Posted December 23rd, 2008 by admin
Progress was chequered, despite Government intervention. In 1927, 600 cutters were employed; in 1929, some 676 men were working in 28 factories, but by 1934, this number had fallen to about 250, and in 1938 only one cutting establishment remained. Had not world conditions changed in the following year, the diamond industry, as far as cutting and polishing were concerned, would have dwindled to a failure. That year, however, brought another lease of life.
In 1940, some 18 factories were again being worked, and about 52,000 carats of cut stones, valued at one and a half million pounds, were produced. The next year, 408 workers were employed, and by 1945, there were 45 cutting factories in the Union. In 1950, there were 57 establishments, with 572 registered employees and 174 apprentices, the value of diamonds cut in that year being nearly twenty-three million dollars (£7,935,511)-
As we have already noted, the German occupation of the Low Countries in 1940 resulted in the scattering of a great number of skilled craftsmen to whichever country would accept them. This resulted in the establishment of a diamond cutting industry in many fresh countries, such as Canada, Israel, South America (particularly Brazil), Cuba, New Zealand, and even Borneo and the Dutch East Indies, although the Japanese War in 1942 necessitated a second migration for those unfortunate enough to settle in the last two areas.
Stones cut in Canada (Toronto is the chief center) are of a high standard. Here, the industry was commenced in 1940. The grades of work are highly specialized, and the stages of cutting are divided among a greater number of workers in order to obtain superior results. Many apprentices are working under the guidance of former Belgian and Dutch craftsmen, and in 1944 some 70 apprentices were being employed at a high rate of pay.
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