10,784. You do not depend much upon your ground?-No.
10,785. Not so much as most of the tenants round about you?-I do not.
10,786. Is that because the rent you pay is higher than is paid by others?-I have a better house than others, and that makes the land higher.
10,787. Do you think that if you had large boats here, such as they have on the east coast, the fishing might be carried on all the winter?-Not the Faroe fishing, or the fishing which is carried on in the summer time. The deep-sea fishing could not be carried on in winter, because there is such a heavy current.
10,788. Do you think that even with the large boats, in which you have a shelter for two or three of the men, it would not be possible to carry on that fishing?-With the large boats we could hardly work the lines in the way we work them now.
10,789. Have you thought of trying that?-I have, and I am thinking of trying it now.
10,790. You are going to make an experiment about it this season?-Yes; I am thinking about trying it now with a large boat, such as are used along the Scotch coast. If I had a boat like theirs, I think I could fish all March and all April and May.
10,791. Do you know whether anything of that kind has been tried before in Shetland?-There has been no attempt made in a boat like that.
10,792. But you believe there may be a fair chance of doing a good business with it?-I should think there is.
10,793. Do you think you could not go out to the haaf with a boat like that in winter as you do in summer?-We would trust more to her if she were decked over.