Part 244 (2/2)
10,144. And communicates the amount of his own sales to his neighbours?-I don't know that he communicates his sales, but he states his idea with regard, to what the price should be.
10,145. Do you sell mostly in this country, or in Spain?-It is chiefly ling that we sell, and they go to the west of Scotland and Ireland. We s.h.i.+p them direct to the Clyde, to merchants in Glasgow and Greenock.
10,146. Have you ever s.h.i.+pped any to Spain?-No.
10,147. Do you know whether the fish s.h.i.+pped there are picked fish?-I understand they are all picked.
10,148. Is a higher price obtained for them than for those sold in this country?-I suppose so; it is chiefly cod that are sent there.
10,149. The men, I understand, have nothing to with fixing the current price of fish?-No.
10,150. Do they sometimes complain that they have not?-I have offered to the fishermen, not since Spence & Co. commenced, but I did repeatedly before, to cure for them at 5 per cent., and furnish everything.
10,151. Were they to sell the fish themselves?-I was to act as their salesman, and disclose all to them if they would give me 5 per cent.
10,152. But they did not agree to that?-No; they thought the safer way was to go on as we had been doing. The fish-curers don't have that love and affection for one another which was described in the evidence in Edinburgh. There is plenty of opposition among them.
10,153. Except at the time when they are fixing the current price?-I cannot say that there is any better agreement then. I cannot agree at all with that part of the evidence which was given before.
10,154. But you always do agree about that to a certain extent?- No; we sometimes do not agree, and we have angry disputations in our letters. We say the price should be a certain thing in our opinion, and Spence & Co. have not agreed with all the fish-curers yet, for we give 10s. per 100 cwts. as an encouragement or bounty, and something to help the men to pay things they have in company at the station; but none of the other curers have given that, and they have been very hard upon us about it. We have given 2s. per.
ton more for every ton of green fish we have received than any other curer in Shetland, so that we don't always agree.
10,155. Will you give me a note of your fish sales last year, and the prices?-I will do so privately. [Hands them in.]
10,156. You have now produced to me the lease between Major Cameron and your firm for twelve years up till Martinmas 1880: are all the stipulations about improvements contained in it?-Yes; they are to be, pointed out specially from year to year, but the arrangement is, that there is to be so much expended every year upon improvements.
10,157. But were the regulations for the tenantry separate from this lease and issued to them?-No; the rules and regulations for the sub-tenants are appended to the lease.
10,158. Were these made known to the tenants?-Yes; they were given to them in a different form. They are amended rules to those which were first issued by Mr. Walker.
10,159. Any tenants not complying with these regulations may be removed by you?-Yes; they will get their leases unless they comply with them, and we can remove them at any time.
10,160. What is the length of the holdings of these who comply with these regulations?-It is the same as our own lease, twelve years from 1868.
10,161. How many of the tenants have adopted these [Page 247]
regulations?-I should say that, to a greater or less extent, they have all made a fair commencement in the improvements and rotation of cropping.
10,162. But you have absolute power to remove them if they do not comply with that?-We have. The property is absolutely let to us, and we can absolutely turn them out if they do not comply with the regulations. The lease is clear enough upon that point.
10,163. Have you had occasion to exercise that power?-Not in any case.
10,164. Have you threatened to do so?-Not so far as is known to me.
10,165. There is no obligation on the tenants, under this lease, either to fish for you or to sell the produce of their farms to your firm?-No; it is long since I read the lease, but I don't think there is anything of that sort in it.
10,166. In point of fact, is there any understanding on the part of the tenants that they are bound to do so?-No.
<script>