Second Shetland Truck System ReportGuthrie, William
History
Second Shetland Truck System Report
Guthrie, William
Labor law -- Truck system -- History -- England; Shetland (Scotland) -- History
262. How did you pay your rent formerly?-I did not require it
then so much. My father was alive then.
263. But you have now to pay rent?-Yes; and to support my
stepmother partly.
264. Have you within the last six years asked for money instead of
these lines?-Yes; I have asked almost daily for money, and I get a
little.
265. When did you ask last for money?-On Saturday.
266. Who did you ask?-Mr. Sinclair.
267. What did he say?-He gave me what I asked.
268. How much was that?-I just asked 1s.
269. Did you present one of his lines?-No; I sold him a shawl,
and bought goods, and got a line for the rest, and 1s. of cash.
270. How much was it altogether?-I got 10s. 6d. for the shawl.
271. And you got 1s. in cash, and 9s. 6d. in goods or in line?-
Yes.
272. Did you ask for more money than that?-Not on Saturday.
273. You got all the money you wanted then?-Yes.
274. How much did you the time before?-I got 2s. 6d. then.
275. From whom?-From Mr. Sinclair.
276. How much were you selling at that time?-15s. worth, I
think.
277. Was that a fortnight's work?-It was more than that; it would
be about three weeks'.
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278. How much money did you ask that time?-I asked for 5s.
279. What was said?-There was no more money at hand at the
counter at that time, and I got 2s. 6d.
280. What did you get for the 12s. 6d.?-It was some other little
things I was purchasing. I don't remember what they were.
281. You did not get a line at that time?-No.
282. The things you got you really wanted?-Yes.
283. Suppose you had got 15s. in cash, would you have purchased
your goods there?-Yes. Whatever wearing goods I required, I
would not have purchased them anywhere else. I am quite
satisfied with Mr. Sinclair's goods; but I am always needing
money so much that I have always to ask it.
284. Does this system of not getting money, or being paid in
goods, make you buy more dress or clothing than you would
otherwise care for?-Yes; I would not need one half the clothes I
get, if I could get money.
285. That is to say, you would prefer to take the money, and spend
it upon food?-Yes.
286. Or lay it by?-I should not think much of laying it by, if I
could only get enough to serve the present time.
287. Have you handed the I O U's to anybody else than Miss
Robertson?-Yes; to lots of people.
288. For money?-Yes; for money, and for peats or fuel for the
winter. My acquaintances will sometimes take a line from me to
oblige me, because I have no money to give them.
289. Name one of them?-John Ridling, Burn's Lane, is one of
them.
290. What would he do with it?-Mrs. Ridling would send it to the
shop and purchase anything she wanted.
291. Have you known these lines passing through more hands than
one before coming to the shop?-Yes; they would do that.
292. For instance, if Mrs. Ridling wanted money instead of goods
at the shop, might she pass the line to somebody who would give
her money for it?-No, not that I know of.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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