144
SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
Company and with the Syndicate, face to face: with his friends and with his opponents.
♦ X ♦
The
negotiations which had dragged on from the conference of November to
the conference of December were resumed on 9 January 1925, under the
shadow of a threat. On 6 January 1925 a cable had been dispatched to
all producers to the effect that the
Minister
desires to inform all producers that in view long delay in fixing up
inter-producers' agreement and agreement with the Syndicate the
Government desires final terms with regard to both proposed agreements
to be stated and concluded not later than noon . . . the twelfth
instant otherwise Government will adopt such course as it may deem fit
untrammelled by any negotiations hitherto. Minister hopes matter will
be brought to a point sooner. . . . Minister wishes contents of this
telegram to be communicated to representative of Syndicate. . . .
At
the meeting on 9 January the producers did agree upon quotas, which
were in fact unchanged, but it was agreed that 'any shortfall in
deliveries by any participant in the 100 per cent to be contributed pro
rata in proportion to their respective quotas by the remaining participants'. Outside
producers in South West Africa were given a quota of 3 per cent of the
total sales to the Syndicate 'limited to a maximum at the rate of
.£200,000 per annum'. But more important, the producers on the same
date also agreed that 'failing the conclusion of an agreement with the
Syndicate by the four producers concerned, each producer to have the
right to conclude a separate agreement with any party or parties
subject to the arrangements as outlined above'. In other words, there
were to be limited sales, though not necessarily through one channel: a
difficult arrangement to implement. But no agreement with the Syndicate
was reached.
Meanwhile
Louis Oppenheimer in London was doing his best to get the Syndicate to
amend its terms. He was gravely apprehensive of the effects on the
diamond market of a break-down of the old arrangements: on 10 January
1925 he was cabling: 'Must point out that owing many rumours due delay,
market shows signs of serious trouble. Americans in Amsterdam have
broken their seals pending developments.' At the same time he thought
Brink's terms unacceptable: 'We could not afford to offer more than
present prices. . . . We have done so much for
