Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 191

7702. Had you spoken to Mr. Anderson about the matter in the interval?-I don't remember; perhaps I might.

7703. You were trying to set up your business at that time?-Yes.

7704. Don't you remember whether you applied to Mr. Anderson with regard to that matter at all?-Yes. I believe I told him then what had pa.s.sed between me and Mr. Gifford at first.

7705. Did Mr. Anderson then agree to withdraw any objection he might have to it?-He did not say anything about that.

7706. In what way did you come to make an arrangement with Mr.

Adie?-He had been told that I intended to commence curing fish, and he offered me some to cure.

7707. Was it through Mr. Anderson that that was done?-I don't know.

7708. Did the offer from Mr. Adie come to you through Mr.

Anderson?-No. He wrote me directly and I replied accepting his offer, and then I went and saw him at Voe.

7709. Do you buy the fish from Mr. Adie's boatmen?-No; I buy no fish.

7710. They are delivered to you by Mr. Adie's boatmen on his account, and you cure them for Mr. Adie, employing your own people and receiving a contract price for the curing?-Yes.

7711. How long had you been in Mr. Anderson's service before that time?-Upwards of twenty years.

7712. All the time as a shopman?-Not all the time, but perhaps for eighteen years as a shopman.

7713. Why did you leave his employment?-There was some difference between us, and we thought it best to part.

7714. Was there a quarrel about money matters, or anything of that kind?-No; there was no great quarrel.

7715. After you were refused that permission in the first instance by the Busta trustees, did Mr. Anderson agree in any way not to object to you having the shop, provided your sales were limited to the men whom you employed yourself?-No; Mr. Anderson never objected to me, nor in my presence; I did not hear him objecting.

7716. Did you know of him objecting?-I could not say that I knew of it.

7717. Did you think he was objecting?-Yes.

7718. What made you think that: was it what Mr. Gifford said?-I think it was.

7719. Do you think Mr. Anderson would have less objection to it when he knew it was Mr. Adie who was concerned in the business?-I took no thought of that.

7720. Do you know that Mr. Adie had interfered on your behalf with Mr. Gifford?-Not to my knowledge.

7721. Did you ask him to do so?-No.

7722. Have you any reason to suppose that he interfered on your behalf with Mr. Anderson?-Yes. He wrote to Mr. Anderson about me, inquiring why had left, and asking for testimonials.

7723. Was that before he wrote to you making the offer?-It was when I was asking goods from him. I don't remember exactly whether it was before or after.

7724. Do you sell the goods for Mr. Adie, or do you sell them on your own account?-I sell them on my own account.

7725. Do you get them from Mr. Adie at wholesale prices?-Yes.

7726. At least you get them from him at a lower rate than that at which you sell them?-Yes.

7727. Was it before or after you got leave from the Busta people to open the shop that Mr. Adie wrote to Mr. Anderson?-I cannot say exactly when it was, but it was before I got the goods from Mr.

Adie.

7728. Was it before you had got permission to open the shop that you applied to Mr. Adie for the goods?-No; I had got permission before I applied for the goods.

7729. Then it was after you had got permission open the shop that Mr. Adie wrote to Mr. Anderson?-Very likely it was but I don't know. I did not know about him having written until some time afterwards, when he told me.

7730. When you arranged with Mr. Adie about the fish-curing, was anything said about you having a shop from which to supply the people with goods?-No.

7731. Are you sure of that?-Yes. I wrote to him, and I never said anything about that.

7732. But you went to see him after that?-Yes; it was only then I spoke about the goods.

7733. Was it on your way home from Voe that you called at Busta and saw Mr. Gifford about the shop the second time?-No; it was before I went to Voe.

7734. Was it on your way to Voe?-I don't remember. Perhaps it may have been on a different day altogether.

7735. But it was before you went to Voe, and after you had got the letter from Mr. Adie?-Yes.

7736. You don't know from Mr. Adie or Mr. Anderson whether there had been any letters between them about you until after you were at Voe that time?-I don't know.

7737. Do you think there was any such letter?-I don't know of any, but there may have been.

7738. How did you know of the other letter first: did you see it?- No.

7739. Who told you of it?-Mr, Adie.

7740. Was that at another time when you called upon him?-No; it was the first time-the time when I went to him and asked for goods. He told me then that he had written to Mr. Anderson and got his reply.

7741. That is not what you told me before: did you not say before, that you thought it was after you had asked for the goods that Mr.

Adie wrote to Mr. Anderson?-It was after I had agreed for the fish.

7742. Then the first time you saw Mr. Adie was at Voe before you opened the shop, and when you went to ask for goods?-Yes.

7743. And when you were at Voe at that time Mr. Adie told you he had written to Mr. Anderson, and had received a reply from him containing a certificate?-Yes.

7744. Did Mr. Adie tell you at the same time that he had seen Mr.

Gifford?-I cannot say.

7745. What department did you manage in Mr. Anderson's shop?-I was fish-curer and factor for the summer time at Stenness.

7746. Do you know William Inkster?-Yes.

7747. Do you remember three or four years ago when he left Mr.

Adie and came to fish to Mr Anderson?-Yes.

7748. Did you know that he did that because Mr. Adie had refused him supplies on account of a debt?-No; I did not know that.