Second Shetland Truck System ReportGuthrie, William
History
Second Shetland Truck System Report
Guthrie, William
Labor law -- Truck system -- History -- England; Shetland (Scotland) -- History
1852. Do you keep a pass-book?-No; I never had a pass-book
with him.
1853. Are you paid in the same way both for your own shawls that
you sell, and for those that you knit for him?-No; generally when
I knit a shawl for Mr. Sinclair, he allows me so much for the
knitting of it; but when I sell a shawl, I price it myself.
1854. Is that price paid in the same way that the wages are paid to
you for knitting?-No.
1855. Is it paid to you in money in both cases; or in goods?-It is
paid in goods in both cases.
1856. Is there not a certain part of it, in both cases, that you can
get money for?-Yes. When I knitted for Mr. Sinclair before I
was married, he generally gave me money whenever I asked for it;
but since I had a house of my own, I generally manage my affairs
so that I do not have to ask him for money. I usually take clothes
for my children and myself from him without getting money at all;
but if I did ask him for money, I have no doubt he would give it to
me.
1857. Have you always got money when you asked for it?-Yes;
whenever I asked I got it.
1858. Do you generally take the whole value of your shawls in
goods?-Yes, I always do.
1859. And no money passes between you at all?-No, not since I
was married; but previously, when I asked him for money, I
always got it.
1860. Did you generally ask for a considerable part of the price of
your shawls in money?-Yes.
1861. How much might you get out of a 20s. shawl, for instance?-
Perhaps I might have asked him for 2s. or 2s, 6d., and so on,
money.
1862. Would that be about the usual thing?-Yes; that was
generally about the usual thing.
1863. Did you ever get the whole price of a shawl or of any
hosiery goods in money?-No; I never asked it.
1864. Do you live at home with your people, or did you live by
yourself before you were married?-I lived at home with my
father.
1865. So that you did not require any money with which to
purchase food for yourself?-No.
1866. You merely knitted to supply yourself with dress, or
whatever you wanted for yourself?-Yes.
1867. Did you require for your dress all the payments you received
for your knitting?-No, I cannot say that I required it all for
myself. I might have supplied some of my brothers or sisters with
any little thing they wanted.
1868. Did they repay you for that, or did you make a present of it
to them?-I generally made a present of it to them, as I was at
home.
1869. Would you have preferred to have been paid wholly in
money?-I should prefer to be paid part of both, if I could manage
it.
1870. Would you prefer to get half the price in money?-Yes, I
would like that very well.
1871. Could you not get one half of it in money if you asked for
it?-I believe if I had asked for it I could have got it, but I did not
ask it.
1872. Then, if you preferred it, why did you not ask for it?-I told
you I managed my affairs in such a way that I did not need it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account