13,974. Do you think you will get it all wiped off?-I don't know. It depends on the fishing and the crop.
13,975. Are there many men are in the same position as yourself?-That is a secret to me. I don't know how the men's accounts stand with Mr. Robertson.
13,976. Why did you get so far into debt?-I and my family had a fever in the middle of summer about six years ago, and I got behind then. My earnings were all stopped by the fever.
13,977. Do you think that if you had ready money you would be able to purchase your supplies cheaper than you can get them at the Vidlin shop?-I don't know. Perhaps if I was trying, I might be able to purchase them a little better. There are freights and other things that must make them dearer at Vidlin than elsewhere.
Lerwick, January 27, 1872, ROBERT SIMPSON, examined.
13,978. Are you a fisherman at Valour, in Lunnasting?-I am.
13,979. Are you a relation of Laurence Simpson, who has been already examined?-I am his brother.
13,980. Have you heard his evidence?-Yes, I heard good deal of it; but his case is different from mine, because he has had ready money with which to purchase things as he best could, and I have not had it. I have been obliged to take my goods from the people I was fishing to, because I did not have money with which to buy them at any other place.
13,981. Do you think he got his things rather cheaper than you in consequence of having ready money?-I think so.
13,982. Were you obliged to deal at the shop at Vidlin?-I was, because I was in debt.