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SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
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feel
if you were told half-way through that the programme had been changed!
Well, it is nearly over and the work which Carl Davis and I did here in
order to secure our positions as consulting engineer has been most
useful.
One more general observation. The success of Northern Rhodesia copper mining depends on the success of the Bwana plant.
In this latter respect events proved him to have been mistaken. In general, he was optimistic:
The
tour has been most instructive and there is no doubt that Northern
Rhodesia offers great possibilities, and it is of the greatest value
for A. A. to be closely identified with it. Good business is sure to
come along. As we are consulting engineers we shall be in full
possession of all the information and be able to participate in any
flotation. As a matter of fact, if any property is really proved and an
ore reserve established, I see no reason why we should not be the
issuing house in the same way as we floated our goldmines and with
similar control. I am sure we would have no difficulty in carrying out
deals of the above description because it is quite evident to me that
E. Davis will never risk any big money (perhaps he cannot do so having
evidently any number of engagements) nor do I believe does Beatty wish
to actually operate properties.
In
this respect, also, he was mistaken. But he felt at the time that Anglo
American Corporation, in contradistinction to the others, was locking
up too much money. Edmund Davis, he complained, 'is trying to sell me
something every day', and he suspected that the others were not holding
the more speculative securities; he thought he could maintain the
position of Anglo American Corporation without holding so many.
We
are the only mugs. I do not say that R.C.B.C. will not prove any
property; on the contrary I believe properties will be found, of
really high value. But prospecting on the scale they do costs a lot of
money and they will be hard up again in twelve months' time. If London
has not sold when I arrive in London I will take it in hand myself.
But the reference to being the future issue house for Northern Rhodesia shows the direction in which his mind was working.
♦ VIII ♦
By the end of 1927, Anglo American Corporation interests in Rhodesia were already extensive—Rhodesia Broken Hill; Bwana
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