Second Shetland Truck System ReportGuthrie, William
History
Second Shetland Truck System Report
Guthrie, William
Labor law -- Truck system -- History -- England; Shetland (Scotland) -- History
2221. Therefore you keep accounts, because when a balance
stands against a woman you have to look back to where the
balance is?-Yes; and where work is given out again, the balance
is marked against her, that balance being agreed upon between the
shop-woman and her.
2222. Is there any index to the names of the women in that
book?-No; the girl knows them all.
2223. I see that the entries on two pages of it serve for a month?-
Yes; the entries from December 5 to January 2 are all on two
pages. These contain all our transactions with that sort of people,
and it shows that we have very few of them.
2224. I see here an entry: 'December 5-Barbara Hunter, 11/4 oz.
black mohair. D. 1s.-retd.' Will you explain that entry?-D.
means debtor. It means that the woman got supplies to the extent
of 1s. The 11/4 oz. black mohair was the worsted which she got at
that time to knit up. Then on the 21st she comes back and returns
it. At that time there is this entry: December 21-Barbara Hunter,
11/4 oz. black mohair. D. 1s. 4d., D. 6d.
2225. What does 'retd.' mean in the first entry?-It means that the
work was returned on a certain day. The return would be made on
the 21st, when she got out the same quantity of additional stuff,
and then the balance is carried forward.
2226. Are there any entries in your books showing how the D. 1s.
or the D. 1s. 4d. was made up?-No; I could not even tell what it
was for.
2227. But it was a balance upon goods supplied to her?-Yes. It
may have been tea, or some small sums of cash, or anything. Our
shop-girl would go over it with her, and they would agree upon it
that this was the balance due at that time; and then, when she came
back with the work she had got out on the 21st, there would be
another balance.
2228. Here is another entry: 'December 15-Christina Sinclair, 2
oz. black mohair. D. 1s. 4d., D. 13s. 3d., D. 5s. 1d.-retd.' How
does it happen that, under the same entry and in the same line,
there are three separate sums?-The girl came on separate
occasions and got these supplies, and they have been, entered
separately. She has been back since then, because the work which
she got out at that time has been returned.
2229. Then follows the entry: 'December 26 [Page 45]-Christian
Sinclair, 2 oz. black mohair. D. 10d. (in pencil), D. 11s. 11d.'
The 11s. 11d. would be the balance on the previous three debtor
entries, and the 10d., I suppose, had been got subsequently?-I
presume it had been quarter it pound of tea for 10d. Christina
Sinclair lives in Hancliffe Lane.
2230. Does she support herself entirely by knitting?-She lives
with her father. She knits a good deal on her own account, and
comes and sells it to us. These had been some veils and other
things, which she makes for us occasionally when she happens not
to have worsted of her own.
2231. The 11s. 11d., I think you say, shows a balance upon goods
got by her?-Yes; I presume it is the balance, after deducting what
she got for that work.
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