overlap
and intertwine with those of the Anglo American Corporation: they are
in fact so closely associated that the 'empire' which Ernest
Oppenheimer controlled is a vaster one than can be subsumed under the
single title of Anglo American Corporation.
Yet
even within the narrower ambit of the Anglo American Corporation, the
running of an organization of such magnitude and one, moreover, which
is expanding and dynamic, calls for technical, financial and
administrative services of a highly qualified kind. Apart from issues
of financial pohcy, there is the ever-present problem of
over-centrahzation to be faced. The problem was solved by the creation
of powerful, legally constituted entities controlling, in whole or in
part, certain specific interests of the parent concern. The first of
these to be created in order of time was the Rhodesian Anglo American
Limited, in 1928, in conjunction with Rand Selection, Consolidated
Mines Selection, Barnato Bros, and an American mining concern—the
Newmont Corporation of New York. Ernest Oppenheimer was nominated
chairman. In his speech to the shareholders of Anglo American
Corporation, he explained what the advantages were:
Our
decision to form the Rhodesian Anglo American Limited was based on our
experience on the Rand, where it has been shown that the mining
companies individually and the industry as a whole have benefited to an
enormous extent through the presence of strong parent companies. The
advantages of the system are manifold, the financing of the individual
mining enterprises is facilitated thereby, the parent company provides
the link between the various producing companies and promotes
co-operation on matters of common interest, and, perhaps most
important, by engaging a staff of highly skilled experts, is able to
give valuable technical assistance.6 In this latter regard I
should like to explain that this system is specially suitable in
circumstances such as obtain on the Rand, and which it would appear are
likely to develop in Northern Rhodesia. I refer to the conduct of
operations on a number of separate properties all of which, however,
are located in one district and have many problems in common. In such
circumstances the existence of a central organization for the supply
of expert advice in various matters is obviously of incalculable value.
It ensures to the individual companies great economies compared with
the cost to which they would be put if each of them were called upon to
maintain an equally complete staff.
In more settled communities, or in respect of districts situated within close
reach of more fully developed countries, it might be feasible to rely on the
6
In fact, the idea that Rhodesian Anglo American should have its own
staff of highly skilled experts was not pursued and the provision of
technical services for the Rhodesian mining companies remained a
function of Anglo American Corporation itself.
