Second Shetland Truck System ReportGuthrie, William
History
Second Shetland Truck System Report
Guthrie, William
Labor law -- Truck system -- History -- England; Shetland (Scotland) -- History
83. Do you generally ask for it all in money from her?-Yes; I
generally ask for it in money, because that is the only way we have
to get it.
84. Does she deal in goods?-No. She generally brings home a
little tea.
85. Does she only deal in tea?-In nothing else, so far as I know.
86. Then you sometimes get payment from her in tea?-Yes.
When I ask it, I get it; but when I ask money, I get money.
87. When you sell to the merchants in Lerwick, do you get
payment in money?-No; I never asked it, because I know they
would not give it to us, as it is not the custom. They do not give it
here.
88. Do you get part of it in money?-No; I get no money.
89. You have to take it all in goods?-Yes.
90. Do you prefer to get it in goods or in money?-I would like to
get money if I could; but I can't get it.
91. And Miss Hutchison is not always ready to buy, from you?-
No; she does not buy anything but her own. She brings home
worsted, or buys worsted here, and I get it from her to knit.
92. What you sell to the merchants you knit with your own
worsted?-Yes.
93. Where do you buy your worsted?-From the shops.
94. Which shops?-I used to buy from Mr. Brown, but he is not
alive now; and I buy from Mr. Sinclair.
95. Do you pay ready-money for your worsted when you buy it?-
Yes.
96. Do you not get worsted from the shops to knit into articles for
the merchants?-No.
97. You sell to the shops only when Miss Hutchison has not got
work for you?-Yes. It is only when I have it of my own that I sell
to the shops.
98. Have you asked for money instead of goods at any of the
shops?-No; I never asked for it.
99. Your sister also works in the same way?-Yes; she knits, but
she does not work outside. She is not here to-day.
100. When was the last time you took anything of your own
knitting to a shop to sell? Was it long ago?-No; it is not long,-
perhaps about two or three weeks ago.
101. What was it?-A necktie.
102. Where did you take it?-I took it to Mr. Sinclair's. I could
not get it sold that night, because he was not in, and the servants
could not take it in his absence. I took it home with me.
103. What did you do with it?-The woman who dressed it sold it
for me at Mr. Sinclair's. She generally dresses things, and
sometimes sells them for me.
104. What is dressing?-Getting them sorted for sale. After being
knitted, they are washed and dressed and starched.
105. Do you give the woman who dresses the articles a
commission to sell them?-Yes; she sells them for me.
106. Why is that?-Because she is generally in the way of doing it.
She can do it better than I can.
107. Do you mean that she can make a better bargain?-She
dresses goods for the merchants, and sometimes she sells them too.
She sold that article for me.
108. Who is the woman?-Mrs. William Arcus; she lives at the
Docks.
109. What was the price put upon that necktie which she sold?-
Eighteenpence.
110. What did you get for it?-I just got anything I required.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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