Chapter 149: Population Explosion
"Among our five industrial zones, we have over 20,000 Australian workers and more than 30,000 natives working here, and the industrial output and volume account for the vast majority of Australia's total industrial output," Minister of Industry Pierre said with a smile.
The industrial zones were important sites established by the Australian government for industrial development. After more than two years of long development, the majority of Australia's industries had moved to these industrial zones, and the industries scattered in other locations were not large, especially compared to the five large industrial zones.
Australia's industries were now developing in a more concentrated manner, which had led to the increasing number and scale of the industrial zones.
However, this also faced some issues. Although Australia had a vast land area and abundant mineral resources, it didn't mean that there were no problems with industrial development. In addition to the population issue solved by the number of natives, Australia had another somewhat tricky problem: water resources were not sufficient.
Industrial development requires a large amount of water, and the population also consumes considerable water resources.
Currently, because the industrial scale was not large and the population was still small, the issue of water shortages had not yet become apparent. But once Australia's population grows, this would become a tricky issue for the Australian government.
To solve this problem early, under Arthur's orders, the industrial department had already started building large reservoirs and water storage areas near the industrial zones. The stored water would be used for industrial purposes, and some of the cleaner storage areas would be used for agriculture and people's daily use.
With the hard work of many natives, the construction of reservoirs and water storage areas had been quite effective. Currently, each of Australia's five industrial zones had a small reservoir that could meet the water needs of the industrial zones even when there was a shortage of water.
Of course, Australia would continue to build more water storage areas to completely solve the water problem.
After all, Australia's population was going to explode, and the water issue would need to be addressed sooner or later.
The industrial zones had already brought more than 20,000 jobs to Australia, which was good news for Australians who didn't have a high income.
The income from these industrial zones was above Australia's per capita income, and it was one of the key areas that Arthur and the Australian government paid attention to.
Although compared to European powers, this income level might not be high, at least the workers didn't have to worry about being excessively exploited, and basic welfare and salaries were still guaranteed.
"In addition to the industrial zones, we have also discovered a large number of new mineral resources across many areas of Australia. These include coal, iron, silver, aluminum, and oil, among others. In particular, the reserves of coal and iron have already tripled compared to the end of 1900," Minister Pierre continued his report.
It was no surprise that Arthur continued to discover these mineral resources. Australia was truly a country sitting on a mineral cart, and the richness of its resources was unimaginable.
In the future, even with a highly developed economy and industry, Australia would earn substantial income every year from exporting large amounts of mineral resources, and there was no sign of resource depletion. This alone proved how abundant Australia's mineral resources were.
"That concludes the Industrial Department's annual report for this year. Your Highness, please give your comments," Minister Pierre said as he respectfully handed all the materials to Arthur.
"Mm, the Industrial Department has done well, but the work must not stop. In the new year, we will begin the plans to jointly establish automobile factories with the British Empire and the German Empire. Along with the current demand for automobile production, our steel production requirements are not low. I hope that in the new year, our total steel production will reach one million tons, and our steel output will exceed 350,000 tons at least, so that we can meet our steel production needs at a preliminary level," Arthur said, nodding slightly and looking briefly at the full report before giving his orders.
Reaching one million tons of total steel production might not seem easy, but for Australia's industrial department, it was still relatively simple.
In 1902 alone, Australia's total steel production increased by nearly 500,000 tons, reaching a terrifying 680,000 tons.
This number was only 320,000 tons short of one million, and based on the industrial development from the previous year, this goal was not difficult.
The same applied to steel production, as the new target set by Arthur, compared to the growth rate in 1902, was not much, but reaching one million tons was indeed one of the standards for measuring whether a country was an industrialized nation.
Looking at all the major powers, any of them had a steel production in the millions of tons. Even the most important steel production was generally above one million tons.
Compared to these major powers, Australia's industry was just starting. Although Australia had a lot of industrial equipment from Britain and aid from Germany, it would still take a lot of time to catch up with or even match these countries.
"Besides the excellent results from the Industrial Department, Australia's population also saw a large increase in 1902. At the beginning of 1902, Australia's total population was about 3,996,200, and now it has increased to 4,263,900, with a population growth rate of about 6.7%. Our total population has officially surpassed 4 million and is steadily moving toward the goal of 5 million," Prime Minister Evan reported after the Industrial Department's report concluded.
"Throughout 1902, our immigrant population reached over 190,000, the largest number of foreign immigrants in any year so far. Of these, about 60,000 came from the British Empire, 70,000 from the German Empire, and the rest from other European countries such as France, Spain, Italy, and Austria-Hungary. Our newborn population was about 94,000, and the death population was 23,000. The birth rate almost doubled, which is mainly due to the increase in Australia's per capita income. With stable jobs and good wages, people now have the energy and resources to have children and support newborns," Prime Minister Evan continued.
(End of Chapter)
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