FROM CRISIS TO CHAIRMANSHIP OF DE BEERS 179
a
natural-born prospector and discoverer, but in no way capable of
financial operations of an orderly kind: a victim, on the one hand, of
his over-generous instincts, and, on the other, of his impecuniosity.
The
consequences were, first, that under Government pressure the owners of
discoverers' claims in the Alexander Bay area, other than Merensky
himself, 'sold out' to the Merensky group, which now called itself the
'H.M. Association'. It comprised G. A. E. Becker (who had bought out
his associate, H. Ohlthaver), Merensky himself (who had bought out the
shares of Ignatius Dessau, his original backer), Sir Julius Jeppe and
his friends, including Sir Abe Bailey, who held the controlling
interest in the South African Townships, Mining and Finance
Corporation. The 'H.M. Association' was not a joint-stock company, but
a syndicate, whose property rights were represented by 62,500 shares of
£1. Of this aggregate, the three main participating interests held,
respectively, in terms of shares, 24,475, 20,750 and 16,275 shares, or,
in terms of percentages, 40-8, 33-2 and 26 per cent respectively.
In
the area farther south, the position in the course of 1927 became
complicated by the multiplication of interests there: just as Sir Abe
Bailey was now an important figure in the situation through his
participation in the H.M. Association, so in the Port Nolloth area
another figure new to the South African diamond world made an
appearance when A. Chester Beatty, already interested in West Africa
and in Rhodesia, acquired an interest in the properties owned by
certain Kimberley personalities—Messrs. Ronaldson, von Praagh and
Jolis, though the Diamond Syndicate in the shape of A. Dunkelsbuliler
and Company and Barnato Brothers also acquired interests in the same
properties. As, further, De Beers and Anglo American Corporation had
also acquired interests there, the obvious solution was unification
and, in fact, such unification took shape under the inspiration of
Ernest Oppenheimer towards the end of 1927, when the Cape Coast
Exploration Company Limited came into existence. The negotiations with
Ronaldson and von Praagh (they took place in May 1927) were difficult,
but at this stage the Port Nolloth situation did not constitute the
main preoccupation of Ernest Oppenheimer, though later it was to be
serious enough. He had to deal with the Alexander Bay problem. Behind
this immediate problem much more far-reaching issues emerged, and
became inextricably confused with it; but for the moment he had to
convince his intimate friends of the necessity of
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