Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 224

Gatherer?-Yes, it was paid at the custom-house. I think I got an account of wages for that too, but I could not say exactly.

The oil on which the money was paid was 42 tons. The first payment of oil-money was upon 150 tons, making 192 altogether.

9196. Was the whole of that paid at the custom house?-Yes.

9197. Are you quite sure about that?-I am sure enough.

9198. And are you sure you got an account of the second payment of oil-money, although you have not got it now?-I am not sure about that. I think I got an account of wages for that too but I cannot say.

9199. How did you manage to keep the accounts of wages you have produced, when you did not keep the account for the last payment of oil-money?-Because I got these accounts of wages when I was going home, but at the time when I got the account for the last payment I was going away.

9200. Is your last payment of oil-money generally made to you when you are s.h.i.+pping in the following year?-I never get it until I am going away next year, and therefore it is easy to see how I may have lost the papers which I got then.

9201. Have you any accounts running with Messrs. Hay between the end of one whaling voyage and the beginning of another?- Very often I have. If I require anything I send to Messrs. Hay for it, or to any other man in Lerwick.

9202. Do you also get advances of cash from them when you want them?-Yes.

9203. Do you generally settle with Messrs. Hay at the time when you are engaged for the next year's voyage?-No. I settle with them at the time when I get paid.

9204. But you don't get your second payment of oil-money until you are going away for a new voyage?-I get it whenever it comes; but I told you that last year I did not get it until I was going away.

9205. Did that never happen before?-It has happened before.

9206. You have produced a receipt granted by you to Mr. Leask for 1, 5s. 3d. in 1867: how does that receipt happen to be in your possession?-That was a short voyage, only six weeks, in the 'Polynia' of Dundee and there were no half-pay tickets. I got an advance from him, and when I paid the money again at the end of the voyage the receipt was handed back to me.

9207. Was that advance given to you in cash?-No, I got my first month's advance in cash, and then I got that advance in goods.

9208. Was that for your own outfit, or for your family?-I think it was for my own outfit.

9209. Have you got payments of that kind frequently from the agents who have engaged you?-No; that was the only one.

9210. Did you get your first month's advance in addition to this?- Yes.

9211. Did you get it in cash or in goods?-I got it in a line to be cashed a day or two after we sailed. I gave the line to Mr. Leask's man, and got the princ.i.p.al part of it in money. Then they drew the money from the s.h.i.+powner after I left.

9212. You took your first month's advance partly in money and partly in goods?-Yes, I think that was the way of it.

9213. And you got 1, 5s. 3d. in goods in addition to that?-Yes.

9214. Why did you want that amount of goods?-I have wanted three times that amount, according to circ.u.mstances. For one voyage I would require that amount, if I had not a good stock.

9215. Why did you not get the whole of your first month's advance in goods when you say you were requiring them?-Perhaps I was requiring money for some other purpose. I had perhaps to send part of it home.

9216. Why did you not take the whole of your month's advance in goods, and then get that advance in cash?-Perhaps I got more than that in cash. That advance was only 25s., and I had 2, 10s.

per month.

9217. Did you get the whole payment of your wages for that voyage before you left?-Yes, except the second payment of oil-money. That second payment is made after the oil is boiled.

There is a calculation made when we come home with regard to the whole amount of oil that is in the s.h.i.+p, and when we arrive we are paid a proportion of that. Then, when the oil is boiled; they see what it actually amounts to and we are paid the balance of our oil-money.

9218. Then on this voyage in 1867, which you made for Mr.

Leask, you were advanced at sailing the whole amount of your wages and the first payment your oil-money?-Yes.

9219. And all that you had to get afterwards was your last payment of oil-money?-Yes.

9220. You got the whole of the amount in cash or goods?-Yes.

9221. But mostly in goods?-I could not say that it was mostly in goods, because, except the 1, 5s. 3d. and perhaps 10s. of my first month's advance I do not think I got more goods from them. I am not sure; about that; but I cannot say that I got more.

Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, JOHN JOHNSTON, examined.

9222. You hold some land now from Mr. M'Queen at Burravoe?- Yes.

9223. Do you fish for Mr. Henderson?-No; I fish for Mr. Adie at the Out Skerries.

9224. Were you formerly a tenant on the Lunna estate?-Yes. I left it seven years ago because Sheriff Bell's tenantry there were handed over to Mr. Robertson, and were bound to fish for him. He and I had disputed at one time, and I was not very well satisfied about fis.h.i.+ng for him. I was paying my land rent to the Sheriff, and I thought that when a man was [Page 223] paying his land rent he ought to have freedom to fish to the best advantage for himself that he could.

9225. Where did you engage to fish that season?-At the Skerries, to Mr. Adie.

9226. You thought you could make a better thing of it by fis.h.i.+ng for Mr. Adie, and you went to him?-Yes.

9227. What happened in consequence of that?-Nothing happened, except that I must either be bound to fish for Mr.

Robertson or leave the property.

9228. Were you told that you must leave the property?-Yes; the Sheriff himself told me that.

9229. Was Mr. Robertson his factor or his tacksman?-His tacksman.

9230. To whom did you pay your rent at Lunna?-To Mr.

Robertson when he came to be tacksman, but the Sheriff before that.

9231. Who first told you that you were to leave your ground at Lunna?-The Sheriff himself.

9232. When was that?-The year before I left. That was nine years ago.

9233. Was that when you had first engaged with Mr. Adie?-No.

I fished for two years for Mr. Robertson after that, after I removed to Yell.

9234. Then why did you leave Lunna? I thought you told me it was because you engaged with Mr. Adie that you were turned out of your ground there?-No; it was not because I engaged with Mr.

Adie. It was because I would not fish for Mr. Robertson.

9235. Why did you fish for Mr. Robertson for two years after that, although you were not bound?-We were fis.h.i.+ng then at our own freedom.

9236. Were you asked to sign any obligation to fish for Mr.

Robertson?-No.

9237. How did you intimate that you were not going to be bound to fish for him? Had you a conversation with Mr. Bell on the subject?-Yes. At the time when Mr. Bell's tenants were handed over to Mr. Robertson, I was in the merchant service; but they made a statement then that the tenants were to be bound to fish for him.

9238. Who made the statement?-Mr. Bell and Mr. Robertson made it after I came home. For the last ten years I have been at the ling fis.h.i.+ng. The first winter I came home I caught some cod, small and big, and I salted them, and went down to Lerwick and sold them to Messrs. Hay. Mr. Robertson got word of that, and got an account from Messrs. Hay of the cod that I had sold. He handed that to the Sheriff, who came to Lunnasting; and I was called up and found fault with for not selling the fish to Mr.

Robertson as tacksman. He asked me my reason for that; and I said that I had signed no agreement to fish for him; that I was due him nothing; and that I did not see why I could not sell my fish to any man I liked. Bell said very little to that; but he gave me to understand that after that I was either to leave the property, or to pay 1 of a fine if I sold my fish to any other person.