15,148. Would it be a misstatement to say that the Simbister tenants in that quarter are obliged, by the terms of their tenure, to fish for you and for Mr. John Robertson, jun.?-Yes. They are not bound, because there are some of them who fish for me in one year, and perhaps they are at the farthest end of Shetland the next, and then they may come back to me again.
15,149. Do you keep a shop at the fishing station?-I keep nothing there except a supply of fishing lines and hooks.
15,150. Do any of the fishermen there get their supplies from your shop in Lerwick?-They get what they want.
15,151. Do they keep an account with you, which is settled at the annual settling time?-Yes; but many of them never get one penny from me except in the shape of cash. There must be an account for them in my books when settling with them, and when the fishing is divided between them and their partners; but many of them have no individual account for out-takes.
15,152. Have you any interest in the Faroe fishing?-None whatever.
Lerwick, January 30, 1872, JOHN ROBERTSON, jun., examined.
15,153. Are you a merchant and fish-curer in Lerwick?-I am. I have a retail shop here, and a fishing station at Spiggie on the property of Mr. Bruce of Simbister.
15,154. Are the tenants in the neighbourhood of that station under any obligation to fish for you?-None whatever. If such a statement was made to you, it was entirely wrong. I am quite sure the tenants there do not hold their land under any such condition.
15,155. Do many of Mr. Bruce's tenants fish for you, in point of fact?-I think I had ten boats at Spiggie last year-three men in each boat.
15,156. Were these men mostly from Mr. Bruce's lands?-Almost entirely, I should say.