PRESIDENTIAI, ADDRESS SECTION I!. 53 



witin this " Diamond Belt." as it may for convenience be termed, 

 that any discoveries of importance will be made. 



What the future holds in this respect it is impossible to 

 say. but having- regard to the enormous financial resources of 

 the combination controlling the market, it may be asserted with 

 confidence that the discoverey of even a very large pipe — unless 

 it were of phenomenal richness — could not lead to anv serious 

 disorganization of the diamond industry. 



The alluvial diamond diggings, which, as already stated, are 

 responsible for about 13.5 per cent, by value of the total output 

 of the Union, are likely to continue for many years to be an 

 important source of production. This applies particularly to 

 the Griqualand West fields, where diamond digging has reached 

 the condition of a comparatively settled industry conducted on 

 well-established lines df experience, and where it has come 

 gradually to be realised that, while the element of chance un- 

 doubtedly enters very largely, finds, generally speaking, are in 

 proportion to energy and intelligence expended.* 



The only serious competitor of the Union in the matter of 

 diamond production is the Protectorate of South-West Africa, 

 the output of which amounts at the present time to about 30,000 

 carats per month. 



Coal. 



Coal, next to gold and diamonds, is the most important 

 mineral product of the Union. The "output amounted in 1917 

 to 10,382,623 tons, valued at ^3, 255,659, against 10,007,502 tons, 

 valued at £2,739.665 in 1916^ and 8,801.216 tons, valued at 

 £2,240,458 in 191 3. The marked increase in comparison with 

 1913 is due mainly to the increasing quantity of coal bunkered 

 and exported, which in 191 7 reached the record figure of 

 2,343,552 tons, valued at £543,211. This is largely a result of 

 conditions due to the war. In view, however, of the favourable 

 geographical situation of the Union, the excellent facilities for 

 coaling that exist at our principal ports, the fact that the price 

 of coal at the pit mouth is lower in South Africa than in any 

 country in the world with the exception of India,! and that the 

 quality of South African coal has now become established 

 abroad, there is every reason to anticipate — provided that the 

 coal-owners receive fair treatmeiit in the matter of railway rates 

 — that the export and bunker trade will continue steadily to ex- 

 pand. In particular, an exjiort trade with the Argentine and 



* Cf. Annual Report, Govt. Mining Engineey, 1916, p. 64. 



t The following table gives the average price per ton of coal at the 

 pit's moutli in 1Q12 in the principal coal-producing countries: — 



s. d. s. d. 



United Kingdom 9 of British India 4 6 



Germany 10 6| .Australia 7 6J 



France 12 8i New Zealand 10 ii\ 



Belgium 13 s\ Canada 11 S\ 



United States 6 r Union of South Africa .... 411 



