In fact, the dinner was still very sumptuous. Although the British government realized that the cost of the Boer War was too huge, the war had reached this level and they had to persevere even if they had to lose their underpants, so Cape's supplies were still sufficient.
The markets in the four colonies are extremely prosperous.
Of course, the prosperity of this period is only a temporary illusion. Although Johannesburg is rich in materials, most of them have nothing to do with Johannesburg itself. In Johannesburg now, basically all the Boer farms have been confiscated, and a few Zulu farms have been confiscated.
It is difficult to move forward and maintain its operation, and there is no spare capacity to supply Johannesburg.
Looking at it now, the most promising ones are the Chinese farms, but most of the Chinese farms have just started to operate. Within a year or two, I am afraid there will be no spare capacity to supply Johannesburg. Therefore, Johannesburg still has to rely on external supply in the past two years.
As it stands now, when the war ends and the expeditionary force gradually withdraws from the Cape, the market in the Cape will return to normal. By then, I am afraid that the bleak market will continue for a long time.
In fact, there are some signs now. Johannesburg has obvious rainy and dry seasons. The rainy season is from October to February of the following year. In last year's rainy season, Johannesburg received significantly less precipitation, so the drought in this year's dry season is a bit serious. If
This year's rainy season still has insufficient rainfall, so Johannesburg will inevitably face a serious drought next year.
This is actually a problem of the Johannesburg Municipal Government, but with the current situation of the Johannesburg Municipal Government, it is unreliable to expect Philip Matilda to take action and take the initiative to alleviate the drought. Most of the farms around Johannesburg are run by Chinese, so this issue is
It became Rock's problem.
In fact, Johannesburg's natural conditions are quite good. The famous "Crocodile River", also known as the Limpopo River, originates from Johannesburg.
The name Crocodile River comes from the large number of Nile crocodiles in the Crocodile River. They are the rulers of African rivers and lakes. Anyone who wants to develop water resources must face attacks from Nile crocodiles.
Due to climate reasons, the Crocodile River in Johannesburg is a seasonal river. Every summer, the Crocodile River floods. It flows from Johannesburg northward to the Bechuanaland Protectorate and then northeastward to Rhodesia.
east, and then into Portuguese East Africa.
Therefore, the Crocodile River is the natural dividing line between the Transvaal and Bechuanaland Protected Areas, and Rhodesia.
Every winter, the Crocodile River will dry up into small ponds. It is winter in Johannesburg now. Before the rainy season, Rock often organizes workers who do not have to go down to the mines to dredge the river and hunt those in the Crocodile River.
Crocodile.
Before Rock, in the concept of Johannesburg people, there was no such thing as dredging rivers.
Even if the people of Johannesburg want to dig something out of the ground, what they want to dig is gold, so the Chinese who dredge the river have become fools in the eyes of the miners.
Rock doesn't argue whether he is a fool or not. If there is not enough precipitation in this year's rainy season, then you will know who is a fool next year.
Now almost all the farms around Johannesburg are owned by Rock. Those Zulu people happily returned to Zululand with the money from selling their farms. The few remaining Boer farmers are also rushing to sell their farms and then use them as
Leave the Transvaal as quickly as possible and head to Lourenço Marquez under Portuguese control, or German Southwest Africa under German control.
It's impossible not to leave. The British have made it clear that they want to eliminate the Boers. There is no guerrilla activity in Johannesburg anymore, and a guerrilla force can fall from the sky to attack the transport team of the Royal Canadian Regiment. If you don't leave, you will be waiting for death.
——
The atmosphere of the dinner was warm. Roque and senior officials of the Johannesburg city government sang the British national anthem before the banquet began to congratulate King Edward VII who had just ascended the throne.
It seems a bit awkward, right? In fact, the British government has very strict regulations in this regard.
In the camp of the Expeditionary Force, all the soldiers of the Expeditionary Force had to say "Three cheers" before going to bed at night.
This is no joke, it is really three cheers. Every night before going to bed, the officer on duty will order everyone to cheer "Hooray" after turning off the lights, and then the officer on duty will lead the soldiers to cheer "Hooray". p>
Really three "Hooray"s in a row.
By the way, so does the Johannesburg Police Department.
It's just that Rock never does such a foolproof thing, so every time it's Joe Russell who leads the police to "cheer".
After singing the national anthem, officials can walk around and chat at will. This is the advantage of the buffet. There are no restricted seats. Everyone can stroll around and chat with people they are interested in.
Roque is undoubtedly the centerpiece of the dinner party, and he is always surrounded by a crowd of people.
"In the long run, Johannesburg's prospects are actually not good. The underground gold mines will eventually be dug out. At that time, Johannesburg will slowly fall into death like those cities that prospered because of gold mines. Therefore, Johannesburg must find a solution.
Farms are a good choice as the second economic pillar after gold mines. If there are enough farms in Johannesburg, then we can develop animal husbandry and then the textile industry. Compared with gold mines, the textile industry has a better future.
,The key is that we don’t have to worry about the sheep disappearing one day——" Rock’s words caused the surrounding officials to burst into laughter.
Laughing all the time, whether anyone can get some inspiration from this is what Rock is most concerned about.
Anyway, Rock has now bought almost all the farms around Johannesburg. Even if the officials on the scene discovered this and wanted to buy the farms, they would not be able to buy them.
It can’t be said that you can’t buy it, there are many farms around Pretoria.
But there weren't many left. Henry had determined a long time ago that he would do whatever Roark did, so when Roark was acquiring farms around Johannesburg, Henry was also acquiring farms around Pretoria. p>
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Henry is not the only one who wants to get rich with Rock. Cecil Rhodes Jr. is also paying close attention to Rock. So Cecil Rhodes Jr. is competing with Henry for the farms around Pretoria, in Johannesburg.
Neither Henry nor Cecil Rhodes Jr. had a chance.
Roque is the leader of Johannesburg.
"This decision is correct. Even if the gold mines underground in Johannesburg are inexhaustible during our lifetime, we must also consider the future. In this regard, Sir Locke has set a good example for all of us.
." Tax Commissioner Marcus Beaufort fully agrees with Roque's suggestion.
As the tax commissioner, Marcus Beaufort only cares about whether he can receive more taxes. As for who is paying the taxes, Marcus Beaufort doesn't care.
Although there are a large number of gold mines around Johannesburg, there is no shortage of tax sources, but who would complain about too much money? The more economic pillars Johannesburg has, the more tax sources it will have, and the more taxes the tax bureau will receive. Taken together,
This is the political achievement of Marcus Beaufort.
Who says the political achievements of imperialist countries are not important?
The Transvaal is still a colony, and there is no such thing as elections. Most officials are directly appointed by London, so Transvaal officials are in great need of political performance.
This is why Marcus Beaufort stood up for Rock at the morning meeting.
Henry Alsop is the head of the Home Office and does not need to worry about tax sources, so he can stand and talk without back pain.
Marcus Beaufort can't do it. The increase in population means an increase in tax sources, which is closely related to Marcus Beaufort's work, so Marcus Beaufort has no other choice but to support Rock.
Of course, Marcus Beaufort probably didn't expect that his unintentional words just now revealed the truth about the gold mines in Johannesburg. In the lifetimes of people like them, the gold mines in Johannesburg will indeed not be exhausted. p>
But except for Rock, no one present knew this.
"After the war, many Boers who left Johannesburg because of the war will choose to move back. By then, these Boers will be a problem again, so we must do everything we can to increase the population and reduce the proportion of Boers, so that Johannesburg can become the center of the British Empire.
Johannesburg." Blake Nelson was worried. As a colonist, Blake Nelson did not need to hide.
In the next few years, those Boers who have returned will become troublemakers. Blake Nelson is clearly aware of this, but he is powerless to change the status quo.
The core of the problem is that compared to its huge territory, the population of the United Kingdom is too small, and there are even fewer British people willing to immigrate to the Cape. Although the United Kingdom has colonized the Cape for a hundred years, there are still four islands in the Cape.
Among the colonies, only in the Cape Colony, the British population is basically the same as the Boer population. In the three regions of Transvaal, Orange, and Natal, the British population is far lower than the Boer population.
People.
If we zoom in to the whole of South Africa, the total population of British and Boers is far lower than that of Zulu, so officials who realize this are very panicked.
Of course, Blake Nelson definitely did not mean to immigrate from the Qing Dynasty or India, the two most populous countries, but wanted to immigrate from the UK itself. But the key to the problem is that the British are not willing to come.
So this is a dead end.
"No, this problem will basically not happen. When the time comes, the Boers will find that their farms have changed owners and the Zulus have replaced their work in the mines. At least within Johannesburg, the Boers cannot
Survival." Rock is not worried about this problem, but even if he is worried, Rock must still show confidence.
After the establishment of the Johannesburg Mining Alliance, as a member of the alliance, Rock Gold Mines can also make suggestions.
Rock has instructed Buck to propose at the Mining Union meeting that the salary of white miners should be significantly increased, so that the salary of white miners will be more than ten times that of Zulu.
This seems to be a good thing for the Boers, who are also white, but it is actually a trap.
If this proposal is passed smoothly, it will lead to a very serious consequence - in order to save money, when hiring ordinary miners, mine owners will choose Zulu people with cheaper wages instead of Boers whose wages have been greatly increased.
.
Of course, this is only for ordinary miners. For management, don’t worry about this part. In Johannesburg, Zulu people cannot hold technical jobs, let alone enter management, so this suggestion will not increase much cost for mine owners.
.
But the result is very serious. If this proposal is passed, the Boers will be surprised to find that when they return to Johannesburg, although the mines provide high salaries to the Boers, they cannot get them. Their farms have been destroyed.
Occupied by the Chinese, the Zulu took away their job opportunities. If they wanted to make a living, the Boers had no choice but to leave Johannesburg.
This is considered a conspiracy. Forcing the Boers to leave Johannesburg openly will not cause criticism from the Boers. After all, who doesn’t want to get a high salary?
Of course, the mines are not saying that they will not hire any Boers. They must hire them. It is enough for a mine to hire three or five Boers. Then the Boers who cannot find a job will have nothing to do.
They are definitely dissatisfied with this resolution, but those Boers who are receiving high salaries will support it very much.
Well, this proposal is very British.
"Hahahaha, Director Locke, you are such a cunning guy." Marcus Beaufort laughed. He was also very cunning. When he "accused" Locke, he no longer used the title "Sir Locke", but
It's "Director Locke", so there is no issue of lack of respect for the nobles.
"What if we don't do this? If there are many idle people who can't find jobs in Johannesburg, it will cause serious security problems. This is what I, the police chief, should do." Roque said seriously, this is really not to target the Boers.
But for the sake of public security in Johannesburg.
According to Rock's vision, the city of Johannesburg cannot have too many people who cannot find jobs. Everyone is busy with business and will not have the mind to think about things. Then certain social problems will not arise.
"Idle people? All those lazy people should be thrown into the mines to mine. Johannesburg cannot support lazy people. Everyone has to work." Blake Nelson was murderous. Lazy people cannot create tax revenue. Only when you have a job can you have income.
Not bad, Blake Nelson did not say that all those lazy people should be shot or exiled.
In fact, shooting and exile are the norm. Don’t think that the British attaches great importance to the Boers. It does not exist at all. The British current approach is to eliminate all the Boers. It is just that it cannot do this, so the British government has to cooperate with
Boer negotiations.
If they can be eliminated, the British will not talk nonsense to the Boers. At this stage, human rights in the UK cannot be guaranteed, let alone Johannesburg. If you want to protect human rights, you will have to wait half a century.