Second Shetland Truck System Report
Chapter 133 : 4978. Do you prefer to go to Henderson's store because the goods are cheaper and

4978. Do you prefer to go to Henderson's store because the goods are cheaper and better there?-Yes.

4979. Are they both cheaper and better?-We generally think so.

4980. Can you give me any particular case in which you have found them to be so?-I have never made an exact comparison of the things to find out the precise difference; but when we are to buy a suit of clothes for instance, we think we can make as good bargain at Henderson's shop as we can do at any shop in Shetland.

4981. Have you bought a suit of clothes both at that shop and at Mr. Grierson's?-I have never bought a full suit of clothes at Mr.

Grierson's, but I have done so at Gavin Henderson's.

4982. What is the price of meal at Quendale store?-I could not tell exactly, because I have not had any there during the last two years, my little farm having supplied me with all I wanted.

4983. What is the price of tea at the two stores?-The prices of tea at both these stores are much the same. There are three different prices of tea at the two stores, but we rather think that Henderson's tea is generally better for the prices charged than Mr. Grierson's is.

4984. Have you tried the moleskins also?-Yes; and if I were buying with ready money out of Grierson's shop, I don't think the difference between them would be worth mentioning.

4985. But is there a difference according as you buy with ready money or pay at the settlement?-Yes. If I buy a pair of trousers for ready money, I get them down 1d. per yard. The cloth is marked 3s. per yard, and I get 1d. off the yard. Then if I buy a s.h.i.+rt of 3 yards, and if I pay ready money for it, I get reduction of 1d. per yard on 9d. or 10d.

4986. Do you get your goods cheaper at Henderson's shop even with that discount?-Yes. If I go to Henderson's shop without the money, he will not take any more for the goods than he would do even if I had the money with me.

4987. Will he give you the goods as cheap as at Grierson's?-Yes; as cheap as if I had bought them at Grierson's with ready money.

4988. Is there any other reason why you would prefer not to deal at Mr. Grierson's shop for your goods?-We would have no great objection to deal at his shop if we were paid a little better for our fish. It is our opinion that we are not paid for our fish altogether as we might be.

4989. But you get the currency of the country?-Yes; and we sign for that.

4990. Do you think you should get more than the currency of the country?-We cannot exactly judge of the state of the market, but from what we hear and from what we see in the papers, we think the merchants take rather too much profit, and that we would be a little better if we received the money for the sale of our fish ourselves.

4991. Do you think you would be better off if you had a price fixed for your fish at so much per cwt. at the beginning of the season?-That would depend upon circ.u.mstances.

4992. Taking a number of years together, do you think you could make a better bargain for yourselves in that way?-I think so. The three men I mentioned in Sandwick parish generally give an agreement to state something like what they will give, and they seem to stand by it pretty well whatever the price may be.

4993. Would the fishermen not object to that sort of arrangement?-I don't know. I don't think the fishermen in general would object to any agreement by which they might know what they were working for during the season, although I really cannot say that they could make any more decided efforts for catching fish than they do under present circ.u.mstances.

4994. But even although the price were fixed at the beginning of the season, the fishermen would still have an inducement to exert themselves as much as possible in order that they might have a large catch?-They would; but I say that I don't know how they could exert themselves to do more than they do already.

4995. Still, they would have exactly the same reason for exertion?-Yes.

4996. Do you think if the price were fixed at the beginning of the season, and it turned out that the current price of fish was much higher than that fixed with the men at the commencement, they would try to get out of their bargain, and demand the higher price that was current?-There comes the difficulty. We who catch the fish would always like to get as high a price for them as we can; but if we make an agreement, we must stand by it. However, if the merchants could afford to give 6d. or 1s. more according to the state of the markets, and did not give it, we would rather look down upon them for taking such a large price, and not giving us part of the advantage of it.

4997. But you ought to recollect that in another year you might have made a bargain for the same price, and the price received by the fish-curers might be less, so that there would be a loss to them?-Yes; but, I think the men in general would be prepared to run the risk of the rise and fall in the markets in that way, or, if they made a bargain, they would stick to it.

4998. Have you known any case in which men engaged to fish on such terms, and finding the price higher than that which they had bargained for, asked that higher price from the fish-curer?-I cannot say that I have known any case.

4999. You don't know whether that has ever occurred in Shetland?-No, I don't know anything about that.

5000. Do you know anything about the employment of beach boys?-A little. I had a boy employed this year at the beach.

5001. Is there considered to be an obligation upon the Quendale tenants to allow their sons to be employed as beach boys?-Yes, whenever called for.

5002. Is that obligation enforced?-Yes, it is just the same as with all the rest. The landlord says, 'If I call for your son to cure fish for me, and you object to it, then I can lay whatever penalty I choose upon you, and either remove you or impose a fine.'

5003. Do you know of any case where that has occurred?-No; because the tenants know exactly what the consequences would be, and they are frightened to do anything in opposition to their landlord's wishes. We are all poor people together, and not very well able to bear fines or removals.

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5004. What are the wages for a beach boy?-An active beach boy for his first year at Quendale will get 30s. for about five months in the year. That is his whole wage.

5005. Could he get more in any other employment in Shetland?- In some cases Messrs. Hay's factor would give more for beach boys than they would get beside us.

5006. What is the age of a boy who would get that wage?-From twelve to fourteen or sixteen years; and if a boy goes two or three years to the beach, his wages are raised every year.

5007. How are their wages paid?-If they take goods from the shop, these are marked down against them.

5008. Are they marked down in the father's account, or in a separate account in the boy's own name?-In a separate account in the boy's own name.

5009. Has your son been long in that employment?-I have only had one of my sons at it for one year.

5010. Is he to be employed this year again in the same way?-Yes.

5011. Had he a balance in his favour when he was settled with?- He has not been settled with yet. He was employed for the year which has just come to an end; but I don't think he will have very much to get, as he had no clothes to speak of when he began, and he was very glad of the chance of winning a little, so that he might get a suit of clothes.

5012. Has it been a common case within the last two or three years for the fishermen who are employed in the way you have described to have a balance in their favour at settlement, or have they usually had balance against them?-During the last two or three years a good many of Mr. Grierson's fishermen have had a very good balance to come to them to account, but I and some others have been behind and could not get clear.

5013. Are there many of that sort?-There are few.

5014. Is it worse for a man of that kind to leave and get free of his obligation to fish than for a man that has cash to receive to do so?-Under Mr. Grierson's arrangement there is no difference between the two kinds of men as regards getting their liberty to fish to any other man, because none of them have any such liberty.

5015. The obligation to fish depends on the holding of land; it does not depend on the amount of debt due to Mr. Grierson?-No, it does not depend upon that.

5016. Are there many men there who fish for Mr. Grierson and who do not hold land?-Yes, there are a good few.

5017. Are they under any obligation to fish for him?-They are all under one obligation from head to foot.

5018. How does that happen in the case of men who do not hold land?-Because they are all on Mr. Grierson's ground.

5019. Would the party they live with be warned if they were not to fish for him?-That was in his first arrangement.

5020. Is that arrangement still in force?-I never knew of any alteration being made upon it.

5021. Have you been told anything about that obligation since it was read over to you in 1861?-No; there have been no cases in which it has been broken except the two I have mentioned, and we saw what happened.

5022. But you have not been spoken to about it at all?-No.

5023. Or reminded about it?-No, we have never been reminded about it; but we signed then to fish for Mr. Grierson, and we have heard of no other arrangement.

5024. How do you supply yourselves with fis.h.i.+ng materials?-We generally take them from Mr. Grierson's shop.

5025. Are you under any sort of obligation to take them from there?-We are just under the same sort of obligation to take them from his shop as we are to take anything, because we generally cannot get them anywhere else. We never ask money to go and get them anywhere else, although it is our opinion that if we could go elsewhere, we would get them a little cheaper-that is, our fis.h.i.+ng lines.

5026. Where would you go for them?-We could buy them in some shops in Lerwick a little cheaper.