DIAMOND EXPERT

Dominion, Volume 32, Issue 155, 27 March 1939, Page 8

DIAMOND EXPERT

Man Who Has Bought £100,000,000 Worth

NEW ZEALAND VISIT

Sir David Harris In The Dominion Monarch “In the past 41) years, I must have handled, I suppose, at least one hundred million pounds’ worth of diamonds, no less,” said Colonel Sir David Harris, K.C.M.G., Kimberley, who arrived at Wellington on Saturday by the Dominion Monarch from South Africa. He is one of the world’s greatest diamond experts.

He said that diamonds, as jewels, had lost much of their fascination for him. To him they were merely merchandise, to be bought and sold just like any other commodity. He first went on the African diamond fields in 1871, and had for many years been buying diamonds for one of the great syndicates that controlled the industry. Thriving Kimberley. He hud seen Kimberley grow from nothing into a thriving town. The produce from the mines, he said, supplied the market, and a certain amount of diamonds was held in reserve; but the output was not vast. The supply of diamonds, however, if not unlimited appeared likely to continue to meet the market for a good many years. Lately the discovery of diamonds iu other parts of Africa had made control of the market more difficult, the main recent development having been the discovery of diamonds in Namaqualand. The bi* syndicates, he said, held back a certain part of the output of the mines in order to keep the price from falling to an uneconomic level. There was a constant illicit traffic in diamonds, though because of stricter precautions it was no longer as considerable as in the past. But a diamond was so small, and so easily concealed, that it offered great temptation to the diamond smuggler, and. great opportunity to the illicit buyer. None the less, rigid supervision was exercised, and the traffic was not such as to affect the market. Sir David, who is 87 years old, interviewed pressmen from his bed, in Iris cabin on board the liner. He said that his had been a strenuous life; he was feeling very old and tired, and looking forward to his return to Africa. Though he had travelled widely, and had crossed the equator more than 50 times, he bad never before visited New Zealand. He was accompanied by a New Zealand nurse, Sister S. V. Satherley. Distinguished Career. Sir David was iborn in London in 1852, and went to Africa at the age of 19. He began bis military career in 1876 as a lieutenant in the Diamond Fields Horse, and served with distinction in the Katka Galeka and Griqua campaigns, in the former of which he was mentioned in dispatches. He commanded the Griqualand West Brigade in 1896, leading the column that quelled the formidable Bechuanaland native rebellion of that year. For this he received the official thanks of the Government. He commanded the town guard defence of Kimberley in 1899 ami 1900. His knighthood was conferred in 1911.