4520. Where have you cured your fish before?-In the same place where I now live.
4521. Was that before these restrictions were laid upon the tenantry?-Yes; one year before and one year since the restrictions were laid on.
4522. Then you have done it since without being challenged?- Yes; but it was by their own good-will that they allowed me to do it.
4523. You had some favour shown you?-Yes.
4524. How did that happen?-They just told me they would not disturb me, as I was a young man, and could either stop or go as I thought fit.
4525. If you had been a tenant, you think you would not have had the same liberty?-No, I would not.
4526. You say you can get the same credit at any other store that you can get at Mr. Bruce's: do you mean that you can open an account and get your things without paying for them until the end of the season?-Yes.
4527. Can you do so at Gavin Henderson's store, for instance?- Yes; or in Lerwick.
4528. But does the merchant with whom you would open an account of that sort not know that you fish for Mr. Bruce, that you are bound to deliver all your fish to him, and that you may at the same time be running an account at his shop which would have a preference at settlement over any account you might open in Lerwick or at Henderson's?-I generally give them to understand how I am circumstanced, and they advance me accordingly.
4529. Do you generally have a large balance in cash to receive when settling with Mr. Bruce?-I have only prosecuted the fishing there for three years; I have settled for two of these years, and for this one I have not settled yet.