thomson and crew* 158 11 0 42 18 9 115 12 3 34 men Total 829 19 1 229 0 81/2 600 18 41/2

* 4 boats with 3 men each = 12 men



AVERAGE.

Earning Goods, etc. Cash 36 men in six-oared boats, each 14 12 5 3 14 5 10 17 11 34 men in four-oared boats, each 8 18 7 2 15 103/4 6 2 81/4



Minutes of Evidence taken before the Commission on the Truck System (Shetland)

Lerwick: Monday, January 1, 1872. Mr Guthrie, Commissioner.

.-I have come here, as a Commissioner appointed under the Truck Act of 1870, to inquire into the system of Truck, and to report upon that and upon the operation of all Acts or provisions of Acts prohibiting the truck system; and I have power under the Act, as it says, 'to investigate all offences against such Acts which have occurred within the period of two years immediately preceding the passing of this Act (that was, in 1870), and to make such report on the subject of the truck system, and of the existing laws in relation thereto, as they (the Commissioners) shall deem proper and useful'. I wish all that are here, and all that are interested in the subject of this inquiry, to remember that the object for which I am sent here is simply to find out the truth, and the whole truth, about the way in which the system of truck, or, if it is not properly called the system of truck, the system of paying wages and the price of productions,-which is said to prevail in Shetland, operates; and I trust and believe that I shall receive from all of you every assistance in ascertaining the truth with regard to that matter. I wish every person in Shetland, and every person interested in the matter, to bear in mind, first of all, that I come here with no formed opinion as to the operation of that system, either on the one side or on the other. I come here to find out the truth; and I believe that, so far as Shetland is concerned, the Government which has sent me here is in exactly the same position, and has not formed any opinion. It is simply anxious to find out what is the truth about the system which is alleged to prevail here; and I trust, as I have already said, that I shall receive every assistance from everybody in prosecuting that inquiry. I have to thank some gentlemen, to whom I have already made application for information, for the courteous way in which they have responded to my application. The interests of some of them may be supposed to be affected by the inquiry, but I hope that they and all of you will come forward frankly and tell me what you know about the matter. It is right, however, to mention, that the Act of Parliament under which I am sent here, furnishes me with special and very stringent powers with regard to the obtaining of information. In particular, I am empowered, among other things, to examine witnesses upon oath; to compel them to answer such questions, as may be put to them; to compel the production of documents; to order the inspection of any real or personal property; and a summons requiring the attendance of a witness must be obeyed just in the same way as if it were issued by any of Her Majesty's superior courts. I hope and trust, however, that it will be unnecessary to exercise any of these powers. I think the people of Shetland have sufficient intelligence and good sense to make the enforcement of these powers quite unnecessary. I rely upon their good sense and courtesy to allow the truth to be ascertained, without any difficulty or any resistance or attempt at concealment. I may mention-although perhaps in this country it is less necessary-that the Act of Parliament gives me power, when any person examined as a witness makes a full and true disclosure touching all matters with respect to which he is examined, to give him a certificate stating that he has made such a full and true disclosure; and that certificate has the effect of protecting him against any civil or criminal procedure which might be taken against him in consequence of anything that he speaks to. Further, I have to express a hope that no person who is interested in the system that is said to prevail here will in any way attempt to interfere with this inquiry by intimidating any witness who is to be called before me, or exercising any undue or improper influence upon him. If any instance of such intimidation or improper influence takes place, I hope the party on whom it is attempted to be exercised will at once make the circumstance known to me, whether that intimidation is exercised by a threat of dismissal from employment or a refusal of work, or in whatever other way it may be done. All these things would be a serious violation of the law, and would be visited with severe punishment. I shall be ready to receive any information that any person may wish to give on the subject of the inquiry; and if any one wishes to give evidence or to suggest any point for inquiry, I have to ask that they will give that information privately, as the inquiry itself, so far as the taking down of evidence is concerned, must, by the terms of the Act, be held in public.

Lerwick, January 1, 1872. CATHERINE WINWICK, examined

1. You live in Lerwick?-Yes.

2. You are in the habit of knitting for Mr. Linklater?-Yes.

3. For any one else?-No.

4. Do you supply your own wool?-No.

5. Where do you get it?-I knit Mr. Linklater's own worsted.

6. Do you get a supply of it at his shop?-Yes.

[Page 2]

7. Do you pay for it when you get it?-No; he pays me for the knitting.

8. Are you paid in money?-Some in money and some in goods.

9. What is your system of dealing? When you go with anything you have knitted to Mr. Linklater's shop, do you put a price upon it?-No; he gives what he thinks right.

10. He puts the price upon it?-Yes.

11. Does he pay you that price usually in money?-Part in money and part in goods. He does not pay all in money.

12. Do you keep a pass-book with him?-No.

13. Do you get all the money you want?-I always get what money I ask for; but I never ask for all in money. I have asked for a few shillings in money, and I have always got it.

14. Why did you not ask for the whole in money?-Because he was not in the habit of giving all money for his knitting.

15. Do you mean that you knew if you had asked for it you would not have got it?-I don't think I would have got it all in money; I never asked him for it all, but I always got what I asked for. If I asked him for a few shillings of money, he always gave it to me.

16. Is a settlement always made when you bring your work back?-Sometimes it is, and sometimes not perhaps sometimes I have something in his hands to get, and perhaps sometimes I am due him a little.

17. Due him for what?-For anything. Perhaps he might give me something sometimes when I did not have it to get, if I asked him for it.

18. Did you ever wish to buy your goods at any other place?-No; I could not buy my goods at any other place.

19. Were you always content with what you got?-Yes; I was always content.

20. Then if you wanted money, it would be for some other purpose, such as paying rent?-Yes.

21. Or for provisions?-Yes.

22. And you always got what you wanted for these purposes?- Yes. When I asked for a few shillings of money for knitting, I always got it.

23. Do you live by yourself?-Yes.

24. And not in family with any others?-No.

25. Do you make all your living by knitting?-Yes.

26. You have no other means of getting money to pay your rent?- No.

27. You pay rent for a room?-Yes.

28. And you have always got enough from the employer to whom you sell your work to pay your room rent and your food?-Yes. It had to be enough, for I could not get anything else.

29. Do you mean by that, that you would have liked to have had more money to spend upon food?-Yes.

30. But you could only get goods?-Yes.

31. How much do you earn by knitting in a week or in a month?-I suppose perhaps about 10s. in a month. I would knit a shawl in a month, and the merchant would allow me that sum for knitting it.

32. Would it take you a month to knit a shawl, working at nothing else?-Yes. Of course I would not be always at it. People cannot sit and knit continually; but it would take a month to make it, working in an ordinary way.

33. When you take that shawl to the shop, price of say 10s. is put upon it, how much of that do you got in money, and how much in goods?-I have knitted a shawl for 10s, and I have got 5s. in money on it from Mr. Linklater.

34. Is that the usual proportion of money you get?-No, not always. Sometimes I don't get so much as that.

35. Did you ever ask for more?-No; I think never asked for any more on one shawl.

36. Supposing you were going with a shawl of that value what goods would you get? Take the last time you went, for instance: what did you get?-Cottons, or such things as I would be requiring. The last time I was there I bought nine yards of cotton at 81/2d. a yard.

37. Was that to make a dress with?-No; it was white cotton.

38. Did you ask for that?-Yes.

39. Did you want it for any particular purpose?-Yes; I wanted it.

40. What else did you get?-That is all I remember getting at that time.

41. Did you get the rest in money?-Yes.

42. Have you any reason to complain of the quality of the goods you get?-No, I have not.

43. Would you wish to go to any other shop if you got money?-I have no reason to leave Mr. Linklater, for he has always given me money as well as I could have got it from any other merchant, I believe.

44. What arrangement do you make about the supplying of the wool?-We make no arrangement.

45. Then you are supplied with the wool; and the 10s. is the price not of the shawl, but of your work upon it?-Yes.

46. Is that the usual way in which the knitting trade is carried on by the women in Shetland?-Yes.

47. Do they generally get the wool supplied to them that way?-I believe they do. At least it is the way with some of them. They won't want it.

48. They don't buy the wool themselves?-They are not able to buy the wool.

49. Have you worked for other merchants than Mr. Linklater?- No; only for him. I have knitted a few things for a lady, but I never knitted to any other merchant than Mr. Linklater.

50. Then you don't know how the other merchants deal with the women who knit for them?-No; I cannot say anything about that.

51. Would you prefer to sell your goods to a private lady, or to a stranger counting to Shetland, rather than have to take them to a merchant?-If I could get all money for them, I would prefer that. 52. Supposing there was a merchant here who paid for goods altogether in money, would you prefer to take your hosiery to him?-Yes; if I could get all money, I would prefer that.

53. Is there no such person?-No; there is no such person here as that. A lady may buy a thing or two at a time, and give money for them, but that could not be a general thing.

54. How do you know that you cannot got money from the merchants? Is it because you have attempted to get it, or simply because you have a sort of understanding to that effect?-The merchants don't allow all money for the knitting.

55. Have they told you that?-Yes.

56. Who has told you?-Just the whole of them. None of them pay wholly in money for anything.

57. But who has told you that? I think you said you had never been refused?-I never was refused a few shillings on anything by Mr. Linklater. When I took home work to him and asked him for a few shillings of money, I always got it.

58. But you would rather have it all in money?-Yes.

59. And you cannot get it?-No.

60. How do you know that?-They won't give it to us. If we buy worsted ourselves, and knit the work, and take it to them, they won't give any money at all.

61. Have you tried that?-Yes.

62. You have knitted a shawl with your own worsted, and gone to them to sell it; and they would not allow money on it?-Yes.

63. Has Mr. Linklater done that?-Yes.

64. Did he refuse to give you money for that shawl?-Yes.

65. But he would pay for the shawl in goods?-Yes, if I would sell it.

66. When did that happen?-I could not just remember the time; but it has been often.

67. You did that yourself?-Yes, I have done that myself; and I have got shawls from friends to sell, and have gone out with them, and the merchants would not give money on them.

68. Is there anything else you want to say?-No.

[Page 3]

Lerwick, January 1, 1872, JANET IRVINE, examined.

69. Do you live in Lerwick?-Yes.

70. Your mother is a widow?-Yes.

71. Do you support yourself by knitting?-Yes; and partly by working outside at the fish.

72. What have you to do with the fish?-I help to cure them in the fish-curing establishment.

73. For whom do you knit?-Sometimes for myself, and sometimes for Miss Mary Hutchison.

74. Is she a dealer in hosiery?-Yes; she knits shawls herself, and sends them south.

75. Is she an agent?-Yes.

76. For whom?-I think she is agent for Mr. White, in Edinburgh.

77. Do you sometimes work for others?-No; not very often. I sometimes work for myself when I have any time. I knit a veil or a necktie, but in the summer 1 have not much time for that.

78. Do you knit these things for the purpose of selling them?- Yes.

79. Do you sometimes sell to the merchants in Lerwick?-Yes.

80. To whom?-To any one who is buying anything.

81. Do you generally get money for your shawls?-No; I got money from Miss Hutchison when I ask for it.

82. Do you get the price all in money from her?-When I want it all in money, I get it all in money, and when I want any other thing, she gives it to me.

83. Do you generally ask for it all in money from her?-Yes; I generally ask for it in money, because that is the only way we have to get it.

84. Does she deal in goods?-No. She generally brings home a little tea.

85. Does she only deal in tea?-In nothing else, so far as I know.

86. Then you sometimes get payment from her in tea?-Yes. When I ask it, I get it; but when I ask money, I get money.

87. When you sell to the merchants in Lerwick, do you get payment in money?-No; I never asked it, because I know they would not give it to us, as it is not the custom. They do not give it here.

88. Do you get part of it in money?-No; I get no money.

89. You have to take it all in goods?-Yes.

90. Do you prefer to get it in goods or in money?-I would like to get money if I could; but I can't get it.

91. And Miss Hutchison is not always ready to buy, from you?- No; she does not buy anything but her own. She brings home worsted, or buys worsted here, and I get it from her to knit.

92. What you sell to the merchants you knit with your own worsted?-Yes.

93. Where do you buy your worsted?-From the shops.

94. Which shops?-I used to buy from Mr. Brown, but he is not alive now; and I buy from Mr. Sinclair.

95. Do you pay ready-money for your worsted when you buy it?- Yes.

96. Do you not get worsted from the shops to knit into articles for the merchants?-No.

97. You sell to the shops only when Miss Hutchison has not got work for you?-Yes. It is only when I have it of my own that I sell to the shops.

98. Have you asked for money instead of goods at any of the shops?-No; I never asked for it.

99. Your sister also works in the same way?-Yes; she knits, but she does not work outside. She is not here to-day.

100. When was the last time you took anything of your own knitting to a shop to sell? Was it long ago?-No; it is not long,- perhaps about two or three weeks ago.

101. What was it?-A necktie.

102. Where did you take it?-I took it to Mr. Sinclair's. I could not get it sold that night, because he was not in, and the servants could not take it in his absence. I took it home with me.

103. What did you do with it?-The woman who dressed it sold it for me at Mr. Sinclair's. She generally dresses things, and sometimes sells them for me.

104. What is dressing?-Getting them sorted for sale. After being knitted, they are washed and dressed and starched.

105. Do you give the woman who dresses the articles a commission to sell them?-Yes; she sells them for me.

106. Why is that?-Because she is generally in the way of doing it. She can do it better than I can.

107. Do you mean that she can make a better bargain?-She dresses goods for the merchants, and sometimes she sells them too. She sold that article for me.

108. Who is the woman?-Mrs. William Arcus; she lives at the Docks.

109. What was the price put upon that necktie which she sold?- Eighteenpence.

110. What did you get for it?-I just got anything I required.

111. What did you require at that time?-I got a little tea, and the rest in cotton.

112. Did you want the tea?-Yes.

113. Have you sometimes asked the merchants for goods which they would not give you?-No.

114. When you go to a merchant to sell a shawl, can you get any kind of goods you want?-I don't sell any shawls, because I don't have any of my own. I have not had any of my own for a long time.

115. But when you go to sell any of the goods you have knitted, can you get anything you want?-I cannot get money, but I can get anything else, except worsted. They won't give it.

116. Will they not give you worsted for your knitted goods?-No. They won't give it for the hosiery. They want money for the worsted.

117. Do they give any reason for that?-I don't know. They say it is a money article.

118. Does that mean ready-money?-Yes.

119. It is cotton or tea you generally get?-Yes; or any other small thing except money. We can get anything except it.

120. You work at other things; so that I suppose you have money from your wages in the fish-curing establishment for the purpose of paying your rent, and things that you must pay in money?-Yes.

121. You get your wages there in money?-Yes; I get money for that.

122. You work for Mr. Leask?-Yes.

123. He does not keep a store of any kind?-No; he has no store, but he keeps a shop.

124. Have you to take goods for your wages there?-No; I can either get money or goods, whichever I want.

125. But what do you do in point of fact? Do you take money or do you take goods from Mr. Leask's shop?-I take money.

126. Always?-Not always. I take other things too, because they keep everything there that is required.

127. You have no complaint to make about that?-No.

128. You are quite content to go to Mr. Leask's shop for what you want?-Yes.

129. When you buy things there, you pay your money across the counter?-Yes.

130. You have got that money from the pay-clerk previously?- Yes.

131. Where is that money paid to you?-In the shop.

132. In which shop?-In Mr. Leask's shop. We get it in the office, and we pay it in the shop. He has two shops there.

133. Is the office at the Docks?-No; it is in the town.

134. Are you expected to go to Mr. Leask's shop when you get your wages?-No; we can go anywhere we like.

135. How long in the year do you work for Mr. Leask?- Sometimes, when the vessels get fish early, we begin soon. We begin in the spring.

136. Will you work there for six months?-Some [Page 4] times longer. We sometimes begin in spring, and work until after Martinmas.

137. During all that time you won't do much knitting?-No.

138. But you get your wages every week?-Yes.

139. How much do you get?-1s. a day.

140. And that is paid weekly on Saturdays at the office?-Yes.

141. Do you take that money home?-Yes; what I don't pay away.

142. You perhaps want something on the Saturday, and go into the shop for it?-Yes; what I want I go into the shop for.

143. How much of it do you generally take home after making your purchases?-I cannot say.

144. As a general thing, do you spend the half of it in the shop?- Yes; I spend the half of it.

145. Every week?-No; sometimes it is more, and sometimes less.

146. Have you ever been told that you ought to go to the shop?- No.

147. Or that you are expected to go there?-No.

148. Would you still be employed there in the same way although you went and bought your goods elsewhere?-They don't bid any of their people buy out of the shop. They just please themselves. Mr. Leask just gives the money, and he does not care where you buy from.

Lerwick, January 1, 1872, Mrs. CHRISTINA WILLIAMSON, examined.

149. You are a widow, and live in the Widows' Asylum in Lerwick?-Yes.

150. Are you in the habit of knitting goods for sale?-Yes.

151. Do you knit for any particular merchant?-No; I knit for myself.

152. Do you buy your own wool?-Yes; I generally get wool, and get a woman to spin it for me.

153. Who is that woman?-Mrs. Irvine, Burn's Close.

154. Is that the mother of the last witness?-Yes.

155. Do you buy the wool from a farmer?-Yes.

156. And then you knit it for yourself, and take the shawls and sell them?-Yes.

157. Do you do that upon an order, or just upon chance?-Just upon chance.

158. Who do you generally sell to?-I have some unsold just now. The last one is unsold.

159. How long have you had it?-I have had that one lying for a twelvemonth.

160. Why don't you sell it?-Because I can't get money for it.

161. Who have you asked to buy it?-I have asked none lately.

162. Who have you asked at all?-I have asked no one in the town.

163. Why do you know you would not get money?-Because it is not the custom to give it, and therefore did not ask it.

164. Have you ever asked money for your shawls?-Yes; often.

165. From whom have you asked money?-I have asked it from the whole of the merchants in the town, but they are not used to giving money.

166. Who are the merchants in the town?-Mr. Sinclair and Mr. Tulloch, and Mr. Laurenson.

167. Are these all you remember?-Yes.

168. Have you sold any shawls to any of these gentlemen lately?- Yes; I sold one to Mr. Laurenson about three months ago.

169. What was the price put upon it?-30s.

170. Was that what you call fine knitting?-Yes.

171. How were you paid for it?-I got goods for it.

172. Did you get no money at all?-No.

173. Did you ask to get some of it in money?-No; I did not ask that.

174. Did you want to get the goods?-Yes; because the goods suited.

175. What goods did you get?-I got bread.

176. Does Mr. Laurenson sell bread in his shop?-Yes.

177. Was there an account run for that?-Yes.

178. What else did you?-Just all kinds of things I was using.

179. Was it all provisions that you got?-No; there was light and plenty of things.

180. Any clothes?-No clothes.

181. Was there any account due before you sold that shawl?-No.

182. Did you get all these goods away with you at the time?-No; I just ran an account for them.

183. Have you got a pass-book?-I have got one, but I don't have it with me.

184. Was that pass-book going on with Laurenson before you sold him the shawl?-No; it just commenced when I sold the shawl.

185. Does that account still continue?-Yes.

186. Do you remember how much it comes to now?-No; I don't remember exactly.

187. Do you live in the Widows' Asylum?-Yes.

188. Are you not provided for there?-No.

189. You have to get your own food?-Yes.

190. You got what you wanted on that occasion from Mr. Laurenson?-Yes.

191. Have you sold anything to him since then?-No.

192. Have you sold anything to any one else?-No.

193. Did you not knit a shawl for' Mr. Tulloch about a month ago?-Yes.

194. You did not sell it to him?-No; I did not sell it. 195. Did he supply the wool in that case?-Yes.

196. Was that because you had not wool of your own?-Yes.

197. What did he charge for the wool?-He just gave me 1 for knitting the shawl.

198. He supplied the wool, and agreed to pay you for knitting the shawl?-Yes.

199. Were you paid that 1?-Yes.

200. In money?-No.

201. Did you ask for money?-No.

202. Are you sure you did not ask for it in money?-Yes; I am sure of that.

203. Did you get any part of it in money?-No.

204. What did you get?-Just any clothes that I was needing.

205. When you went into the shop with the shawl, what passed between you?-I said, 'Here is your shawl Mr. Tulloch.' He asked me what I was wanting.

206. Did you say you wanted money?-No.

207. What did you say?-That I was wanting some goods.

208. Did you mention the goods you wanted?-Yes.

209. What were they?-I believe I took 6 yards of white cotton at 6d. a yard; I also took 41/4 yards of cloth at 4s. 2d. a yard, with which to make waterproof clothing. I got some small things with the balance but I don't remember what they were.

210. But the shawl was to be 1; the cotton came to 3s., and the waterproof cloth to 17s. 81/2d., so that you were rather in Mr. Tulloch's debt: was that left standing till the next time?-Yes.

211. Then you are to knit him something more?-Yes.

212. You have another order just now?-Yes.

213. Are you working at it?-I have not begun to it just yet.

214. Have you anything else to sell just now?-Yes.

215. Is it something you have knitted with your own wool?-Yes; but I have sent it south.

216. Is that because you expect to get money there?-Yes; I have sent it to an old neighbour woman of mine who is now in Thurso.

217. Is she a person who makes a practice of dealing in such things?-No; she is just an acquaintance of mine.

218. Is there anything else you wish to say?-No.

[Page 5]

Lerwick, January 1, 1872, ELIZABETH ROBERTSON, examined.

219. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes.

220. Do you live alone?-I live with my aged stepmother.

221. Who do you work for?-For the last six years I have knitted for myself, but before that I used to knit for the merchants in general. I knitted for the late Mr. Laurenson, and Mr. G. Harrison, and Mr. Tulloch, and Mr. Linklater,-in short, for almost all the merchants.

222. But that was six years ago?-Yes.

223. When you knitted for the merchants, was the wool supplied to you by them?-Yes.

224. Did you pay for it when you got it out, or when you were paid for your work upon it?-I was just paid for my work.

225. How much would you be able to make in a week at that sort of work?-I could not exactly say how much. I was in delicate health; but in some weeks I might have earned 1s. 6d. a day, and in some weeks perhaps less.

226. Was that the only thing you were working at?-Yes. The only sort of knitting I had was veils and shawls.

227. But was knitting the only thing you were employed at that time?-That was the only thing I was ever employed at in my life.

228. Then, on an average, you earned from 5s. to 6s. a week?- Yes; or from 4s. to 5s.

229. How often were you paid?-Just when I asked for any sort of goods that were in the shop.

230. Would you go once a week or once a fortnight to the shop for payment?-Yes; perhaps I would. I just went as I was done with the work which they required.

231. Did you get a book?-No. I never kept a book.

232. How did you know how much was due to you?-I just depended on the truth of the gentlemen's statements when they added up my accounts.

233. They kept an account in a book?-Yes.

234. Was that the same with all the dealers?-Yes; all that I dealt with before the last six years.

235. Did these merchants supply you with all kinds of goods?- Only with soft goods, and tea and sugar.

236. What did you do for your provisions, such as meal and bread?-I had often to buy such things as I could get, and sell them again at half the price to anybody in the row who would take them from me.

237. Were these the goods you got from the merchants?-Yes.

238. Could you not get anything from them you wanted, except what you have mentioned?-Sometimes I would get a sixpence and sometimes a shilling, but just occasionally.

239. Was that given you as a favour?-Yes, and because they knew I really needed it. It was a mere favour.

240. Were you supporting your stepmother at that time?-No; not at that time. I had only myself to support.

241. But you had no other means of support than your knitting?- No other means at all.

242. Did you ask for money at that time?-Yes; I always asked for money, because I required it so much.

243. Was it generally on a Saturday that you were with?-I did not make any particular settlement; it was just any time that I went.

244. When you got a settlement and took home some of these soft goods, did you go to your neighbours, or to the baker's or provision dealer's shop, and ask for what you wanted in the way of food?-No; but any neighbours that knew me would take from me some of the goods I had, and perhaps give them to a country friend of theirs, and get the money for them.

245. During the last six years you have got into the way of knitting with your own wool?-Yes.

246. Where do you buy your wool, or how do you get it?-There is a lady in the town-a dressmaker and milliner-who deals very largely in hosiery.

247. What is her name?-Miss Robertson. She takes goods from me on lines which I get for my shawls and she gives me wool and cash to favour me, because she knows I have no other way of getting money.

248. What do you mean by taking goods on lines-When I sell a shawl to any hosiery merchant in the town, I get any sort of goods that are in the shop, except wool to knit with; but if I don't want the goods at the time, then the gentleman will give me a line to the amount I have to get.

249. Is that an I O U?-That used to be on them. I think there are other two letters now; but they mean all the same thing.

250. Have you any of these lines?-I have one home. I shall bring it. If I go back to the shop with the line, or send anybody back with it, the merchant's servants will serve the party who brings it with the amount.

251. They will give you full value for it?-Yes, to the full value of the lines.

252. Then Miss Robertson takes these I O U's from you, and gives you worsted for them?-Yes.

253. That worsted you knit into shawls, and these shawls you sell to the merchants, getting from them I O U's?-Yes.

254. Are you any better off under this system than you were before?-Yes. She brings home the wools, and shows me the invoice for them, and I get the wools at what she pays for them. That is much cheaper than I can purchase them for in Lerwick.

255. But you did not buy the wool under the old way of working: you got the wool supplied to you, and were paid for your work?- Yes.

256. Do you think you make more money under the present system?-Yes.

257. When you get these I O U's, you spend only part of them in purchasing worsted?-I get no worsted on them except what I get from Miss Robertson.

258. But you spend only part of them in paying Miss Robertson for worsted?-Yes; and I get part money from her for them, because they serve her just the same as money would do, in getting articles from the merchants. She favours me in that way, and enables me to support my stepmother and myself, and pay rent and taxation.

259. Do you hand all your I O U's to Miss Robertson?-No; only what I can spare.

260. You sometimes take one of them yourself to the merchant from whom you got it, and you get goods from him for it?-Yes.

261. You have more money passing through your hands now than you had formerly?-Yes. I am able now to pay my rent.

262. How did you pay your rent formerly?-I did not require it then so much. My father was alive then.

263. But you have now to pay rent?-Yes; and to support my stepmother partly.

264. Have you within the last six years asked for money instead of these lines?-Yes; I have asked almost daily for money, and I get a little.

265. When did you ask last for money?-On Saturday.

266. Who did you ask?-Mr. Sinclair.

267. What did he say?-He gave me what I asked.

268. How much was that?-I just asked 1s.

269. Did you present one of his lines?-No; I sold him a shawl, and bought goods, and got a line for the rest, and 1s. of cash.

270. How much was it altogether?-I got 10s. 6d. for the shawl.

271. And you got 1s. in cash, and 9s. 6d. in goods or in line?- Yes.

272. Did you ask for more money than that?-Not on Saturday.

273. You got all the money you wanted then?-Yes.

274. How much did you the time before?-I got 2s. 6d. then.

275. From whom?-From Mr. Sinclair.

276. How much were you selling at that time?-15s. worth, I think.

277. Was that a fortnight's work?-It was more than that; it would be about three weeks'.

[Page 6]

278. How much money did you ask that time?-I asked for 5s.

279. What was said?-There was no more money at hand at the counter at that time, and I got 2s. 6d.

280. What did you get for the 12s. 6d.?-It was some other little things I was purchasing. I don't remember what they were.

281. You did not get a line at that time?-No.

282. The things you got you really wanted?-Yes.

283. Suppose you had got 15s. in cash, would you have purchased your goods there?-Yes. Whatever wearing goods I required, I would not have purchased them anywhere else. I am quite satisfied with Mr. Sinclair's goods; but I am always needing money so much that I have always to ask it.

284. Does this system of not getting money, or being paid in goods, make you buy more dress or clothing than you would otherwise care for?-Yes; I would not need one half the clothes I get, if I could get money.

285. That is to say, you would prefer to take the money, and spend it upon food?-Yes.

286. Or lay it by?-I should not think much of laying it by, if I could only get enough to serve the present time.

287. Have you handed the I O U's to anybody else than Miss Robertson?-Yes; to lots of people.

288. For money?-Yes; for money, and for peats or fuel for the winter. My acquaintances will sometimes take a line from me to oblige me, because I have no money to give them.

289. Name one of them?-John Ridling, Burn's Lane, is one of them.

290. What would he do with it?-Mrs. Ridling would send it to the shop and purchase anything she wanted.

291. Have you known these lines passing through more hands than one before coming to the shop?-Yes; they would do that.

292. For instance, if Mrs. Ridling wanted money instead of goods at the shop, might she pass the line to somebody who would give her money for it?-No, not that I know of.

293. You said you had known the lines passing from hand to hand before going back to the shop?-Yes; sometimes they do that.

294. That is to say, if you handed a line to a person for money, that person might sell it again for money to another neighbour?-I do not know of selling the lines for money; but they might pass from one person to another in a quiet way.

295. For goods?-Yes; but not for money, so far as I know.

296. For fish?-Yes; I have got that on lines.

297. And bread?-Yes.

298. And then the party from whom the fish or bread was got would hand the line to the merchant?-Yes; and get what things suited them.

299. Is that it common thing in Lerwick?-No, it is not common; but it is the case with me.

300. Have you known any one else who has passed her lines in that way?-Yes; I have heard of some people who have taken lines from others. I know that Miss Hutchison has taken lines from people, and given them money for them. [The witness produced a line, in the following terms:

'C. W. 20.-Cr. Bearer value in goods for thirteen shillings stg. 13s. To hat, 3s. R. SINCLAIR & Co. . W.T.M. Lerwick, 5. 12. 71.']

I think the letters 'C.W.' are a private mark. It used to be I O U. The entry, 'To hat, 3s.' is an article I have got since, and there is therefore a balance of 10s. left on the line.

301. Have you any particular reason for preferring these lines to the old way of getting goods?-Yes; sometimes I can get the lines turned into cash.

302. You can turn them into money more readily?-Yes; through Miss Robertson taking them from me.

303. Are there many such lines given to people at shops?-Yes.

304. Do most of the people prefer the lines to being paid in goods?-Sometimes they don't perhaps require the articles at the time; but when they require them, they go with the lines and get them.

Lerwick, January 1, 1872, Mrs. ANDRINA SIMPSON, examined.

305. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes.

306. For whom do you knit?-For myself.

307. Have you always done so?-I have always done so for a good many years back.

308. Where do you purchase your wool?-I purchase it just from any person, and I spin it for myself.

309. Do you purchase it from farmers?-Yes.

310. To whom do you sell your work?-To any the merchants who will take it. I generally sold it to Mr. Spence when he was in the town, and to his sister Miss Spence since he went away.

311. Does she still deal in hosiery?-Yes.

312. How are you paid?-Generally just by goods.

313. Do you ask for money?-For the last shawl I sold I asked 2s. in money. She did not appear very willing to give it; but I got 2s. on it, and the rest in goods.

314. What was the value of the shawl?-It was 12s.

315. Did you not ask for more than 2s. upon it?-No. I did not ask for any more, because she did not wish to give any more.

316. You did not ask for the whole price of the shawl in money?- No.

317. Did you want it all in money?-I would have liked it all in money.

318. Why? What would you have done with the money if you had had it?-There is many a thing that can be done with money.

319. But had you any particular reason for wanting the money instead of the goods? Did you not want the goods?-I could have been doing at that time without the articles that I got; but I just had to take them, because I could get no more than 2s. in money on the shawl.

320. Is that the usual practice in your dealings with the merchants?-Not always. Sometimes I have seen me getting a few shillings more from her; and at other times, if she did not have a particular order for the articles, she seemed not to be willing to give any, money at all.

321. How do you square your accounts when you get goods in that way? For instance, when you sold that 12s. shawl and got the 2s. in money, did you also get so many yards of cloth?-Yes; of print.

322. At how much?-At 7d. per yard. I also got some wincey.

323. Did that balance the account exactly?-Yes.

324. You got what made exactly the 10s. worth?-Yes.

325. Do you generally take just so much cloth as makes up the value of the shawl?-Yes; generally.

326. Do you do anything else in the way of working for your living than by knitting these articles?-Yes. I am married. 327. Then knitting is an extra sort of thing with you?-Yes.

328. Have you tried any of the other shops in the town to see if they would give you money for your hosiery?-No, none for a good while back; but it is not very much that I can do at it, on account of the house-work. My husband is a shoemaker.

329. Have you ever got lines for your shawls?-No: I generally settle up for the whole in goods at the time when I sell the shawls.

330. Is that all you want to say?-Yes.

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Lerwick, January 1, 1872, Mrs. JEMIMA BROWN or TAIT, examined.

331. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes.

332. Do you live with your parents?-Yes.

333. What is your father?-A shoemaker.

334. And you knit for your own benefit?-Yes.

335. For whom do you knit-For Mr. Robert Linklater.

336. What kind of goods do you knit?-Generally veils.

337. How much do you make in a week?-Sometimes 3s., and sometimes not so much, just according as the merchant buys the articles we make.

338. Is it his worsted you work?-Yes.

339. And he pays you so much for the work you put upon it?- Yes.

340. What is the value of the work you put upon the veil?-The last veils I made I got 9d. apiece for them.

341. Does what you get for them depend upon the size of the veils?-A good deal. These were the largest veils of all.

342. Then you will sometimes make four or five of them in a week?-I just made three of these. They were large ones.

343. How often do you get settled with for your work?-We have a pass-book, and the merchant lets it go on until he thinks we have got goods up to the value we have knitted for. He then makes up the book. [Produces pass-book in name of Harriet Brown, and another in name of Amelia Brown.] These are my sisters. One book served for the whole of us.

344. Did any one tell you to come here and bring those books?- No; I just heard what was to be done, and I came of my own accord.

345. These books contain the goods which you have purchased from Mr. Linklater?-Yes.

346. The last one begins on April 16; 1870, and is added up in January 1871. The amount at your credit is 5, 5s. 2d.: what does that mean?-It means, that we have knitted articles to that amount, and we have also got goods of that value. That was a square balance. The articles we have knitted bringing out that sum, are entered in a separate account at the end of the same book.

347. Is that account the same as appears in Mr. Linklater's books?-Yes.

348. It is-April 16, By balance at account, 10s. 111/2d.; May 5, twenty veils at 1s., 1: are these entered at the time you hand them back?-Yes; I took twenty veils to Mr. Linklater at that time.

349. The next entry is-September 6, twenty veils at 1s., 1. I thought you said you got 9d. for the largest veils you made?-Yes, for the largest size; but the veils I took in then were finer work, and the price for them was 1s. each.

350. Then-December 29, twenty veils at 1s, 1; March 30, two shawls at 3s. 6d, 7s.; August 19, nine veils at 1s., 9s.; same date, one shawl, 3s. 6d.-in all, 5, 10s. 51/2d. There is deducted 5, 5s. 2d., leaving a balance in your favour of. 5s. 31/2d.; and then the account begins again, and is continued down till December 26?- Yes.

351. Do you live with your father?-Yes.

352. Therefore you don't want much money for your own purposes?-We can never get any money. We would be very glad to get it if we could.

353. Have you asked money for your shawls instead of goods?- Yes.

354. What answer was made to your request?-That he never gave any money, and that he could not give it.

355. Was it not because you had this account, standing against you that he refused to give you any money?-No. The merchants don't give money to anybody, unless it be just to favourites.

356. At August 19 there was 5s. 31/2d. at your credit: did you not ask for that in money?-No; I did not ask for money then, but I had asked for it before.

357. I see that on August 19, when you were settling up, and when there was 5s. 31/2d. due to you, you took a hat and feathers, some velvet, and a jacket. You got a great deal more then than was due to you-Yes; because we had a number of veils knitting for the merchant at the time, and they all go into the account for the goods we get.

358. You say you did not ask for money at that time: did you not want it?-We always want it; but we never got it when we did ask for it; and it is no use always asking for it.

359. When did you ask for it last?-Some time in 1871.

360. I see there are no goods entered in your book as having been received by you from Mr. Linklater between January 1871 and October 1871: had you stopped working for him during that time?-I was in the south then.

361. But your sister was here?-Yes; but she was not knitting any. She was very sickly.

362. Is there anything else you want to say?-No.

363. Your sister Amelia is here to make the same statement that you have now made?-Yes.

Lerwick, January 1, 1872, BARBARA JOHNSTON, examined.

364. You have come from the parish of Sandwick?-Yes.

365. How far is that from Lerwick?-About thirteen miles.

366. Who do you live with there?-I live with my mother, Mrs. Johnston. My father is dead.

367. How many of a family are there of you?-I have two brothers and a sister in the south and there is a sister at home besides myself.

368. You do some work in knitting?-Yes.

369. For whom do you work?-For Mr. Robert Linklater.

370. Do you always work for him?-Yes. I work for nobody else.

371. Have you a pass-book?-No.

372. How long have you worked for Mr. Linklater?-For some years. I cannot say the number exactly.

373. Do you get wool from him, or do you supply it yourself?-I get the worsted from him, and I am paid by him for my work.

374. What kind of wages do you get?-I get 10s. for making a big shawl.

375. That is not the finest quality of knitting?-No; it is about the coarsest.

376. Is it always shawls that you work at?-No; sometimes I make veils.

377. When you take your work back to Mr. Linklater, are you paid for it in money or in goods?-In goods.

378. Do you sometimes ask for money?-Yes.

379. What has he said to you when you asked for money?-He says he never gives it, and that he won't give it to me. I got 2s. from him today; but that is all I ever got, except, I think, one sixpence before. I also got the offer of a pass-book to-day. I had never been offered one before.

380. Was it after you had seen me this forenoon that you got the 2s. and the offer of the pass-book?-Yes.

381. When you get your worsted, is there a bargain made between the merchant and you about the payment you are to receive for the work?-No. I have just an idea what I think the thing will come to; and then, when I come back with it, he gives me what he likes.

382. You don't make any bargain beforehand?-No.

383. But you might do so if liked?-He won't do it. I have asked him, but he said he would see the thing when I came back with it.

384. I suppose, he wants to see the quality of the work before he pays for it?-Yes.

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385. Did you take the pass-book that was offered you today?-No.

386. Why?-I had no particular I reason for not taking it.

387. Did you not want it?-I thought I would not mind it to-day, as I had never had one before.

388. Do you remember the last time before to-day when you went to Mr. Linklater with some of your work?-Yes.

389. How much was due to you at that time?-I think he was due me about 1.

390. That would be for more than one shawl?-Yes; it was for some veils about four months ago. I have made two shawls for him since, and some veils.

391. But the last time you went with your work, how much was due you?-I think there would be about 1.

392. Did you ask for money then?-Yes.

393. Who did you ask it from?-Mr. Linklater.

394. Was it from Mr. Linklater himself, or one of his people?-It was either from Mr. Linklater or from Mr. Anderson; I don't remember which.

395. What was said to you?-He just said that he would not give it, as he never gave any.

396. What goods did you get?-Some stuff for a dress, and some tea and cotton.

397. Had you made up your mind before you went there as to what you wanted to buy?-Yes.

398. And you got what you wanted?-I had to take what he had. I had no other chance.

399. Did you want these goods at that time?-If I had got the money, I would not have bought them at that time.

400. What would you have done with the money?-I would have bought grocery things-things that he did not have.

401. How do you get provisions when you want them?-My mother has a farm, and I work with her.

402. You sometimes work out-of-doors?-Yes.

403. How do you pay your rent for the farm?-My mother sometimes sells an animal, and pays the rent with the price.

404. To whom does she sell these animals?-To any one she can get to buy them. I don't know any one particularly to whom she sells them.

405. Whose ground are you on?-Mr. Bruce of Sand Lodge.

406. Is there any one in your family who goes to the fishing?-No; my brothers are all in the south.

407. Do you sometimes exchange for provisions the goods you get from Mr. Linklater for your hosiery?-No; I always get provisions home with me without changing them.

408. How is that? Have you some money?-Yes. It is by the farm that we have it.

409. Have you ever had occasion to exchange your goods for provisions?-No.

410. Do you know whether that is a common practice in your district?-I don't know.

411. Have you ever received a line instead of goods?-No.

412. Have you ever asked for a line?-No.

413. You say that to-day you took a shawl to Mr. Linklater, which he had ordered, and that you got from him along with goods?- Yes.

414. What was the value put upon the shawl?-10s.; but I had had a shawl in with him before and some veils since I was in the town last.

415. Had these been paid for?-No.

416. Then what was the whole sum due to you day?-I think it was 1, 2s. 6d.

417. Why did you not get your money or goods the last time you went in?-I sent the articles in then; I did not come myself.

418. So that there was no opportunity of settling with you before today?-No.

419. How much money did you ask for to-day?-I asked for 2s., and I got it.

420. Did you not want more?-I did not ask more and I don't think I would have got more if I had asked it. That was the reason why I did not ask it; because Mr. Linklater does not make it his practice give money.

421. Then when you go in any day to the merchant, you just say, 'Here is your shawl,' and you ask how much you are to get for it?-Yes.

422. What is his answer?-He just mentions whatever he likes to give.

423. But he gives you a fair value for the work, does he?-Yes; sometimes.

424. Do you think he puts too low a value on your work?-Yes; I often think that.

425. Do you think there is anything very unreasonable in the value he puts upon it?-Yes; sometimes I do.

426. How long does it take you to make a 10s. shawl-I would make one of them in a month if I was not doing much else.

427. Would it take you so long as a month?-Yes.

428. When you take in the shawl, you say the merchant puts his value upon it: do you ask him for a little more than he says, or are you satisfied with the value he puts on it?-If it is reasonable-like, I say nothing about it.

429. He does not hand you the money?-No.

430. What takes place then?-He asks me what I want in goods. If I ask for money, he says no.

431. Does he give any reason for refusing you money?-He says he never gives it, and he won't give it to me.

432. Is that the only reason that has ever been assigned to you for not giving you money?-Yes. There was one of them in the shop that said that to-day, and Mr. Linklater himself came in and gave me 2s.

433. Then you were refused money to-day by the shopman?-Yes.

434. He wanted you to take the whole amount in goods?-Yes.

435. He did so, because that was the practice?-Yes; and Mr. Linklater himself gave the 2s., and he also offered me a pass-book.

436. Who was the shopman who did that?-I think Robert Anderson is his name.

437. Did you say anything to Mr. Linklater when he came in?-I just asked him for the money.

438. You applied to him for the money when the shopman had refused it?-Yes.

439. And Mr. Linklater gave it to you without any hesitation?- Yes.

440. The 2s. was all that you asked?-Yes. I thought I would not get any money, because I had been denied it before.

441. Did you take the pass-book that was offered to you?-No; I did not think of taking it to-day.

442. Were you thinking of not dealing with Mr. Linklater any more?-No; I have got another shawl from him to make.

443. Did you get the worsted for it to-day?-Yes.

444. Does Mr. Linklater take a note of the quantity of worsted he gives out to you?-Yes; he weighs it.

445. He knows how much it will take to make a shawl, and he weighs the shawl when it is brought back?-Yes.

446. Have you ever bought worsted for your own knitting?-No; I could not get it bought, because I was not in the way of earning money.

447. Have you tried to buy it?-I could not try without the money. He would not give worsted for nothing.

448. And you had no money to pay for it?-No; I could not have it.

449. But when you were taking back your work to him, have you never asked to take part of the value of it in worsted?-I have; and I have been refused.

450. When did you do that?-It is long ago now; but I have done it.

451. What did he say when he refused you the worsted?-That it was a money article and he could not give it without the money.

452. Was it Mr. Linklater or Mr. Anderson who, said so?-I cannot remember now, it is so long ago.

453. Has that happened with you more than once?[Page 9]-I only remember asking it once. I never did it again, when I got a denial the first time.

454. Your sister also knits, and many of your acquaintances?- Yes. I would like to speak on my sister's behalf as well as my own. She is not here, but she wants to say the same thing that I have done.

455. She wants to make the same complaint?-Yes. She is not well, and is unable to come in.

Lerwick, January 1, 1872, ANDREW TULLOCH, examined.

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

457. Have you got a piece of ground there?-Yes.

458. You are a tenant of whom?-Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh.

459. Who do you fish for?-Thomas Tulloch at present.

460. Is he a relation of yours?-No.

461. Where is his place?-At Lebidden, close by Sand Lodge. There are some houses there.

462. Do you live there?-No; I live at Cunningsburgh.

463. Is Mr. Thomas Tulloch a tacks-master under Mr. Bruce.

464. What is he?-He is just a merchant carrying on business there, and he has stepped into the fishing. He sold goods before he began to it.

465. Does he keep a shop at Lebidden?-Yes, for the fishermen; and to sell to other people as well.

466. You engage to fish to him: is that for the summer fishing?- Yes, chiefly; or for the whole season, if we can follow it up.

467. Do you go to the Faroe fishing for him?-No; only to the ling fishing, in the six-oared boats.

468. What have you come here to say?-Chiefly, that we should like to have our freedom. We have freedom at present; but we are afraid of young Mr. Bruce taking the tack of the tenants into his own hands. He got a lease of the tenants from his father last season.

469. What did he get a lease of?-Of his father's premises at Cunningsburgh.

470. Then he got a lease of the whole lands of Cunningsburgh?- Yes, from his father. That was his statement the last time we settled with him.

471. What did he say then?-He said he was prepared to settle with the tenants, because he had got a lease from his father of the lands.

472. But you say you have your freedom?-Yes, at present; but we are doubtful if we can keep it, because young Mr. Bruce has taken the tenants at the place where he is living himself-at Dunrossness. He took the tenants there some three or four years ago, and he has built a house; and both we and the merchant are doubtful that he may take us into his own hand too. We rather think we might be worse off if we were taken back.

473. What do you mean by being taken back?-I mean, if the tenants were taken into his own hands again.

474. Have you any objection to the arrangement you have just now with Mr. Thomas Tulloch?-We cannot complain of it, further than that we don't know the price we are to get until we settle. We never had any chance of knowing that from any merchant we ever dealt with.

475. When do you arrange to go out to fish?-About the beginning of May. In some years it may be a month or a fortnight earlier, just as the weather is.

476. At that time do you make a bargain with Mr. Tulloch about the fishing, to fish for him, during the whole season?-Yes. We have so much confidence in him that we do not make any written agreement; it is all done by word of mouth.

477. To whom do the boats belong that you go out in?-The boat I go in is our own. It belongs to the crew.

478. How many of you are there?-Five men and a boy.

479. How long have you had your boat?-We have had our present boat for about seven or eight years. She was a second-hand boat, about five years old, when we got her.

480. You bought her yourselves?-Yes.

481. Is the price all paid up now?-Yes; it was paid a few years ago.

482. Then Mr. Tulloch makes his arrangement with you to go to fish about the 1st of May?-Yes.

483. What is the bargain? Is it that you are to fish for him during the whole season?-No; only till Lammas that is, the end of July; and after that we stick to the herring fishing.

484. But when you are at the ling fishing you give him all your fish?-Yes; the whole. Every time we come ashore we deliver them to his factor.

485. That is for the purpose of being cured?-Yes.

486. He takes an account of them as he receives them?-Yes.

487. And the only complaint you have against Mr. Tulloch is, that you don't get settled until when?-We get settled generally at settlement time but we don't know our price until we come to settle.

488. When is the settlement made?-We are not quite settled yet for last year; but when we are called on by our landlord to pay our rent, Mr. Tulloch has no objection to give us money for that.

489. Who do you pay your rent to?-To Mr. Bruce; he is the proprietor.

490. Then your complaint is, that you don't know the price of your fish until January?-Yes.

491. Would you rather contract with Mr. Tulloch to supply all your fish at so much per cwt.?-Yes.

492. But you cannot get that bargain made?-Some of the men seem very reluctant to agree to it. A few of them have said that they would leave and go to another merchant before they would have that.

493. Does Mr. Tulloch keep a store?-Yes; he has a store, and he supplies all the fishermen.

494. What does he supply them with?-Just with material. He also keeps meal; and they take it from him, more or less, as their families require it. He keeps other things besides, such as lines, hooks, and tar for the boats.

495. Are these things which you get from the store marked down in pass-books of your own, or in the books of the store?-We can have a book for ourselves if we like. I did not bring mine with me. 496. Does the storekeeper mark the things in your pass-book as you get them?-Yes.

497. Are the quantities of fish also marked into that pass-book as they are delivered?-No; they are entered into another book which the factor keeps, and we keep the accounts in a book for ourselves.

498. You mark them down for yourselves in another book?-Yes.

499. Is that the general practice among the fishermen in your locality?-It is; and then we compare the quantities with the factor before we go up to settle.

500. Then each fisherman has two books-a passbook for his dealings with the store, and a book of his own in which he marks down the quantities of fish delivered?-Yes.

501. When you came to settle, do you generally get a large balance paid to you in cash?-Every year is not alike. If it has been a bad fishing season, and if the crops are light, then perhaps the accounts will not square. But there have been two or three good seasons lately.

502. When the accounts do not square, you mean that, you may be in debt to the fish-merchant?-Yes; 2 or so.

503. And he allows that to over, and to be paid next year?-Yes.

504. But you have no serious complaint to make about that system?-No; we cannot complain about the regulations in Shetland.

505. Could you make a better bargain with anybody else?-I don't think we could-in Shetland.

[Page 10]

506. Is that your fault, or the fault of the fish-merchant?-I think, for my own part, I would stick into any place where I could get the best bargain. We have been fishing for some years to some of the merchants who would give 3d. or 6d. per cwt. more for the fish than we could get in Lerwick, and therefore we have stuck by them.

507. Suppose another merchant were at hand at Cunningsburgh, would you be quite at liberty to sell your fish to him?-Yes.

508. Is there any such merchant there within reach of you?-There is another merchant close by, named James Smith. Part of the men on the beach I belong to fish for him, and part to Thomas Tulloch.

509. Are there any other stores than Mr. Tulloch's at Cunningsburgh or in the neighbourhood?-There are some small shops that we could get small groceries from, but I do not do much with them.

510. Suppose you were to agree at the beginning of the season to sell your fish to another than Mr. Tulloch, would you have any difficulty in getting credit at his store for your supplies?-He would not like that very well.

511. Would you not get your supplies there?-No, not unless the man who asked them was one he was well acquainted with.

512. Would you be able to get them anywhere else?-I don't know. I don't think I would try to get them, unless at the place I was sending my fish to.

513. But if you had not the money yourself, would you get credit for your supplies during the summer from any other shopkeeper, either in Lerwick or Cunningsburgh?-Yes. All the fish-merchants we deal with in Lerwick I can get a little credit from up to the present day.

514. And in that way you are not bound over to Mr. Tulloch in any way?-No. We can leave him this season if we have a mind.

515. You were to say something about the herring fishing: I thought there was not much herring fishing here?-There will be nothing at all this season in Shetland. We generally fished to Messrs. Hay & Co. when we were in it.

516. Have you any complaint to make about it?-Much the same as about the ling fishing The don't like to give a stated price.

517. Where do you deliver the fish when you go to the herring fishing?-There is a small ghioe* close by our own place at Cunningsburgh. Hay & Co. send down a cooper there, and they have a booth for their stores close by.

518. What is the bargain you make with them about that?-They generally wish us to go to the fishing, and they will pay us accordingly.

519. What do you do about a boat?-We use the same boat as we have in the ling fishing.

520. Then your only complaint about the herring fishery is, that you don't know the price until settling time?-Yes. But there has been no herring fishery on the island at all this season, to speak of.

521. Do you require advances of money at all during the season?- We are often in want of a few shillings.

522. How do you get that?-The man we are dealing with just now (Mr. Tulloch) has never said no, so far as what we asked was reasonable. I got an advance of 2 from him last season to buy a cow. We were out of milk that season, and he did not refuse me the money when I asked it.

523. Do you get advances from Messrs. Hay also when you need it?-1 don't think they are so very frank about that, and I don't like to ask it; but they will give us any small thing we need from their shops.

* -A deep ravine which admits the sea.-<Edmonstone's Glossary>.

524. Do they supply you with goods also?-Yes.

525. Where is their store from which you get the goods?-There is their shop in town.

526. Do you come to Lerwick for them?-Yes.

527. Do you run an account there?-Sometimes we do, and sometimes not; but we have not much to do with Messrs. Hay on that footing.

528. You said that your reason for coming here and offering to give evidence to-day was, that you were afraid of young Mr. Bruce taking the fishing into his own hands?-Yes; that is the thing we find to be most oppressive, if it was coming to be the case.

529. Is it the general opinion in the country that he has undertaken to manage the fishings on his father's estates?-He addressed himself so in the note he gave us. He called himself general merchant and fish-curer.

530. Did he give you intimation of that one year at rent time?- Yes; that was last year.

531. But he has not yet taken the management of the fishing at Cunningsburgh?-No.

532. Has he fishing establishments elsewhere?-He has-at Dunrossness. He has taken all the tenants there into his own hands. The property, I daresay, is twice as large as Cunningsburgh.

533. Do you know from your own knowledge whether the tenants there are obliged to fish for him?-Yes; they are fishing to himself.

534. Have they no choice but to fish for him?-I don't think it. As far as my knowledge goes, they have not.

535. Are you acquainted with any of the fishermen there?-I know a little about them, from passing them on the road.

536. Have they ever complained to you about the state of matters at Dunrossness?-I cannot say much about that, except that they think they would have been fully better with their freedom.

537. Have they not got their freedom?-They cannot have their freedom when they are fishing to him.

538. But they may fish to him of their own free will?-They might; but I think he has gripped them so that they cannot have their freedom.

539. That, however, is only your own supposition?-I think it is true. It is so true that both the merchant and us are afraid that he will grip us too.

Lerwick, January 1, 1872, SIMON LAURENSON, examined.

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 entitled 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.