There are 2.2 million people in southern Africa, and 22 MPs could theoretically be elected.

But on this issue, the federal government and the local statistical methods are different, for example, Nyasaland will count all the Chinese, including women and children who have not yet theoretically not had the right to vote, and this part will also be included in the statistics.

The federal government is different, and when the federal government counts the population, it only counts the number of citizens who have the right to vote, so the number of people is not the same in different statistics.

The reality of southern Africa also determines that the election of congressmen cannot be based on the number of people, after all, a vast and sparsely populated state like Bechuana really wants to produce congressmen completely according to the total population, then Bechuana state does not have a single congressman, which is obviously not in line with the purpose of the federal government to establish a congress.

In the current federal government Congress, the Cape has the largest number of MPs, reaching eleven, and then the Transvaal, Nyasaland, and Rhodesia, although the total number of MPs produced in these three regions is nineteen, which is enough to have an overwhelming advantage over the Cape MPs, so Ade will first find Roque and ask Nyasaland to take the initiative to stand up and support the federal government's new tax law.

As for the federal government's new tax law, Roque is of course opposed to it from the bottom of his heart.

When the federal government was formed, Nyasaland not only did not have to pay taxes to London, but also received a part of the financial allocation from London to maintain the normal operation of the Barony of Nyasaland.

It's not a barony anymore, it's a viscounty now.

The federal government's new tax law stipulates that all states within the federal government must withdraw a part of the tax and hand it over to the federal government in the future, even the private property of nobles such as the viscount of Nyasaland is also within the scope of the federal government's taxes, so it will cause the collective opposition of all members of Congress.

However, from the standpoint of the federal government, the national tax is not collected, the federal government of southern Africa is now obviously weak and strong, the local government has too much strength, the central government does not have a fixed fiscal revenue, this situation must be changed as soon as possible, if the federal government can not successfully pass the new tax law in the early days of its establishment, then over time, the weight of the federal government in southern Africa will gradually decline, and eventually lead to the federal government in name only.

This must be unacceptable to Ade, after all, Ade has always cultivated Roque as a successor, so the successful passage of the new tax law now is also paving the way for Roque's future administration.

"The Prime Minister can't help it, you Nyasaland and South African companies control Rhodesia, and even the Transvaal, you can casually make millions of investments, and the federal government's income is less than 100,000 pounds a month, but do you know how much money the federal government has spent this year? It's 17 million, and that's not counting the aid you want from London, so the prime minister has no choice but to raise taxes, or it won't be long before the federal government can't even pay the salaries of government workers, and then the federal government will have to shut down. Later, Sidney Milner explained to Roque over dinner with Roque.

Sidney Milner and Roque had dinner at Oak Restaurant in Pretoria, which is another Cape Town catering business.

The head chef of Oak Restaurant is Marven from the Qing Dynasty, because he used to work in Roque's house, Marven has a good relationship with many officials in Johannesburg, so the shares of Oak Restaurant are a bit complicated, such as Li De and Martin, who all hold some shares of Oak Restaurant.

So in the last two years, Oak has also expanded a bit fast, not only in the Transvaal, but also in Nyasaland and the Cape.

Relatively speaking, the consumption of Oak Restaurant is still relatively high, on average, every customer who walks into Oak Restaurant, the per capita consumption is about five pounds, this consumption level is already very high in southern Africa, but the customers of Oak Restaurant are still endless, and business is very hot.

Roque wants to come to Oak Restaurant for dinner, of course, there is a place at any time, and Marven also personally serves Roque, adding tea and pouring wine is very busy.

"The federal government's expenses are indeed a bit large during this time, but the federal government has just been established, and the large expenses are understandable, and it will be fine in two years-" Roque knew that the federal government's financial situation was not good, but he was really reluctant to let Nyasaland come up with real money to support the federal government.

The current government of Nyasa still needs private subsidies from Roque to maintain its operation.

There seem to be many businesses in Nyasaland, but many of them are Roque's private property and do not need to pay taxes at all, so the Nyasaland government is not having a good time.

However, if the federal government's new tax law is painful, companies in Nyasaland will not only have to pay taxes to the Nyasaland government, but also have to bear a part of the national tax, so the burden will also be greatly increased.

The situation is similar to the gold mines in Johannesburg, the original intention of Britain to launch the Boer War was for the gold in the Transvaal, so the gold mines in Johannesburg are very important, and the reason why Philip was selected as the mayor of Johannesburg is also for this reason.

Before the federal government was formed, Johannesburg's gold mines were also not taxed by the Governor's Office, and the Johannesburg Mining Union simply sold the mined gold to the British government, which then received its full support.

After the passage of the new tax law of the federal government, such a good life no longer exists, and in the future, gold mining can only be sold to the British government, but it has to pay taxes to the Transvaal state government and the federal government, so Nyasaland's attitude against the new tax law is not the most fierce, and the Transvaal mine owners are.

That is, when Roque was working in Johannesburg a few years ago, he racked his brains to ban the illegal armed forces owned by the mine owners, otherwise they don't know what kind of chaos will be made, and the mine owners will not care whether the establishment of the federal government is beneficial to them or not, whether the British are in power or the Boers are in power, they must be careful in front of capital.

"Lord, you have to understand the Prime Minister's difficulty, in fact, the collection of national taxes is not a bad thing, after all, the national taxes paid by Nyasaland will eventually return to Nyasaland through financial allocation, which does not add to the burden on Nyasaland." Sidney Milner said it well, but when it comes to actual implementation, it is not necessarily possible.

Obedient everyone will say that Sidney Milner, as the first secretary of the federal government, can of course promise all kinds of benefits at this time in order to win Roque's support.

But when it comes to actual implementation, it is not necessarily, even if the federal government will indeed allocate funds to Nyasaland, but Nyasaland pays a million taxes, and the federal government only allocates 100,000 in the end, which is also allocated, so Roque just sneered.

"It's not what you think, Lord, the federal government's budget for Nyasaland is the highest among the nine states of the federal government, and Nyasaland will definitely get the most financial allocation of the nine states." Sidney Milner stressed that after all, Nyasaland is located in the northernmost part of southern Africa and faces the threat of Tanganyika, so it is indeed eligible for the most financial allocations.

"Sidney, it's not that I don't support the federal government's new tax law, but you have to know that Nyasaland's support alone doesn't play a key role." Roque really couldn't say no to Sidney Milner, who poured out his heart and lungs.

"You don't have to worry about this issue, as long as Nyasaland supports the new tax law, the new tax law will definitely pass the next vote." Sidney Milner is confident.

While Sidney Milner and Roque were having dinner together, at Matilda Manor on the outskirts of Pretoria, Philip and Henry, father and son, were drinking tea.

As pure Englishmen, Philip and Henry drank the standard English afternoon tea.

The standard English afternoon tea is sweetened with milk and is a big reversal of traditional Chinese tea culture, but this is understandable considering that most of the tea in the UK is produced in India.

This tea was stolen by the British Qingguo, and then planted on a trial basis in India, and finally had the current afternoon tea in the UK.

The topic of Philip and Henry, of course, is also inseparable from the new tax law pushed by Ade.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister probably underestimated the difficulty of raising taxes, almost every tax increase in the history of the United Kingdom has been accompanied by controversy and chaos, and even leads to war, and the same is true in southern Africa, and it is not easy to get the dignitaries of southern Africa to support the federal government out of their own pockets, at least I am unwilling." Henry's attitude is resolute, as in Nyasaland, Henry's Barony of Favartt also has many enterprises, and they are all heavy industries such as mines and steel plants, and after the implementation of the new tax law, the enterprises in Barony Favart's barony will also have to pay taxes to the federal government, which makes Henry very dissatisfied.

However, Henry's starting point for dissatisfaction is different from Roque's.

Don't forget that Ade is now also a member of the aristocracy, and the aristocracy has always been privileged in England, so the opposition to the aristocracy in Britain will rise and fall.

According to the situation in England, even if London wants to add new taxes, it must take due care of the aristocracy, so that it can be successfully passed in the British House of Lords.

The new tax law in southern Africa did not take into account the interests of the southern African aristocracy, which made Henry very dissatisfied with Ade, and in Henry's view, Ade's behavior was a betrayal of the entire aristocratic group.

"That's not what you're supposed to say, don't forget that you're still the Minister of Justice of the Federal Government—" Philip was very dissatisfied with Henry's attitude, as the Minister of Justice should not say anything about leading by example, at least he should be cautious in his words and deeds, this kind of thing must not be said.