Saga - 1977, Blaðsíða 226

220
SIGURÐUR RAGNARSSON
ering Trust Ltd., obtained the permission of the Icelandic authorites
to open a bank, another, The North-Western Trading Company Ltd.,
began to function on its behalf, and a special company, Pluto Ltd.,
was set up in collaboration with Norwegian interests for mining
operations. Few of these enterprises developed beyond the initial
stages. However, these comprehensive projects attracted a great deal
of attention and controversy in Iceland, for they were linked in
various ways with political issues in 1909—11. When it became
evident that The British North-Western Syndicate was not going
to develop Dettifoss, Einar Benediktsson tried to find new collabora-
tors for Gigant, the principal one being the factory-owner Alfred E.
Barton, director of several companies in the chemical industry (the
Alby Group). This combine owned factories in Norway and its re-
presentative came to Iceland to hold discussions with the govern-
ment authorities, but nothing came of them.
Brief reference has been made to the authorities’ interpretation
of the „waterfall law“, but the latter were also obliged to adopt a
policy towards the waterfall companies in various other contexts,
e.g. when they tried to gain control over falls and water-rights be-
longing to properties in public ownership. Reactions to such attempts
were positive, but the authorities were unwilling to sell these rights,
though they were prepared to lease them for a long period. This
policy appears to have been based on the unquestioned assumption
that hydro-electric development of falls and large-scale industry ba-
sed on it would bring great progress to the nation. On the other
hand there seems to have been a total failure to evaluate the possible
consequences of large-scale foreign industrial development in a wider
political context.
A definite pattern may be detected in the purchase of waterfalls.
Attempts by the waterfall companies to make use of people influen-
tiel in the district concerned and to take advantage of their help
in the acquisition of waterrights are a prominent feature. This can
be seen first in the north in Þingeyjarsýsla, but it appears even
more clearly later in the south.
As time went on, attention was concentrated in ever increasing
degree on the big rivers of the south, for the conditions for hydro-
electric development were considered to be more favourable there.
Various companies were formed for the development and utilization
of water-power on the rivers Þjórsá and Hvítá, in addition to the
Island company with its rights on the river Sog (see Saga 1975).
Two French companies first enter the picture in connexion with
Þjórsá: La société d’études pour Vlslande, and the development