* Edmonstone's <Etymological Glossary of Orkney and Shetland
Dialect> (Edin. 1866.)
FISHING TENURE FORMERLY EXISTING.
The ling and tusk fishery is the oldest of the existing fishing industries of Shetland. It appears in the seventeenth century to have been in the hands of Dutch merchants and shipowners, who supplied the natives with the means of fishing; cured, or at least dried, the fish on the beaches; and carried it to Holland. It is said that the proprietors of Shetland were first induced about the beginning of the eighteenth century to take the ling fishing into their own hands, supplying their tenants with materials, and receiving the fish at a stipulated rate.* The system which grew up after this change is referred to by Dr. Adam Smith,** and appears to have been in full vigour in at least one part of Shetland but a few years ago. It is thus described by a witness, William Stewart, as it existed till 1862 in Whalsay, where he was a tenant of the late Mr. Bruce of Simbister:-
'8978. What rent did you pay there?-The rent I always paid for my ground was 26s.' '8979. Did you fish for Mr. Bruce at that time?-Yes, for the late Mr. William Bruce.' '8980. And you had an account with him at the shop in Whalsay?-Yes.' '8981. How did you pay your rent?-Generally by fishing.' '8982. Was it put into your account?-Yes. The thing was carried on on a very strange system. Our land was put in to us at a low rent, and our fish were taken from us at as low a value. The prices for the fish never varied, either for the spring or summer.' '8983. Do you mean that they were the same every year?-They were. Whatever they might be in the markets, they were all the same to us.' '8984. Had you never the benefit of a rise in the market at all?- Never.' '8985. Did you not object to that?-We had just to content ourselves with it, or leave the place.' '8986. It was part of your bargain for your land, that you were to give your fish at a certain rate?-Yes; there were so much of the fish taken off for the land. That was the first of the fishing. We got 3s. 4d. a cwt. for ling, 2s. 6d. for tusk, and 20d. for cod, and so much of each kind of fish was taken off until the land was paid for; and then the prices were raised to 4s, I think, for ling, 3s. 2d. for tusk, and 2s. 6d. for cod, for all the rest of the summer fishing.' '8987. Did you get these prices for a number of years?-I think for the thirteen years that I was on the station they never varied one halfpenny for the summer fishing. The prices for the winter fishing varied a little. Sometimes we would sell the small cod as low as 2s. 6d, and at other times at 3s.' '8988. Did you sell the winter fishing for payment at the time, or did it go into the account too?-It was never put into the account at all; we just got what we required for it. It was ready payment; but it was very rarely that we got money for the winter fishing.' '8989. Did you know at the time that the prices you were paid at the latter part of the season were lower than the market price of the fish?-We knew that; but it was just the bargain.' '8990. Was that the system with all the tenants in Whalsay at that time?-With every one.' '8991. When did that system cease?-I think it ceased about a year after I came here-about 1863.'
[W. Stewart, 8978; See J.S. Houston, 9727.]
* Edmonstone's <View of the Zetland Islands>, vol. ii., p. 232.,
Brand's <Brief Description of Orkney, Zetland>, etc., pp. 73, 89,
128, 136, etc. (Edin. 1701).
** <Wealth of Nations>, b.i.c. xi.
LAND QUESTION CONNECTED WITH TRUCK QUESTION.
It is impossible to separate the question of Truck in Shetland from the land question - (1.) Because Truck, in the form in which it chiefly exists, has arisen out of these old relations between landlords and tenants in the times when the landlords were the principal or the only purchasers and curers of fish; and (2.) because, to a very material extent, the relations between the fish-curer and the fishermen are still subservient and ancillary to the landlord's security for his rent.* That this is so will appear from a description of the ling fishery as it now exists.
*<See> General Observations on Shetland, by Lawrence Edmonstone M.D., in <New Statistical Account>, p. 160 (Edin. 1841)