Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 360

15,360. Have you been in the habit of knitting and selling your goods, or have you knitted with your own wool?-I have both knitted with merchants' wool and with wool of my own.

15,361. Have you knitted for a long time, and had a great deal of experience in it?-I have knitted for about thirty-two or thirty-three years. During that time I have knitted mostly with my own wool.

15,362. How have you been paid for your hosiery?-Either in money or goods.

15,363. Have you ever been paid altogether in money?-Yes, often.

15,364. Is it not the usual way in Lerwick to pay for hosiery in goods only?-Yes, that is generally the way in which most of them do.

15,365. Why has an exception been made in your case?-I don't think any exception has been made with me. Whenever I brought a good article to the merchants I asked money for it, and when I thought it was an inferior article I never thought of asking for money.

15,366. Was it generally very fine articles that you knitted?-Not particularly fine, but I have sometimes knitted very fine articles.

15,367. Was it only for the very fine articles that you got the money?-It was only for them that I asked the money.

15,368. How much was the largest sum you got at one time?-I think I have got as much as 5 at one time from Mr. Arthur Laurenson, but I am not sure; his books will show.

15,369. Did you get that money for one article?-Not for one article. It was for a number.

15,370. Was it on an account with him that you got that?-Yes; but I do not remember the exact sum.

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15,371. What did you get it for?-There was a cloak and several other articles, and the balances upon several shawls which I had been leaving with him.

15,372. For what purpose did you get so much money?-I cannot remember exactly. I had a reason at the time for asking so much, but I don't remember asking the money when I sold the articles.

15,373. But you had a special reason for wanting that money?- Yes. I would rather not mention what it was, unless it is necessary.

15,374. Did you tell Mr. Laurenson the reason?-Yes.

15,375. Did you get all the money that was due to you at that time?-Yes. I sent a girl who was living in my house at the time to Mr. Laurenson for the cash, and he sent the balance by her, and a line along with it to show that he had paid it.

15,376. Was there not a discount taken off because you had got it in cash?-There was nothing taken off.

15,377. What was the next largest sum that you got at any one time?-I have got 3 at one time from Mr. Robert Linklater.

15,378. Was there any special reason for that?-I got it for a very fine cloak which I sold to him.

15,379. Did you sell it to him for a money price?-I sold it, and asked the money, and got it from him there and then.

15,380. Did you ever get as much as that on any other occasion?- No; but I have often got 2, which is generally considered the price of a good cloak.

15,381. Did you sell it to them for that in cash?-Yes.

15,382. Did you ever get money when you knitted for any merchant

15,383. How much did you get then?-I can scarcely remember.

I knitted at one time for Mr. Gilbert Harrison, and I always got money from him when I asked it, whether it was a large sum or a small sum. The firm is now Harrison & Sons, but it was before young Mr. Harrison's time that I got that money. I don't think they deal in hosiery now; at least I have not dealt with them for a long time.

15,384. Have you dealt with any other merchant and got money in such large sums as that?-I once had a transaction with Mr. Wm.

Johnston, and I asked in money and 1 in goods, and I got it.

15,385. There was a letter sent to me in which it was stated that you could tell me a story about a certain merchant in town: do you know anything about that letter?-No. I was wondering who had mentioned my name to you.

15,386. [Shown letter dated 9th January 1872, and signed W.

Linklater.] Do you know that handwriting?-I do not, but I know what it refers to. It was merely a private thing that I was telling to another party about having taken some hosiery to a merchant.

15,387. Do you know the party who writes the letter?-I don't think I do.

15,388. What does the letter refer to?-I bought some stockings from a merchant in Lerwick, and I was selling some shawls to him, but he did not like to take hosiery in return for his stockings. He said he would take one half money and one half shawls, and I went home, and I think it was either 20s. or 30s. that I got from my husband to pay one half of the price.

15,389. What quant.i.ty of hosiery had you bought?-I think it was rather more than 2 worth.

15,390. Was that for your own family?-No. It was for a party who had sent to me for some hosiery, and I went to that merchant's shop for it.

15,391. Do you sometimes deal in hosiery yourself?-I sometimes send work south, but I oftener sell it here. It is a long time since that affair happened; and I think the price came to nearly 3, but I don't remember the amount.

15,392. How long ago was it?-Perhaps 12 years ago, or perhaps not so much.

15,393. Was it the practice at that time, as it is now, to pay for hosiery in goods?-Yes.

15,394. But when you bought hosiery, was it understood you were to pay for it in cash?-There was no understanding about it. I just went to the shop for the stockings, and the merchant agreed to take one half of the payment in hosiery and the other half in cash, which I paid to him. I asked his reason for doing that, and he said that by taking the hosiery it was turning his goods twice over for only one profit.

15,395. Was that the only transaction you ever had with that merchant?-I had plenty of transactions with him before, but not many after.

15,396. Do you sometimes buy a great quant.i.ty of wool?-Yes; but it is very difficult to get the best wool.

15,397. Where do you buy it?-Sometimes from country merchants, generally from Fetlar. I get some worsted from William Tulloch, Fetlar. I generally pay 4d. a cut for it. The finest is 6d. a cut; that is the kind which is used in making fine shawls and fine cloaks in Shetland.

15,398. You don't buy it in wool yourself, but in worsted?-Yes.

There are some of the people in Lerwick who buy it in fine wool, and send it to the country to be spun, before they can get it really fine.

15,399. Are they not able to buy the finest worsted in the shops in Lerwick?-I never could do so.

Lerwick, January 30, 1872, GEORGE JAMIESON, examined.

15,400. Have you a farm at North Roe, on the estate of Busta?- Yes. I have only had one crop there.

15,401. Have you been a fisherman?-Yes, all my life.

15,402. Whom did you fish for?-I have fished for different people in my time. When I was on Messrs. Hay's property I fished for them; but they suspended me from fis.h.i.+ng, and I would not go again. They wanted to put me into a boat with some old men. I would not agree to that, and I lost my fis.h.i.+ng for four years.

15,403. Were you at liberty to fish for whom you pleased?-I was not. They stopped other fish-curers from taking me during these four years.

15,404. How did they do that?-I offered to go for different men, and they would not take me for fear of Mr. Greig, Messrs. Hay's factor at North Roe.

15,405. Are the tenants on the Gossaburgh estate bound to fish for Messrs. Hay & Co.?-Yes. I was bound to do so all the time I was there. One year I agreed with Mr. Anderson, Hillswick, to go to the fis.h.i.+ng for him, and I came with my share of fis.h.i.+ng lines, but he would not give his men a share of lines to make up the fis.h.i.+ng with; and he gave us an old boat that we would not risk our lives in, and he would not give us any meal.