855. But if these parties knew that you were getting money from Messrs. Hay for your fish, would it not be possible for you to get the money from Messrs. Hay, and with it to pay the other dealers?-That may be done no doubt on a very small scale, for anything I know. I believe it is done, to a certain extent, by persons who get a few pence or a few pounds from Messrs. Hay; but it is only a few of the men who are able to deal in that way.
856. You say in your letter that you don't know the prices you are to get for your fish until the end of the year: is that so?-Yes, it is so.
857. Messrs. Hay & Co. do not fix the price until what time of the year?-They do not fix it until we settle-about a month after the New Year.
858. So that you don't know before then what you are to get?-We never do.
859. Have you ever been to agree to fish at a certain price per cwt.?-I never was asked to agree to that during the whole fourteen years I have served them.
860. Would you like to have a certain price per cwt. [Page 18] fixed before the commencement of the season?-We should like that well enough if we had power ourselves to inquire after it, but we should not like it if it was to be left in the hands of another who had power to make the price what he pleased.
861. You also say, in your letter, 'If we capture whales, we have to pay one-third of the proceeds to the landlord.' Is that a frequent source of profit to you in Shetland?-It is not, a very frequent source. It is occasional, but not frequent.
862. What is your objection to that system?-We think that as we the fishermen, drive the whales ashore, and they are all flinched and wrought below high-water mark, we have a right to the whole proceeds. We think the proprietor has no right to anything at all, any more than he has to the fish that come ashore in our boats.
863. But when you get the whales you get two-thirds of the oil?- We do.
864. And you can sell that in any market you like-I believe we can.