Negotiations took place at the Witwatersrand Hotel in Johannesburg.
The two parties engaged in fierce exchanges over the prices of milk, beef, and wheat.
In view of the extremely low prices in the current market, the Mining Alliance requires a significant reduction in agricultural product prices.
The Cape Agricultural Association argued that the current prices of agricultural products in the Cape are abnormal because the "market boom" brought by the expeditionary force will eventually disappear. Now that it has entered the rainy season, there is no rainfall in the Cape and Transvaal.
There has been a significant increase, so next year's drought is inevitable. By then, the output of agricultural products will be significantly reduced, and the prices of agricultural products will not only not decrease, but will further increase.
The Mining Union does not accept the reasons of the Cape Agricultural Association, Pretoria officials also oppose the increase in agricultural product prices, and the negotiations have reached a stalemate.
Rock did not participate in the negotiations, but was preparing for the Transvaal Agricultural Association and preparing for the unified purchase and marketing of Transvaal agricultural products.
A professor at the Royal Agricultural College, Gloucester, Douglas was the undisputed president of the Agricultural Society.
"This is generally the case, because most of the operating farms are gathered around Ziwei Town, so the headquarters of the Agricultural Association is located in Ziwei Town. The surrounding farmers can sell their agricultural products to the Agricultural Association, and the Agricultural Association will then go to and
The Mining Alliance is talking about cooperation. There is no need to talk now. The Cape Agricultural Association is talking with the Mining Alliance. When they come up with the results of the negotiation, we can just use the contract." Roque made a good calculation and worked with the Cape Agricultural Association.
In comparison, the Transvaal Agricultural Association clearly has an advantage. At least the Transvaal Agricultural Association does not require freight charges when selling agricultural products to the Mining Union.
"It is not appropriate to place the headquarters of the Agricultural Association in Ziwei Town. If we want to purchase large quantities of agricultural products, we will need corresponding slaughterhouses and processing plants. Are you willing to put these factories in Ziwei Town?" Douglas asked a very pointed question.
.
"Can't we put the slaughterhouse and processing plant in other areas, and just put the headquarters in Ziwei Town?" Luo Ke immediately changed his mind. The name of the slaughterhouse was very dirty, and it was too inconsistent with the positioning of Ziwei Town.
Rock's positioning of Ziwei Town is residence and education, supplemented by a certain degree of commerce. Industry is definitely not within Rock's consideration. Even enterprises such as slaughterhouses will produce a large amount of sewage and odor, which will
Seriously affecting the environment of Ziwei Town.
"It's possible, but in that case, it will bring a certain degree of inconvenience to the staff of the Agricultural Association." Douglas didn't care. Anyway, even if it was to run errands, he, the president, would not be allowed to run.
"Then it's settled. The headquarters of the Agricultural Association will be located in Ziwei Town, and the slaughterhouse and processing plant will be located in Kripspruit. The name is really hard to remember. You are the president, so I will use your name and call it from now on.
Forget about Dogtown." Rock is too lazy to remember such a long name. How nice is Doug?
Dog town?
Don't get me wrong, this name has nothing to do with dogs. "Douglas" means: man from the Black Sea.
Douglas doesn't matter, it's just a name. Many cities are named this way, such as Johannesburg, which was named after a Boer named "Johannes".
What neither Rock nor Douglas knew was that without their inspiration, Kripspruit would become a famous Zulu gathering place and a source of chaos in Johannesburg in the future.
When Spruit was known to the world, Kripspruit's name was Soweto.
There are not that many Zulu people in Kripspruit now, just three or five households here and there. If they want to move, they can move. If they don't want to move, they can stay with the slaughterhouse. Rock doesn't care.
"Next we have to count the production of milk, beef, mutton, and eggs." Douglas felt a lot of pressure.
"It's not that troublesome. It's just milk, beef and mutton. We have to wait another three to five years until the scale of breeding on the farm reaches a certain level. It's still early." Rock's plans are all for the future, and right now it's still too early.
morning.
The reason why Rock asked Aiden to talk to the Cape Agricultural Association is because the farms around Johannesburg simply cannot meet the needs of Johannesburg. Due to the scale of breeding, the farms actually do not produce much milk. Some farms only have one or two cows. Even if
It is the peak period of milk production, and only about 30 kilograms of milk can be produced every day. Putting this milk on the market will have no effect at all, so many farmers simply give the milk to Ziwei Public School.
It will take at least three to five years for the Agricultural Association to truly play its role. By then, the farms around Johannesburg will have developed to a certain scale, and Rock will kick the Cape Agricultural Association out of the game.
"Okay, then what's the value of our agricultural association?" Douglas couldn't laugh or cry. He didn't expect that his president was just a faggot.
"Guide farmers to better manage their farms. Today's farmers did not have their own land at all during the Qing Dynasty. Now around Johannesburg, the average size of each farm is about 150 acres, which is equivalent to about 900 acres.
They have no experience in managing so much land at the same time. Many of them don’t know what to do at all. They don’t even know how to raise cows, so they really need the help of the agricultural association.” Rock is also helpless. To be honest, even Buck is not qualified.
farmers, let alone others.
The situation that Rock was most worried about finally appeared.
Many farmers are not used to the extensive management here in Johannesburg, and still use the traditional intensive farming methods of the Qing Dynasty. Some farmers guard nearly a thousand acres of land, and they can only develop a hundred acres of land despite their best efforts, leaving more land completely unused.
It makes people laugh and cry.
Relatively speaking, the farms of Chinese policemen are much better.
When they were in Oak Town, the Chinese police were already used to hiring Boers to work in the vineyards. When they arrived in Johannesburg, the Chinese police were still used to hiring Zulu people to work on the farms.
Vision is really important. Just when many farmers who were miners are still thinking about raising more chickens and pigs, the Chinese police have begun to consciously divide their labor. Some of them grow alfalfa and some raise cattle.
, some people raise sheep and cooperate with each other without affecting each other's market. In the future, this part of the farm will be more promising and develop faster.
Although Rock hopes to see all farms prosper, it is undeniable that many of these farmers will go bankrupt due to poor management and cannot repay their loans. Although Rock does not want to see this situation
It will happen, but if it is unavoidable, Rock will not be lenient. The so-called master leads the person to practice, and Rock cannot be a nanny for the rest of his life.
"This is very difficult. We need more technical personnel. At the same time, because of the language barrier, we also need a lot of translators." Douglas's work is also very difficult. It doesn't matter if he is not good at technology. There are technical personnel who can guide him. The most important thing is the language barrier.
"There will be a translation soon." This is Rock's responsibility and he cannot shirk it.
Liang Dingxin finally got the idea during this period and sent over three batches of more than 1,700 people, including the most urgently needed translators in Johannesburg.
In September, the signing of the "Xinchou Treaty" reduced the Qing Dynasty to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Many customs staff who were extremely disappointed with the Qing Dynasty chose to immigrate to Johannesburg under the instigation of Liang Dingxin. They were all placed in Ziwei Town by Roque.
In addition to some translators who will serve as teachers at Ziwei Public School, they also have the ability to support the agricultural association.
Among the customs staff who have arrived in Johannesburg, three people who have studied in Europe and the United States have attracted special attention. They are Xia Zuo, who once studied in the United States at Yale University, but was recalled after failing to graduate, and Xia Zuo, who once studied abroad.
Duncan, who studied shipbuilding in England, and George, who studied in France and graduated from the University of Paris.
Don't be surprised, Xia Zuo, Duncan, and George are their English names. These days, when you study abroad, you have to give yourself an English name, otherwise it will not be conducive to integrating into the local society.
The same is true in Johannesburg. Many Chinese who settled in Johannesburg also want to give themselves an English name. Therefore, there are particularly many Chinese in Johannesburg who register their names as Chamberlain, Wilde, Lister, and Lewis.
Among Xia Zuo, Duncan, and George, George had the highest official position before leaving the Qing Dynasty. He once served as the deputy director of the Qing Customs Office in London. Three years ago, George was arrested by the Qing Dynasty for exposing the corruption of Jin Dengqian, the director of the London Office.
Robert Hurd, director of the Customs and Excise Department, was transferred from the London office and returned to the Qing Dynasty as a warehouse statistician.
Regarding Hart and Jin Denggan, it is not at all like what is described in the history books, that the Qing Customs is the most corrupt department in the Qing Dynasty.
King Denggan lost 80,000 pounds in an investment in 1893. This 80,000 pounds was definitely not his salary income, because King Denggan's annual salary at that time was 2,000 pounds, which was equivalent to the salary of the British Deputy Minister of Finance. Even so
, Kingdon's salary is not enough, because he has five children, and the family also employs five servants, so the origin of his 80,000 pounds is self-evident.
George was transferred out of the London office because he exposed the 80,000 pounds.
As for Hurd, this guy is even more of a moth. On the surface, Hurd’s annual income is about 5,000 pounds, which is similar to the annual salary of a British cabinet minister. But in fact, the British government wanted to appoint Hurd as the minister to China in 1885.
This offered Hurd an annual salary of 20,000 pounds, but Hurd remained unmoved and was willing to keep his salary of 5,000 pounds and continue to control the Qing customs.
Rosa, the Portuguese governor in Macau, once told Jin Dengqian that Hart had accumulated a fortune of one million pounds during his time in the Qing Dynasty.
What does one million pounds mean?
In 1893, the principal of Barings Bank was only 2.9 million pounds.
Rock didn't care about Hurd and Kingdon, and Rock couldn't care either. After George came to Ziwei Town, Rock appointed George as the director of the guild hall. Next, George would also serve as the vice president of the Agricultural Association. Compared with Douglas, George
Even more qualified, because George also owns a 1,000-acre farm not far from Ziwei Town.
George bought this with his own money, without borrowing a penny. It can be seen that George's salary was quite generous when he was the deputy director of the London Office of the Customs.
Compared with the ongoing negotiations in Pretoria, the ongoing negotiations in Johannesburg are much simpler.
Both parties participating in the negotiations in Johannesburg were British. This was a conflict among the people. Two ministers participated in the negotiations, and the results were quickly reached. The mining union's attempt to lower prices failed, and the Cape Agricultural Association's attempt to increase prices did not succeed.
Success, the final result is that the Cape Agricultural Association will supply food to Johannesburg tomorrow, still at this year's price.
After the negotiation between the Johannesburg Agricultural Association and the Cape Agricultural Association, which has the largest profit, the Johannesburg Agricultural Association quickly signed a supply contract with the Mining Alliance. This supply contract only has the milk part, and the price refers to the Cape Agricultural Association and the Mining Alliance.
The price of the fixed price is 2 pence per liter.
Calculating it this way, being a farmer in Johannesburg still has a bright future.
Normally, a cow can produce 4,500-6,000 liters of milk a year, with a midpoint of 5,000 liters. By selling milk every year, a cow can bring an income of about 42 pounds to the farmer.
Of course, this income is not profit. If it were all profit, then everyone would raise cattle. Raising a dozen cows would be higher than the income of Police Chief Roque.
After deducting costs, a cow can bring the farmer about 20 pounds in income a year.
This calculation is actually not bad. A farm only needs ten cows, which is enough for the farmer and his family to live a middle-class life. This is very different from their life in the Qing Dynasty.
It looks good, right, but when combined with the poor efficiency of the Boers, it immediately becomes not so good.
According to the efficiency of the Boers, raising ten cows requires 50 acres of pasture. Although the area of Boer farms is generally thousands of acres, the qualified pasture area is not large. Under normal circumstances, an area of several
On a thousand acres of pasture, the rancher only raised thirty or fifty cows, which was enough for the Boers to live freely.
Under the same conditions, farms run by Chinese are extremely efficient than Boer farms. If alfalfa is grown, one acre of alfalfa can raise ten to fifteen cows. To raise thirty to fifty cows, it will take three to five
Acres of alfalfa.
When it comes to farming, the Chinese have the best technology in the world.
On December 15, just before Christmas, the Johannesburg Agricultural Association was established in Ziwei Town. The association has a total of 350 members, which also means that at least 350 Chinese-run farms have appeared around Johannesburg.
As for why it is "least", it is because some Chinese buy more than one farm. After Boer farmers make money, they like to buy the best horses, the best wine, and the best tea to enjoy life.
After Chinese farmers make money,
Sorry, Chinese farmers don't buy anything except daily necessities. Most Chinese farmers will save their hard-earned money and then use it to expand production or continue to buy farms.
So the wine sellers in Johannesburg probably won't like Chinese farmers, but the agricultural association will definitely like them.
