ILLICIT DIAMOND BUYING.

North Otago Times, 22 May 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

ILLICIT DIAMOND BUYING.

A good deal was heard during a went prominent criminal prosecution about illicit diamond buying. The illicit diamond buyer deals in what are called "gonivahs," or stones which are known to have been stolen or otherwise dishonestly come by. Ilctwccn him and the actual thief, the raw Kalfir working in the mines, there may be as many as three or four intermediaries, each o( whom, under the various Diamonds Acts, is guilty of the whole crime, and liable to penal servitude up to fifteen years; hut the stones must be found on the person or in the possession of the suspect before a conviction can be obtained. It is here where the most exciting and fascinating part of the whole business comes in, but, as the profit is fairly commensurate with the risk, few are found to resist the temptation when it comes their way. Many, indeed, arc those who have found fortune in South Africa and honours and dignity elsewhere who can look back without a shudder to their early days, when perhaps a matter of minutes has made all the difference to them between the broadcloth of the millionaire and the canvas of the convict, Nay, those few moments have often decided who should ' wear the broadcloth and who the canvas, and many are ths cases of blackmail and numerous intrigues that have arisen therefrom, more than once resulting in murder.