Part 15 (2/2)
Every shopkeeper in the country districts buys eggs and b.u.t.ter.
The wife of the small farmer has the management of this department of rural economy. She takes the eggs and b.u.t.ter to the shop, and seldom thinks of getting money for them. They are commonly paid for in goods, which are handed over at the time; but it does not appear that money would be refused if asked for. I found no instance of transactions of this kind being entered in an account.
[E. Peterson, 6484; W. Stewart, 8967; A. Sandison, 10,169; G.
Tulloch, 11,437; W. Harcus, 11,853; G. Georgeson, 12,038, 12,047; A. Abernethy, 12,254; L.F.U. Garriock, 12,295; R.
Henderson, 12,929; T. Tulloch, 13,015; R. Simpson, 14,022.]
HOME-SPUN CLOTH.
In some districts the people make a grey woollen cloth, which they dispose of to the merchants or shopkeepers. Mr. Anderson, Hillswick, states that most of his dealings in this cloth are settled for at the time in cash or goods. Another witness testifies to the difficulty of getting money, and his being obliged to take goods; and it appears that formerly there was one price in goods and another in cash. There is little evidence about this industry, which is now confined to particular districts. It shows that those who are free prefer to settle in cash or goods, as they choose, at the time of delivery; but that where the maker or her husband is indebted, it enters the account, and the merchant gives such amount of cash or goods as he judges fit. The wool is sometimes provided by the merchants at a price fixed and marked in account, and the cloth is paid for at the current price when returned, the cost of the wool being deducted. The people never think of selling the manufactured goods to another merchant. It may be a question whether the colourable sale of the materials to the workwoman saves transactions of this kind, in the making of woollen cloth, from the operation of the existing Truck Act.
[Mrs. C. Johnston, 8163, 8124.]
HERRING FISHERY.
The herring fishery is prosecuted in Shetland to a very limited extent, and in late years has not been fortunate. It has been said that this want of success is because the men of Shetland do not go to the herring fis.h.i.+ng till late in the year, when the shoals have pa.s.sed them. In 1833 the herring fis.h.i.+ng in Shetland is stated to have employed 500 boats and 2500 men; and the total number of barrels cured to have been 10,000 in 1830, 20,000 in 1831, 28,000 in 1832, and 36,000 in 1833.* It is carried on in August and September by some of the men who have been engaged in the ling fishery during the earlier part of the season. The men are paid at a fixed rate per cran, as at Wick, the men buying from the curer nets, which are put into their accounts. A witness stated that it took him, or rather his crew, between eight and nine years to pay off the price of his nets, 'because they had lean fis.h.i.+ngs.' The price of the herrings is credited to the men at the annual settlement.
*Mr. Anderson's pamphlet on the 'Herring and White Fisheries in the Shetland Islands,' gives an account of the herring fis.h.i.+ng as it existed in 1834, showing that it was prosecuted then, as it is now, under the same circ.u.mstances as to truck and tenure as have been detailed with regard to the ling fishery.
[T. Robertson, 8605; W. Williamson, 10,337.]
Mr. J. Robertson, sen., describes his recent experience in the herring fishery in the north-west of the Mainland. He arranged with some of the men who fished ling for him in summer that they should fish herring also for him, instead of Mr. Adie, for whom they had in previous years gone to the herring fis.h.i.+ng. It was part of the arrangement that he should 'clear them off with Mr. Adie,'
by paying their debts in accounts with him. It thus cost Mr.
Robertson 300 in cash advances, which, he says, 'account for the large amount of debt shown to be due in 1870' by his fishermen.
These men get half the fish for their labour, and the other half goes to the credit of the boat and nets supplied by the merchant. The price of the herring is the same as that paid by Messrs. Hay & Co.
[J. Robertson, sen., 14,108; 14,126.]
It would seem that the large sum required for nets is apt, as at Wick, to lay upon the fisherman an amount of debt which he is ill able to bear.
[C. Sinclair, 1135.]
PAYMENTS TO PAUPERS.
In the last Report of the Board of Supervision of the Poor, there is a 'Special Report by the General Superintendent of the Northern District (Mr. Peterkin) as to the Administration of the Poor-Law in Shetland.' The concluding part of this Report describes fully and correctly the facts as to shop dealings with paupers; and as it was communicated to me before I went to Shetland, I did not consider it necessary to spend much time in making further inquiries in regard to a subject already so carefully investigated. In one of the parishes, where the poor-law is practically administered, as Mr.
Peterkin says, by these merchants and fish-curers, the inspector of poor was examined; and his evidence shows, I think, that the recent action of the Board of Supervision in this matter has been as effective as could be expected in a country where it is difficult or impossible to find either members of boards or inspectors altogether free from interest in 'shops.' An example of the state of things described by Mr. Peterkin is afforded by the evidence of Gilbert Scollay, who is employed by the parishes of Delting and Lunnasting to keep paupers. He is indebted to Mr. Adie, chairman of the Parochial Board of Delting; he signed an order ent.i.tling Mr.
Adie to draw all the money payable to him by the parish for the support of a lunatic in his charge; and he got part of his supplies from Mr. Adie's shop, and part from Mr. Robertson's shop at Vidlin, in Lunnasting, in consequence of his having in his keeping another pauper from that parish.
[Appendix, p. 65; J. Bruce, 7638, L.F.U. Garriock, 12,503; G.
Jamieson, 15,407, 15,418, 15,468; G. Scollay, 8387, 8389, 8418, 8419, 8427; Poor-Law Directory for 1871.]
FAIR ISLAND.
This island is situated half way between Orkney and Shetland, being about twenty-five miles distant from each. It is about two miles in length, and one in breadth. The population in 1861 was 380; but, after a season of great scarcity, about 100 of the people emigrated to America. Emigration has taken place also at other times. Thus-'Six families left Fair Island and came to Kirkwall in 1869. We all left because meal was so dear, and wages were so low. They all left of their own accord.' I was informed by Mr.
Balfour, of Balfour and Trenaby, that a colony of Fair Island people form a fis.h.i.+ng village in Stronsay, in Orkney, where they have now been for two generations. At all times emigration must have been necessary to prevent intolerable overcrowding in so small an area. and yet the whole circ.u.mstances of the island show that this remedy is resorted to with great reluctance. At present the island is inhabited by about 40 families, or 226 persons.
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