TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS, 199 



those delightful shawls and articles of hosiery -with which we are acquainted, and 

 these the women carry to certain dealers to dispose of; but here it is alleged, truly 

 or falsely, that, by ways and means, these workers are induced almost invariably to 

 take payment in goods consisting in great part of gay cotton prints, showy ribbons, 

 and other articles of female dress or hnery, not always well adapted either to their 

 position or to their humid climate. Another favourite commodity for which their 

 worsted work is exchanged is tea ; and it is well known that high-priced tea is the 

 great temptation which the Shetland women are unable to resist, tea-totalism in 

 Shetland being often as much of a vice as it is thought a virtue elsewhere. When 

 the dealers witli whom the family' has to do are all connected with the landlord or 

 the land, the case becomes extremely complicated, and a fiu-ther cause of mischief 

 arises, as the Shetlauder seldom or never has a lease, or will accept of one, and is 

 thus under the constant fear of being ejected if he thwarts the proprietor or his re- 

 presentative in any of his transactions. It thus happens that a Shetland family 

 may be industrious in all its branches — farming and fishing, and knitting to the 

 best of their ability, ,and yet will be constantly behind hand, dependent upon their 

 superior, and never perhaps handling a pound note from year's end to year's end. 

 The dealers, on the other hand, are said to make large profits, at least at times ; but 

 whether on the whole they are great gainers it is not easy to tell, as the state of 

 their transactions has never fully been brought to light. I am far from saying that 

 all, or even the majority, of the landowners are mixed up in these transactions ; 

 but the system is so well established that it is difficult to keep free of it. This is 

 certainly not a very good state of things. It has been said that the very boys when 

 they begin to work for wages get no money, bu.t are supplied with clothes, including 

 specially a coat to go to church in, and thus they get very early into the mer- 

 chant's books, so that perhaps it is not much of an exaggeration to say that a Shet- 

 lauder is under truck from his cradle to his coilin. Much clamour and complaint 

 have been excited by these pictm-es, and loud demands are made for stringent 

 and special legislation. It is quite right that fidl inquiry shoidd be made into the 

 facts ; but I confess I have little hope of seeing the evil cured by Act of Parlia- 

 ment. It would be preposterous to enact that no tenant who was starving shoidd 

 be assisted with advances except in money, or that no girl should exchange her 

 woollen manufacture for a cotton print ; ]ior, in like manner, would it be practicable 

 to say that a tenant should not pay his rent in cattle or in fish. The evil lies deeper 

 than this, viz., that the Shetlanders are trying to cany on the business of farming 

 and of fishing without the necessary means. If the steed has to wait for his food 

 till the grass grows he will probably starve ; and so will the farmer come to grief if 

 he has not something laid by to live upon between seed-time and harvest. It is 

 the possession or the want of the capital that makes the great difierence between 

 master and servant, farmer and labourer. The man who cannot wait till the 

 fruits of his labour or industiy are realized, ought naturall}' to be a servant, and 

 ought to receive wages or support independently of results ; but in so doing he 

 must forego the right to claim those profits which are to compensate for risk and 

 dela}'. If the farmer or fisher insists on going on on liis own account without any 

 means — and it is plain that the Shetlander's feelings or habits are adverse to his 

 becoming a servant — it is certain that he must become a borrower, and he will not 

 get aid from any lender without ample remuneration. That i-emuneration may be 

 got either by charging high interest, or, as they do in Shetland, by making their 

 advances in such a form and manner as will yield them a mercantile profit. This 

 system has been so long established in Shetland, that the people are in a great 

 degree reconciled to it, and its extirpation seems scarcely possible. I think that 

 if I were a resident Shetland proprietor, I would rather let the system go on, but 

 endeavour that it should be so administered as to do justice to both parties, in the 

 hope that by degrees a spirit of independence and fair dealing might grow up. I 

 must say that I am very incredulous of any dealers getting, in this or in any other 

 way, an exorbitant profit in the long run. For if that were the case, competition 

 would be evoked, and one dealer would bid down or bid up the market till it 

 reached a fair rate or return. 



Paujierisin. 



I should regret if thig Meeting should pass away without something being done 



