In fact, the dinner was still very rich, although the British government realized that the cost of the Boer War was too huge, but the war was fought to this extent, even if it was a loss of bottoms, it had to persevere to the end, so the Cape was still very well stocked, and even the market with the four colonies was extremely prosperous.

Of course, the prosperity of this period was only a temporary illusion, although Johannesburg was rich in materials, but most of it had nothing to do with Johannesburg itself, and now in Johannesburg, the Boer farms have been basically confiscated, and the few Zulu farms are struggling, and it is difficult to maintain their own operations, and there is no spare power to supply Johannesburg.

Looking at it now, the most promising are still Chinese farms, but most of the Chinese farms have just started operation, and within a year or two, I am afraid that there will be no spare power to supply Johannesburg, so Johannesburg still has to rely on external supply in the past two years.

As it stands, when the war is over and the expeditionary force is gradually withdrawn from the Cape, the Cape's market will return to normal, and then I am afraid that the bleak market will continue for a long time.

In fact, there is a sign now, Johannesburg has an obvious rainy season and dry season, the rainy season is from October to February of the following year, last year's rainy season, Johannesburg's precipitation is obviously less, so this year's dry season drought is a bit serious, if this year's rainy season is still insufficient precipitation, then next year, Johannesburg will inevitably face a very serious drought.

This is actually a problem of the Johannesburg City Government, but in the current situation of the Johannesburg City Government, it is unreliable to expect Philip Matilda to take action and take the initiative to alleviate the drought, and most of the farms around Johannesburg are run by Chinese Americans, so this problem has become Roque's problem.

In fact, the natural conditions of Johannesburg are still very good, and the famous "crocodile river", also known as the Limpopo River, originates in Johannesburg.

The crocodile river got its name from the large number of Nile crocodiles in the crocodile river, which is the ruler of Africa's rivers and lakes, and anyone who wants to develop water resources has to face the attack of Nile crocodiles.

Due to the climate, the Alligator River in Johannesburg is a seasonal river that floods from Johannesburg to the north to the Bechuana Reserve, to the northeast, to Rhodesia, and then to Portuguese East Africa.

As such, the Crocodile River is the natural dividing line between the Transvaal and Bechuana reserves, as well as Rhodesia.

Every winter, the crocodile river will dry up into small ponds, and it is winter in Johannesburg, and before the rainy season arrives, Roque often organizes workers who have not been tasked with going down the mine to dredge the river and hunt the crocodiles in the crocodile river.

Before Roque, the concept of Johannesburgers did not involve dredging rivers at all.

Even if the people of Johannesburg wanted to dig something out of the ground, what they wanted to dig was gold, so the Chinese who dredged the river became the stupid hat in the mouths of those miners.

Whether it's a stupid hat or not, Roque doesn't argue, if there hasn't been enough precipitation in this year's rainy season, then next year you'll know who is a stupid hat.

Now that the farms around Johannesburg are almost entirely owned by Roque, the Zulus have happily returned to Zululand with the money from the sale of their farms, and the few surviving Boer farmers have rushed to sell their farms and leave the Transvaal as fast as possible for Lorenzo Marques under Portuguese control, or German South-West Africa under German control.

If you don't go, you can't go, the British clearly want to destroy the Boers, and Johannesburg, which has no guerrilla activities, can fall from the sky and attack the transport convoy of the Royal Canadian Regiment, and if you don't leave, you will die.

——

The dinner was a lively atmosphere, and Roque and senior officials of the Johannesburg City Hall sang the British national anthem before the banquet began, congratulating King Edward VII, who had just ascended the throne.

It seems a bit like a bit of a second, but in fact, the British government is very strict about this aspect.

In the camp of the expeditionary force, all the soldiers of the expeditionary force had to "shout long live" before going to bed at night.

It's not a joke, it's really three hoorays, every night before going to bed, the officer on duty will order everyone to cheer "Great Edward VII" after the lights are out, and then the officer on duty will lead the soldiers to cheer "Hooray".

It's really three "hoorays" in a row.

By the way, the Johannesburg Police Department is also like this.

It's just that Roque has never done such a second-class thing, so it is Joe Russell who leads the police to "cheer" every time.

After the national anthem is sung, the officials can walk around and chat as they please, and this is the advantage of the buffet, where there are no restrictions on seats, and everyone can wander around and chat with people they are interested in.

Roque was undoubtedly the centerpiece of the dinner, always surrounded by a crowd of people.

"In the long run, in fact, the prospects of Johannesburg are not good, the underground gold mine will always be dug one day, and then Johannesburg will slowly fall into a dead silence like those cities that thrive because of the gold mine, so Johannesburg must find a second economic pillar in addition to the gold mine, the farm is a good choice, if there are enough farms in Johannesburg, then we can develop animal husbandry, and then the textile industry, compared with the gold mine, the textile industry is more promising, the key is, We don't have to worry about the sheep disappearing one day," Roque's words caused a burst of laughter from the surrounding officials.

Laughing aside, whether anyone can get some inspiration from it is what Roque cares about the most.

Anyway, Roque has now bought almost all the farms around Johannesburg, and even if the officials on the scene find out about it, they can't buy the farms if they want to.

It can't be said that it can't be bought, there are many farms around Pretoria.

There is not much excess, and Henry determined a long time ago that he would do whatever Roque did, so when Roque was buying farms around Johannesburg, Henry was also buying farms around Pretoria.

It's not just Henry who wants to make a fortune with Roque, Cecil Rhodes Jr. is also concerned about Roque, so Cecil Rhodes Jr. is competing with Henry for farms around Pretoria, and in Johannesburg, neither Henry nor Cecil Rhodes Jr. has a chance.

Roque is the head snake of Johannesburg.

"It was the right decision, and Sir Locke has set a good example for all of us, even if we have an inexhaustible supply of gold in Johannesburg's underground in our lifetimes, and we have to think about the future." Revenue Commissioner Marcus Beaufort fully agrees with Roque's proposal.

As the tax commissioner, Marcus Beaufort only cares about receiving more taxes, and as for who is paying the taxes, Marcus Beaufort doesn't care.

Although there are a large number of gold mines around Johannesburg, there is no shortage of tax sources, but who would be afraid of more money, the more pillars of Johannesburg's economy, the more tax sources, and the more taxes the tax revenue receives, which is the political achievement of Marcus Beaufort.

Who says that the achievements of the imperialist countries are not important?

The Transvaal is still a colony, there is no such thing as an election at all, and most of the officials are directly appointed by London, so the officials of the Transvaal are in great need of political performance.

That's why during the morning session, Marcus Beaufort stood for Roque.

Henry Alsop is the head of the interior office, and he doesn't need to think about tax sources, so he can stand and talk without backache.

Marcus Beaufort can't, an increase in population means an increase in tax sources, which is closely related to Marcus Beaufort's work, so Marcus Beaufort has no other choice but to choose to support Roque.

Of course, Marcus Beaufort probably didn't expect that his unintentional words just now really revealed the truth about the Johannesburg gold mine, and in the lifetime of these people, the gold mine in Johannesburg will indeed not be exhausted.

But the people present, except for Roque, no one else knew this.

"After the war, many Boers who left Johannesburg because of the war will choose to move back, and then these Boers will be a problem, so we have to do everything we can to increase the population and reduce the proportion of Boers, so that Johannesburg will become the Johannesburg of the British Empire." Blake Nelson was worried, and as a colonist, Blake Nelson did not need to hide it.

Blake Nelson was well aware that the returning Boers would become troublemakers for years to come, but there was nothing he could do to change the situation.

The core of the problem is that compared to the huge territory, the population of Britain is too small, and even fewer British are willing to immigrate to the Cape, although the British have colonized the Cape for a hundred years, but among the four colonies in the Cape, only the Cape Colony, the British population is basically the same as the Boers, and in the Transvaal, Orange, and Natal, the population of British origin is far lower than that of the Boers.

If you zoom in on the whole of South Africa, the total population of British and Boers combined is much lower than that of the Zulus, so officials who recognize this are panicking.

Of course, Blake Nelson certainly did not mean to emigrate from the Qing or India, two populous countries, but from Britain proper, but the point was that the British did not want to come.

So it's a dead end.

"No, this is basically not going to happen, and then the Boers will find that their farms have changed owners, and the Zulus have replaced their work in the mines, at least in Johannesburg, and the Boers will not survive." It's not that Roque is not worried about this problem, but even if he is worried, Roque has to show confidence.

After the formation of the Johannesburg Mining Alliance, as a member of the Alliance, Rock Gold Mines was also able to make proposals.

Roque had instructed Buck to propose at a meeting of the Mining Union that the salaries of white miners should be drastically increased so that the salaries of white miners would be more than ten times that of the Zulus.

This may seem like a good thing for the Boers, who are also white, but it's actually a pitfall.

If this proposal passes, it will have a serious consequence - in order to save money, mine owners will hire ordinary miners with cheaper Zulus over Boers, whose salaries have already increased significantly.

Of course, this is only for ordinary miners, and for management, there is no need to worry about this part, in Johannesburg, Zulus cannot hold technical jobs, let alone enter management, so this advice will not add much cost to mine owners.

But the result is serious, if this proposal is passed, then when the Boers return to Johannesburg, they will be surprised to find that although the mines pay the Boers very high, they do not get it, their farms are already occupied by the Chinese, the Zulus have robbed them of their jobs, and those Boers have no choice but to leave Johannesburg.

This is a conspiracy, and it will not arouse the criticism of the Boers if they are to force the Boers out of Johannesburg, after all, who would not want to be paid a high salary?

Of course, the mines do not mean that a single Boer is not hired, but that they must be hired, and it is enough to hire three or five Boers in a mine, so the Boers who cannot find a job will be helpless, and they will certainly be dissatisfied with this resolution, but those Boers who are getting high salaries will be very supportive.

Well, the proposal is very British.

"Hahahaha, Director Locke, you're such a cunning fellow." Marcus Beaufort laughed, he was also cunning, and when he "accused" Roque, he no longer used the title "Sir Locke", but "Director Locke", so there was no such thing as a lack of respect for the aristocracy.

"What if you don't? If there are a lot of idlers in Johannesburg who can't find work, then it will cause a serious security problem, which is what I, as the police chief, should do. "Roque is serious, and this is really not for the Boers, but for the security of Johannesburg.

According to Roque's vision, the city of Johannesburg could not have too many people who could not find jobs, and everyone was busy with business, so there would be no thoughts, and then there would be no social problems.

"Idlers? All those lazy people should be thrown into the mines to mine, Johannesburg can't keep lazy people, everyone has to work. "Blake Nelson is murderous, lazy people can't create taxes, and there is income when there is work.

It's okay that Blake Nelson didn't say shoot all the slackers, or exile them all.

In fact, shooting and exile are the norm, don't think that Britain attaches great importance to the Boers, it doesn't exist at all, Britain's current approach is to exterminate all the Boers, but it can't do this, so the British government has to negotiate with the Boers.

At this stage, human rights in Britain cannot be guaranteed, let alone Johannesburg, if you want to protect human rights, it will have to wait for half a century later.

。 The whole book m.