Second Shetland Truck System Report
Chapter 227 : 9329. Don't you think it would be better if the people here were paid ready money

9329. Don't you think it would be better if the people here were paid ready money for everything, instead of running such long accounts, and settling only once year?-It might, but I don't know how things would go then. If we were to pay ready money for everything that we got from the merchants, it might not come to answer very well.

9330. Why is that?-Because if I were taking anything to a merchant to sell, such as hosiery, and asking ready money for it, I would not get so much as if I were to let the price lie in his hands for some time.

9331. But don't you think the merchant would sell his goods cheaper to you if you were paying him in ready money?-I believe he would do that.

9332. Don't you think the people would manage their affairs better if they had the money in their own hands?-I think so; because if a man does a day's work, and is not paid for it until the end of five or six months, he is not likely to do so well with it as if the money was paid down to him at once and he could go where he liked with it, to make the best bargain for himself in buying things.

9333. Is it not a great trouble to keep in mind all the things that you have got to your credit-a day's work now, and your fish again, and a beast, perhaps which you have sold, and then to recollect all the outtakes you have had besides?-Yes. I have sold few beasts now for several years, but I always got the money paid down to me on the day when I sold them.

9334. You think that is handier than getting them put down into an account?-Yes.

Mid Yell, January 17, 1872, JOSEPH LEASK POLE, examined.

9335. Are you a partner of the firm of Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-I am not a partner.

9336. Are you the manager at Greenbank?-Yes.

9337. You were cited to bring some books?-I was and I have brought the only book which can give any information as to our intromissions with fishermen. Our princ.i.p.al books are kept at Mossbank, because that is the head-quarters of the firm.

9338. What books do you keep at Greenbank?-We only keep a ledger into which the account of each fisherman who has one is entered.

9339. Are there some fishermen whom you employ at Greenbank who do not open accounts?-I don't know if there are any; there may be one or two.

9340. In that account at Greenbank do you enter on the one side all the out-takes of the fishermen, and on the other the sums which are due to them for fish or any other matters?-No. The ledger I have with me shows merely the shop accounts of the fishermen.

The ledger you refer to is kept at Mossbank.

9341. Are all the balances made at Mossbank?-Yes.

9342. Do the men go there for settlement?-No, they settle at Greenbank; but my brother settles with them, and he brings the book over with him and takes it back with him when he goes to Mossbank again.

9343. What quant.i.ty of fish did you sell from Greenbank last year?-About 54 tons of dry fish.

9344. What number of boats had you engaged to produce that quant.i.ty?-We had 14 boats altogether. One boat had three men fis.h.i.+ng in it, another had four, and the rest had six apiece.

9345. Then the only book you have at Greenbank the ledger containing the accounts for shop goods furnished to your men?- That is the only book we keep there.

9346. Is there a woman's book besides?-No; we don't keep a woman's book at Greenbank.

9347. Do you purchase kelp?-Yes, we do; and we enter it in the kelp-book by itself.

9348. Is not that a sort of woman's book?-No.

9349. Is it not women mostly whom you employ at that?-It is women mostly, indeed altogether, who are employed in making the kelp at Greenbank.

9350. What quant.i.ty of kelp did you sell last year?-I think only about nine tons.

9351. What price do you allow to women for kelp?-We have two prices for kelp: 4s. in goods, and 3s. 6d. in cash.

9352. Is that a lower price than on the mainland?-I am not aware that it is, but I cannot speak as to that.

9353. Then, of course, you have a fish-book?-It is kept at Mossbank.

9354. How do your factors mark down the fish at landing?-There is a book kept at Gloup, which is the station in summer, and the factor marks the fish there. Then, as soon as the season is over, the amount is added up and sent to Mossbank to be entered in the fish-book.

9355. It is merely the amount of fish that is added up in the book at Gloup?-Yes.

9356. And the balance is made in a separate book at Mossbank?- Yes; in a ledger by itself, which is kept there.

9357. In that book the total goods supplied at Greenbank are entered in a slump sum?-Yes. The fishermen keep their shop account in one part of our business premises, and their slump account, as it were, in another part.

9358. That is to say, that at Greenbank they check their shop account?-Yes.

9359. Do they come to check it generally themselves, or do they have pa.s.s-books?-Some of them get pa.s.s-books, and others do not.

9360. If they have no pa.s.s-book, how do they check it?-I suppose they check it from their own memory.

9361. Do they come for that purpose before settling time?-No; they generally come about settling time.

9362. Do they not settle at Mossbank?-No; we settle with all our Greenbank fishermen at Greenbank.

9363. Are your books brought from Mossbank for that purpose?- Yes. As I said before, the princ.i.p.al of our business brings them along with him when he comes to settle with the men, and he takes them back with him when he goes back.

9364. Is it at that time that the totals of the shop accounts at Greenbank are entered into the princ.i.p.al ledger?-Yes; and the fisherman gets a note of the amount of his account from me. He settles with me for that, and takes the note in to my brother, who settles the whole account.

9365. Have you also a day-book at Greenbank?-Yes.

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9366. Is that for cash transactions, or do the whole of your transactions first pa.s.s into it before being carried into the ledger?-Almost all our transactions pa.s.s through it.

9367. What transactions do not pa.s.s through it?-If I happened to be posting my ledger at the time when a person was getting anything to be marked down, I might mark it straight into the ledger without putting it through the day-book, in order to save the trouble of posting.

9368. Do most of the fishermen whom you employ at Greenbank and Gloup reside within a short distance of these places?-No; they are scattered over the parish of North Yell, and a few of them are in this parish.

9369. Your brother, when examined at Brae, mentioned the properties which belonged to the members of the firm, and of which he was tacksman, but I forget whether he mentioned if there were any properties of which members of the firm are tacksmen: are there any such?-My brother is tacksman of Mr.

Walker's property in North Yell, and Pole, Hoseason, Co. are factors for George Hoseason of Basta, in North Yell, also. I think the number of tenants on Mr. Walker's estate might be fourteen, and the number on George Hoseason's may be nine or ten.

9370. Are these men bound to fish to you by the terms on which they hold their land?-They are not bound by any written or special engagement, but it is understood that they will fish to us, and most of them do so.

9371. Are they bound to fish for you in the Faroe fis.h.i.+ng?-No; we have no Faroe fis.h.i.+ng in connection with Greenbank at all.

9372. But you have at Mossbank?-Yes.

9373. If one of these men were to go to the Faroe fis.h.i.+ng, would you consider yourself ent.i.tled to the first offer of his services in one of your smacks?-We would.

9374. Then there is an understanding to that effect?-It is understood that these men will fish to us if we require them.

9375. In point of fact, do any men on these properties in North Yell engage for the Faroe fis.h.i.+ng with any other merchants?- There are very few, if who go from North Yell to the Faroe fis.h.i.+ng now. It is princ.i.p.ally young men who go there. I cannot at this moment recollect any one who goes to Faroe from the north district.