Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 41

765. You say in that letter, 'We are bound by agreement to fish to our landlord, but no price is agreed upon until the time of settlement, which occurs about once a year. We have then to take what price offered; and if we or our sons fish to any other person, we have to pay 20s. each yearly of 'liberty money.' Is that an obligation which you have entered into with Messrs. Hay & Co.?-It is an obligation that we are under, that we are bound over to them.

766. Have you signed any obligation to that effect?-I was asked to sign an obligation to that effect; but I said I could not sign to bind my sons, and that I would on no account come under that obligation.

767. How long ago was that?-To the best of my recollection, it was about eight years ago.

768. Was there an agreement to that effect handed to you for signature?-Yes.

769. And to a number of other men at the same time?-Yes.

770. By whom was it handed to you?-By Mr. Wm. Irvine, who is a partner of the firm of Hay & Co.

771. Was that in Burra or here?-It was in Messrs. Hay & Co.'s office in Lerwick.

772. Was it handed to the other men at the same time?-It was offered to them at the same time that it [Page 16] was offered to me. A certain number of them were present at the time.

773. How many?-I should think there might have been five present, exclusive of myself.

774. Did they all sign it?-I cannot say that they did, for I went out and left them there.

775. Then you are under no written obligation to fish for your landlord?-No.

776. Is there any other understanding or bargain between you that you shall fish only for him?-Yes, we were told that we must fish for them.

777. When was that said to you?-At the time, when I took a property from them in Burra.

778. How long is that since?-About fourteen years ago.

779. Who told you so then?-The late Mr. William Hay.

780. Have you ever been told so since?-I have.

781. By whom?-By Mr. William Irvine.

782. How long ago is that?-It is just eight years.

783. Was that at the same time when you were asked to sign the agreement?-Yes; it was on the same day.

784. Have you ever been told so since that time?-No; I have never sought to fish for anybody else, nor asked my liberty since then. I asked for my liberty that day when I was asked to sign the agreement.

785. Was it given to you?-No. I offered to pay 20s. if they would give me my liberty, but I could not get it for that.

786. Was any price fixed by them for that?-I offered 20s. for my liberty to fish for whom I liked, or to cure for myself, and I could not get it for the paying of the 20s.

787. Were you told what they would give it to you for?-No; they would not say.

788. Do you wish to fish for anybody else?-I should certainly wish to fish for anybody that I could get most from; but I should like especially to be the master of my own fish, to cure them for myself, and to sell them to the best advantage.

789. You mean you would like to catch and cure your own fish, and then sell them, do you?-Yes; that is what I would like.

790. Why do you, not do it?-Because we would be ejected from the place if we were not to deliver our fish to them.

791. What is your reason for supposing that?-Because we have been told so.

792. Was it on the occasion you have mentioned, eight years ago, that you were told so?-It was.

793. Have you been told since that you would be ejected if you did not deliver your fish to Messrs. Hay & Co.?-I have never since asked anything about it, so that I had no reason to be told so.

794. Has any person been ejected for selling fish to other merchants than Hay & Co., or for curing his own fish?-I think there have been such cases in Burra. I believe John Leask was ejected for not serving as a fisherman to Messrs. Hay & Co.

795. How long ago was that?-I think it would be about thirteen years since, or close thereby.

796. That is an old story. Has there been anybody ejected since?- I don't remember any one at present.

797. Do you know from your own knowledge of any threats of ejection having been made to parties who were fis.h.i.+ng for others?-Yes.

798. Who were so threatened?-We were threatened at that very time, eight years ago, that we should be ejected if we did not sign the agreement.

799. But do you know of any threats to particular parties for particular offences since that time?-There never have been any threats made to me, and I cannot remember exactly about them having been used to others; but there are parties here who may remember better about that than I do.

800. You say further in the letter, 'We can get no leases of our farms, and we have to build and repair our own houses at our own expense, without any compensation when leaving the farm, or when ejected from it.' That does not exactly fall under this inquiry, though it may perhaps indirectly affect it; but I suppose the obligation to build and repair your own houses is part of the bargain you enter into on taking the land?-It is.

801. Are you not at liberty to make your own bargain about the land, the same as any other tenant in Scotland is?-I am not aware of that.

802. Suppose you were to object to make such a bargain, could you not leave the land and get a holding elsewhere?-It is not likely we would get a holding elsewhere.

803. Why?-We would very likely be deprecated as not being legal subjects, and the heritors would all know that we were not convenient parties to give land to. What is one reason; and another reason is, that places are sometimes not very easily got.

804. Do the same conditions exist on other properties in Shetland?-So far as I know, they prevail all over the country, or nearly so.

805. You think that if you were trying to move, you would not get free of a condition of that sort?-We might get free of it for a time, but by next year the parties to whose ground we had removed might bind us down to the same thing.

806. But supposing all the men were united in refusing to agree to such conditions, there could be no compulsion upon them?-They have not the courage, I expect, to make such an agreement among themselves.

807. To come to the more proper subject of the inquiry: you go on to say, 'As we settle only once year, of course we have to buy from our landlord's shop till the end of the year, at which time we have seldom any money to get, except when we have better fis.h.i.+ngs than ordinary.' Your settlement, I suppose, takes place about the beginning of the year for the whole of the previous year?-Yes; generally a month after the beginning of the year.

808. And at that time you settle with your landlords, Messrs. Hay & Co., for all the provisions you have got from their shop?-Yes.

809. Where is their shop?-They have shops both at Lerwick and Scalloway.

810. Does the same man keep an account at both shops?-The same company keeps a store at Scalloway and a store at Lerwick.

811. But has the same man a book in both shops?-Yes; he has a book in both shops.

812. The men deal at both?-Some men in the islands deal at both, and others, again, have liberty to deal only at one.

813. Then, at the settlement time, you settle for all the provisions you have got from the shops, and for the rent that is due for your farm, and they set against that the price of the fish you have delivered?-Yes.

814. And you say that generally the account against you is as large, or larger, than that in your favour?-Taking it generally amongst the tenants on the island, I believe it is.