Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 221

9059. You sell to the merchants as a sort of wholesale dealer?- Yes.

9060. The price per pound of that worsted varies according to the quality?-Yes.

9061. It does not correspond with the price per cut in any way?- No. Of course the finer the worsted the finer the thread is.

9062. You do not calculate the price of that worsted, by the pound at all?-No. We just judge of the fineness or the thickness of it.

9063. The names of the men who were fis.h.i.+ng for you in 1871 are entered in the ledger?-Yes.

9064. Had you generally more than two boats previous to last year?-Yes. We sometimes had four, but that was the most I ever had. This [showing] is the company account for one of the boats, Basil Ramsay & Co., and then there are the private accounts of the men.

9065. In Basil Ramsay's private account, the entry 'to cash to rent'

on November 17, 1869, referred to cash advanced to him for the purpose of paying his rent?-Yes. He was at that time 2, 11s.

61/2d. in my debt upon the settlement of the previous year. After a bad year I have to advance money to the fishermen in that way, in order to prevent them from being turned out.

9066. Here [showing] is an account of Janet Sinclair, Herra: who is she?-She keeps a small shop of her own, and sells things for me at Herra and buys worsted for me.

9067. Have you many women employed in that way selling goods for you?-Only that one.

9068. In another account there is meal 3s.-that would be half a lispund-in August 1871: was that the selling price at the time?- Very likely it was.

9069. There is also flour 1s. 2d. on the same date: how much was that?-8 lbs., or a peck.

9070. Where do you get your supplies of meal and flour?-Chiefly from Lerwick, from R. & C. Robertson.

9071. Would you consider yourself likely to drive a much larger business if you had a number of fishermen in your employment?- I don't know. Of course there would be more men and more stir and more traffic, and I would likely turn over more goods, because if the men could buy as cheaply from me they would not go anywhere else.

9072. Have you ever had any difficulty in getting the men from another merchant to fish for you in consequence of them being in debt to that other merchant-I never tried that.

9073. But have you found that men had difficulty in engaging with you on that account?-No.

9074. Have you ever been asked by any merchant to undertake the debt due to him by any man whom you employed?-I have never been asked by the merchant, but I have been asked by the men for a little money to clear off their account with another merchant when I engaged them.

9075. Have you been asked to be a security for them?-No. I have only given them cash.

9076. When did you do that last?-It is five years ago. There was a boat's crew who left Pole, Hoseason, & Co. at that time and came over to me. That was Basil Ramsay's boat.

9077. And you advanced them money with which to pay their debt to Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-Yes; there was a little advance required.

9078. Do you suppose you will have that to do with the boats'

crews you have engaged this year?-I don't think so.

9079. Do you know whether they are clear?-I don't know.

9080. How do you ascertain the current price at the end of the year for settling with your men?-We know what the fish cost, and we know what they sell for. We know what the wet fish turn out dry.

We can make a calculation of that from the quant.i.ty of green fish delivered to us and from the quant.i.ty of dry fish which we have to sell.

9081. How much was the proportion in your settlement last year?-I cannot tell exactly what it was last year, but on an average it is 2 cwt. 14 lbs. to 2 cwt. 20 lbs. of wet fish to 1 cwt.

of dry fish.

9082. Do you make the allowance according to the proportion you ascertain in each year to exist between your total weight of dry fish and your total weight of green fish?-Yes; there are calculations of that kind made. I don't do it personally, but I believe some of the big curers do it, and then we pay after them.

9083. Do all the large curers agree upon a certain average for each year?-No; they don't make each other acquainted with that.

They just pay according to what they sell the fish for, and they give the fishermen the benefit of the rise or fall in the market.

[Page 220]

9084. I am not talking of the average of the current price; I am talking of the average weight of the dry fish as against the green.

Does each merchant make his own calculation with regard to that?-I suppose so. I have made calculations in some years, and in others I have not.

9085. How do you take it when you do not make it calculation?-I wait until I see what is current, and then I pay the same.

9086. That is for the money price, but the current price depends on the proportion of dry fish to green?-Yes.

9087. You find out what the large curers have been selling for or have been allowing their men, and you give the same?-Yes.

9088. Are you aware whether all the large curers give the same current price or does it vary with the different houses?-In North Yell, Spence & Co. have some fishermen, and Pole, Hoseason, & Co. have some. We hear what their men are paid, and then our men are paid the same.

9089. Do Pole Hoseason, & Co, and Spence & Co., so far as you know, always pay the same rate?-Yes.

9090. Do you know how their current rate is fixed, or how it is ascertained what the men are to get?-I suppose they just make a calculation in the way I have mentioned.

9091. But you don't know anything about it except that you hear what they pay?-No. I make a calculation for myself to see whether it is over or under, but we tell our men that we will give the current price stated for these parties if they will come and fish for us.

9092. Is your bargain with regard to boat hire the price of lines, and so on, the same with your men as Pole, Hoseason, & Co. have with their men?-Sometimes it varies a little; it is not always fixed. Sometimes we give the men half-a-year's hire off, as an encouragement. They are what are called freemen, and we have to give them some inducement before they will come to us.

9093. What is the usual hire in Yell?-The hire is divided into two. It is 6: 2, 8s. for the boat, and 3, 12s. for the lines.

9094. Is that charged against the boat in the company account?- It is just made up in the balance with the men, and settled for by them. They always carry pa.s.s-books.

9095. Then that does not enter the company account?-No.

9096. What is entered in the company account?-It is just the goods got for the supply of the men during the fis.h.i.+ng season at the fis.h.i.+ng station. [Shows one account.] The North Yell account is an account kept at the station in a pa.s.s-book. The boat's hire is estimated before the earnings are divided into six; we make a balance sheet of it, which is added up, and then we place each man's balance to his account.

9097. When you make a deduction from the boat hire as an inducement for the men to fish for you, do you mean that instead of 2, 8s. you charge them only 1, 4s.?-Sometimes we take more off than that. Perhaps on a 6 hire we will take off 3.

9098. Is not that a very liberal deduction?-Yes.

9099. You cannot have much profit on your boats when you do that?-There is no profit on the boats whatever.

9100. What profit do you get on hiring out boats at all?-We get no benefit from that. We only get little benefit from the fish and from the goods sold.

9101. Is it usual to allow so large a deduction from the boat hire?-I cannot say what is done by any one but myself. We have not been in the habit of doing it much. We sometimes take a little off the hire of the boat, in order to make it as moderate for the men as possible.

9102. Are you doing that just now in order to induce fishermen to come to you?-Yes. They come and say they will fish for us if we will give them the currency, and perhaps half the hire down, or the whole hire down.

9103. So that the deduction on the boat hire is really a premium for them coming to fish for you?-Exactly.