Chapter 60: Immigration
"Your Highness, the British government has agreed to provide us with funding or industrial equipment equivalent to fifty-five million pounds. This amount will be distributed over ten years, with an annual installment of five and a half million pounds," Minister Andrew explained with a smile. "Prime Minister Robert has agreed to let us choose freely between cash or industrial resources. In theory, except for technology and equipment considered strategic by the British, we can exchange the aid funds for any industrial goods or resources on equal terms."
"Can we also exchange them for naval technologies?" Arthur asked with interest.
Britain's naval technology was one of the main reasons for its global maritime dominance, along with its massive naval investment and two-power standard.
It had to be acknowledged that even the German Empire, whose overall strength ranked second in the world, still lagged behind Britain in naval matters. With the exception of submarines, Germany's naval technology was significantly behind that of the British.
Although Germany had launched a catch-up effort in naval power after its rise, the gap created by Britain's long-standing accumulation would take a long time to close.
"Most naval technologies are available, Your Highness. However, Prime Minister Robert specifically stated that the blueprints of all currently active battleships and large warships are excluded from the aid package," said Minister of Defense Kent, somewhat helplessly.
Even after lengthy negotiations, the British government refused to include the blueprints of active warships in the aid agreement.
Having the blueprints didn't necessarily mean Australia could build the ships, but the blueprints were the most critical asset in understanding a ship's design.
With access to them, it would be easy to study a vessel's weaknesses—something highly valuable to any potential enemy of the British Empire.
In fact, during the period of growing tensions between the major military alliances, especially after Britain joined the Entente, espionage activity across Europe surged. One of the main objectives of these spies was to steal warship blueprints and data.
"That's not a problem, Minister Kent," Arthur said, not at all displeased. In fact, he smiled.
"Your Highness, that means we'll have to acquire blueprints from Germany if we want to build up our navy. But compared to British warships, German vessels are somewhat inferior in performance," Kent said, frowning slightly and with some frustration.
The British withholding warship blueprints irritated Kent.
They were willing to teach all other naval technologies, but not share blueprints. It was like a chef giving an apprentice all the kitchen tools but refusing to share the recipe. What use was that?
"It might actually be for the best, Minister Kent. Australia's industrial base is still limited. In the short term, our navy will primarily rely on small and medium-sized warships. Our shipyards are capable of building those. We only need to train our workers on the equipment, and we can start production soon," Arthur said with a smile, reassuring him. "Our shipbuilding industry is still weak. Even if Britain gave us the blueprints, we wouldn't be able to absorb them quickly. I think Germany's warship designs are well-suited for us. Compared to Britain, Germany is offering more substantial support. We'll be able to master their technology faster. If we use British naval tech to build ships based on German blueprints, wouldn't their performance potentially be even better?"
Arthur's words comforted Kent, and his displeasure about the withheld British blueprints quickly faded.
In truth, Arthur didn't care about those blueprints at all. The real reason was the imminent advent of the dreadnought.
Compared to all previous battleships, dreadnoughts marked a revolutionary leap. As exaggerated as it might sound, in the words of future internet users, once dreadnoughts were born, all pre-dreadnought ships instantly became scrap metal.
Though reality wasn't quite that dramatic, pre-dreadnoughts were no match for dreadnoughts. Whether in terms of specifications or combat capability, dreadnoughts completely outclassed them.
The gap between the two was not in one specific area but a comprehensive superiority.
A warship's combat capability is determined by factors such as speed, armor thickness, firepower, maneuverability, and crew quality.
Excluding crew quality as an external factor, dreadnoughts surpassed pre-dreadnoughts in every measurable aspect—speed, armor, firepower, and maneuverability.
The difference between a dreadnought and a pre-dreadnought was like that between a university student and a primary school student.
Once dreadnoughts appeared, the blueprints of all current British warships would become obsolete.
Future naval arms races would revolve around dreadnoughts. Naval strength would no longer be judged by outdated vessels but by the number and performance of dreadnoughts.
The glory days of existing ships were numbered, and that's why Arthur didn't care about their blueprints.
"What about immigration? Immigration should be one of our top priorities in Australia. Bringing in migrants cannot wait," Arthur said.
Europe was currently in a period of instability. Combined with population growth, this had led to a wave of emigration from every major European country.
According to later estimates, between the early 19th century and early 20th century, about 60 million Europeans emigrated overseas. Of those, 35 million went to the United States alone.
As Europe's leading power, Britain sent over 8 million people abroad in that century.
Especially with the escalating tensions between Europe's two military blocs and the growing arms race, from 1890 onward, European emigration had surged. Each year, some 700,000 to 800,000 Europeans permanently relocated overseas.
While more than half of those emigrants went to the U.S.—a country that, while militarily unimpressive, rivaled European powers in industrial and economic strength—Arthur was not overly ambitious.
Australia couldn't absorb that many people like the U.S. could.
But with Arthur's rising reputation in Britain, support from both Britain and Germany, and aggressive Australian publicity, it was quite possible to attract even just a tenth of Europe's emigrants.
"Regarding immigration, the British government has expressed willingness to assist. They've promised never to oppose emigration to Australia and will help promote our immigration policies wherever possible," said Minister Andrew. "Although they won't actively help us attract immigrants, at least they won't stand in our way."
(End of Chapter)
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