8353. Do men sometimes want to shift to another crew or another master, and are prevented from doing so because they are in debt?-I have never tried that.
8354. Do you know whether that is ever the case?-I could not answer that question, because I would not like to say anything I was not sure about.
8355. I suppose you would not think of leaving Mr. Inkster so long as you were in his debt?-Even if I was clear with him, I see no good I could do to myself by leaving him. If I ask him for money, I get it, just the same as out-takes; and I get out-takes from him, just the same as if I was paying down ready money for them.
8356. Do you think you would be any better off if you had not to run such a long account?-I don't know. A poor man generally can have very little until it comes perhaps to the twelvemonth's end; and if it were not that we have sometimes a beast to sell, or something like that, we would have very little to live on throughout the year, because the fishing time is only for about three months in the summer.
8357. You think if you were settled with at shorter periods, you would not have enough to carry you through the year?-Yes.
8358. And you could not settle with the merchant at the end, because the account you have to pay is bigger than what you have to get?-Yes.
8359. Is that sometimes the case?-Yes; because for some years there has been a good deal of bread to get in consequence of lean crops, and that brings the poor fishermen very much down.
Brae, January 13, 1872, JOHN WOOD, examined.
8360. Are you a fisherman in Muckle Roe?-I am.
8361. Do you fish for Mr. Inkster?-Yes.