Second Shetland Truck System ReportGuthrie, William
History
Second Shetland Truck System Report
Guthrie, William
Labor law -- Truck system -- History -- England; Shetland (Scotland) -- History
1574 Have you dealt with her?-No.
1575. Do you pay the women who work for you in money?-Yes.
1576. You don't keep a store?-No, nothing except the money; or
whatever they require they got it.
1577. Do you make a bargain when you give out the wool, or fix
price when you see the work?-I buy the wool, and employ them
to knit it.
1578. You do not merely act as agent for Mr. White?-No; I just
buy the wool and employ the women, and pay them according to
the size of the shawl.
1579. How many women are working for you in that way?-I
cannot say exactly.
1580. Are there about half a dozen?-Yes, just about that.
1581. Do you find that the women here are anxious to work for
you?-Yes; they are anxious to get money.
1582. You think they would much rather work, for you than for a
merchant who keeps a shop?-Yes; I am never at a loss for them.
When I am in a hurry I always get them to help me, because I pay
in money.
1583. I suppose you get the choice of the knitters?-I don't know
about that. I just get done what I have to do.
1584. Have you often been applied to by women who were
anxious to work for you rather than for the shops?-Yes; very
often.
1585. Do they tell you that it is a kindness or charity to employ
them?-Yes; because they could not get the money out of the
shops.
1586. Do you know, from your own observation of the system, as
to the mode of dealing at the shops?-I often sell shawls in the
shops, although I am not in the habit of going with them myself, so
that I am often dealing a little in the shops.
1587. You send them by some other person?-Yes: I employ a girl
to go and sell them for me.
1588. In that case, how is the transaction carried out?-I just get a
line out of the shop, and get goods for it.
1589. Is the line in your name?-No; it is just a simple line or
I O U, and I send it back: to the shop at any time when I want the
goods.
1590. Have you any of these lines with you?-I have one at home,
which I will send in.
1591. From whom did you get it?-From Mr Robert Sinclair.
1592. Have you sometimes got these lines from knitters?-Yes;
often.
1593. They wanted money, and could not get it at the shops, and
brought their lines to you?-Yes; I have often taken a line and
given them money for it in order to meet their necessities, because
they would not get money elsewhere.
1594. You kept these lines until you could make some use of them
yourself?-Yes. Whenever I required any little thing, I sent to the
shop for it, and paid for it with these lines.
1595. Have you any of these lines belonging to other women in
your hands just now?-I have not.
1596. How much money may you have had lying out in that way at
a time?-Not very much; perhaps a few shillings now and then.
1597. Are the lines generally for a large amount?-No; from 8s. to
7s. or 8s., or thereabout.
1598. May you have had two or three of them at a time?-Perhaps
one or two.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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