15,453. You said just now that all the supplies you had ever got were paid for at that time?-They were paid for.

15,454. And then you say in the next sentence that you cannot say whether they were paid for or not?-I asked for nothing for this woman until the came.

15,455. Do you keep a separate account for every woman that you have?-I believe we do.

15,456. Do you know anything about your accounts?-I don't know a great deal about them.

15,457. Are you sure that Mr. Greig has told you that you must take part of your payment for the paupers in goods?-Yes.

15,458. Is not all that he has done merely to keep part of the money that was already due to him for supplies which you had got?-He said he would not pay it all in money. That is all I have got to say about it.

15,459. Did he not say that he would not give it all to you in money because you were due him something for supplies you had already got?-I was never due Mr. Greig anything.

15,460. Had you not got supplies from him before he said that?-I had got supplies, but they never ran up to the sum which I had to get payment of from him. There was always money due to me.

15,461. Were you ever due Mr. Greig anything at all?-I was not.

15,462. Did you not owe him money for the supplies you had got?-We never sought supplies that would run up to the sum which we had to get. There was always something in his hand.

15,463. Do you understand what it is to be due a man money?- Yes.

15,464. Do you understand that you are due a man money when you have got goods from him and not paid for them?-I know that.

15,465. Were you not due Mr. Greig money when you had got these goods and had not paid for them?-I was.

15,466. Was it not at the time when you were due him money for these supplies that he said he could not give you the money which was due for the paupers?-He said, first of all, that we were not to ask all money when we were due him for goods.

15,467. Is there anything else you wish to say?-Nothing.

15,468. You have given your evidence in such a manner, that I cannot allow you any expenses for attending here.

Lerwick, January 30, 1872, ROBERT IRVINE, examined.

15,469. Are you a broker in Lerwick?-I am a general dealer. I deal in new as well as second-hand goods.

[Page 391]

15,470. Do you deal in provisions?-Very little; mostly in soft goods.

15,471. Do you make many purchases of soft goods and wearing apparel over your counter?-Of wearing apparel, but not of hosiery.

15,472. Do you sometimes purchase articles which are not made up, such as cotton?-Yes, and new articles too. If a man buys an article that does not fit him, and he comes back to me with it, I will take it from him and sell him another, or give him the cash.

15,473. Is this [showing] the book in which you enter all your transactions?-Yes.

15,474. Are women in the practice of selling goods to you which they have got in the shops?-There is very little of that done. I cannot say that I ever recollect a case of it.

15,475. Have you many transactions with women?-Very few. It is mostly men's apparel that I get.

15,476. I see that in your book most of the entries are in the names of men?-Yes; I always deal with men, except on rare occasions.

15,477. Are you the only broker of this kind in Lerwick?-I think I am the princ.i.p.al one; I have a licence as a broker.

15,478. Can you say that you have not had any transactions with women who might have been knitters, and who were disposing of goods which they had got for their hosiery?-I cannot tell exactly.

Sometimes they may have come in with goods which they had got in that way, but it is very little of that kind of thing that comes my way.

15,479. Have you had many dealings with women whom you knew to be knitters?-Very few. I don't know that I recollect a single case. As I have said, it is generally men's work that I get.

15,480. Do you enter every transaction which you have in the book which you have produced?-Every one.

15,481. Is it not possible that some purchases of that kind from women are not entered in it?-No; I do not want to omit them, because I want to punish them if they are rogues.

15,482. But these women will be perfectly honest in making such sales?-Yes, but I don't think there has ever been such a case in my business.

15,483. Have you ever bought any lines from women?-I never saw one offered; and even if it had been offered, I would not have bought it or meddled with it at all.

15,484. Do you know anything at all about the lines?-I don't recollect ever seeing one in my life because I am not in the way of it.

15,485. Have you heard of them?-I have heard of them repeatedly.

15,486. I suppose the trade of a broker is not a very flourishing one in Lerwick?-No, it is very dull; but I am a dealer also, and can make up things otherwise, which helps me through.

15,487. Do you know whether that business of buying second-hand articles is practised by any people who act as hawkers and who hawk through the country?-I don't know of any people who do that.

Lerwick, January 30, 1872, FRANCIS GIFFORD, examined.

15,488. Are you a seaman, living in Bressay?-I am.

15,489. Have you gone on sealing and whaling voyages for a good many years?-Yes, I went there during the first years of my time, and then I went south; but afterwards I have been at the sealing and whaling again.

15,490. Have you always engaged with some agent in Lerwick?- Yes, I have engaged with them all except Mr. Tulloch; I never went out from him.

15,491. Have you always received payment of your wages on your return from the voyage?-Yes, for the last three or four years I have always got my money at the Custom House.

15,492. Before the regulations were introduced according to which you were paid at the Custom House, did you settle with the agent at his shop?-Yes.

15,493. Did you always get your money on these occasions?-Not exactly.

15,494. Had you an account then for outfit and supplies?-Yes.

15,495. Did you always get the balance that was due?-Yes, I got it, but very little money.

15,496. Was that because you had a large account?-I don't know.

15,497. Do you remember some years ago being engaged by Mr.

Joseph Leask on a voyage to what is called the west-ice?-Yes.