Читать книгу The History of Mining - Michael Coulson - Страница 66

Rhodes also attempted to acquire other De Beers operations to achieve one consolidated operation at the mine, but other independent operators, although happy to consider his plan, could not agree a price. However, Rhodes was already working on a much grander plan to amalgamate the whole of the Kimberley area diggings including De Beers and New Rush, better known as the Big Pit. At the same time very tough legislation was being pushed through the Cape Assembly to bring an end to illegal diamond buying and on this issue, if no other, Rhodes and Robinson were in agreement. The practice, which it was thought had been behind much of Barnato’s success, had to be eradicated and with this aim in mind in 1882 the Diamond Trade Act was passed.

In 1884 the pace of change quickened. Rhodes had slowly but surely continued to work on the smaller holders at the De Beers mine and in 1884 merged his De Beers Mining with Baxter Gully and Independence, two of the larger groups still holding out. The New Rush mine in Kimberley continued to interest Rhodes in terms of amalgamation, and Rhodes was anxious to complete the amalgamation of all the mines in the area and to control them. The additional wealth an amalgamation would generate for him would allow him to pursue his political dream of an Africa annexed by Britain from the Cape to Cairo. Robinson and Barnato had less lofty reasons for supporting the concept of amalgamation; it would simply make them more money.

There were two key issues, which we have mentioned earlier, pushing the Kimberley area mines towards amalgamation – the problem of collapsing workings and the widespread practice of illegal diamond buying. There was also a continuing slump in diamond profits caused by overproduction as well as operating problems as the diggings went deeper. Another problem was one relating to the workers, who had already caused unrest in the 1870s with their Black Flag strike. To try and combat illegal diamond dealing a draconian search process had been instituted to cover all workers on the diggings, and the whites in particular objected to being searched so intimately. This unrest continued for some months and eventually led to a strike in 1883 that ended in a riot the following year. The police put the riot down with firearms, killing four protesters.

With all this unrest and the fall in diamond profits, share prices of the Kimberley mining companies fared badly. Central Company, which in 1881 had changed hands at £400, three years later had fallen to £25. Joseph Robinson’s Rose-Innes had fallen over the same period from £53 to just £5. Rhodes’s analysis, although he supported the war on illegal diamonds, was that the main problem facing Kimberley’s diamond industry was that it was producing too many stones for the world market and this was undermining prices and demand. Amalgamation and production control was the only answer, and others agreed with him. There was, however, deep reluctance in the diggings to share the burden of reducing supply evenly amongst the still numerous operations. As if these problems were not enough, Kimberley, despite rigorous health restrictions, suffered a smallpox epidemic which further rocked the diamond industry.

The most forward plan for amalgamation was one hatched by J.X. Merriman, head of the Mining Commission in the Cape Assembly, which saw Joseph Robinson as the catalyst for change. Whilst Robinson was certainly a respected and powerful figure and very keen on mine amalgamation in Kimberley, he had a problem in that his diamond mining interests had been badly affected by ground collapse and he was deeply in debt. His control stake in the Standard Company was pledged as collateral against his bank borrowings and he could not raise money to support Merriman’s plan and Merriman had to withdraw. The situation was opening up for Cecil Rhodes and in 1887 he and Beit successfully gained total control of the diggings at the De Beers mine and then turned their attention to the Big Pit, with Merriman and Robinson gone from the scene. However, someone else had been watching from the sidelines and now stepped forward – Barney Barnato.