12,997. Is there any particular reason for that?-I cannot say; I suppose it is just their fancy.
12,998. Is a man more likely to shift when he is in your debt, or when he is out of it?-When he is out of it.
12,999. When he is in your debt, does he like to continue to fish for you until his debt is paid off?-Sometimes he does.
13,000. Have you any arrangement with Mr. Smith by which, when a man changes from one place to the other, the new employer takes in hand the debt which the man is due to his former employer; or becomes responsible for it?-There is no arrangement of that kind between us.
13,001. Have you sometimes done that?-I believe I have done it.
13,002. Have you undertaken a debt due to Mr. Smith?-Yes, when it was not very much.
13,003. And you have got it from the man at the end of the season, or as soon as he was able to pay it, and handed it over to Mr. Smith?-Yes; he either got it, or it was set down in his book.
13,004. How often may that have happened?-Not very often.
13,005. Has it been done lately?-Yes.
13,006. I suppose it is not an unusual thing in the fishing trade for that to be done?-It is not unusual. Of course, the curer that the man leaves expects him to pay his debt when he does leave.