Second Shetland Truck System Report Part 376

16,088. Have you got any of these veils in hand just now?-Yes, I have a few that I am knitting.

16,089. Do you knit with your own wool at all?-No, I only work for him.

16,090. How much do you get for knitting one of these veils?- From 16d. to 1s., according to the quality as it is coa.r.s.e or fine.

16,091. Do you get more for knitting one of fine worsted than one of coa.r.s.e?-Yes.

16,092. Will you bring one of the veils that you are knitting just now and let me see it?-Yes,

Lerwick, February 5, 1872, ELIZABETH MALCOMSON, recalled.

16,093. Do you live with your mother in Baker's Close, Lerwick?-Yes.

16,094. What do you do?-I sometimes knit, and sometimes sew; but I mostly knit. My mother knits sometimes, and does the house-work.

16,095. Do you support yourself mostly by knitting?-Yes, almost entirely.

16,096. What kind of knitting do you do?-Fine veils and shawls.

16,097. Are you paid for them in money or in goods?-Always in goods.

16,098. Do you sometimes get a little money?-No, I never asked for it.

16,099. Do you get money for your sewing?-Yes. I sew to private people, and they always pay me in money.

16,100. Where do you buy your provisions?-From any shop I like. I don't go to any one in particular.

16,101. Where do you get the money for that?-From my sewing.

16,102. Do you get all the money that you require for provisions by your sewing?-No. We generally keep a lodger or two when we can get them.

16,103. Would you not prefer to get some money for your knitting?-Yes; but it never was the practice to ask for it, and therefore I never thought of doing so.

16,104. Would you not be better off if you had money for your knitting, which you could spend upon provisions?-I think I would be; but I never thought of asking it, as it is not the usual thing.

16,105. What kind of goods do you get for your knitting?-Tea, sugar, soft goods, groceries, or any kind of goods that are in the shop.

16,106. Do you get most of the dress for yourself in that way?- Yes.

16,107. Do you knit a greater number of articles than are sufficient to supply yourself with dress?-Yes.

16,108. What do you do with them?-I buy anything that is required for the house.

16,109. Do you sometimes get goods for your friends if they want any?-No, I generally require all I get for myself.

16,110. You don't get provisions for your knitting?-No.

16,111. Do you get enough money for your sewing and from your lodgers to supply you with provisions all the year round?-Yes; it has always done so in time past.

16,112. Is there anybody living in family with you except your mother?-No.

16,113. What is the usual price that you get for your fine shawls?-We generally get 10s. or 12s., but that is not the very finest worsted either.

16,114. Are these shawls knitted with the merchant's worsted?- Yes.

16,115. It is always given out to you, and you keep an account?- Yes.

16,116. Do you know what quality of worsted it is that you knit one of these shawls with?-It is usually Shetland worsted. The price of it is 31/2d., and some of it 4d. per cut; at least I would think so, judging by the fineness of the worsted.

16,117. Have you sometimes bought worsted yourself?-Yes, sometimes.

16,118. Have you bought it often enough to know the quality and price?-Yes.

16,119. What size of shawl is it that you get 12s. for?-About 21/4 yards. That, is, 25 scores on each border, and there are four borders in the square.

16,120. Then you could say quite positively that for a shawl of 25 scores, knitted with 31/2d. worsted, and measuring 21/4 yards, you got 12s. in goods?-Yes.

16,121. Do you ever sell shawls to any persons except the merchants?-No.

16,122. When did you last take any veils to the shop?-I think it was the week before last. I got 9d. each for them; they were knitted with Scotch wool. When they are coa.r.s.e, there is less paid for knitting than when they are fine.

16,123. Were these coa.r.s.e veils?-No, they were ordinary quality.

The worsted was not the very coa.r.s.est.

16,124. Do you know what was the value of the worsted per cut?-I cannot say.

16,125. Who did you sell them to?-To Mr. Robert Linklater.

16,126. Do you know what you would pay for them at the shop?- I think it would be about 2s. or 2s. 6d.

16,127. Would you go and buy one of them and bring it to me here?-Yes.

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Lerwick, February 5, 1872, GRACE SLATER, recalled.

16,128. [Produces veil.] Is that one of the veils you are knitting for Mr. Sinclair just now?-Yes. It is his own worsted that I am working it with. I think I will get 16d. for it. I have got that for veils of the same quality.

Lerwick, February 5, 1872, ROBERT SINCLAIR, recalled.

16,129. Do you wish to make any explanation with regard to what the witness Grace Slater has now said?-The only explanation I have to make is, that the veil she has now produced belongs to the same cla.s.s of goods as that with regard to which Mr. Linklater and I were previously examined. The veil which she has produced is quite a good thing, but in the same cla.s.s of goods there are a great number of job articles which tear in the dressing.

16,130. What is the selling price of such veils?-From 2s. 6d. to 2s. 9d. That is the highest price we get for them.

16,131. What quant.i.ty of worsted is in one of them?-About 6d.

worth of worsted.