52 I'RESIDENTIAL ADDRKSS SECTION U. 



Average Value per 



Carat of the 

 Diamonds produced 

 by the Mines of 

 the Union. 



Year. s. d. 



1913 41 6 



1914 37 o 



1915 — 



1916 43 II 



1917 49 2 



Indeed, prices are higher at the i)resent time than at any pre- 

 vious period, and there is every pros])ect of their going yet higher. 



The progressive appreciation in vahie is not only of great 

 advantage to the producers themselves, but of the utmost benefit 

 to the State; directly, because it tends greatly to increase the 

 profits of the mining companies, and thus the revenue accruing 

 to the (jovernment, and indirectly, because it has the effect of 

 conserving the diamond resources of the Union and prolonging 

 indefinitely the lives of the existing mines. If the increase in 

 prices continue, there can be no doubt, moreover, that certain 

 mines, hitherto unpayal)le, will he brought within the limit of 

 profitable exploitation, and the already enormous diamond 

 reserves of the Union therel)y considerably increased.* 



Pin;iil\ . the policy of regulating and controlling sales has in- 

 spired the whole diamond industry with absolute confidence, 

 since, as the Chairman of De Beers put it at the last annual meet- 

 ing of that Company : 



Cutters, polishers, factors, and jewellers now know 

 that they can. without fear of rough diamonds being forced 

 on the market, hold large stocks, and bankers can grant 

 financial facilities to the trade generally, knowing that our 

 product will not be offered in excess of requirements, and 

 that merchants and others will not be faced with a serious 

 fall in prices or the risk of over-production. 



As regards the possibility of fresh diamond discoveries, 

 there can be no question, as I have elsewhere pointed out.f that 

 further payable pipes await discovery, and will be discovered. 

 So far as existing knowledge can be accepted as a guide, there 

 is no reason why pipes or dykes of kimberlite should not be 

 found anywhere within the limits of the South African plateau. 

 The profitable occurrences so far discovered are, however, con- 

 fined to a tract of country, about 160 miles wide, extending in a 

 north-easterly direction from the Jagersfontein Mine in the 

 south to the PVemier Mine in the north, and it is presumably 



* The reserve of blue ground actually in sight in the live KimhL'rley 

 mines of the De Beers Company alone is estimated at 108.750,000 loads. 

 to'. The Diamond Fields of Soiitl;rni Africa, p. 242. 



