Part 36 (1/2)

540. You are a fisherman at Cunningsburgh?-Yes.

541. Do you fish for Mr. Tulloch?-No; I fish for James Smith.

542. You have heard the evidence of the previous witness, Andrew Tulloch?-Yes.

543. Is the statement you wish to make very much the same as his?-Very much the same. We want to know, as British subjects, whether, if we pay our rent annually, we are ent.i.tled to our freedom.

544. You mean, whether you are to be allowed to fish to any person you choose?-Yes; to fish to any person, or to work at any kind of work for which we have a mind.

545. Have you been told by young Mr. Bruce, or any one else on his behalf, that you are not to have your freedom?-No. We only got a hint of it from the fish-merchant.

546. And your alarm has been excited by what you have heard from the people at Dunrossness?-Yes.

547. Do you know what Mr. Bruce's system is with the tenants under him there?-I cannot say exactly, except that they are not well satisfied with it. At least I know that some of them are not satisfied.

[Page 11] Lerwick: Tuesday, January 2, 1872.

LAURENCE MAIL, examined.

548. You are a fisherman at Scatness, in Dunrossness?-I am.

549. Are you a tenant of land?-Yes.

550. Under whom?-Under Mr. Bruce of Sumburgh.

551. How much rent do you pay?-For the present year I pay between 10 and 11 of rent.

552. Have you more land this year than usual?-Yes; I have more than I used to have.

553. Do you fish in the home fis.h.i.+ng?-Yes.

554. Do you fish in the Faroe fis.h.i.+ng?-No; I don't go to it.

555. How long have you been at Dunrossness?-Ever since I was a child.

556. Have you always been in the same house?-Yes; except for about two and a half years.

557. What is your age?-I am thirty-eight years old.

558. You have come here today to make some statement about the system of fis.h.i.+ng?-Yes.

559. What is the complaint you wish to make?-There is one thing we complain of: that we are bound to deliver our fish, wet or green, to the landlord.

560. That is, you have to deliver the fish as they are caught?-Yes; of course we have to take out the bowels and cut off the heads: it is the bodies of the fish we give. We think it would be much better if we had liberty to dry the fish ourselves, as we used to do formerly.

561. To whom are you bound to give your fish?-To Mr. Bruce, our landlord.

562. Is he a fish-curer or fish-merchant?-Yes.

563. Is it Mr. Bruce or his son that you are speaking of?-It is young Mr. Bruce. He is the landlord or tack-master. His father is alive; but I think young Mr. Bruce has got power from his father to manage the tenants according to his own pleasure.