Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 1475 A Wristwatch Worth £1500
In order to strive for self-government status, Southern Africa was forced to give up the gold from the Rand Gold Mine. That period of history is still fresh in the hearts of many southern Africans.

During the World War, the status of southern Africa and the British Empire underwent a wonderful reversal. Britain changed from a creditor country in southern Africa to a debtor country in southern Africa, and the self-confidence of southern Africans also reached a new level.

This is also due to the propaganda of the southern African media. After the World War, fish and chips became the British national dish. Compared with the rich food on the table of southern Africans, the mystery of the British Empire as the suzerain is gradually losing.

Coupled with London’s winter smog, narrow streets, and arrogant and arrogant Londoners, most southern Africans who have been to London expressed that they do not want to go to London for a second time. How high is the respect held by the Empire.

Specific to the small details of life such as throwing rubbish, it also shows the low quality of some British people. A dignified imperial official is not as good as a little girl in southern Africa. It is really difficult for such a British Empire to make southern Africans What respect.

When this happened, Hendricks lost his mood for shopping and came to the Rhodesia Hotel. The person in charge of receiving the investigation team was Cruise Lightsey, the public relations manager of Nyasaran Airlines.

"Niasaran Airlines has received the Lord's telegram, and we will fully cooperate with the investigation team's investigation. This is some information about this military purchase. We have provided three quotations to the Air Force Ministry, each time according to the Air Force's The specific content is in the document.” Cruise was well prepared, and with this document, the investigation team was actually able to return to the UK for work.

"Thank you Cruise, please arrange for me to meet with Mr. Retief, the general manager of your Nyasaran Airlines as soon as possible." Hendricks was in a bad mood, and he had a bad premonition.

Everyone knows the tricks in arms purchases. Big companies like Nyasaland Air have their own legal departments, and even if they do something wrong, they can do it flawlessly. At least government officials like Hendricks can't find the problem.

As for the procedure, Hendrix knows that it is completely legal and compliant without looking at it. The main purpose of the investigation team's trip is to investigate whether Nyasaland Air has refurbished the planes that are about to be eliminated and sold them to the Ministry of Air Force. As for the price, it is second.

To put it bluntly, under the premise of a complete seller’s market, Nyasaland Airlines has the final say on how much an aircraft is worth, not the Air Force Ministry. The procurement contracts between Nyasaland Airlines and various countries are confidential , the Ministry of the Air Force has no right to intervene.

"Sorry, Mr. Retief went to the East India, and it may take a few months before he comes back." Cruise really didn't lie, the general manager of Nyasaran Airlines is very busy, and it is impossible to stay in Los Angeles all day.

Hendricks was not surprised, and went straight back to the room with the documents, hoping to find some useful information.

Indeed, the three quotations were taken out separately, and each one was fine.

Put them together and compare them, and the problem immediately comes out.

There are three quotations, the number of aircraft purchased remains unchanged, and the third quotation is 230 million pounds higher than the first one.

If you have no idea about the figure of 230 million, as a reference, the total cost of the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships built by the United Kingdom before the World War was about 250 million pounds.

"This doesn't explain anything. The Queen Elizabeth-class battleship was a model before the World War. The cost of the current Nelson-class battleship has soared by about ten times compared to the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship. The price of the aircraft is also the same, and the performance is better. This corresponds to a higher price.” Colonel Home, the representative of the Air Force Department who followed Hendrix to Los Angeles, said that this is normal, and if you can find something wrong with this, you might as well investigate the cost of the Nelson-class battleship. Why? Compared with the Queen Elizabeth-class battleship soaring ten times, this seems to be more necessary for investigation.

Hendricks frowned. The investigation has just started and it has come to a dead end. If you continue to struggle with this issue, then all the procurement contracts of the entire Ministry of War will have to be re-examined. This will make the fun even bigger. I'm afraid King George V Don't dare.

"No, no, cost is not the point, the point is the difference between the three quotations. If the price provided by the first quotation is used, then the total value is only 2120 million. Generally speaking, the price of the third quotation It should be lower than the first quotation, but why is it so much higher?" Jervis, deputy director of the Second Department of the Ministry of Finance, insisted on it. The second department is mainly responsible for the budget and monitor.

"And there are some problems that cannot be explained. A set of leather sofas in my home costs only 180 pounds. Why does an ordinary seat on the plane cost [-] pounds?" However, the Ministry is still lavish, and many people dare not speak out.

This problem has also been around for a long time. Since the arms race between Britain and Germany before the World War, Britain's defense expenditures have soared.

Now that Britain has won the World War, the country's national defense has not been lowered. The Admiralty is not satisfied with building two Nelson-class battleships. It hopes to retire more warships to make room for more Nelson-class battleships.

You know, some battleships that were forced to be dismantled have been in service for less than ten years and can still be used at all, but they are directly dismantled and sold for scrap iron. The Ministry of the Navy got a bunch of new warships, and the Ministry of Finance got a big hole .

"This is normal. The space on the plane is limited, and the seats must be specially customized. Our seats are fully ergonomically designed—" Cruise couldn't help interjecting. He didn't care about the conflict between the British Treasury and the War Department. But we can't make excuses on this issue.

"What?" Jervis didn't understand.

"Ergonomics - is to make the use of tools fit the natural shape of the human body as much as possible, so that the person who can use the tools does not need any active adaptation in body and mind when working, so as to minimize the fatigue caused by using tools -" Ke Ruth explained in detail that the senior officials of the British Empire cannot be blamed for being uneducated. "Ergonomics" should have been a concept that appeared after World War II.

"Speaking in human terms—" Hermanus didn't understand either.

"To put it simply, it is more comfortable to sit on. For example, the chairs you sit on, do you feel any difference compared with the chairs at home?" Cruise has a good attitude, and it doesn't matter if he doesn't understand the concept of ergonomics. You know it's expensive for a reason.

As soon as Cruise's words fell, Hermanus adjusted his sitting posture and carefully felt the difference.

To be honest, I don't feel—

However, this does not prevent Hermanus from expressing his understanding of ergonomics.

"Indeed, it feels very comfortable. Even if I sit for a longer time, I won't feel tired—" Hermanus is a qualified official, and he still has the ability to tell lies with his eyes open. He just sat for a while , you can feel what it feels like after a long time.

"Okay, let's put this question aside for now. Let's go to the factory to have a look tomorrow?" Hendricks didn't bother with this issue. Nyasaran Airlines even brought out ergonomics, and Hendrix was willing to bow down.

Hendricks did not expect to find the problem from the quotation. After the Air Force Ministry and Nyasaland Air signed the order, they sent representatives to Nyasaland Air to oversee the production of the order. Hendricks had to talk to these representatives first. talk.

"The production of Nyasaran Air fully meets the requirements of the order, and every production link must be strictly supervised by us. It can be said with certainty that the fighters produced by Nyasaran Air for the Ministry of Air Force, whether in terms of quality or from In terms of performance, they are better than the aircraft produced by Nyasaland Air for other countries—” Colonel Van Vik, who was stationed at Nyasaland Air after the order was signed, affirmed the work of Nyasaland Air.

"London is concerned about whether Southern Africa refurbishes decommissioning aircraft and sells them to the Ministry of Air Force at a high price." Hendricks pointed out the crux of the problem.

"I'm sorry, Minister, I don't understand the situation in this regard, I only understand what I have seen—" Colonel Van Wyck paused, and then smiled very far-fetchedly: "—On this issue, I hope that the South Africa can, as some say, sell to the Ministry of Air Forces aircraft that are being used by the Southern African Air Forces."

Colonel Van Wyck didn't finish speaking, Hendricks already understood what Colonel Van Wyck meant.

All countries must keep their own weapons, and the best products must be reserved for their own troops.

When the United Kingdom built the battleship Queen Elizabeth, in order to hide the performance of the battleship, it declared the 15-inch main gun to be 14 inches. Such a thing can also be done in southern Africa.

Hendricks can figure it out with his heels. Compared with the fighters sold by the Southern African Air Force, there must be a gap in performance between the fighters sold in Southern Africa, and the gap is not even a star. Southern Africans are not so stupid. Selling the aircraft with the best performance to the outside world, even if it is sold to the United Kingdom, will not work, even if the price is doubled.

"The Air Force in Southern Africa is also upgrading. They can sell the planes that are about to be eliminated to the Ministry of Air Force." Hendricks will not give up easily. A newest diamond watch just launched by Eternal.

This watch is not yet on the market in the UK, but it is sold in the Eternal store downstairs of the Rhodesia Hotel, and the price of each piece ranges from 1500 to 1800 pounds.

Hendricks acted as if he hadn't seen it, and turned around to ask Jervis, and then learned that Colonel Van Wyck's annual salary plus the overseas allowance was about 750 pounds.

This salary is not low. Hendricks is the Deputy Minister of Colonial Affairs, and his annual salary is only 2500 pounds.

(End of this chapter)