316
SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
depression,
by affecting both the market for gem stones and the market for
industrials (primarily because of the decline in base-metal mining and
in automobile output) aggravated the problem of disposal, particularly
the problem of the disposal of bort. 'There has never been any
difficulty in disposing of drilling diamonds, nor has there been an
over-supply', Ernest Oppenheimer wrote to Otto Oppenheimer on 2
November 1939, 'the only problem from the point of view of the
producers and the Diamond Corporation has been the question of how to
increase the consumption of bort.' But as the output of the B.C.K.
company, for instance, consisted to the extent of 95 per cent of bort,
the urgency of improving the market for it was obvious.
♦ II ♦
Throughout
his working life, Ernest Oppenheimer was a firm believer in the value
to industry of research. He not only insisted on the building up within
the organizations which he controlled of adequate scientific staffs to
deal, for instance, with the geological4 and metallurgical
problems which arose in the course of daily practice, but he,
personally, and his organizations also, financed research work and
research institutions, both directly and within the universities of
South Africa and of Great Britain. He was therefore keenly interested
in the work of the companies founded for a very practical purpose in
the first instance—the extension of the use of bort—which led to the
formation of the Diamond Research Laboratory in Johannesburg,
4 An instance may be given — Ernest Oppenheimer writing to Harry Oppenheimer on 16 May 1941:
'In
the course of this morning I am discussing the geological department
with Unger and Hagart. The former attaches no importance to it but I
think it is an essential part of our organization and not only must it
not be weakened but strengthened. We require geological advice in
connexion with all our enterprises. I favour a drilling programme in
our Far East Rand properties for the purpose of the possibilities of
the Kimberley.
'Our
geological department should be examining properties all the time,
particularly base metal occurrences. If we cut down and don't look for
new business, we will become a second-class house.
'Whilst
I shall listen patiently to all Unger has to say I intend insisting (1)
that the geological department is of special importance to Anglo
American, (2) that it must be strengthened, not weakened, (3) that we
want a full report on the Kimberley Reef possibilities on the Far East
Rand, together with recommendations on a drilling programme, (4) that
our geological department must have people in the field all the time
examining properties, (5) that it must take responsibility for its
recommendations, be in fact an independent department. One of its
functions must clearly be to advise the various operating concerns of
the group on geological problems as they arise, so that continuous
contact with our consulting engineering department must be maintained.'
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