In South Africa, there has been a labour crisis since the discovery of gold mines in large quantities. In order to get rich overnight, many people have joined the gold rush team.

With the emergence of the first wave of outbreaks, it ignited a craze. Farms were closed, shops were closed, and even many employees of the colonial government quit their jobs and went to pan for gold.

The lack of personnel has become the biggest problem of the colonial government at present. Despite the recent surge in the number of immigrants, it has not helped, and these people are gold diggers who do not feel comfortable working in the local area.

Even the arrival of these outsiders disturbed the order in South Africa, and in order to maintain local stability, Governor Fickney tripled the police force in South Africa.

"Your Excellency the Governor, last month 386 more staff members in the Government, including 136 police officers, submitted their resignation letters, and 194 resignations have been approved as required.

For the rest of the short time, there is no one to replace us, so we can only forcibly keep people. According to the regulations, this period should not exceed 3 months, which puts a lot of pressure on our recruitment work.

As a result of the gold rush, the number of applicants for government service has dropped significantly. The Ministry of Personnel has lowered the recruitment criteria to a minimum and is still unable to complete the recruitment task.

The Ministry of Personnel suggested that the central government should coordinate the transfer of some people from other parts of Africa to take over the work in order to ensure the normal functioning of the colonial government. ”

Employees of the colonial government are not able to resign if they want to, the government and individuals have signed labor contracts, and if they want to leave, they must complete the handover of work according to the regulations, which is generally one month, and can last up to three months.

The government can't recruit people, and this hasn't happened in Austria for many years. Since the introduction of compulsory education by the Vienna government, there has never been a shortage of civil servants in the Government.

Of course, the situation in the colony is special, and some posts in remote areas are still not welcomed. However, as long as the standards are lowered and the treatment is raised, these problems do not exist.

This will be different, the impact of the gold rush is too great, and young people want to make a fortune, and they are not willing to apply for government officials at all.

It's not that the government can't find people, it's mainly that it can't find qualified public officials. No matter how low the standard is, only the basic ability still needs to be guaranteed, and some positions still have special skill requirements.

Governor Fikney frowned, this situation has been going on for several months, and he did not expect it to get worse.

"Report to the country according to your plan, and ask the Organization Department of the central government to recruit 1,000 government employees and 3,800 veteran police officers from the country on our behalf.

For those who are willing to come, the salary is double the average of the same position in China, and the bonuses and benefits are based on the standard of government employees in Vienna. ”

It is difficult for the colonies to recruit people, so recruit from within the country. With the abundance of gold mines, the colonial government of South Africa also became a wealthy unit that could afford to pay money.

Commissioner of Personnel Charlie: "Yes, Your Excellency the Governor! ”

After a pause, the Director of Mines, Caspar Tamso, took out a statement: "Your Excellency, this is a report on developments in the recent period.

Last month, 12 more gold mines were discovered in South Africa, all of which were of relatively high quality, with ore content exceeding 5 g/t, and two of them had reserves of more than 50 tonnes.

Up to now, 78 large and small gold mines have been discovered in South Africa, and the total gold reserves with mining value have been preliminarily judged to be more than 3,800 tons.

In addition, 5 diamond mines, 7 coal mines, 2 copper mines, 5 iron mines, 3 manganese mines, 1 chrome ore and 2 phosphate mines have been discovered......

What is even more rare is that the quality of these ores is very good, and from the current data, South Africa has become the most abundant mineral resources in the empire.

This is the advantage of South Africa, but it is very difficult to develop these minerals, the biggest problem is the lack of personnel, followed by the problem of transportation.

To solve the traffic problem, we must first solve the problem of manpower. According to the plan of the railway department, if we want to solve the transportation problem within 10 years, we need to provide at least 200,000 laborers.

To exploit these minerals, more labor is required. Without two or three million workers, it is simply impossible to effectively exploit South Africa's mineral resources.

However, the reality is very bad, not to mention two or three million laborers, even if it is 200,000 laborers, South Africa cannot make up it.

The existing labor resources are somewhat insufficient even for gold mining. To continue to grow, we also need a large population. ”

"Lack of manpower" was a common feature of all Austrian colonies, and it was also a common problem faced by the major colonial empires.

No, the British are exceptional. They have India's human resources to replenish them, as long as they are willing to invest capital.

Austria is different, Africa has a small population. In addition to the previous labor export policy, Austrian Africa has sent a total of 4.3 million laborers to the Americas and 1.1 million laborers to Persia in the past ten years.

The number of indigenous people has declined dramatically, and the earlier West African region is no longer in sight of indigenous tribes.

At present, there are slightly more indigenous tribes in Austrian East Africa and South Africa, but the total population will definitely not exceed 3 million.

This can be seen during the Anglo-Boer War, and in the later stage of the war, it actually developed to the point of lack of cannon fodder, and the whole of Austrian Africa together was not enough to use the tactics of crowds to bulldoze Cape Town.

It is not only the export of labor services that has led to the sharp decline in the number of people, but more importantly, the decline in the birth rate, and the infamous "Dingkou tax" is the main culprit.

In order to increase fiscal revenue, the colonial government imposed a tax of 1 shield per person per year on all indigenous tribes, which directly led to a decrease in the birth rate of the local people.

Governor Fikni smiled coldly: "The problem of shortage of people has been promised to be solved for us at home, the European agricultural crisis has broken out, or there will be a wave of peasant bankruptcies in the near future, and the country will give priority to migration to South Africa."

In addition, the colonial government of the Nanyang region has also promised to sell us 100,000 laborers in the next five years. There will be a big operation in the Viceroyalty of the Arabian Peninsula in the near future, and they will dispose of all prisoners of war to us at a low price.

If you want to increase the labor force in the short term, you can only tap the internal potential. That's good, raise the Dingkou tax to 1 Aegis per person per month, and send me anyone who can't pay the money to mine.

The scope of the ding tax could be expanded to include all non-Austrian citizens. For immigrants, a one-year tax period can be given.

If you learn German within one year, you can apply for naturalization, and the naturalization assessment period is not convenient or 3 years, and you can also be tax-exempt during this period.

If you fail the assessment, either get out of the way for me, or stay and pay taxes obediently. Want to take advantage of us, where is it so easy! ”

In order to increase the labor force, Viscount Fikney was ready to leave no stone unturned. The Dingkou tax of 1 Aegis per person per month is simply forcing the locals to mine, and they have to work hard, otherwise they will not be able to make up the Dingkou tax for the whole family.

Even the foreign gold diggers have not escaped the disaster, and if they can't become a breaker within the first year, it is better to learn German early and then apply for naturalization, otherwise the Dingkou tax will hurt their wallets.

Love doesn't come either, and Governor Fikney hasn't welcomed these unruly gold diggers anyway. As a traditional aristocrat, Viscount Fikney hated speculators and outbursts the most.

Although he also made his fortune in the gold mines, this did not affect Viscount Fikney's personal opinion. He may have been ruthless during the colonization, but back in Austria, Viscount Fickney strictly adhered to the rules of nobility.

This concept of double standards is not only possessed by Viscount Fikni, but also by many colonists.

……

Vienna, since the Austrian government decided to find an unlucky guy to divert the crisis, the cabinet has been busy.

War is not child's play, and it requires a comprehensive weighing of the pros and cons. The European continent finally stabilized, and Franz did not want to cause chaos in the world, so he had to be careful about who he chose.

Prime Minister Felix: "Your Majesty, the current situation is a bit complicated, and the only objects suitable for us to do are Poland and the Ottoman Empire, which are not very ideal.

With Poland, we can reduce a competitor in the international grain market and alleviate the world agricultural crisis, but the after-effects are very serious.

First of all, it is possible that the Russians will get involved, and the Kingdom of Prussia will not be idle. The Kingdom of Poland was very poor, and if we took military action, it was unlikely that we would receive reparations directly, and we would have to recover the cost of the war by ceding land.

In this way, there is a half chance of a fourth partition of Poland between Austro-Prussia and a 40 percent chance of a Prussian-Polish merger, and only a 1 in 10 chance of maintaining the status quo.

Also consider the reaction of Britain and France, they will not want to see us continue to grow. Moreover, Poland owes them a large sum of money, and this debt is lost for them, and the financial circles of both countries will cause chaos for us.

The situation against the Ottoman Empire was equally complicated. Britain, France, and Russia are still involved, and the debt problems of Britain and France are also unavoidable, as well as strategic conflicts between countries.

Especially with Britain and Russia, the tsarist government has been waiting for us to act in order to defeat the Ottoman Empire and retake Transcaucasia.

If we don't occupy the territory of the Ottoman Empire, if we seize the Middle East and extend our sphere of influence to Persia, the sensitive nerves of the British will be stimulated again.

South Africa, they are still haunted, if the British are stimulated again, I am afraid that Anglo-Austrian relations will be over. ”

Franz also had a headache, and the current situation was really not suitable for recklessness. No matter which unlucky one is chosen, Austria will not be able to maximize its benefits.

"If you can't eat mutton, you have to get into trouble." No matter how you look at it, Austria is suffering, which is not in line with Franz's style of doing things.

After wandering left and right for a few steps, Franz suddenly turned his head: "If you want to reap the benefits, you have to pay the price." This agricultural crisis hurts not only us, but also the Russians and Prussia.

Either everyone joins forces and faces the pressure of Britain and France together; Either everyone will hold back together to see who is more resilient to pressure.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs communicates with Prussia and Russia, and we will cooperate with whoever they bid the most. If the yield is too low, then abandon the plan.

With our family background, it is not a big problem to hold on for three or five years, so there is no need to rush for a while. Prussia and Russia can't hold out for so long, whoever can't stand it first, let whoever make the first bird! ”

……