TOWN EDITION.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14190, 6 January 1917, Page 6

TOWN EDITION.

Chaplain-Captain Barnett, of Tolaga Bay, leaves for South by the Arahura ou Monday to join the - hospital ship JYlaheiio. The s.s. 7'uru returned l at 3.15 this afternoon fiom Tolaga Bay with a load of wool for transhipment to the ocean liner in the bay. . It is announced that to-night's pictures entertainment at His Majesty's Theatre will be the last for a period to be given iu this theatre, the World's Pictures having decided for the present to screen the whole of its programmes at the company's picture lioufc in Adair's Buildings. The harbor presented an animated appearance this afternoon., when five steaancKs — an ocean lmcr (10,000 tons), Monowai (3435 tons), Opouri (550 tons), Mako (505 '"tons), and Ruru (99 tons) were riding at anchor, whilst the Kiritona was lightering coal from th© Mako and several of the local lighters were working the other vessels. Tlie members of the 25th Reinforcements paraded at the Garrison Hall this afternoon, and practically every one oi the 67 man were accounted for. After being lined up, the men were dismissed until 5 a^m. on Monday, when they again 'assemble at- the Garrison Hall and inarch to the wharf. Lieut. Moltzen a.nd*Sergt.-MajoT ,Aldridge will proceed to Napier, ia charge of tlie draft. The men of this "draft will form part of the company which will be under the command ot Capt. J..,"'R. Kirk, who also j leaves by the AraJiura on his return to camp after being on leave. In the course of conversation with Mr. .O. C. Kettle, S.M., a. representative of the Auckland Star was informed tliat a wrong impression is held by many people regarding tho law dealing with imprisonment for debt. "I at times," said 'Mr. Kettle, "receive communications regarding not having sent people to prison I who are brought before me because they have not complied with an order to pay , a debt. It is, of course, utterly wrong to write to a Magistrate upon the'subject, but tliat is not the point. What I wish to make known is that so many people appear to be- unaware of the prom visions of Section 8 of the Act, which provides tliat no order shall be made of • commitment to prison of any judgment debtor if the debtor proves to the satis- ■ faction of the Court that, after provid- : ing for the reasonable maintenance of | himself and his family he has not, sinoe the date of the judgment, had sufficient means to pay the debt^ or any instalment thereof. I have pointed that out freqireut'y from the Bench, and yet ' cases' arc brought before tlie Court -in which the debtor proves he has no means under the Act. and the only course is not to commit him to prison. The application for a judgment, summons reads as follows-: ."Thai I have just reason to believe that the defendant, after providing for the reasonable maintenance of himself and his family, has since the date of the judgement had sufficient money to pay the debt, or an instalment thereof,' and lias to be accompanied by an affidavit to that effect.' " . I Mr. George H. Wilkins, a member' of the Stsfar.sson Arctic Expedition, has reached. England after more than three years spent in the Arctic, mostly among the Eskimos of Victoria. Land, Banks Land and the northermost coast of Canada. Ift an interview with Reuter's representative^ Mr. Wilkins, who is an Australian, and is .-now going to join the' Navy, described some of his experiences. , Air. Wilkins spent a considerable tiine among the so-called Blond .Eskimos, discovered by Mr/ Stefansson, ■ on a previous Expedition. They are quite untouched- by Western civilisation, ■» and their habits and customs are essentially primitive. They are not a longId lived race, and fifty years is perhaps the normal span. Human life is very little valued amongst them, and what civilised, people class as. murder is regarded as a more or less harmless eccentricity. Visiting a camp where he had •made friends with an Eskimo a fewmonths before, and, not finding him, Mr. Wilkins inquired after his health! He was told that the man was deadV and the manner of ! -his death was this. One day the deceased came across a member or the tribe fashioning a knife out of copper which is found in this region. He chaffed hian, it 'appears, on his want of skill. "You don't know the first thing about making a knife," he said in effect. The artificer said nothing until )he had finished his .work, when, re/marking. "I think it is a pretty good knife," he plunged it into the breast, of his critic. Tlie Eskimo have their own sense of humour, and this incident was much appreciated. '". 7 " . SftANT HflNßni ATIOM cnQ ttCD