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THE DE BEERS SAGA
not in shrewdness and foresight. Their rivalry was the talk of the diamond fields for a long time.
There was the Kimberley Mine. There was a long struggle between Rhodes and Barnato. Rhodes got the backing nf the House of Rothschild,, which seemed to be backing any-thing it could get its financial hands on. Barnato fought back vigorously, but in the end, in 1889, the De Beers Con­solidated Mines, Ltd., now fully incorporated, bought out Barnato's Kimberley Mine holdings (the Kimberley Cen tral) for the sum of $2,000,000.
That sum was paid with a single check
Rhodes thus became master of the diamond region. But Barnato was not satisfied, and because he was not we have this picture of the drive behind Rhodes as drawn by Author Chilvers:
Rhodes wished to incorporate in the Trust Deed of De Beers Consolidated Mines power to join in schemes of imperial expansion north of the Limpopo. To Barnato, the man of business, the idea was abhorrent. The object of the Company, in his view, was dia­monds, not Empire. It was in Dr. Jameston's cottage that the final debate started on the morning of an historic day. It lasted for twenty-four hours on stretch. Then Barnato, tired, sleepless and mollified by the bribe of a seat in Parliament, gave in with the words:
"You have a fancy for building an Empire in the north, and I suppose you must have your way."
The trust deed created a Company in a remote part of South Africa with powers such as no business concern had possessed since the days of the East India Company. These powers knew no limits. The capital of the Company could be increased to any ex-_ tent. It could acquire any asset. The headquarters might be moved to any part of the world. It could deal in minerals, machinery or patents. It could operate tramways and electric works, waterworks, and railways. It would establish other companies of whatever kind it chose. Further, it was authorized to acquire tracts of country in Africa or elsewhere with any rights the rules might grant, and to
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