338
SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
purchase
diamonds, the production of the alluvial diggings or small mines in the
Union and South West Africa', at the expense of the quotas given to the
members of the association. Furthermore, it was provided that 'when the
rate of production of the alluvial diggings and small mines in the
Union and South West Africa exceeds £100,000 [per month] the
association shall not unreasonably refuse to purchase so much of the
said production as in the opinion of the Diamond Corporation should be
purchased in order to maintain prices'.
The
digging community represented a very considerable political force: a
fact of which Ernest Oppenheimer was very well aware. In the letter of
6 January 1941, setting out seriatim the Minister's wishes, the
question of what should be done for the diggers was set out as follows:
In
order to assure fair prices being at all times available to alluvial
diggers, the Diamond Producers' Association will at all times send
buyers to various important centres on the diggings, to whom diggers
can bring in their diamonds and receive a valuation at Trading
Company's prices, and then take them out to other buyers to see if they
can do better; if they cannot, the association's buyers will purchase
at the valuation given. These association buyers will be sent when the
Minister may request from time to time.
From the working standpoint, the question was the practicability of these arrangements: the principle was
not very different from that incorporated in the agreement of 1934.
When the Minister of Mines met Ernest Oppenheimer at the important
personal interview of October 1941, the problem of the diggers was
discussed in wider terms, as it had evidently been before.
In a letter dated 2 November 1941, Ernest wrote to Harry Oppenheimer:
The Minister explained to me once more his ideas of (a) limited river production, (b) a
limited number of diggers who could make a decent living out of the
limited production. He claims that many diggers' licences have fallen
in, since he passed the amendments to the diamond law and that the
number of diggers has decreased. No doubt statistics could be obtained.
The Diamond Producers' Association might inquire into this. Stallard
then asked me what was a reasonable quota for the alluvial production.
In reply I drew his attention to the provision of the existing diamond
producers' agreement. At the time we entered into that arrangement we
all hoped and based our percentages on this, that the trade would
return to £12 million p.a. We then laid it down that unless the
alluvial production exceeded £100,000 per month we wrould not interfere, but if it did we would buy the
