Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 630 Orders

The French government was unable to provide assistance to the colonial government of Madagascar, so all the income of the colonial government of Madagascar came from taxes in Madagascar.

The most common tax in this period was actually the poll tax. The Natal government used to collect the poll tax, which eventually led to the rebellion of the Africans in Natal.

The security situation in Madagascar is more serious than that in Natal, and there are frequent guerrilla activities in the central highlands and the southern part of the island. Therefore, more income for the colonial government of Madagascar comes from mining companies in Madagascar and farms all over Madagascar.

According to statistics, French companies in Madagascar own more than 1000 million hectares of land in Madagascar, accounting for one-sixth of the entire island of Madagascar.

These mining companies and plantations do not pay taxes according to the regulations. Large companies like the Marseille Company and the Lyon Company have a deep background in France, so the colonial government is often helpless.

At this time, a Mayotte company that operates law-abidingly and takes the initiative to pay taxes can be imagined how happy Mitch Byron is.

"The governor has decided to sell the 15 hectares of land around Anbanza to the Mayotte company. The Mayotte company has promised to invest no less than 150 million francs in these lands. Of course, this franc is not the Malagasy franc—— Mitch Byron also knew that the Malagasy franc had a bad reputation.

For Madagascar, Mitch Byron is just a passer-by. He is an official appointed by Paris. After five years in Madagascar, he will go to other colonies, so Mitch Byron will not care about the future of Madagascar, as long as he can get through it safely Tenure is the greatest victory.

Of course, Mitch Byron would have been an excellent colonial official if the financial statements of his tenure had been better.

15 hectares of land is not much, but it represents the Mayotte company's official involvement in the Madagascar farm, so Leo Parker and Brown Joel's faces are a bit ugly.

"Isn't the land around Anbanza not included in the Governor's sale plan?" Brown Joel directly questioned that the land around Anbanza is relatively mature farms, which can be profitable when they are taken over. Want to buy, but the Governor's Mansion is not for sale.

"It's normal to make adjustments to the plan—" Mitch Byron replied with one sentence. The Mayotte company bought the land at about one franc per hectare, and the Marseille company bought the farm at only five sou per hectare. It is too different.

One franc is equal to 20 sous.

In addition to the land price, the follow-up income of the plantation is also different.

Most of the plantations operated by the Marseille Company are sold to mainland France. Due to some well-known reasons, although the transaction volume is large, the transaction price is not high, which leads to a little less tax to be paid. .

It’s not a little, it’s outrageously low. In the simplest example, the price of a kilogram of sugar in mainland France is about fifteen sous, and the price in Madagascar has reached twelve sous. Marseilles sells sugar to mainland France For enterprises, the price of one kilogram is only two centimes, even if the two centimes are all taxed, there is only so much.

One sou is equal to five centimes.

Therefore, Mayotte's promise to the Governor's Palace is that all products will be sold at the actual price, and will never harm the interests of the Governor's Palace.

In fact, when the white sugar from Madagascar is shipped to France, it is normal for the price of [-] sous to become [-] sous, but the Marseille company would rather transport the white sugar all the way back to France than sell it locally in Madagascar, which made the colonial government of Madagascar very dissatisfied. But there is no way to deal with Marseilles.

Although the governor of Madagascar is an official directly appointed by Paris, the Marseille Company is also a member of the court, so the colonial government of Madagascar would rather sell the land to the Mayotte Company than to the Marseille Company, which is harmful to the public and private.

"God, what did I hear? An upright Frenchman has been discriminated against on French soil. I suspect that there is a serious transfer of interests between you. Wait for the Congress to ask questions!" Brown Joel said fiercely. He turned around angrily and left.

Mitch Byron smiled and didn't take it seriously. Since the establishment of the colonial government of Madagascar, the French government has never given a single franc to the colonial government of Madagascar. If Congress still investigates the colonial government of Madagascar because of this——

It is said that the governor of Madagascar is not easy to provoke, after all, he is also a big official in Xinjiang.

"Congratulations—" Andrew Charley offered to raise his glass to Robert.

"Thank you. We will talk about the new contract later. We will be busy next time—" Robert is in a good mood. The 15 hectares of land is just the beginning, and there are at least 5000 million hectares of unsold land in Madagascar. Take your time , this is big business.

Of course, this kind of business doesn't matter much to Roque. Roque is indeed busy with work during this period, and even neglects the construction of Port Elizabeth.

The combat readiness warehouse in Rhodesia is much larger than that reported by Rock, and it stores not only oil, but weapons and ammunition are also important reserves.

About two weeks ago, Roque instructed the Nyasaland Arsenal to increase production capacity and prepare to stockpile supplies in response to the upcoming war in Europe.

Not World War I, World War I is still several years away, and what is imminent is the war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire, that is, the Italian-Turkish War.

Because of Nyasaland's aircraft, both Italy and the Ottoman Empire sent people to Nyasaland to negotiate with Nyasaland Aviation Research Institute to purchase aircraft and hire pilots.

At a reception, officials in charge of procurement from Italy and the Ottoman Empire "met" Nelson Morley of the Nyasaland Arsenal, and then the officials from Italy and the Ottoman Empire visited the Nyasaland Arsenal respectively, expressing their appreciation for the production of the Nyasaland Arsenal. weapons of great interest.

It is hard to imagine that it has been the twentieth century, and countries like Italy and the Ottoman Empire are still unable to achieve self-sufficiency in weapon production, and still need to purchase externally to meet the needs of their troops.

Italy's military industry is really not good. Before Napoleon invaded Italy in 1796, Italy had been in a state of fragmentation. In 1861, the current Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed. The former King of Sardinia, Vittorio Emanuele II became king of Italy.

After the unification of Italy, it also embarked on the capitalist colonial road of external expansion, and tried to appear as a powerful country in European politics and diplomacy.

However, what does not match the ambitions of the Kingdom of Italy is the strength of the Kingdom of Italy. Compared with Britain, France, and Germany, the strength of the Kingdom of Italy is still not enough, so the Kingdom of Italy went around and started thinking about the Ottoman Empire.

The Ottoman Empire is known as the "sick man of Europe", so the strength of the Ottoman Empire can be imagined.

In fact, the heavy artillery of the Ottoman Empire is still very good, but the industrial development of this country is a bit deformed. The heavy artillery technology is one of the best in Europe, but the foundation of the basic industry is not good. The troops are still equipped with single-shot rifles that have been eliminated by the southern African troops.

Therefore, the Ottoman Empire is very interested in the Nyasaland rifle produced by the Nyasaland Arsenal.

The Nyasaland rifle is actually the Lee Enfield produced by the Nyasaland Arsenal. There are more advanced weapons. Anyway, the Ottoman Empire will not use the weapons purchased in Nyasaland to fight against troops in southern Africa. , Therefore, the Nyasaland Arsenal did not hide its secrets. While recommending the Nyasaland rifle to the officials of the Ottoman Empire, it also demonstrated the performance of the general-purpose machine gun to the officials of the Ottoman Empire.

The general-purpose machine gun is really good, with advanced performance and great power. Compared with the 30-kilogram Maxim heavy machine gun, the general-purpose machine gun produced by Nyasaland is lighter and more maintainable, because the barrel can be replaced quickly and get rid of dependence on water sources.

But for the Ottoman Empire, whether it is Maxim or general-purpose machine guns, a huge problem is the consumption of bullets. Because the troops in southern Africa are equipped with trucks, they can equip general-purpose machine guns unscrupulously. The modernization has not been realized, and the transportation of weapons and ammunition has to be carried by human shoulders and hands, so even if the performance of the general-purpose machine gun is good, the Ottoman Empire will not buy it.

It's not that you can't afford it, but you can't afford it.

This kind of thinking also continued to the Nyasaland rifle, so that the magazine isolator that had been eliminated in southern Africa was asked by the officials of the Ottoman Empire to be reinstalled on the Nyasaland rifle sold to the Ottoman Empire.

In this way, the magazine rifle turned back into a single-shot rifle, and it also cost a higher price than the single-shot rifle. Rock simply couldn't understand the behavior of the Ottoman Empire.

If you don't understand it, you don't understand it. The customer is God. The officials of the Ottoman Empire demanded this. Of course, Roque would not be so pedantic that he would not sell it. After all, the first order of the Ottoman Empire was [-] rifles. According to the Nyasaland Arsenal The output, this order is enough for the Nyasaland Arms Factory for one year.

That's why Roque asked the Nyasaland Arsenal to increase production. After all, there are still orders from the Kingdom of Italy to be completed. The Kingdom of Italy has an even more urgent need for weapons. In addition to [-] rifles, the first batch of orders also includes thousands of different types of rifles. Pistols, and mortars, which are well-established in Nyasaland.

The Nyasaland rifles sold by the Nyasaland Arsenal are priced at 45 rand each, so the two orders from the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire are worth a lot.

But this is not the end, bigger orders come from various luxury goods produced by Nyasaland, such as cars, and gold jewelry.

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(End of this chapter)