Chapter 91 The Steel Crisis
The fleet that set sail was carrying Arthur's long-prepared ambassadorial candidates and diplomatic delegation.
Naturally, Princess Louise was among them, with Margaret and Patricia accompanying her as well.
As for Princess Louise's visit to the Netherlands, the reason was self-evident.
Butler Hunter was also aboard, tasked with overseeing the establishment of the international scientific prize Arthur had envisioned.
This new prize was named the Victoria Prize, a title laden with meaning.
Officially, it honored Arthur's beloved grandmother, Queen Victoria, but in truth, it also borrowed from her immense prestige to help the newly founded award quickly gain recognition across Europe.
To prevent the yet-unlaunched Nobel Prize from overshadowing the Victoria Prize, Arthur allocated a whopping £300,000 in prize funds. Even with six categories—Literature, Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Medicine, and Technology—each winner would still receive £50,000.
This sum far surpassed the prize amount for the first Nobel Prize in history—by three or four times.
Additionally, if any winner agreed to work in Australia for at least ten years, the royal family would provide them with further research funding and facilities.
Even in economically advanced Britain, a senior professor's annual income rarely exceeded a few thousand pounds.
Each Victoria Prize, by contrast, offered a sum equivalent to several decades—or even a century—of a professor's salary.
Combined with the immense prestige of Queen Victoria's name, it was easy to predict that the Victoria Prize would become even more celebrated than the Nobel Prize ever was.
It would serve as a powerful tool for attracting elite talent, helping Australia maintain influence and prestige in the scientific world for years, decades, and perhaps centuries to come.
And the total annual cost of hosting the award? Just over £300,000—a sum Arthur's estate could easily afford.
Moreover, the automobile factory's assembly line overhaul was progressing rapidly. The auto industry was expected to generate massive revenue for Arthur—potentially hundreds of millions, even billions of pounds.
Arthur remained in Australia, not because he didn't value the Netherlands trip, but because of the many critical domestic projects that required his direct supervision.
Chief among them was the railway construction plan, one of Australia's most significant development initiatives. Since its announcement, it had drawn enormous public attention and support.
This enthusiasm made land acquisition for the railway exceptionally smooth.
Most of the planned routes passed through uninhabited wasteland. Where land had already been claimed, the government offered twice the market rate to purchase it.
And for those unwilling to sell, the government simply mobilized native labor to clear and compensate them with newly reclaimed land of equal size.
Why was the government so generous? Don't ask—just know that there were plenty of natives.
Currently, nearly 20,000 natives were working on construction projects, with another 6,000 being added each month.
Although these efforts cost the lives of over a hundred natives per month due to accidents and harsh conditions, the steady influx of new laborers made such losses negligible.
As one of the most prioritized projects in the country, railway construction drew considerable attention and resources.
Over 20 German experts were assigned to planning and surveying the railway. Meanwhile, hundreds of trained Australian railway workers joined the effort.
As for cheap labor, at least 5,000 natives had already been deployed to the railway, with more arriving at a rate of at least 1,000 per month.
Steel plants across the country began running at full capacity to produce rails. The reason railway construction is a hallmark of industrialized nations is because it demands vast manpower, materials, and—most of all—steel.
Australia was building broad-gauge railway lines, which significantly boosted transport capacity, allowed for smoother rides, and offered wider, more comfortable interiors.
However, broad-gauge railways also came with clear drawbacks: they consumed more land, required costlier bridges and tunnels, and had larger turning radii.
But since Australia had ample land and funds, the broad-gauge system was deemed ideal.
Most of the line would be single-track, with only high-traffic sections designed as dual-track routes.
This wasn't set in stone. Before construction began, the design team had prepared for the eventual conversion of the entire railway into a dual-track line.
Should the need arise, any section could be upgraded accordingly.
This foresight helped reduce the immediate demand for steel.
According to estimates by the German experts, each kilometer of railway would consume about 170 tons of rail, meaning the full line would require nearly 700,000 tons.
Once additional steel demands from tunnels, bridges, and stations were included, total steel requirements would reach 800,000 tons.
Though spread over ten years of construction, this still meant at least 80,000 tons of steel annually.
At present, Australia's steel production couldn't meet that figure, making the expansion of steel plants a pressing issue.
Automobile production would only increase that demand. A single car required hundreds of kilograms—sometimes over a ton—of steel.
If cars became popular in global markets, the steel needed for production alone could amount to tens of thousands of tons per year.
This kept Minister of Industry Pierre extremely busy.
Suddenly, the pressure fell squarely on him. His ministry had no choice but to accelerate the development of industrial zones and steelworks, deploying more native labor and expanding capacity as much as possible.
Fortunately, in this era, expanding steel production was both difficult and simple.
If one had the technology, equipment, resources, funding, and manpower, then expansion was easy.
Without those prerequisites, it became almost impossible.
Australia, however, had all of them: abundant resources, advanced equipment, skilled personnel, labor, expert advisors, and capital. The only thing it lacked was time to build and expand the necessary infrastructure.
(End of Chapter)
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