|
FIRE IN THE EARTH
|
||
|
|
||
|
of
them—who had agreed among themselves to limit the quantity put on the
market were disturbed. They appealed to the government of the Union of
South Africa. But the government without legislative authority was not
in a position to refuse the proclamation of farms on which diamonds
had been found. Or, at least, it was not inclined to do so. The result
was the exploitation of more and more new fields, with its consequent
disturbance of the diamond market.
Meanwhile
the Lichtenburg production rose swiftly to a peak in September, 1927,
during which 223,328 carats, worth ordinarily about $2,000,000, were
found and tossed into the market. By the end of 1929 Lichtenburg had
contributed to the market something like 4,600,000 carats with a total
value exceeding $50,000,000. Namaqualand, up to the end of 1929, was
producing approximately 1,230,000 carats valued at about $65,000,000.
The
great mine producers, including De Beers, were helpless. In order to
prevent an oversupply of diamonds from reaching the market, which would
inevitably have caused a heavy fall in prices and spelled disaster for
the trade, they had to put up with the unpleasant experience of having
to stand by and see their sales dwindle and their dividends diminish or
even disappear.
About
that time Sir Ernest Oppenheimer stepped boldly into the picture. Born
in 1880, he began his career at the age of seventeen in the London
offices of A. Dunkelsbuhler & Co., members of the old Diamond
Syndicate. By 1902 he was ready to go out to Kimberley to take charge
of Dunkelsbuhler's South African office. Some years later he was mayor
of Kimberley. During the first World War he raised the Second Kimberley
Regiment, contributed to its upkeep, and was honored with knighthood.
In 1917 he
(64)
|
||
|
|
||