552
SIR ERNEST OPPENHEIMER
the
time of the publication of the annual report of S.A. Townships for
1942, R. B. Hagart had become chairman, and there were two other Anglo
American Corporation representatives on the board out of a total of
six. In due course, Anglo American Corporation became, first,
secretaries, and subsequently secretaries and consulting engineers both
in Johannesburg and in London.
The
acquisition of these shares marked, not only the re-entry of Anglo
American Corporation into the field of Orange Free State development,
but also the extension of Anglo American Corporation interests in coal
mining. The price paid, in the light of after events, was a moderate
one.
♦ XXVI ♦
Having
thus acquired more than a foothold in a strategic area in what was the
centre of the Orange Free State gold-field, the policy of Anglo
American Corporation was to work outward from the area into territory
north and east of it. This implied, in terms of technology, joint
prospecting arrangements, and in terms of finance, participations and
working agreements with companies owning mineral rights in, and options
over, farms in the immediate neighbourhood of Western Holdings.
SpecificaUy, it implied increasingly intimate relations between Anglo
American Corporation and three companies, with Wit. Extensions, with
the Blinkpoort Gold Syndicate and with African and European Investment
Company.
In
the hght of subsequent history, this outward expansion was to be amply
justified by events. But in the early part of 1943, when policy was
still in the formative stages, the risks were considerable. In an
unsigned memorandum by a member of the staff of Anglo American
Corporation, dated 13 March 1943 and headed 'Free State ventures', they
were set out at some length:
The
large areas in which the most promising indications so far have been
found are for the time being remote from labour, power and water
supplies and from centres of population. Roads and transport facilities
are lacking. Therefore the cost of doing the necessary preliminary work
and of equipping exploring and developing properties there will be
greater than on the
subsequently
put forward any claim in the matter of the technical and administrative
control of South African Coal Estates exercised by Townships in
consequence or arising out of their understanding with the late Sir Abe
Bailey in February 1930.
The
Central Mining Corporation have expressed their willingness to give
directly to the Anglo American Corporation a formal undertaking to the
above effect.'
