Second Shetland Truck System Report
Chapter 258 : Baltasound, Unst, January 19, 1872, ROBERT GRAY, examined.10,751. Are you a fisherman

Baltasound, Unst, January 19, 1872, ROBERT GRAY, examined.

10,751. Are you a fisherman here?-I am. I fish to Mr. Sandison at the station.

10,752. Where do you live?-I live at Snarravoe.

10,753. You have heard the evidence to-day, and you desire to come forward and make some statement yourself with regard to the advances of meal you have received from Messrs. Spence & Co?-Yes. I wish to say that if I had not been advanced by them in two bad years, I must have starved with my family, because, I did not have the means with which to buy supplies.

10,754. Were you in debt to Spence & Co. at the beginning of the two bad years?-Yes.

10,755. And you continued to fish for them?-Yes.

10,756. Have you got further into debt during late years, or have you cleared any of your debt off?-I have got a little out of debt, because I had some cattle to spare, and I had a bigger fis.h.i.+ng; but at the time when I had nothing with which to support my family they supported us and paid my rent too.

10,757. On whose property do you live?-On Major Cameron's property.

10,758. Then you paid your rent to him?-I paid my rent to him until Spence & Co. took me into their service.

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10,759. Who did you fish for formerly?-Captain Cameron kept the fis.h.i.+ng when he was alive, and I fished for him, and at other times I just fished for the man that I got the best bargain from.

10,760. But at one time Captain Cameron held you bound to fish for himself?-Yes.

10,761. You now take your supplies from Spence & Co?-Yes; and I could not be better supplied than I have been by them.

10,762. You don't deal anywhere else?-No, except for any small thing which I require; and if I have a penny or so I go into any shop and buy.

10,763. Do you get any cash in the course of the year?-I get it when I ask for it.

10,764. How much have you asked for?-I never could ask for much because I was in debt, and I am in debt yet; but when I asked for a little, I got it at any time.

10,765. I suppose you have some money pa.s.sing through your hands at times?-It is not very much. I went south some years ago and I had no money, and I wrote to those people to supply my family while was south, and they gave them what they required.

10,766. Is that all you wish to say?-Yes.

Baltasound, Unst, January 19, 1872, ALEXANDER SANDISON, recalled.

10,767. Do you wish to say anything further?-Yes. The reason why the big shops have no change is, that they are daily paying for produce and advances to their fishermen, and change is very much wanted. I have often had to issue small checks for want of change promising to pay them when I got the change.

10,768. Is there any other person here who wishes to give evidence or to make any statement? [No answer] Then I adjourn the sitting here until further notice.

UYEASOUND: SAt.u.r.dAY, JANUARY 20, 1872

CHARLES WILLIAMSON, examined.

10,769. You are a fisherman at Cullivoe in North Yell?-Yes.

10,770. How long have you lived there?-I have lived for four years at Gutcher.

10,771. Where were you before?-At Mid Yell.

10,772. Have you been a fisherman in Yell all your life?-No; I have been south at sea half the time, and at the whale fis.h.i.+ng.

10,773. Do you do much in the winter fis.h.i.+ng?-A good deal.

10,774. You do a good deal more at that than your neighbours?- Yes, a good deal.

10,775. How much will you make for a winter and spring fis.h.i.+ng, before the regular haaf fis.h.i.+ng begins?-Last winter I made about 12, and in the spring 6.

10,776. Have you made a good fis.h.i.+ng of it this winter season, so far as it is gone?-Yes, very good.

10,777. Do you sell your fish as you land them?-No, I salt them as I land them.

10,778. Will you make as good a fis.h.i.+ng of it this season as you did last season?-I hope I shall. I have every prospect of doing so.

10,779. You carry on that winter fis.h.i.+ng with a small boat?-Yes, with a small four-oared boat which I work with my two boys.

10,780. You think you make a great deal more in the winter and spring than any of your neighbours?-Yes, I have always done that, because I devote my time to it exclusively.

10,781. In fact you are more industrious and courageous?-I think I have been that.

10,782. Do you think it would be possible for a man here to live by fis.h.i.+ng all the year round?-I am living by it myself.

10,783. Have you not a piece of ground?-I have a small piece of ground, but it can do very little for me, because I am paying about 12 of rent and rates. I have to buy all my livelihood in the course of the year from my fis.h.i.+ng.

10,784. You do not depend much upon your ground?-No.

10,785. Not so much as most of the tenants round about you?-I do not.

10,786. Is that because the rent you pay is higher than is paid by others?-I have a better house than others, and that makes the land higher.

10,787. Do you think that if you had large boats here, such as they have on the east coast, the fis.h.i.+ng might be carried on all the winter?-Not the Faroe fis.h.i.+ng, or the fis.h.i.+ng which is carried on in the summer time. The deep-sea fis.h.i.+ng could not be carried on in winter, because there is such a heavy current.

10,788. Do you think that even with the large boats, in which you have a shelter for two or three of the men, it would not be possible to carry on that fis.h.i.+ng?-With the large boats we could hardly work the lines in the way we work them now.

10,789. Have you thought of trying that?-I have, and I am thinking of trying it now.

10,790. You are going to make an experiment about it this season?-Yes; I am thinking about trying it now with a large boat, such as are used along the Scotch coast. If I had a boat like theirs, I think I could fish all March and all April and May.

10,791. Do you know whether anything of that kind has been tried before in Shetland?-There has been no attempt made in a boat like that.

10,792. But you believe there may be a fair chance of doing a good business with it?-I should think there is.

10,793. Do you think you could not go out to the haaf with a boat like that in winter as you do in summer?-We would trust more to her if she were decked over.