7883. What was the reason why the men generally dealt with the merchants who employed them at the fishing?-Perhaps the men did not have money at the time with which to go and buy the articles from any other party, and the man who owned the vessel ready to supply them. That was the way in which it was done, so far as I know.
7884. I suppose some of them had been supplied with goods before they went away to the fishing?-I think so.
7885. And it was a common enough thing for an account to be standing against them when they settled?-I believe it was.
7886. Do you think any of them would have engaged with another merchant in preference for the fishing if they had not had that account?-I cannot say as to that.
7887. Was there any obligation on them to engage with the merchant who supplied them with their goods?-Not so far as I know.
7888. Except that they thought it fair to go and fish for him in order that he might have some security for his advances?-Of course.
7889. How long is it since you opened your shop?-About twenty-one or twenty-two months.
7890. On whose land is it?-The proprietor, Mr. Robert Hoseason, is in New Zealand.
7891. Is it under the management of Pole, Hoseason, & Co.?-No. Mr. Sievwright, writer in Lerwick, is the agent. Mr. John White and Mr. Cheyne, Edinburgh, are the agents, and they have Mr. Sievwright under them.
7892. Had you any difficulty in getting a place in which to open your business?-No; I had been living there before.