Pat Needham once had very high demands on Steve, hoping that Steve could be a qualified heir to the family business, or that he could make a difference in politics and lead the family business to a higher level.
Otherwise, Peter Needham would not have spent R50,000 to send Steve to study at the University of Nyasaland.
Now that Pat Needham has faced reality, he just hopes that Steve can spend his life in peace.
Failing that, just be a tool to carry on the family line, as long as you don't get into trouble.
The problem is that Steve is conceited, has no clear understanding of himself, and his IQ and EQ are in a mess, which makes Pat Needham feel a sense of crisis.
What was even more dangerous was the telegram sent from the Palace of Justice. Of course, Rock still respected Pat Needham and did not intervene immediately. He only reminded Peter Needham to pay attention to the drought in Windhoek State.
“There was very little precipitation during the rainy season last year?” Pat Needham really didn’t know the specific situation.
William's eyes widened. Last year he was an assistant solicitor in a law firm in Walvis Bay, and the rainfall in Windhoek was nothing compared to the amount of rainfall.
Of course William is not a loser like Steve, he is more or less better: "This needs to be understood from the relevant departments. After all, our Windhoek state has just been established."
"Then what are you waiting for? Go quickly!" Pat Needham was exhausted mentally and physically. He saw that others were powerful and majestic when they were governors, but why did everything go wrong when it was his turn? It was just that his son was unfilial, and God was also looking for trouble.
.
The Windhoek State Government was still very efficient. Relevant information was soon collected to the state government, and only then did Peter Needham realize that the situation was serious.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, animal husbandry is one of the three pillar industries in Windhoek. Because the water conservancy facilities in Windhoek State are not perfect, and there are still many areas that rely on the weather for food, so when a drought comes, the situation is indeed relatively complicated.
serious.
In the entire eleven counties of Windhoek state, the total crop output is expected to drop by about 60% this year. In the four counties close to the coast, the rainfall last year was only 35 mm, and many farms had no harvest.
Karakul lambskin, a specialty of Windhoek, will also be severely affected by the drought. The number of Karakul sheep this year and next will be reduced by about 10%, and farmers' income will be significantly reduced.
This is not good news for Pete Needham. As governor, if Pete Needham cannot make up for the income of farmers, it will affect Pete Needham's approval rating.
It seems counterintuitive that farmers' incomes were due to reduced rainfall last year, but Pete Needham was just elected governor this year. It seems that Pete Needham should not be responsible for the decrease in farmers' incomes.
Responsible.
But depending on how you interpret the matter, the farmers would not reason with Pat Needham.
You are the governor, you have to take responsibility for this matter, otherwise we will replace another governor.
At this time, Pete Needham knew that he had to work together, so he immediately convened a state cabinet meeting to discuss how to deal with this unprecedented drought.
"According to the experience of the federal government, we should build water conservancy projects at this time, but the rainy season is coming soon, and we have to speed up the pace." Minister of the Interior Veblen is quite obedient. He has always been a local official in Windhoek and is very concerned about Windhoek's development.
The situation is very clear.
The climate characteristics of Windhoek are subtropical and semi-arid. There are 300 sunny days every year. 70% of the annual precipitation is concentrated from November to March of the following year. The annual rainfall varies greatly among regions, ranging from less than 50% along the coast.
mm, ranging from 350 mm in the central region to 700 mm in the northeast.
After Southern Africa occupied Southwest Africa, the area around Walvis Bay developed rapidly, while the development of Windhoek lagged behind.
It was not until the end of the World War that a large number of immigrants poured into Windhoek, and it was only in recent years that the economy improved slightly.
It’s a pity that a severe drought may bring Windhoek’s fragile economy back to its original shape, and no amount of gold and diamonds dug up will be able to make up for the losses.
After all, the majority of mineral resources belong to the federal government, and state governments can only drink some soup, which does not help the economy much.
“Building water conservancy projects requires money. After the Walvis Bay was separated, our finances are very tight and we now have no start-up funds.” Finance Minister Powell complained that nothing can be done without money.
“We can ask for support from the federal government——” Veblen actively offered suggestions.
“What is support? This is just returning to us the money that originally belonged to us in Windhoek.” Powell was very dissatisfied with the federal government’s hegemony.
The federal government stipulates that all mineral resources belong to the federal government, so despite Windhoek's good income on the books, in fact most of the income is taken away by the federal government, leaving not much for Windhoek.
This is also the root cause of Powell's dissatisfaction.
"Does it make sense to say this? It's the same in Dias State. Why are people safe?" Veblen doesn't want to confront the federal government. Asking for support actually requires money. It's just an explanation that everyone can accept. Why bother everyone?
They can't even get off the stage.
“Diaz has a bay of whales, but we don’t—” Powell said it was still unbalanced.
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"Okay gentlemen, stop the meaningless quarrel, we have to solve the problem now -" Pete Needham did not quarrel, the governor naturally has the wisdom of the governor: "-Powell, apply for assistance from the federal government immediately, this
It is the obligation of the federal government - Veblen, in addition to correcting water conservancy facilities, we must also provide subsidies to farmers to make up for their losses as much as possible - in addition, we also need to reduce taxes, which also requires applying to the federal government -
—I know that the state government’s finances are tight. In addition to applying for assistance from the federal government, we also have to go to Rand Bank to see if we can borrow money in the name of the state government or issue bonds. Anyway, we have to do something.
."
Pate Needham could not sit still and wait for death. Even he, the governor, did not know that the drought was serious in Windhoek, but the Palace of Justice was well aware of it. This made Pat Needham restless.
Since the Palace of Justice knows about the drought in Windhoek, does it also know about the activities of those British businessmen in Windhoek?
Furthermore, does the Palace of Justice know the origin of Steve’s watch?
There are some things that you can’t think deeply about. It’s very scary to think about them carefully.
Pate Needham’s concerns were not unfounded. After the state government cabinet meeting, the minutes were quickly sent to the Palace of Justice.
Rock was noncommittal after reading the report. Pat Needham's performance was not very good, but it was not terrible either.
Of course, this is under the premise that Rock doesn’t know about the behind-the-scenes dealings between Pat Needham and the British businessman.
A few days later, Windhoek State's application for diamond mining and gold mining was sent to the Palace of Justice among a large pile of documents requesting federal support.
Windhoek State also has good reasons. When Windhoek State suffered serious losses due to drought this year, Windhoek State also needs to develop new financial resources so that it can make other investments.
Roque’s focus is not on diamond mines and gold mines. When it comes to diamond mines, the diamond mines in Kimberley are more valuable than the diamond mines in Windhoek.
In terms of gold mines, the value of the Rand Gold Mine can surpass the value of the Windhoek Gold Mine by ten blocks.
Rock's concern was uranium.
That's right, in addition to diamond mines and gold mines, Windhoek also has a large amount of uranium mines.
In the future, Southwest Africa will be world-famous as a "strategic metal reserve", with major mineral deposits including diamonds, uranium, copper, silver, etc.
At present, the uranium mine in Windhoek has not yet shown its due value, but the federal government of Southern Africa has begun to protect the uranium mine and is recruiting relevant talents from around the world to prepare for the research and development of nuclear energy.
When it comes to nuclear energy, most of the first people think of is Einstein.
In fact, no, the real "Father of Atomic Energy" is Enrico Fermi, who is the top expert in the field of atomic energy.
In 1925, 24-year-old Enrico Fermi was working at the Leiden Institute in the Netherlands. Next year he would go to the University of Rome to teach as a professor of theoretical physics.
The 25-year-old professor is the protagonist.
What makes Rock happy is that Fermi's teacher Marcos Byrne, one of the founders of quantum mechanics, has come to teach at the University of Nyasaland. With these two people, Southern Africa has laid the groundwork for the development of nuclear energy.
Leveled the road.
Returning to the drought in Windhoek, Rock's help to Windhoek was obviously more than what Pete Needham expected. In addition to allocating special funds and sending water conservancy experts for support, Rock also gave instructions
The newly established Ministry of Agriculture is discussing the establishment of a price guarantee system for agricultural products to effectively safeguard the interests of farmers.
The price guarantee system is actually a differential subsidy system. At the end of the rainy season in February every year, the cabinet minister in charge of agriculture, based on the economic conditions and agricultural production prospects at that time, subsidizes cattle, sheep, pigs, eggs, milk, wool, grains, potatoes,
Major agricultural products such as sugar beets stipulate minimum guaranteed prices. When producers sell the above-mentioned guaranteed agricultural products, if the average market realized price is lower than the minimum guaranteed price, the difference will be subsidized by the government.
Regarding southern Africa, Roque also firmly believes that "without agriculture, there is no stability, without work, there is no wealth, and without business, there is no life." Agriculture is the basis of all stability. More than 80% of farmers in southern Africa are Chinese. Roque
Only by ensuring our basic base can we maintain long-term peace and stability in southern Africa.
Of course, it will not be easy for the federal government of Southern Africa to implement a price guarantee system. The agricultural sector in Southern Africa is still very large. Once the price guarantee system is implemented, the Ministry of Finance predicts that the federal government will have to increase the price guarantee system by at least 50 million rand every year.
expenditure.
Roque himself is acceptable for this cost. A further step forward in the differential subsidy system is to implement unified purchasing and marketing. If this can be realized, the benefits to the federal government of Southern Africa will be self-evident.
By then, the United Kingdom and the United States, which advocate free trade, will not know how much advantage they will have when facing the federal government of southern Africa.
