Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 56

1483. The goods you got at the shop are entered in the first part of the book, and then at the end there are entries of the knitted work which you have brought back to the shop?-Yes; I knitted a great deal before I took the pa.s.s-book out at all.

1484. The knitting begins on July 7th, 1869, and the goods begin in November 1866, and there was balance due for knitting of 3, 17s., 10d., which is not entered in the book at all: how do you explain in that?-It was them who always made up the book.

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1485. Had you a pa.s.s-book for goods before this?-I knitted a long time before I took a pa.s.s-book.

1486. When did you begin to knit?-I cannot remember how many years it is ago. I had knitted for two or three years to Mr. Linklater before I got the book.

1487. Are the goods which are entered here just for your own use?-No; I sold some tea and got money for it, for I could not get money out of the shop.

1488. I see that in, 1867, on January 3d, you have, Tea 1s. 10d.; 24th, 9d.; 26th, tea 11d., tea 11d., 1s. 10d: does the last entry mean that you got two separate parcels of tea, each 11d.?-It may have been that; I cannot exactly say.

1489. How much tea would you get for 11d.?-A quarter of a pound.

1490. Then you got two quarter pounds on one day?-I suppose so. One would be for my own use and the other not.

1491. What would the other be for?-I would likely sell the other, in order to get money for it.

1492. Who do you generally sell it to?-I cannot remember who I sold it to. Sometimes there would be men coming to the house to buy, tea, and I supplied them.

1493. What kind of men were these?-Men come from the country and want to have some tea made and I supply them with it because I have it in the house.

1494. Do you keep lodgers?-I have very few lodgers; but sometimes people come from the country and want tea made for them, although they do not stay all night.

1495. Why, did they not stay all night?-Because they went home.

1496. Was it part of your business to take in people and give them tea?-No; but they would come into the house and get tea made, and then go out and do their errands.

1497. Then they came to your house to get refreshments?-Yes.

1498. And they sometimes paid you for the which they got?-Yes; I was always paid for the tea which I gave them in that way.

1499. Did you sell it to them in quarter pounds or smaller quant.i.ties?-Smaller quant.i.ties.

1500. Do you make a profit off that?-I get money for that, but I cannot say that I make a profit. Sometimes I had people working for me, to whom I gave a quarter pound of tea.

1501. When you got two quarter pounds, would you sell one quarter entire?-Yes. When people were working for me, then I had to give them a quarter of a pound of tea in order to pay them, because I did not have money to give them.

1502. What people had you working for you?-I have sometimes been sick, and I have had a person attending upon me, because I am not healthy; and I had to pay these persons in tea.

1503. Are you a married woman?-No.

1504. Have you a house of your own?-Yes; a room.

1505. The entries in this book only come down to February 1870.

Have you had no book since then?-No.

1506. Have you still been dealing with Mr. Linklater?-No; I have been working for myself with my own worsted. That was when I stopped knitting for him.

1507. I see an entry on September 9th 1868, Tea 10d., tea 8d., 1s.

6d.: would these be two quarter pounds of tea of different quality?-Sometimes they would be that, and sometimes not.

1508. But I am speaking of that particular entry. Was it so in that, case?-I cannot remember.

1509. But when you got tea at 10d. and tea at 8d., that must have been two quarter pounds of different qualities?-Yes; I would get better tea, and tea that was not so good.

1510. When you got them on the same day, would you be intending to sell one of them?-Yes.

1511. Is that a common practice, to get two quarter pounds of tea and to sell one of them, or to get several quarter pounds in payment for your shawl?-No; I just got it as I asked for it.

1512. Have you sold anything else besides tea which you got from the shop?-Yes, cottons and some moleskins which I had to take out of the shop in order to pay my rent.

1513. I don't see any moleskins marked here?-No; they are not in that book.

1514. Had you any other book?-No; it was when I sold my own shawls that I took the moleskins.

1515. You say you buy your own wool: where do you buy it?- There is a woman who spins it for me. I buy it in worsted.

1516. Do you pay her for it in money?-Yes.

1517. And you sell your shawls to any merchant who will buy them?-Yes.

1518. How are you paid for them?-I sold the last two to Miss Robina Leisk.

1519. Is she a merchant in Lerwick?-Yes.

1520. Has she a shop?-Yes.

1521. How were you paid for these shawls?-I got 2, 14s. for the two-27s. apiece.

1522. Were you paid in money?-No.

1523. Were they fine shawls?-Yes

1524-5. Did you get any part of that sum in money?-14s.

1526. Was that all you asked for in money?-Yes.

1527. And you got the rest in goods?-Yes.

1528. Did you want these goods for your own use?-No; I took some moleskins to sell.

1529. Was that because you could not get the rest in money?- Yes.

1530. Did you ask for more in money?-She did not want to give me more.

1531. Did you ask for more?-I did not ask for it, because I knew I would not get it.