14,119. Are Messrs. Hay the principal parties engaged in it?-Yes.
14,120. Then the herring fishing here is not conducted on the same principle as at Wick?-It is not.
14,121. No price per cran has been fixed at the beginning of the season?-I think not.
14,122. Is there any particular reason for that?-I don't know any reason for it at all.
14,123. I suppose it has been rather assimilated to the other fishing speculations of Shetland?-I believe so.
14,124. The arrangement you enter into is as nearly as possible the same as exists in the other branches of the fishing trade here?- Yes.
14,125. There is a settlement at the end of the year for the summer fishing?-Yes. The men are settled with for both branches of the fishing together.
14,126. In a letter which you wrote and sent along with the returns you have made, you say, 'In the year 1868 I paid about £300 in cash advances for the people on the herring fishing alone, which has since then turned out a complete failure. These circumstances account for the large amount of debt shown to be due in the year 1870.' Does that mean that when the people went to the herring fishing you had to make considerable advances to them in cash?- I may explain that these men had been fishing for Mr. Adie, and a number of them were due him money on account, and I paid all their advances and cleared them off with Mr. Adie. I took them into my own hands, and of course these sums had to be debited in the men's accounts.
14,127. At that time had you gone into the herring fishing more largely than before?-Yes.
14,128. Had you no men engaged in the herring fishing then who had been fishing for you in the home fishing before?-No, I had not been in the herring fishing for twelve years before.