8479. You could have got any sort of meal if you had asked it?- Yes, he would have got any sort.
8480. And so would you if you had gone to the right quarter. Don't you think if a lot of you now were to agree to buy meal from a man in the south, and were getting the price of your fish in cash, so that you could pay for the meal in cash, you would be able to make a better thing of it?-There is no mistake about that.
8481. What is to hinder a boat's crew or two from agreeing to bring their own meal from the south?-The fish-curer must supply them with money before they could do that.
8482. Will not the curer advance money to the men if they want it?-It would just be at his own option.
8483. Do you think the fish-curer would not give you the money before the end of the season?-I don't know, I never asked it, and what a man has not asked he cannot speak to at all.
8484. Do you think he would be likely to do it?-The merchants might do it to some, and to some they would not. They could not be expected to do it to a man who was indebted to them; but if a man was clear with them, they might have no objections to advance the money.
8485. I suppose it would not be easy to find a boat's crew where some of the men were not in debt?-I think there are a good few boats' crews of that kind.
8486. Could not a boat's crew, where none of the men were in debt, get their money in that way?-Certainly they could if they wished it.
8487. And they could import their meal from the south if they found it any cheaper?-Perhaps they could.
8488. Do any of your people knit or weave?-They do.