Chapter V: Excerpt From Report of Mr. Peterkin, General Inspector of Board (5)

1356. How do you do for a boat?-I generally arrange with some fish-curer, and he procures me a boat, and takes a hire for it for the season.

1357. How much is the hire?-The hire, as a general rule, has been £2 for three months, or £3, 10s. for the whole season.

1358. Is that the way you did with Mr. Robertson last year?-Yes.

1359. You got goods at his store?-Yes.

1360. As many goods as you wanted during the fishing season?- Yes.

1361. And a little money when you asked for it?-Yes.

1362. How much money would you get at a time from him?-If I asked Mr. Robertson for 5s. or 2s. or 6s., I would get it, according as I asked for it.

1363. If you asked for the whole of your earnings in money, and took no goods out of Mr. Robertson's store, is it likely that you would get the money, so that you could go elsewhere and buy your goods?-I could not say anything about that, because I did not ask it.

1364. You don't wish to go anywhere else?-No; I have not tried that.

1365. Do you think the quality of Mr. Robertson's goods is better than Mouat's?-Oh, Mouat's was nothing at all.

1366. Have you any daughters in your family who knit?-I have two.

1367. Do they knit their own worsted?-Yes; they make worsted for themselves from the wool of our own sheep.

1368. Do they go into Lerwick to sell the articles they have made?-They do.

1369. To whom do they sell them?-To anybody; they do not knit for a merchant. They go to any merchant they choose and sell their shawls, because the worsted with which they are made is their own. If they go into one store with the shawl, and the price is not suitable, they go into the next one.

1370. How are they paid for their shawls?-They are paid in goods at any store where they can sell them.

1371. Do they ever ask for money?-They have asked for it often, but they have never got it; and therefore they say there is no use asking for it, because they know they won't get it.

1372. Are you satisfied with the value of the goods they get in exchange for their shawls?-Sometimes, but not always. Sometimes the goods which they get [Page 28] in exchange are not worth the value put upon them. Sometimes they get cottons for 10d. which are not worth above 8d.

1373. How do you know that?-Because I see the quality of them.

1374. Have they told you the price which the merchant has charged for them?-Yes; and sometimes when my daughters have knitted a shawl, and it is ready to go to the dresser, there may be no money in the house to pay for the dressing of it, and it has to be paid in money. I have known my daughters detained in that way for some days, until I went to a neighbour and borrowed a shilling to pay for the dressing of the shawl, or until I could sell something off the farm; and then, when the shawl was dressed, they went to the merchant with it and sold it to him for goods, according to the custom.

1375. Can your daughters not dress the shawls themselves?-No; they are shawl-makers, but not shawl-dressers. Their dresser is Mrs. Arcus, at the Docks.

1376. Is she the only dresser here?-No; there are other dressers than her, but she is the only one that my daughters go to.

1377. Would she not give them credit for the dressing?-No.

1378. She always requires ready money for that?-Yes; she might give credit to a girl living in the town, but I live sixteen miles from Lerwick, and she would not give credit to a party living at that distance.

1379. How long have your daughters knitted?-A long time now. There is one of them twenty-seven years of age, and she has knitted since she was about eighteen.

1380. Have you ever seen your daughters bring home money for their knitting?-No; I never saw a shilling come into our house in my life which had been got for a shawl. I have paid out several shillings for the dressing of the shawls but I never saw any money given in for them.

1381. Is there anything more you wish to say?-No.

Lerwick, January 3, 1872, GAVIN COLVIN, examined.

1382. Are you a fisherman?-Yes.

1383. Where?-In Levenwick, Sandwick parish.

1384. Was the ground there held in tack by Robert Mouat at one time?-Yes.

1385. How long have you been there?-I have been there all my life.

1386. What was your rent when you held your land under Mouat?-It was £4, excluding poor-rates and road money.

1387. That was what you paid to Mouat?-Yes.

1388. Then you knew what your rent was?-Yes. Of course he told us what our rent was.

1389. And it was accounted for at the settlement?-Yes. At the settlement he summed up our accounts, and told us we were due so much-so much for rent and so much for goods.

1390. Had you a pass-book?-No. He did not approve of pass-books.

1391. Did you take a note yourself of the goods you got, or did you just trust to the people at the store?-I trusted to the people at the store,-to his storekeeper.

1392. Have you been present during the examination of John Leask?-Yes.

1393. You have heard all that he said about the way of dealing, and about the store, and the quality of the goods?-Yes.

1394. Do you agree with all that he said?-Yes, I agree more particularly with what he said about the quality of the goods. The goods were very inferior at Mouat's store.

1395. You also agree with him in his description of the way of dealing with Mouat?-Yes.

1396. Do you also say that you were compelled to sell all your fish to him?-Yes. All our earnings, whether by sea or land, were in duty bound to his store. That was stated to us every year at the settlement.

1397. Was that stated to you by Mouat?-Yes. We were told that we were in duty bound to bring every iota of our produce, whether by sea or land, to his store.

1398. Did you ever get any letter threatening you for selling your fish or your goods to another than Mouat?-I never did, I got no letter, because I never got far forward as to require that treatment.

1399. You never got warning to go away?-No, but I was often told that I would get warning if I persisted in such things.

1400. Do you know of any of your neighbours having got such letters?-No; not in my neighbourhood.

1401. Is there anything you wish to add to the statement made by John Leask?-Nothing.

1402. Who were you fishing for last year?-For Mr. Robertson.

1403. Did you get goods at his store?-Yes.

1404. They were of better quality than those you got from Mouat?-Certainly they were.

1405. Do you get all the money you ask for?-I get what goods I require, and if I ask for money I will get it. At the settlement, if there is anything due to me I will get it; and if I don't have money for my rent, he will help me with it.

1406. But if you want all your balance in money, will you get it?- Yes. I got it last time. We are quite satisfied with Mr. Robertson according to the custom of the country.

1407. But are you satisfied with the custom of the country?-No; I don't agree with it.

1408. What do you want to be changed?-I am not prepared to say in the meantime.

1409. Do you want the price of your fish fixed in advance?-We would require that, I think, for some encouragement to us.

1410. Could you not get it fixed then, if you asked for it?-We have asked for it, but we have never got it yet.

1411. Who did you ask it from?-From the dealers we were fishing to, all along.

1412. But you have fished for no dealers except Mouat and Robertson?-No.

1413. Have you asked them to fix the price before?-Yes.

1414. Did they refuse your request?-Yes. They refused to state a price then, and said they would give the currency of the country at the end of the season.

1415. Have you asked them to pay for the fish as they were delivered?-No; I never asked them for that.

Lerwick, January 3, 1872, CATHERINE PETRIE, examined.

1416. You come from the island of Fetlar?-Yes.

1417. Where do you live there?-In Aithness.

1418. Are you a married woman?-No.

1419. Do you live with your people?-Yes.

1420. Are you in the habit of knitting?-Yes.

1421. What do you knit?-Fine shawls and veils.

1422. Do you knit these articles with your own wool?-Yes.

1423. Do you make your own worsted, or buy it?-I buy wool, and make it.

1424. Where do you buy it?-From any person who sells it. There is a Mrs. Smith in Fetlar who sells wool. She lives at a place called Smithfield.

1425. Has she a shop?-No. They formerly had shop, but they don't have one now. She is a widow

1426. Has she any land?-Yes; she has a small farm. She has some sheep, and she obliges any person with wool who wants it.

1427. Do you always buy your wool from her?-[Page 29] Sometimes from her, and sometimes from any merchant I can get it from.

1428. Do you pay for it in money?-Yes; or in work.

1429. What kind of work?-Any kind of household work that they have to do. People employ others to do so much work, and give them wool for it.

1430. Do you mean work on their farms or ground-Yes; and they will give them wool in return, because the wool in Fetlar is so scarce.

1431. You knit on your own account, and sell what you knit?- Yes.

1432. Do you sell it to merchants in Fetlar?-No. There are no merchants in Fetlar who take it. I come down to Lerwick with it once a year.

1433. Do you then bring in with you all that you have knitted during the season?-Yes.

1434. How much will you bring?-It is not much; perhaps two or three shawls. I have had as high as five shawls when I came down. We have household work to attend to, and we cannot knit so fast as they do here in Lerwick.

1435. It is just part of your time that you can give?-Yes.

1436. Have you come down just now for the purpose of selling the articles you have knitted?-Yes.

1437. How many shawls did you bring with you this year?-Two.

1438. That is less than usual?-Yes.

1439. How do you get paid for your shawls?-I get goods out of the shop.

1440. Does the merchant fix the price 'for the shawl' when you take it in?-Yes.

1441. How much did you get for the two you brought down this time?-16s. for one, and 17s. for the other; and I had one belonging to another person that I got 19s. for.

1442. Who was the merchant that you sold them to?-Mr. Sinclair.

1443. What did you get for them?-Goods.

1444. Did you ask for money?-I did not ask for money, because it has been understood for many years back that they would not give any, and goods are marked on the paper that we get. When I come down I employ a person to dress the shawls, and then that person sells them for me in the shop, and I get back a note from her, stating the amount in goods that I am to get for them. I understand not to ask for money, because the thing is always in that form.

1445. When you get the note, do you hand it back at the shop and get the goods in return?-Yes.

1446. Have you got any of these notes?-No; I have got the goods for them, and I was preparing to return to Fetlar when I was summoned here.

1447. Is the note printed or written?-It is all written.

1448. Who is the dresser that you employ?-A Miss Robertson. I don't know where she lives. The woman I live with when in Lerwick-Mrs. Park, Charlotte Place-went with her when she sold the shawls.

1449. Do you never go to the shop and sell your own shawls?- Sometimes I do; but not this time.

1450. Did you ever go to the shop to sell your shawls, and ask to be paid in money?-No; because I understood I would get no money.

1451. Did you ever get any part of the balance in money?-None.

1452. What do you get in goods?-Any kind of soft goods which I want, and which are in the shop. If the goods I want are not in the shop, then they would say that they did not have them; and I would have to take something else.

1453. Is it just soft goods that are in the shop?-Yes.

1454. Not provisions?-No; not provisions.

1455. Is there any tea?-No.

1456. You go to the shop yourself for your goods, and hand your line in payment for them?-Yes.

1457. Could you the same goods in Fetlar?-I could get the goods in Fetlar if I had money to give for them; but I could not get money for shawls or veils in Fetlar.

1458. But if you had the money, could you get the goods as good and cheap in Fetlar as in Lerwick?-Yes; they are very cheap in Fetlar. Messrs. Hay Co. have a shop there.

1459. And you think you could get your goods as good and cheap there as you can in Lerwick?-Yes.

1460. And of course you would not have to carry them back with you?-No.

1461. Are there many people in Fetlar who knit the same way as you do, and come in to Lerwick to sell their shawls?-Yes; there are a good many people who knit in the same way that I do, and come down here with their shawls, because there is no other way of disposing of them.

1462. Do they get their payment in the same way?-So far as I know, they do.

1463. Do they always get goods for their lines when they come down?-Yes.

1464. Will they not get a line to come down at another time for the goods?-No; I don't think they would get them in that way.

1465. Suppose you did not want the whole amount of your line in goods at one time, could you not take the line home with you, and when you happened to be again in Lerwick might you not get the balance in any kind of goods you wanted that were in the shop?- Yes; and I could get the goods at any time if I were to send down the line.

1466. Is that sometimes done?-I have never done it; but I suppose the merchants would do it.

1467. Did you ever know of a line being sold to another for money, or for another kind of goods?-No; I never did that myself, and I don't know of it being done.

1468. Is it all drapery that you are taking back?-Yes.

1469. Then you will have about £2 or £3 worth of it this time?- Yes.

1470. Do you want all that for your own use?-The girl for whom I sold one of the shawls will get her share of it.

1471. But when you brought down five shawls you might have twice as much to take back as you have this time?-It is not very much that they give for the shawls sometimes; and once, when I came down from Fetlar and had to pay the freight, I had to take what they would give me; and I could not get what I asked.

1472. Is it all stuff for, your own use that you are taking back, in exchange for your own, shawls which you sold?-Yes.

1473. Do you want the goods?-Yes.

1474. Are you to use them for yourself?-Yes.

Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MARGARET TULLOCH, examined.

1475. You live in Lerwick

1476. Are you in the habit of knitting for merchants here?-Yes.

1477. Do you buy your own wool?-For about eighteen months I have bought it.

1478. Before that, how did you do?-I knitted for Mr. Robert Linklater.

1479. You got the wool from him and knitted it, and took back the articles to him?-Yes.

1480. When you got the wool from him, in what way were you paid?-In goods.

1481. Had you a pass-book?-Yes.

1482. Have you got it with you?-Yes. [Produces it]

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 pass-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.

[Page 30]

1485. Had you a pass-book for goods before this?-I knitted a long time before I took a pass-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 quantities?-Smaller quantities.

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.

1532. Did she say she would give you that much, without your asking?-Yes.

1533. What did you do with the moleskins?-I sold them.

1534. How much of them did you take?-21/2 yards.

1535. What was the price of them?-2s. 8d. a yard.

1536. Was there anything else you bought for the purpose of selling?-Yes; I bought some cotton.

1537. Have you sold it?-Yes.

1538. Did you get as much for it as you paid?-Yes.

1539. Did you get a little more?-No; no more. I thought it a favour to get the same price.

1540. Did you know any person who would take these goods from you at the time you got them, or did you buy them on the chance of selling them?-No; I knew a person who would buy them from me.

1541. Is that the way you generally deal when you have shawls to sell?-Yes.

1542. You get some things that you want, and some things that your neighbours want, and as much as you can in money?-Yes.

1543. Do you often get tea for the purpose of selling it?-I get it when I ask it; but I only ask it when I know of a person who will take it from me for what they have done for me.

1544. How do you purchase the provisions-the meal and bread- that you want?-When I sell anything that I get for my work, I buy them with the money.

1545. But if you don't have the money, what do you do?-I don't have money at the time, I go down to a shop and get it from them until I can get the money to pay for it.

1546. What did you do with the 14s. that you got for the shawls from Miss Leisk?-It would go for worsted to make other things.

1547. Have you always to pay money for your worsted?-Yes.

1548. You don't get provisions, either meal or bread, at the shops where you sell your shawls?-No.

1549. Is that never done in Lerwick?-No; I never had it done to me. Those who buy the shawls keep nothing of that kind.

1550. Would you be content to take a lower price [Page 31] for your shawls if you were paid for them in money instead of goods?-Yes.

1551. Have the merchants ever offered you a lower price for your shawls in money?-No.

1552. Have you ever asked them to do that, or tried to get them to do it?-I knew that I need not try that, because I would not have got it.

1553. Do you manage to sell many of your shawls privately in the town, or to visitors in the summer?-No.

1554. Is there not a good deal of that done in Lerwick?-I believe some people do that, but I don't do it.

1555. Is it not an advantage to get them sold in that way?-Yes; I think it would be an advantage to get ready money.

1556. Do charitable ladies sometimes take the shawls-and get them sold to their friends at a distance?-I can say nothing about that, because I never sold them in that way.

1557. Do you give receipts for the goods or money which you get as the price of your shawls?-No.

1558. The transaction is all done across the counter, without any writing?-Yes.

1559. Do you know whether the shopkeeper enters the price of the shawls, and the amount of the goods sold to you in return for them, in any book? Do you see whether that is done?-No, I don't see it.

1560. You have never noticed that?-No.

Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MARY HUTCHISON, examined.

1561. You live in Lerwick?-Yes.

1562. Are you in the habit of knitting?-Yes.

1563. Do you knit with your own wool?-Yes.

1564. Do you sell your knitting in Lerwick?-I sell some of it in Lerwick; but I send the most of it south, to Mr. John F. White, Edinburgh.

1565. Do you also act as an agent for him in Lerwick, by taking in things from other people?-Yes; a little.

1566. How are you paid for the articles you send to him?-I am paid in ready money.

1567. Is it remitted to you by a post office order or a bank cheque, as the case may be?-Yes.

1568. How much do you send to him?-I never send a large quantity. I just send what he tells me: a few shawls at a time.

1569. He gives you orders which you execute?-Yes.

1570. Do many women who knit come and sell their shawls to you?-No; I don't buy shawls. I give out wool to be knitted.

1571. How do you purchase your wool?-I buy it for money.

1572. From merchants in Lerwick?-Yes. Sometimes I buy from Mr. Sinclair, but generally I send to the North Isles for it, to people who buy it in there.

1573. There are people in the North Isles who buy the wool from their neighbours and sell it to you, such as Mrs. Smith, who was spoken of by a previous witness?-Yes; much the same.

1574 Have you dealt with her?-No.

1575. Do you pay the women who work for you in money?-Yes.

1576. You don't keep a store?-No, nothing except the money; or whatever they require they got it.

1577. Do you make a bargain when you give out the wool, or fix price when you see the work?-I buy the wool, and employ them to knit it.

1578. You do not merely act as agent for Mr. White?-No; I just buy the wool and employ the women, and pay them according to the size of the shawl.

1579. How many women are working for you in that way?-I cannot say exactly.

1580. Are there about half a dozen?-Yes, just about that.

1581. Do you find that the women here are anxious to work for you?-Yes; they are anxious to get money.

1582. You think they would much rather work, for you than for a merchant who keeps a shop?-Yes; I am never at a loss for them. When I am in a hurry I always get them to help me, because I pay in money.

1583. I suppose you get the choice of the knitters?-I don't know about that. I just get done what I have to do.

1584. Have you often been applied to by women who were anxious to work for you rather than for the shops?-Yes; very often.

1585. Do they tell you that it is a kindness or charity to employ them?-Yes; because they could not get the money out of the shops.

1586. Do you know, from your own observation of the system, as to the mode of dealing at the shops?-I often sell shawls in the shops, although I am not in the habit of going with them myself, so that I am often dealing a little in the shops.

1587. You send them by some other person?-Yes: I employ a girl to go and sell them for me.

1588. In that case, how is the transaction carried out?-I just get a line out of the shop, and get goods for it.

1589. Is the line in your name?-No; it is just a simple line or I O U, and I send it back: to the shop at any time when I want the goods.

1590. Have you any of these lines with you?-I have one at home, which I will send in.

1591. From whom did you get it?-From Mr Robert Sinclair.

1592. Have you sometimes got these lines from knitters?-Yes; often.

1593. They wanted money, and could not get it at the shops, and brought their lines to you?-Yes; I have often taken a line and given them money for it in order to meet their necessities, because they would not get money elsewhere.

1594. You kept these lines until you could make some use of them yourself?-Yes. Whenever I required any little thing, I sent to the shop for it, and paid for it with these lines.

1595. Have you any of these lines belonging to other women in your hands just now?-I have not.

1596. How much money may you have had lying out in that way at a time?-Not very much; perhaps a few shillings now and then.

1597. Are the lines generally for a large amount?-No; from 8s. to 7s. or 8s., or thereabout.

1598. May you have had two or three of them at a time?-Perhaps one or two.

1599. Have you known other, people taking lines in the same way?-Yes;, I believe there are many who do it.

1600. Do you know any one who is often applied to in that way?- I cannot say exactly; but I have often taken a line from Miss Elizabeth Robertson, who was examined on Monday, and given her money for it, because she was in necessity.

1601. Does Janet Irvine knit for you?-Yes.

1602. Have you taken lines, from her?-No; she is a fish-girl, and does not knit much.

1603. In selling your own shawls to the shops, have you asked for money?-No; but I have told the girl who went with the shawls to sell them for me to ask for a shilling or two, and she said she need not ask for it because she would not get it.

1604. But that was a case of sale. You know nothing about the case where, the wool has been given out by the shops?-No, I don't know about that, because it is long since I knitted any for the shops.

1605. Do you know of any other person in Lerwick who sends hosiery south in the same way?-Yes; there are plenty of them through the town.

1606. Do they send the hosiery, south direct to White or to other merchants in Edinburgh or Glasgow?-Yes; there are, plenty who do that; but I never have any dealings with any one except Mr. White.

1607. Who else in Lerwick deals in that way with [Page 32] the shops in the south?-There is a Mrs. James Henry in Burn's Lane, and a Mrs. Elizabeth Anderson, and several other people.

Lerwick, January 3, 1872, CATHERINE BORTHWICK, examined.

1608. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-I am.

1609. Do you buy your own wool?-No.

1610. Who do you knit for?-For Mr. Robert Sinclair, Mr. Thomas Nicholson, and sometimes for Miss Robina Leisk.

1611. Have you books with all these people

1612. Have you any pass-book at all?-No.

1613. You get the wool weighed out to you, and you take back the article which has been ordered?-Yes.

1614. What articles do you knit?-Veils, shawls, neckties, ladies' scarfs, and the like.

1615. How long have you been doing business in that way?- About fifteen years.

1616. How are you paid?-Just in goods from the shops.

1617. You take an article which you have made to the shop, and tell them what the price is?-No; they price it themselves.

1618. Do they price it when the material is given out to you?-No; they price it when the article is brought to them again.

1619. When they have fixed the price, what takes place?-I can get anything out of their shop in the shape of goods that I ask for, only I cannot get any money.

1620. Do you not get part of the price in money?-No; I have never any money from Mr. Sinclair, except perhaps 5s., for the whole fourteen years I have wrought for him.

1621. Do you get money from other dealers you have mentioned?-I have got a little money from Mr. Thomas Nicholson; but it is not long since he began business for himself.

1622. Do you often go into the shops with articles worth about 10s?-Yes.

1623. How much of that do you get in money?-I have never got any money from Mr. Sinclair at all. It is about seven years since I asked him for 1s., and he would not give it me, and I have not asked since.

1624. Can you only get dry goods and tea at the shops?-I can get tea, and soap, and soda, and blue, and starch, and the like of that.

1625. How do you get your food?-I have a father, who buys it for me.

1626. You live with your father, and get your food with the family?-Yes; what his wages can bring in.

1627. Is that the only way you have of getting a living?-No; sometimes I have to take things out of the shop and sell them for money.

1628. To whom do you sell them?-To any neighbour or any person who requires them.

1629. Do you do that often?-No; I have not done it for the last two years, because some of the ladies in the town have employed me to knit for money.

1630. Do you prefer to sell to ladies in the town?-Yes.

1631. Are the goods which you knit for them for their own use?- Yes; or perhaps they get an order from the south, and they will rather put the money our way than go to the merchants with it.

1632. Do many ladies befriend you in that way?-Not many. There is Mrs. Walker, the Rev. Mr. Walker's lady.

1633. Who else?-I have not done anything for any other person for money.

1634. But Mrs. Walker pays you in money?-Yes; and the same amount as I would get in goods from the shops.

1635. Are the women who knit anxious to get customers of that kind?-Yes.

1636. Would you be content with a lower price for your shawls if you could get it in cash?-Yes.

1637. Have you ever been to take a lower price and get the money?-No.

1638. Have you ever offered to take less for your shawls if you could get money?-Yes.

1639. To whom did you make that offer?-I offered a white half- shawl to Mr. Robert Sinclair, and I also offered a white half-shawl to Mr. Thomas Nicholson.

1640. When?-The one I sold to Mr. Nicholson was in the spring, and that to Mr. Sinclair was about two years back.

1641. How much less did you offer to take in these cases?-2s. The shawl was worth £1, and I offered it for 18s.

1642. Was anything due to you by Mr. Sinclair at the time you asked for the shilling?-Yes; I think he was due me about 5s. 6d. at that time.

1643. Do you mean that you took goods to the shop worth 5s. 6d.?-No; he was due me about 5s., 6d. at that time. I was knitting a shawl for him, and was settling up for it.

1644. Was the shawl not finished?-Yes; I brought the shawl ready, and I was settling up. I had all the price of the shawl to get, and I took some goods, and then there was about 5s. 6d. over; and I asked him for 1s., and he said he could not give it to me.

1645. How did you square the balance at that time?-I just took something to give to a girl who had been working in our peats.

1646. What did you take?-A petticoat.

1647. Was it worth. 5s. 6d.?-Yes; the girl took it because she knew I could not get the money.

Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MRS. MARGERY MANSON or ANDERSON, examined.

1648. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes.

1649. Do you knit with your own wool?-I have done so for the last twelve months.

1650. Before that, who did you knit for?-For Mr. Robert Linklater.

1651. You got wool from him?-Yes.

1652. Were you paid for your work in goods, or in money?-In goods.

1653. Did you get any money from him that you asked for, if you, wanted some?-I knew that I need not ask him for any, because I would not have got it.

1654. You are married, and therefore you don't spend all your time in knitting?-No.

1655. Why did you give up knitting for Mr. Linklater?-Because I could not do with it; it did not pay me.

1656. How did it not pay you?-I could not get money.

1657. But were the goods you got not as good you as money?- No.

1658. Were they not worth the money value that was put upon them?-No.

1659. Why was that?-I did not have money to live upon.

1660. But your husband keeps you?-No; he is sickly, and I have to do for myself.

1661. You have heard the evidence of the preceding witnesses, Catherine Borthwick and Margaret Tulloch?-Yes.

1662. They have explained the way of dealing here. Is that the way you have been accustomed to?-Yes.

1663. Have you anything different to say about the way in which you were paid for shawls that you knitted with Mr. Linklater's wool?-No.

1664. Did you ever get lines when you would not take goods?- No; I had a pass-book.

1665. Have you got it here?-No.

1666. Was it kept in the same way as Margaret Tulloch's?-Yes.

1667. The goods you got were entered at one end, and the shawls you gave in were entered at the other, and a balance was made now and then?-Yes.

[Page 33]

1668. How often was your book balanced?-I don't remember.

1669. Did you sign your pass-book as a receipt?-No; he signed it.

1670. You have had no pass-book since you began to knit with your own wool?-No.

1671. Where do you buy your wool now?-I have a woman spinning for me, and I buy the worsted from her.

1672. You pay her in ready money?-Yes.

1673. Do you sell your shawls to any person in particular?-Yes; to Mr Robert Sinclair.

1674. Are you paid for them in goods?-Yes, and a little in money. I always get some money from him to buy the worsted with.

1675. Would you be content with a lower price for your shawls if you were paid in money?-Yes.

1676. Have you ever asked to get it all in money, and offered to take less?-No.

1677. Do you ever sell shawls to ladies or to any person not in the trade?-No; Mr. Robert Sinclair has bought them all from me.

1678. Have you ever asked for more money from any of the merchants than they would give you?-No.

1679. Have you ever got lines?-Yes, I got lines from Mr. Sinclair.

1680. When?-When I gave in my articles.

1681. And when you did not happen to want goods?-Yes.

1682. Have you got any of these lines?-No.

1683. What did you do with them?-I gave them back when I got the goods.

1684. Was that long ago?-No, not long ago; it was when I sold my last shawl to him.

1685. Would that be a month or two?-Yes.

1686. Was a line given to you for the whole price of the shawl that you were selling, or was it only for the balance?-27s., was the price of the shawl.

1687. How much of that did you take in goods?-I took about one half of it, and I got a line for the rest.

1688. Did you take the line out in goods afterwards-Yes.

1689. You did not think of asking money for the line?-No; I never asked money at that time.

1690. Did you ever know of people selling their lines to their neighbours?-No.

1691. Or dealing with them in any way, or letting their neighbours get goods for them?-No.

1692. How much of the 27s., the price of your last shawl, did you get in money?-7s.

1693. When was that?-I think about two months ago, I do not recollect exactly.

1694. Was the 7s. all that you asked for?-Yes; I asked for the 7s. and he said he would give it to me.

1695. Did you take 4s. or 5s, worth of goods at the same time?- Yes; or perhaps more.

1696. And the rest in a line?-Yes.

Lerwick, January 3, 1872, JEMIMA SANDISON, examined.

1697. Are you a knitter in Lerwick?-Yes.

1698. Do you knit with your own wool?-No.

1699. Do you knit for merchants in the town?-Yes; for Mr. Robert Sinclair.

1700. Have you a pass-book?-Yes. [Produces it.]

1701. Do you deal with Mr Sinclair in the way which has been described already by the Witnesses you have heard?-No.

1702. Do you deal in a different way?-Yes.

1703. How is that? You get wool from him to knit into shawls or veils?-Yes; chiefly veils.

1704. The goods you get are entered in the passbook you have produced, and the goods given in are entered at the end of it?- Yes.

1705. Are the goods supplied to you always goods which you are requiring for your own use?-Yes.

1706. You do not sell any of them, or get them for your neighbours?-No; unless such goods as my own family require.

1707. Do you live with your own family?-Yes; with my mother.

1708. Do you get part of the payment for your shawls and veils in money?-Yes; whenever I ask money I get it. I never asked a shilling from Mr. Sinclair himself but that I always got it.

1709. When you got money for a shawl, how was it entered in the book?-I cannot say anything about that.

1710. If you were to take two veils to Mr. Sinclair and ask the money for them, do you think you would get it?-I cannot say, because I never asked it; but whenever I asked for a small quantity of money, such as 2s. or the like of that, I got it.

1711. What quantity of goods did you generally take at a time?-I cannot say that either. I don't think I ever had money to get out of his book. I was always due him something, and in that way I could not ask him for money.

1712. Then your account was larger than the value of the articles which you took to him?-Yes.

1713. If that was so, did you ever ask him for money at all?-Yes; sometimes, when I was in a strait for money I asked him for a little, and I got it.

1714. Then that was an advance, which he made when there was nothing due to you?-Yes; I have asked him for money when I was due him.

1715. But you don't know how that was entered in the pass-book, or whether it was entered there at all?-No; I don't think it was entered.

1716. I see there are entries in your pass-book: April 28, 1871, cash 1s.; April 26, cash 6d.: is that the way the money was entered?-Yes.

1717. There is an entry of worsted, 5d. was that worsted given to you for the purpose of knitting shawls to Mr. Sinclair?-I asked for worsted to buy, and I got it to knit for myself, and to sell again.

1718. Then it is entered in the pass-book just as goods?-Yes.

1719. Is there any difficulty made about giving you worsted in that way and entering it in the pass-book?-No; whenever I ask for worsted, I get it the same as any other thing out of the shop.

1720. Were you ever told that worsted was a money article?-No; I never was told that, so far as I can remember.

1721. Have you dealt in any other shop than Mr. Sinclair's in this way?-No; I have knitted for two and a half years for Mr, Sinclair.

1722. And always in the same way?-Yes.

1723. Are you a North Unst woman?-Yes.

1724. Do you live in Lerwick by yourself?-I live with my mother and my two sisters in a room.

1725. Does your mother knit?-No; she spins.

1726. Does she spin your wool?-No; she gets wool from other people to spin, and gets money for her work. She only spins for those who employ her.

1727. Does she spin for the shops?-No; she spins generally for ladies in the town, who employ her to make worsted for them.

1728. Ask her employers altogether ladies, not merchants?-They are just merchants' wives, and ladies in the town-chiefly Dr. Cowie's lady.

Lerwick, January 3, 1872, MRS ANN ARCUS, examined.

1729. You are a dresser in Lerwick?-Yes.

1730. How do you carry on that business? What is the nature of it?-I sometimes make shawls myself, and sell them. There [producing it] is a line of mine, which I got from Mr. Sinclair.

1731. Do you dress shawls or make them?-I dress shawls, and sometimes I make them or get them made.

1732. What is the dressing business?-Washing the shawls, and stretching them on the grass, and mending [Page 34] them and making them ready for the market. The stitches sometimes give way when they are stretched and then I mend them.

1733. Do you also bleach the shawls?-We whiten them with brimstone.

1734. You do that before stretching them on the grass?-Yes.

1735. That is part of the washing process?-Yes.

1736. Does every shawl, after being knitted require to be so dressed before it is sold?-Yes.

1737. The merchants don't buy shawls until after they are dressed?-No.

1738. Are your transactions in dressing shawls always with the knitters, or are they sometimes with the merchants?-Sometimes they are with the merchants, and sometimes with the knitters.

1739. Then the merchants do buy shawls undressed?-No; they do not buy them undressed, but they send some shawls out to be worked for themselves; and it is these shawls I dress for them

1740 In that way a knitter who works for a merchant has nothing to do with you?-No.

1741. When she has knitted a shawl with wool supplied by the merchant, she takes it to the merchant, and he sends it to you to be dressed?-Yes.

1742. It is only the knitters who work with their own wool who come to you?-Yes.

1743. Do you also buy shawls from knitters yourself?-No; but I get shawls made in the same way as the merchants do, and then I sell them.

1744. To whom do you sell them?-To the merchants.

1745. Do you send any shawls south?-No.

1746. Do you sometimes sell knitted articles to the merchants on behalf of the knitters?-Yes.

1747. When a knitter brings you a shawl to dress, I suppose she pays you in money?-Yes.

1748. What is the usual for that?-There are different charges, according to the size of the shawl; but for the general run of them it is 6d.

1749. And that is always paid by the knitter to you in money?- Yes.

1750. In what way is it that you are sometimes asked to sell articles for the knitters?-Because I cannot always have them dressed and ready for them to sell after the time they come in with the goods and before they go away again. These women come from the country, and I cannot have their things ready before they want to go home again; and therefore I sell them for them before they come back.

1751. You sell them as their agent?-Yes.

1752. And then you account to them for the price?-Yes. I get the price from some of the merchants, but others mark it in their books, and don't give lines. These merchants mark down the price of the shawl, and the name of the woman who owns it.

1753. And she, when she comes to the merchant again, arranges with him as to the price?-Yes.

1754. Is it within your knowledge that these shawls are always paid for in goods?-The country girls don't want money, and don't ask it. It is always clothing they need, and they get it.

1755. Then they just knit for the purpose of supplying themselves with clothing?-Yes.

1756. How is it that they don't want money?-They have some other way of doing at home, and I suppose they only want their clothing from the shops in Lerwick.

1757. Then the knitting with them is an extra sort of employment?-Yes; it is not exactly a livelihood for them.

1758. Is that the case with the town girls too?-No; they generally depend on their knitting for a living.

1759. Do they regard it as a hardship not to get money?-I can only speak for myself, not for them. When I have a shawl of my own, and ask some money on it, I get it.

1760. Do the town girls come to you to sell their articles for them?-No; they sell their own work themselves. I dress the shawls for them, and they get the price themselves-sometimes in money I suppose, to pay me with.

1761. You think they get sufficient money for their shawls from the merchants, to pay your charge?-They get money somewhere to pay me with: whether it is their own money or not I don't know. I don't take anything but money.

1762. You give them credit sometimes until their shawl is sold?- Yes.

1763. And then they come back you with the charge for dressing?-Yes.

1764. You shown me a line: where did you get it?-I got it in Mr. Robert Sinclair's shop-I think from his clerk.

1765. When?-When I sold my shawl-a shawl of my own, which I knitted myself.

1766. You did not want anything particular at the time, and therefore you took the line: was that so?-No. I asked him for a little money on the shawl, and I got it; and then I got the line, so that I could buy what I required afterwards as I needed it.

1767. Did you ask for money?-Yes; I asked for a little, and I got the sum which is marked on the line as having been paid to me in cash.

1768. He gave you 6s. in cash?-Yes.

1769. Was that all you wanted?-Yes. I did not ask for that sum, I only said I wanted a little money, he gave that.

1770. The line, is in these terms: 'C Z 91-Cr. bearer value in goods twenty six shillings 26s. stg. 'To cash 6s; to Vict. tartan 4s. 7d. ' ' White cotton, 6d.; wincey, 2s. 10d. ' ' Grey cotton, 6d. 'R. SINCLAIR & CO. 'C. S. '28.12.71'

This was last Thursday?-Yes.

1771. Was the shawl with your own?-Yes.

1772. Then it was just a sale to Mr. Sinclair?-Yes.

1773. You got 6s. in cash and 8s. 5d. in goods, and the rest is still due?-Yes, for me to get when I require it.

1774. Is that a usual way of doing business in Lerwick?-Yes; but I have got the whole of the price in money from a merchant for a shawl when asked for it-not for myself, but for a country girl.

1775. From whom have you got it all in money?-From Mr William Johnston. The price was 20s.