332
SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
problem
of resettlement after the conclusion of hostilities was made that much
easier. From the standpoint of the future, indeed, the sooner the
Diamond Corporation could reduce its stocks, the better; the existence
of those stocks was a constant menace to the possibility of future
sales out of current production, unless there was to be a. permanent freezing
of these stocks. They amounted in 1941 to £9,348,000 and in 1942 (in
both cases at the end of the year) to £8,528,000. The mere fact that
they existed (even though the absolute amount might not have been
known) was bound to exercise a depressing influence upon the state of
confidence, if ever there were a recession of trade in the future.
♦ VIII ♦
There were four matters, somewhat extraneous to the central issues involved, which coloured the negotiations.
The
first of these was the suspicion entertained by Ernest Oppen-heimer
that Colonel Stallard and his principal adviser at the Department of
Mines, hankered to apply the provisions of the Diamond Control Act of
1925, under which the Government could assume power to take over the
marketing of diamonds. Whether the suspicion was well founded or not,
the existence of the Act undoubtedly enabled the negotiators on the
Government side to exercise a covert threat, and Ernest certainly took
the matter seriously. The second of the issues involved was the
impression he entertained that the Mines Department regarded his
attitude as being influenced by the interests he had in outside
companies.
The
first of these matters led him to some fundamental thinking. On 6
February 1942, in the very middle of the official negotiations with
Government, he wrote to Harry (certain words in this excerpt have been
quoted above):14
What
is your and my interest in diamonds? (I speak of the direct income and
apart from our desire to make De Beers prosperous.) We are directors of
De Beers and allied concerns and get our fees; we look after the
Trading Co. and get our commission and as chairman of De Beers I am
chairman of A.E. & C.I. [African Explosives and Chemical
Industries] and get my fees! Whatever happens no one wants to or can
change this position. If we are sensible we give the very best advice,
but should remember that we are not owners of the various concerns, nor
are we for the time being diamond
14 Supra, pp. iio-ii.
