Chapter 335: Stockpiling Grain and Immigration
By the end of 1912, things were relatively peaceful, and Arthur had experienced a calm November and December. On Christmas Day, following tradition, Arthur delivered a speech at Sydney Square, encouraging the people of Australasia to contribute to the nation's development and to sincerely unite in caring for their fellow citizens.
Of course, aside from these peaceful words, Arthur's speech also touched on military matters, such as plans for the further expansion of the navy and army in the coming years. That evening, Christmas Day, newspapers across Australasia published Arthur's speech. His address took up the largest part of the front page, with other news relegated to the smallest font, printed in the margins and back sections of the papers.
The ideas of advancing science and education, and strengthening the military, spread through the streets and alleys of Australasia alongside Arthur's Christmas speech. It was said that after Arthur's speech, many families decided to encourage their children to pursue careers in research. Becoming an excellent researcher had become the most honorable pursuit for many families in Australasia.
Naturally, Arthur's mention of expanding the army and navy in the coming years drew a lot of attention from the people. The pay for soldiers in Australasia was one of the highest in the country, and the army's welfare was also quite generous. Many people had already started training early to improve their physical fitness, hoping to be selected by the conscription office in the next round.
However, one major condition for conscription, which was the political background check, remained unchangeable. This led some people who didn't meet the criteria to feel disheartened, causing them to shift their goals toward research or other fields.
On major holidays like Christmas, the royal family traditionally distributed small gifts to the people. This year's gift was a pound of beef and lamb, and one liter of milk, which theoretically every citizen of Australasia could receive. Immigrants who had not yet obtained citizenship were also included, and from Christmas to National Day, they could pick up their gifts from local villages, cities, and government offices.
Although it was just one pound of meat and one liter of milk per person, Australasia's population had grown considerably, making it a total expenditure of more than 5,000 tons of beef and lamb and over 5,000 tons of milk. Given the vast size of Australasia, the time for the public to collect these goods was extended until after the National Day holiday, running from Christmas Day until January 17th, the end of the holiday.
Anyone who failed to pick up their goods by then was considered to have voluntarily forfeited their right to the gifts, with no compensation afterward. However, this was unlikely to happen among the common people of Australasia. After all, while one pound of meat and one liter of milk wasn't much, who would willingly pass up free goods?
Arthur spent a pleasant Christmas with his family in the palace, also preparing a gift for William and Anna. For William, the gift was a special AS-1898 semi-automatic pistol model. Since it was a model, it had no killing power, and there was no risk to William and those around him. This gift symbolized Arthur's intention: to foster a love for military weapons in his eldest son and heir, so that William could better understand the military in the future.
For Arthur, his heir must possess the necessary abilities to inherit and lead the current system of Australasia. As the founding king of Australasia, Arthur's influence and reputation were unquestionable. The monarchy during Arthur's era was absolute, and future monarchs would be unable to reach the same level of power. While this absolute power had its advantages, it also meant that the ruler's abilities would be critically scrutinized.
Since William was Arthur's heir, he needed to be equipped with both military and intellectual skills to take Australasia to the next level.
It's worth noting that, as William had turned three, he and Anna had already begun receiving basic aristocratic education in the latter half of this year. This meant that the fun days for the two children were nearly gone, and most of their time, apart from learning etiquette, was devoted to extracurricular studies.
Anna, as the only princess in the nation, was expected to receive just basic aristocratic education and some preschool learning. But William, as the first heir to the throne, had a long educational path ahead. Though only three years old, he already had several private tutors imparting knowledge and lessons on various subjects, including traditional aristocratic skills like horseback riding and shooting.
To prevent pushing him too hard and ensuring he had enough rest, William was allowed two days off each week.
For Anna, the gift was an exquisite princess crown, specially crafted by jewelers for her. The crown, made of gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and pearls, was a very delicate and beautiful piece. The cost of the materials alone amounted to over 100,000 Australian dollars. When factoring in the craftsmanship and potential value, the crown's worth was likely several hundred thousand Australian dollars.
Meanwhile, William's pistol model cost no more than 100 Australian dollars. The price disparity between the two gifts was over a thousand times, reflecting Arthur's different attitudes toward raising William and Anna.
For Arthur, Anna was not the primary heir, and since she was a girl, she naturally received more luxurious treatment. However, William, as the nation's first heir, had a much heavier burden and needed to be trained more rigorously. Arthur had even planned that once William graduated from high school and completed his education, he would be sent to a military academy for further training and later serve in the army to fully understand the military before taking command.
This would ensure that William's next twenty years would not be easy. His academic and skills development would be constantly supervised by Arthur, and his public image and life would be under the scrutiny of the House of Commons and the public.
With Arthur's legacy ahead of him, William would have to do better than everyone else to truly lead the country and gain the trust of the people of Australasia.
A few days after Christmas, the year 1912 came to an end. The following day would be New Year's Day 1913, which meant it was time for the annual summary meeting of 1912. As usual, the meeting was held in the familiar conference room at the Sydney Palace.
For Arthur, this year had many positive outcomes. First, the population of Australasia had reached 12.116 million, with 9.727 million in Australia, 2.237 million in New Zealand, 90,000 in Papua New Guinea, 42,000 in East Timor, and 20,000 in the Royal Territory. At the current growth rate, the population of Australia alone would surpass 10 million by the next annual summary meeting.
At 12.116 million, Australasia's population ranked in the top 20 globally, more specifically, in the mid-teens. However, it still lagged far behind the major powers, whose populations were in the tens or even hundreds of millions, representing their deep foundations and strength.
According to the world's major powers, the population rankings were as follows:
Russia: 165 million (impacted by immigration)United States: 94.31 million (decreased by immigration)Germany: 65.41 million (impacted by immigration)Austria-Hungary: 52 millionIsland nations: 51.3 millionUnited Kingdom: 44.1 million (impacted by immigration)France: 39.7 millionItaly: 35 million
From this list, it's clear that except for Australasia, all the other countries in the top eight are considered major powers in Europe. The only exception is the island nations, whose strength is comparable to Australasia.
This shows just how important population size is for national development. To become a regional power, a nation must have a population in the tens of millions. To become a regional hegemon or a major power, it must have hundreds of millions of people.
For Australasia, there was good news: Russia, one of the most important sources of immigrants, had a large population.
More importantly, the Russian elite didn't overly focus on population loss. Russia's population increased by two to three million per year, sometimes as high as four to five million.
Therefore, the fact that hundreds of thousands to nearly a million people emigrated each year wasn't a major concern for the Russian elite.
Currently, Russian immigrants had surpassed British immigrants and become the largest group of immigrants to Australasia. Compared to last year's report, Australasia's population had grown by over 1.6 million people this year. Among these, almost 310,000 were newborns, while the remaining 1.3 million were immigrants from Europe.
Among these 1.3 million immigrants, 770,000 were from Russia, accounting for over half of all European immigrants. Following Russian immigrants, there were 290,000 from the United Kingdom and 170,000 from Germany.
Given the good relationship between Russia and Australasia and the relatively relaxed domestic management in Russia, it's certain that even if war breaks out in Europe, Australasia will still be able to attract large numbers of immigrants from Russia.
Of course, to attract more immigrants in the future, it might require some exchange of benefits with the Russian government. However, for Australasia, which has already stocked up on food, weapons, medical supplies, and other strategic materials, exchanging some military supplies for people would certainly be very worthwhile.
(End of Chapter)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 30 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Kira1997