13,481. Has it not been always the custom in Shetland that the proprietor gets one-third of the blubber?-It has been so all my time.
13,482. Why do you submit that if it is not right?-The way we submit to it is because they have told us that if we carried off all the blubber they would raise the rent of the land we were labouring.
13,483. Who has told you that?-It has been said all my time.
13,484. Has any proprietor ever told you that?-There are men who have asked it and striven for it in my time. I have never done it myself, although I was very much dissatisfied about it: but the poor men are frightened to presume any further, for fear of the land being further burdened upon them, and it is so much burdened just now that we can scarcely pay for it.
Boddam, Dunrossness, January 26, 1872, ARTHUR IRVINE, examined.
13,485. Are you a fisherman at Garthbanks, on the Quendale estate?-I am.
13,486. You have handed in to me a document signed by 28 fishermen on the Quendale property, stating that 'We, the undersigned, hereby certify that we have been honourably dealt with by Andrew J. Grierson, Esq. of Quendale, our present landlord and fish-merchant; and it is our desire to continue with him as our fish-merchant, and resolve that no other fish-curer in Shetland will get our fish until he refuses to take them?'-Yes.
13,487. How long have you fished for Mr. Grierson?-About 13 years.
13,488. Have you always sold your fish to him?-Yes.
13,489. And have you always got a fair price for them?-I have got the currency of the country.