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WORLD CRISIS AND WORLD LEADERSHIP 293
A
longer agreement was envisaged and 'it would seem that on all points of
principle the Government and ourselves are in agreement, but that does
not mean that we shall necessarily succeed in bringing the negotiations
to a favourable conclusion'. He had the impression that certain
prominent civil servants were hostile to the scheme and the action of
the Government, in proclaiming new farms, was inconsistent: its actions
belied its words, in expressing great anxiety to get some work done at
Kimberley. Altogether, 'to sum up the position, it is evident that the
Government is anxious to bring about a final settlement of the problems
of the diamond trade, and if it were not for the opposition which I
expect from the civil servants referred to, I would be much more
hopeful of success than I am'.
His
pessimism was far from being unjustified. The idea of the organization
subsequently to be known as the Diamond Producers' Association had been
conceived, but there were to be many months of negotiations and of
trouble before it was to be brought to life.
♦ XVI ♦
Negotiations
were renewed in February 1933 and lasted between the 2nd and the 9th of
the month, Ernest Oppenheimer and Sir Robert Kotze being present
throughout. (At the last two meetings, Mr. Harry Oppenheimer, now
chairman of Anglo American Corporation and of De Beers, also attended:
his first introduction to the 'problems of the diamond industry'.) At
the end of the last meeting, in the summary of the proceedings
circulated for the benefit of Ernest Oppenheimer's colleagues, it was
noted that
the
position now is that there are only questions of detail outstanding and
one might think it was certain that agreement would ultimately be
reached. On the other hand, the Minister will never definitely agree to
anything and in the course of the discussion he once said that it was
doubtful if the Government would sign anything at all and that they
might prefer merely to express their intention. Past experience has
shown this to be a most unsatisfactory arrangement and the fact that
the Minister should have suggested it, taken in conjunction with his
general vagueness, makes the position not quite as hopeful as it would
otherwise appear to be.
The
basis of the discussion was a draft prepared by Sir Robert Kotze and
one of the officials of the Mines Department. The discussions were
evidently friendly, though on a variety of points there were very wide
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