1562 The inside should be combined with the outside
Before the price cut of Standard Oil, although Adam Company had the highest profits among all oil companies, other oil companies were not unable to survive.
The price reduction of Standard Oil has opened a Pandora's box of vicious competition in the oil industry. Adam Company has not been greatly affected. Other oil companies are struggling to support themselves. It is impossible to return to the previous state.
Roque Regardless of the vicious competition in the oil industry, the interests of Adan Company have not been greatly affected anyway. After the New Year, southern Africa officially started large-scale infrastructure construction, starting with the Orange River.
"We are going to build four large reservoirs in the Orange River basin. The project will last about five years. After all projects are completed, the power crisis in the Transvaal will be solved to the greatest extent. At the same time, the entire Orange River basin will
There will also be sufficient water supply during the dry season, and the number of people benefiting from it may reach millions, and the annual profits generated will reach more than one billion rand." Owen reported to Rock and Winston, who spent most of the day there.
The Palace of Justice, I almost regard the Palace of Justice as my own office.
Rock said he was very annoyed, and now he realizes the benefits of Haig.
When Haig was governor, he rarely came to the Palace of Justice once a month, so Roqueled and Haig lived in peace.
Winston's ambitions were obviously greater than Haig's. Relying on his good relationship with Rock, he stayed in the Palace of Justice every day and gradually deepened his understanding of southern Africa.
【Read books and get cash】Follow vx official account【Book Friends Base Camp】Read books and get cash!
“How much investment does it cost to build four large reservoirs?” When Winston was Prime Minister, Britain was not so generous.
"It didn't cost a penny!" Rock was very proud. It is not easy to do this in a capitalist country.
The situation in the UK is different from that in southern Africa. Large-scale infrastructure such as reservoirs mostly rely on the power of social capital to realize it.
There is no other way. Due to free trade, the government cannot interfere too much in the economy. After Stanley Baldwin came to power, he vigorously reformed the British power supply and relied on private capital. The government did not directly invest. In fact, it was impossible to change the situation.
Change dressing.
Capital investment requires profit, so the last copper plate will be squeezed out to the maximum extent possible.
Southern Africa is different. Although private capital is also involved in the four Orange River reservoirs, the main source of funds is obtained from banks by the federal government of Southern Africa, using the future profits of the reservoirs as collateral.
This ensures that the federal government has absolute control over the reservoirs. After the Orange and Zambezi reservoirs are completed, the federal government will have the greatest say in the power sector in Southern Africa. How much electricity can be sold will be the federal government’s.
The government has the final say, not the private power companies.
Although the largest private power company in southern Africa is now the Nyasaland Power Company under the name of Roque.
"Why?" Winston couldn't understand. Probably in his opinion, even if Rock didn't want to make money, taking control of the power company in his own hands would provide better services to southern Africa.
“Balance!” Rock’s answer was simple and clear.
Absolute power leads to absolute dictatorship. This sentence applies everywhere. Just look at the United States now and you will know that the consequences of free trade are also extremely serious, and the entire country will eventually be kidnapped by capital.
State monopoly is not acceptable either. Rock also understands this very well. Only orderly competition can promote social progress.
Rock's ideal model is balance. The government establishes rules, companies compete with each other, and shifts the goal from making profits to providing better services to customers. Although this goes against the principles of economics to a certain extent, as long as it is unswervingly
If implemented, Southern Africa will surely gain a huge advantage in international competition.
Specific to reservoirs, the importance of power infrastructure does not need to be emphasized. An energy crisis broke out in Texas, and electricity prices soared 60 times. This is the consequence of private monopoly on electricity.
Rock's ideal approach is for the federal government to purchase electricity from power companies at a suitable price, and then supply it to the outside world in a unified manner. If the power companies want to make money, they should strive to improve their technical level and reduce the cost of electricity prices, so as to form a stable power supply system.
.
“In this case, the power company will squeeze employees in order to save costs. What will we do then?” Winston tried hard to find fault.
“Are you a free earner in the labor arbitration department?” Roque had already taken precautions.
“What if the labor arbitration department and the power company collude?”
“Then the labor arbitration department and the power company are always ready to be investigated by Brad’s office——”
Winston finally shut up.
Roque’s method is definitely not the best, but there is no perfect method. If problems are discovered during the implementation process, just make timely adjustments. What you are afraid of is not that problems will occur, but that you will turn a blind eye to them.
The British Empire is also a leader in this regard. At the beginning of the year - not the beginning of the year, the time has come to 1927. Really, time flies - the coal workers' strike broke out in the UK last year. The British government turned a blind eye and did not care about the coal miners.
Asked until the coal miners ran out of ammunition and food and had to accept the harsh conditions of the mine owners.
The Labor Party still has the honor to represent the interests of British workers. When the coal miners went on strike, the Labor Party did not actively coordinate and solve the problem. Instead, it was busy using small favors to win people's hearts. This kind of behavior is either stupid or extremely bad.
While Rock and Winston were having a heated discussion, road construction workers from the Christian Construction Company were building roads in the Basutoland Mountains.
If you want to get rich, build roads first. This saying also applies to southern Africa.
Basutoland is one of the most backward states in southern Africa. The serious lack of infrastructure is the biggest constraint of Basutoland.
Unlike the Transvaal, which is rich in mineral resources, Basutoland has no exploitable mineral resources, a sparse population, and a backward economy. The Basutoland state government still needs federal funding every year to barely maintain a balance of payments.
Most of the water source of the Orange River comes from Basutoland. There are four reservoirs, and there are three in Basutoland. Building the reservoirs requires a lot of construction materials. To transport these materials into the mountains, roads must first be built.
To build the reservoir, Christian Construction Company mobilized nearly 20,000 workers, most of whom were from Southern African Union member states, and some from India.
The conditions in mountainous areas are very difficult and the environment is harsh. You can imagine how difficult it is to build roads in high mountains and ridges.
Fortunately, there are still rivers that can be used. There are many rivers in Basutoland, which provides some convenient conditions for Christian Construction Company.
"It's terrible. A cement ship capsized in the Fal River. 4 people died, 12 people are missing, and the river is blocked. We must dredge the river as soon as possible and fish out the ship." The person in charge of the transport fleet was from
Jonathan of Rhodesia.
“Then go and fish it quickly, I don’t care what you do, you must ensure the supply of supplies.” The person in charge of the entire project is Xie Jin from Nyasaland.
Xie Jin graduated from the School of Architecture, Nyasaland University, which is the predecessor of the current Nyasaland University of Architecture.
Xie Jin came to work for Christian Company directly after graduation and participated in the relocation of San Roque, Port of Luanda, and Favalte Steel Group.
Xie Jin is a decisive and tough person, with a meticulous attitude towards work and never accepts any excuses from his subordinates.
"I know, I know, the engineering team is already fishing it out. If it can't be fished out, blowing up the ship will definitely not affect the work progress -" Jonathan knew Xie Jin's style and didn't want to make excuses at all.
"How many accidents is this since we started work? The tenth? Or the eleventh? If I remember correctly, we have lost 116 people - oh, no, it's 117 -" Responsible
The logistics person is Tao Yong, who is also from Nyasaland.
Tao Yong and Xie Jin are classmates, good friends, and in-laws. Xie Jin's daughter is engaged to Tao Yong's son and will get married when she reaches adulthood.
As for construction companies, no matter how perfect the safety facilities are, accidents cannot be avoided.
Especially for Christian Company, Tao Yong and Xie Jin would not be used to it if the number of deaths that year did not reach 100.
Even so, the environment in Basutoland is really too bad. In the tragedy that has occurred, a worker was dragged into the river by a crocodile and swallowed alive while drinking water by the river. Although the crocodile was later beaten
Death, the workers have also been dead for a long time.
In addition to those who were swallowed by crocodiles, there were also those who slipped and fell to death from the mountain, those who were killed by stones rolling down the mountain, and those who were blown up by explosives when blasting holes in the mountain, and so on——
Anyway, there are all kinds of accidents.
"There is nothing we can do about it. Our task is to ensure the progress of the work. Apart from that, there is not much we can do -" Xie Jinxin is as strong as iron. It doesn't matter if a few people die. Southern Africa had a quarrel with the United States some time ago.
Newspapers openly claimed that the body of a Chinese worker was buried under every tie on the American Pacific Railway.
Southern Africa is not doing much better. Southern African newspapers have publicly reported this. Of course, American newspapers will also publicly fight back.
In southern Africa, there is also a Boer corpse buried under every railway sleeper.
This is slander and exaggeration. There are only a few Boers in total, and it is not enough to bury them all.
I guess the American newspapers wanted to write about Africans, but ended up writing about Boers. This is definitely not a slander against the planned genocide of Boers in southern Africa.
If the United States really dares to say this, then southern Africa also has something to say. Let’s talk about the Indians in the United States.
Before Tao Yong could speak, Xie Jin’s secretary Howard hurried in.
“Sir, there was an accident in Prisca. About 150 Indian workers escaped. Security personnel are chasing them. It is said that there are Indians working together inside and outside——” The information reported by Howard caught Xie Jin off guard.
There are Indians in southern Africa, even before the Second Boer War. After the establishment of the federal government, many Indians left southern Africa, but some Indians still chose to stay.
