(1)  Subject to the provisions hereinafter mentioned, and to the prescribed rules, any court may commit to prison for 6 weeks, or until payment of the sum due, any person who makes default in payment of any debt or instalment of any debt due from him in pursuance of any order or judgment of that or any other competent court. Provided –

(a) that the jurisdiction by this section given of committing a person to prison shall, in the case of any court other than the Supreme Court, be exercised only subject to the following restrictions; that is to say:

(i) Be exercised only as respects a judgment of the Supreme Court when such judgment does not exceed $100 exclusive of costs;

(ii) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

(b) that such jurisdiction shall only be exercised where it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that the person making default either has, or has had since the date of the order or judgment, the means to pay the sum in respect of which he has made a default, and has refused or neglected, or refuses or neglects, to pay the same.

(2)  Proof of the means of the person making default may be given in such manner as the court thinks just; and for the purposes of such proof the debtor and any witnesses may be summoned and examined on oath, according to the prescribed rules.

(3)  Any jurisdiction by this section given to the Supreme Court may be exercised by a judge sitting in chambers, or otherwise in the prescribed manner.

(4)  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

(5)  For the purposes of this section any court may direct any debt due from any person in pursuance of any order or judgment of that or any other competent court to be paid by instalments, and may rescind or vary such order.

(6)  Persons committed under this section may be committed to any gaol; and every order of committal shall, subject to the prescribed rules, be issued, obeyed, and executed in the like manner as nearly as may be as a writ of capias ad satisfaciendum .

(7)  No imprisonment under this section shall operate as a satisfaction or extinguishment of any debt or demand or cause of action, or deprive any person of any right to take out execution against the lands, goods, or chattels of the person imprisoned, in the same manner as if such imprisonment had not taken place.

(8)  Any person imprisoned under this section shall be discharged out of custody upon a certificate signed in the prescribed manner to the effect that he has satisfied the debt or instalment of a debt in respect of which he was imprisoned, together with the prescribed costs, if any.

(9)  Every order made by the Magistrates Court (Civil Division) may be set aside or varied by a judge, in such manner and upon such terms as he thinks fit, upon application being made to him in a summary way; and a judge may order the release of any person arrested under such order in the absence of such person.