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74
SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
they
possessed at the inauguration of the scheme, spreading deliveries over
three years if necessary, and the Syndicate members were also to be
allowed to buy 'outside diamonds' to an amount not in excess of
£500,000 per annum. Advances were permissible to pool members not in
excess of £5 million at any time—this will serve to give an idea of the
magnitude of the total amounts involved. Pool deliveries were to rise
from £11 million in the first year to £12-1/2 million in the third and
subsequent years. De Beers' quota was to fall gradually from 48-1/2 per
cent to 48 per cent; the Regie quota was to rise from 21 per cent to 22
per cent—so much for the assumption that German South West Africa was
likely to be a factor of declining importance.
The
war put an end to this attempt at an international control of the
diamond market; the problems were to arise again in an aggravated form
in the inter-war period. Then it was to be Ernest Oppenheimer who faced
the issues and solved the problems.
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