bination
of high diamond prices and the uprush of demand resulted in the
acquisition of great 'windfall' gains by the diamond industry, he had
no hesitation—in spite of criticism—in utilizing these once-for-all
profits for the financing of the new ventures in the Orange Free State
gold-field and elsewhere. In pursuing this policy, he was in fact
following the precedent set by C. J. Rhodes himself.20
Not
least among the motives which inspired him was the patriotic one. He
was a passionate South African, who felt that he had a duty towards his
country to build up its industries and to further its economic
progress. He was also very conscious of Southern Africa as a sphere of
British (as well as South African) enterprise and this greatly affected
his attitude towards the control of the copper industry of Rhodesia, as
well as towards economic enterprise in the Rhodesias generally.
Nor
was he unmindful, either as a citizen or as a great employer of labour
in the Union and in the Rhodesias, of the profoundly difficult problems
raised by the multiracial composition of the population and of the
labour force. All these problems have become more urgent and certainly
no easier since his death five years ago; they were sufficiently
formidable even then. He had always been an opponent of the 'colour
bar' as he told Parliament in 1926; he objected to it as class
legislation; generally, he held the view that superior skill would
always protect the individual white worker, while an expanding economy
would see to it that employment opportunities for all workers would
increase. But his opportunity for taking a more positive attitude came
with the opening up of the Copperbelt and the Orange Free State
gold-field. Here there were opportunities for 'African advancement' in
new environments: 'up-grading' of jobs, improved medical faculties,
improved accommodation, and villages for married workers. These were
all practical measures: the extent to which he was to be able to
implement them depended in part (so far as Northern Rhodesia was
concerned) on conciliating the white trade unions and (so far as the
Union was concerned) on the assent of the Government—and in this
respect he was only partly successful. But the will was there, and that
good will also manifested itself in the successful effort which he
made, towards the end of his life, to mobilize the financial aid of the
mining houses in support of the vast rehousing programme of the
Municipality of Johannesburg: a sum of £3,000,000 was involved. His
efforts in this and other directions won the affection and respect
20 For a fuller discussion, see below, chapter I, section VIII, p. 56 et seq.
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