Ernest
Oppenheimer's warnings, refrained from including alluvial production
within the scope of the Diamond Control Act of 1925. A draft bill had
been proposed in 1926, but was not proceeded with, although it had been
read for the first time on 28 April 1926. It must be pointed out, in
fairness, that control over alluvial production did raise social and
political problems of considerable delicacy. Both the Lich ten-burg and
the Namaqualand discoveries (but the former to a much greater extent
than the latter) had enormously increased the population of'diggers',
many with no experience and few capable of resistance to adverse
economic conditions. The nature of their occupation was such as to
force them into a nomadic way of life, with a direct interest in seeing
to it that new 'fields' should be proclaimed as often as possible and
that nothing should be done to impede alluvial diggings as such. Their
economic position also was such as to make them 'weak' sellers—
whatever the state of the market, their interest was to sell, and to
sell as soon as possible. Nevertheless, the problem of control was not
simply one concerning the digging community; the land-owning community
was also vitally interested. By subdivision of existing farms, the
proprietors thereof under the then existing legislation could greatly
increase the number of 'claims' to which they themselves were entitled
as of right, and this subdivision, in turn, not only proportionately
improved their pecuniary position but encouraged the formation of
companies and of syndicates. Certain great land-owning corporations
—especially the African and European Investment Company and the
Transvaal Consolidated Land and Exploration Company—owning properties
suspected of being diamond bearing or actually proved to be
diamondiferous, were also vitally interested in the development of the
Lichtenburg fields; similarly, the farmers of Namaqualand could also
expect a rich harvest from sales of options or of farms. Any limitation
of alluvial production by legal measures was thus, politically, a
hazardous step.
The
big producers were directly affected by the nature of the new
discoveries; the Premier Mine by the fact that the Lichtenburg fields
were directly competitive and the Kimberley mines by the fact that the
Namaqualand stones were of such fine quality.2 From the
standpoint of the Consolidated Diamond Mines of South West Africa,
however, there was of course the exciting possibility, later to be
verified, that the discoveries south of the Orange River might prove to
be a prelude
2
A highly instructive analysis of comparative parcels from Alexander Bay
and some other producers will be found in the paper by Wagner and
Merensky already referred to, p. 20.
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