'BEACHCOMBERS AND OTHERS’

Evening Star, Issue 21715, 9 May 1934, Page 6

' BEACHCOMBERS AND OTHERS’

ADDRESS BY MR H. B. SKINNER An interesting address entitled ‘ Beachcombers and Others ’ was delivered last evening to members of the Otago Institute by Mr H. D. Skinner in the Museum lecture hall. Dr C. E. Herons presided over a good audience. Mr Skinner, in his opening remarks, stressed the need for making clear the meaning of the term “ beachcomber.’ Beachcombers, the speaker stated, might be classed in five groups—mutineers, deserters, administrators, traders, and, finally, those who came to Polynesia of their own choice.. The main portion of the address comprised the reading of vivid ' extracts both from published works upon the South Sea Islands and from letters received personally by the speaker from traders operating at the present time in that area. In connection with the mutineers, a passage was quoted from Mariner’s account of the mutiny on the Privateer, Port au Prince, it being pointed out that Mariner was only fifteen years of age when the events described took place. The point of view of a deserter was illustrated by a section of the reminiscences of William Diapea, while the administrative angle, was shown by the reading of passages from Sir Basil Thompson’s ‘ Diversions of a Prime Minister.’ Mr Skinner then read extracts from letters received by him from Mr Drury Low, a present-day trader in the South Seas, which described in amusing language some of the experiences and dangers undergone during his voyages. Sections were finally read from another letter written by a beachcomber who recently carried off a large amount of valuable ethnographic material from a Polynesian area controlled by a foreign Power. This letter described the blackmail suffered by the writer at the hands of enterprising natives while he was smuggling his material off the islands. During the evening Mrs Skinner read two delightful passages from Nordhoff and Hall’s ‘ Faery Islands of the South Seas.’ At the conclusion address Dr Mullin moved a hearty vote of thanks to Mr and Mrs Skinner.