Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 227 Little Money is Really Sweet

Negotiations took place at the Golden Hill Hotel in Johannesburg.

The negotiating parties had a fierce confrontation over the prices of milk, beef and wheat.

In view of the extremely low prices in the current market, the Union of Mines has demanded a significant reduction in the price of agricultural products.

The Cape Agricultural Association argues that the current price of Cape agricultural products is abnormal, because the "market prosperity" brought by the expeditionary force will eventually disappear. Now that it has entered the rainy season, there is no precipitation in Cape and Transvaal. The increase is obvious, so this year's drought is inevitable, the production of agricultural products will be greatly reduced, and the price of agricultural products will not only not decrease, but will further increase.

The Union of Mines did not recognize the reasons of the Cape Agricultural Association, and Pretoria officials also opposed the increase in agricultural product prices, and the negotiations reached a deadlock.

Rock did not participate in the negotiations, but was preparing for the Transvaal Agricultural Association, and was also preparing for the unified purchase and sale of agricultural products in the Transvaal.

A professor at the Royal Agricultural College of Gloucester, Douglas was the undisputed president of the Agricultural Society.

"--In general, this is the case, because most of the operating farms are gathered around Bigwig Town, so the headquarters of the Agricultural Association is located in Bigwig Town, and the surrounding farmers can sell their agricultural products to the Agricultural Association, and then the Agricultural Association Go and discuss cooperation with the Mining Union, don’t talk about it now, the Cape Agricultural Association is talking with the Mining Union, and when they negotiate a result, we can just use the contract directly.” Rock made a good plan, and Cape Compared with the Agricultural Association, the Transvaal Agricultural Association has obvious advantages. At least the Transvaal Agricultural Association does not need freight to sell agricultural products to the Mining Union.

"It is not appropriate to place the headquarters of the Agricultural Association in Bigwig Town. If you want to buy a large amount of agricultural products, you need corresponding slaughterhouses and processing plants. Are you willing to put these factories in Bigwig Town?" Douglas asked a very sharp question. .

"Can't the slaughterhouse and processing plant be located in other areas, and only the headquarters be in Bigwig Town?" Rock immediately changed his words. The name of the slaughterhouse sounds dirty, and it doesn't fit the positioning of Bigwig Town.

Rock's position for Bigwig Town is residence and education, supplemented by a certain degree of commerce. Industry is definitely not within the scope of Rock's consideration. Even enterprises such as slaughterhouses will produce a lot of sewage and odors, which will Seriously affect the environment of Bigwig Town.

"It's also possible—but in that case, it will cause a certain degree of inconvenience to the staff of the Agricultural Association." Douglas didn't care, anyway, even if it was running errands, he, the president, would not be allowed to run.

"Then it's settled. The headquarters of the Agricultural Association is located in Bigwig Town, and the slaughterhouse and processing plant are located in Cripplespruit-this name is really difficult to remember. You are the president, so use your name. Just call it Doug’s Town.” Rock was too lazy to remember such a long name, how nice Doug is—

Dog City?

Don't get me wrong, the name has nothing to do with dogs, "Douglas" means: A man from the Black Sea.

Douglas doesn't matter, it's just a name, and many cities get their names like this, such as Johannesburg, which comes from a Boer named "Johannes".

What neither Rock nor Douglas knew was that, had it not been for their brilliant idea, the future Kripspruit would have become a famous Zulu enclave and a source of chaos in Johannesburg when Kripspruit Kripspruit's name was Soweto when Spruitt was known to the world.

There are not so many Zulus in Cripspruit now, only three or five households sporadically. If they want to move out, they can move out. If they don’t want to move out, they can stay with the slaughterhouse. Rock doesn’t care.

"Next we have to count the production, milk, beef, mutton, eggs——" Douglas felt a lot of pressure.

"It's not so troublesome. It's just milk. Beef and mutton will have to wait another three to five years until the scale of farming on the farm reaches a certain level. It's still early." morning.

The reason why Rock asked Aiden to talk to the Cape Agricultural Association is also because the farms around Johannesburg can't meet the needs of Johannesburg at all. Due to the limited scale of farming, the farms actually don't produce much milk. Some farms only have one or two cows. It is the peak milk production period, and a cow can only produce about 30 kilograms of milk per day. Putting this amount of milk on the market has no effect at all, so many farmers simply give their milk to Bigwig Public School.

To truly play the role of the Agricultural Association, it will take at least three to five years before the farms around Johannesburg can develop to a certain scale, and Rock will also kick the Cape Agricultural Association out of the game.

"Okay, then the value of our agricultural association—" Douglas couldn't laugh or cry, but he didn't expect that the president of him was just a fake.

"Guide the farmers to better manage their farms. The current farmers did not have their own land at all in the Qing Dynasty. Now around Johannesburg, the average size of each farm is about 150 acres, equivalent to about 900 acres. They don't have the experience of managing so much land at the same time, and many people don't know what to do, and they don't even know how to raise cows, so they need the help of the agricultural association." Rock is also helpless, to be honest, even Buck is not qualified The farmer, 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 they still use the traditional intensive farming methods of the Qing Dynasty. Some farmers guard nearly a thousand acres of land, but they can only develop a hundred acres with all their strength, and more land is completely unused. On, it makes people dumbfounded.

Relatively speaking, the farms of Chinese police officers are much better.

In Oak Town, the Chinese policemen were accustomed to employing Boers to work in the vineyards. When they arrived in Johannesburg, the Chinese policemen were still accustomed to employing Zulus to work on the farms.

Vision is really important. While many farmers who were miners were still thinking about how to raise more chickens and pigs, Chinese police officers 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 the market. In the future, this part of the farm will have more prospects and develop faster.

Although Rock hopes to see all the farms prosper, it is undeniable that among the current farmers, many of them will go bankrupt due to poor management and cannot repay their loans. Although Rock does not want to see this situation However, if things cannot be avoided, Roque will not be relentless. The so-called master leads the door to practice in individuals, and Roque cannot be a nanny for a lifetime.

"It's difficult. We need more technicians. At the same time, because of the language barrier, we also need a lot of translators." Douglas's work is also full of difficulties. It doesn't matter if the technology is not good, there are technicians who can guide, and the language barrier is the worst.

"There will be a translator soon—" This is Rock's responsibility, and it is his duty.

During this period of time, Liang Dingxin finally came to his senses and sent three batches of more than 700 people, including the most urgently needed translator in Johannesburg.

In September, the signing of the "Xin Chou Treaty" reduced the Qing Dynasty to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. Many customs staff who were deeply disappointed in the Qing Dynasty chose to immigrate to Johannesburg under the instigation of Liang Dingxin. Residence, in addition to some translators will serve as teachers to teach at Bigwig Public School, and also have the ability to support the agricultural association.

Among the customs staff who have arrived in Johannesburg, there are three people who have the experience of studying in Europe and the United States. Duncan, who studied shipbuilding in the UK, and George, who studied in France and graduated from the University of Paris.

Don't be surprised, the names Xia Zuo, Duncan, and George are their English names. When you study abroad these days, you have to choose an English name for yourself, 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, in Johannesburg, there are particularly many Chinese who registered 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 Dynasty Customs Office in London. Robert Hurd, director of the General Tax Department of the Customs, was transferred from the London office and returned to the Qing Dynasty as a warehouse statistician.

Regarding Hurd and Jin Denggan, it is not like what is described in the history books, the Qing State Customs is the cleanest department in the Qing State.

King Denggan lost 1893 pounds in an investment in [-]. The [-] pounds must not be his salary income, because at that time, King Denggan’s annual salary was [-] pounds, which was equivalent to the salary of the Deputy Minister of the Treasury of the United Kingdom. Even so However, Jin Deng's salary is not enough, because he has five children and employs five servants at home, so the source of his [-] pounds is self-evident.

George was transferred from the London office because of exposing the [-] pounds.

As for Hurd, this guy is even more of a moth. On the surface, Hurd’s annual income is about 5000 pounds, which is about the same as the annual salary of a British cabinet minister. This offered Hurd an annual salary of 1885 pounds, but Hurd was unmoved, willing to keep the salary of [-] pounds, and continue to control the customs of the Qing Dynasty.

Rosa, the Portuguese governor in Macau, once told Jin Denggan that Hurd had accumulated a fortune of 100 million pounds during the Qing Dynasty.

What is the concept of 100 million pounds?

In 1893, the principal of Barings Bank was only 290 million pounds.

Rock didn't care about Hurd and Jin Deng, and Rock didn't care. After George came to Bigwig Town, Rock accepted George as the director of the guild hall, and then George would also serve as the vice president of the Agricultural Association. Compared with Douglas, George More qualified, because George also owns a 1000-acre farm not far from Bigwig Town.

It was bought with George's own money, and he didn't borrow any money. It can be seen that George's salary was quite generous when he was the deputy director of the London Customs Office.

The ongoing negotiations in Johannesburg are much simpler than those in Pretoria.

Both parties participating in the negotiations in Johannesburg are British. This is a contradiction among the people. Two ministers participated in the negotiations, and the result was soon reached. Success, the end result is that the Cape Agricultural Association will supply food to Johannesburg tomorrow, and it will still be implemented at this year's price.

After the negotiations between the Johannesburg Agricultural Association and the Cape Agricultural Association, the most profitable one, the Johannesburg Agricultural Association quickly signed a supply contract with the Mining Union. This supply contract only includes milk. The price refers to the Cape Agricultural Association and the Mining Union. The price of the fixed price, 2p per litre.

All things considered, being a farmer in Johannesburg looked promising.

Under normal circumstances, a cow can produce 4500-6000 liters of milk a year, taking the median value of 5000 liters. Relying on the sale of milk every year, a cow can bring about 42 pounds of income to the farmer.

Of course, this income is not profit. If it is all profit, then everyone will go to raise cattle. Raising a dozen or so cattle will earn more than Rock, the chief of police.

After deducting the cost, a cow can bring about 20 pounds of income for the farmer a year.

This calculation is actually not bad. A farm only needs ten cows, which is enough for the farmer's family to live a middle-class life, which is very different from their life in Qing Dynasty.

Looks great, doesn't it, but when combined with the abysmal 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 as high as thousands of acres, the qualified pasture area is not large. With a thousand-acre pasture, the rancher only raises thirty or fifty cows, which is enough for the Boers to live at ease.

Under the same conditions, the farms run by the Chinese are as efficient as Bull Farm. If it is alfalfa, one acre of alfalfa can raise ten to fifteen cows, and it takes three to five cows to raise thirty to fifty cows. acres of alfalfa only.

Fighting to cultivate the land, the technology of the Chinese is the best in the world.

On December 12, just before Christmas, the Johannesburg Agricultural Association was established in Bigwig Township. The association has a total of 15 members, which means that there are at least 350 Chinese-run farms around Johannesburg.

As for why it is "least", it is because some Chinese bought more than one farm. After Boolean farmers made money, they liked to buy the best horses, the best wine, and the best tea to enjoy life.

And after the Chinese farmers made money——

Sorry, Chinese farmers don't buy anything except the necessities of life. Most Chinese farmers save their hard-earned money and use it to expand production or continue to buy farms.

Therefore, the liquor merchants in Johannesburg probably won't like Chinese farmers, but the agricultural association will definitely like them.

(End of this chapter)