Chapter 270: Food Production Surges

The proportion of the British population has remained at around 70%, which is good news for Australasia and also something that makes Arthur quite satisfied.

Although Australasia is an open immigration country, in theory it does not exclude any white immigrants from Europe.

But in any case, immigrants also have a closeness and distance. For Australasia and Arthur, the closest ones are always British immigrants, because Australasia and Arthur were both born in Britain, and British immigrants are the foundation of Australasia's rule.

Secondly, Russian immigrants are a nation that Australasia can accept and rule more than British immigrants.

First of all, the marriage relationship between the Australasia royal family and the Russian royal family has made the two countries become close and friendly in-law countries.

In addition, Russian immigrants are generally converted from serfs before, and Russia is also a tsarist autocratic country. These Russian immigrants are more accepting of the monarchy, and even most immigrants maintain a loving attitude towards the monarchy.

As for the second largest number of German immigrants in Australasia, although Arthur is not too opposed to them, he does not want to introduce too many.

At least the scale of Russian immigrants should be raised to the second place, so that Arthur would be more satisfied with the racial ratio.

In fact, the reason is very simple. Although Germany and Australasia have a very good relationship at present, this is because Germany and Australasia have no conflict of interest.

But Arthur knows that Germany will inevitably stand on the opposite side of Britain in the future. If there are too many German immigrants in Australasia, there will inevitably be conflicts with British immigrants in the future, which Arthur does not want to see and is very likely to threaten the stability of the country.

What's more, Arthur dare not guarantee that Australasia can always maintain a friendly relationship with Germany.

For example, after Germany lost the First World War and the monarchy was abolished, the Third Reich was born. Arthur dare not make friends with it.

If he is pulled onto the chariot of the Third Reich in the future, Arthur will have no words to say.

But overall, population growth is good news for Australasia. Even in today's world, a country with a population of less than 10 million cannot be called a powerful country, and a country with a population of less than 50 million is not qualified to compete with the great powers.

Take a closer look at every powerful country in the world, which one is not a large country with a vast territory and a large population.

Resources, land area and population are major factors that limit national development. For Australasia, the only limitation is population.

This is why Arthur is looking forward to the population rising to tens of millions or even tens of millions. When that time comes, what kind of potential will Australasia burst out.

At present, the state-level administrative region with the largest population in Australasia is Victoria, with a total population of 1,399,795. New South Wales is not much different, with a total population of 1,396,487.

Sydney, the capital of the capital territory, is the first and only city in Australasia with a population exceeding 1 million. The current total population has reached 1,194,594.

In addition to these three state-level administrative regions, the only state with a population exceeding one million is South Australia, with a total population of 1,125,487.

The total population of neighboring Western Australia has also reached 864,679. Because of the construction of the Leonora Industrial Base, the government found a way to transport a large number of immigrants to these two states.

This is also the real reason why the population growth in the southeast region of Australia has gradually slowed down, because a large number of immigrants have been transported to Western Australia and South Australia to prepare for the industrial construction and industrial base construction of the two states.

Conservative estimates show that before the initial construction of the Leonora Industrial Base, the populations of South Australia and Western Australia will reach 1.3 million and 1 million respectively, which can fully meet the initial demand for workers and labor in the industrial zone.

Around 1916, when the industrial zone was actually built, the populations of South Australia and Western Australia could even reach 1.5 million and 1.2 million, which completely brought vitality to these two sparsely populated areas.

Compared with the seven major regions of Australia, New Zealand's population is much smaller. At present, the population of North New Zealand is about 920,000, and the population of South New Zealand is about 570,000. Except for the population size of North New Zealand, which can barely keep up with several states in Australia, the population of South New Zealand is the smallest among the larger states.

In terms of cities, the most populous city is of course Sydney, and the second most populous city is Melbourne, with a population of more than 870,000. At present, except for the two colonies and Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, the population of the capital cities of other states is more than 100,000.

According to the information of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are 23 cities with a population of more than 100,000 in the whole of Australasia, and more than half of them are distributed in the southeastern region of Australia.

This also highlights the current development status of Australasia: the core area of ​​Australasia is in Australia, and the core area of ​​Australia is in the southeastern region.

Although the population has experienced a substantial increase, the per capita income of Australasia has not been affected, and has even ushered in an increase.

According to the report of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, as of January 1910, the per capita annual income of Australasia was nearly 47 Australian dollars, and the per capita annual income of Australia was even as high as 48 Australian dollars.

New Zealand is not bad either, with an annual per capita income of about 44 Australian dollars, far exceeding the per capita income of 26 Australian dollars in the two colonies.

Arthur is convinced of the growth data of per capita annual income, because from the depositor information of the Royal Bank controlled by Arthur, it can be seen that the deposits of Australasians have been increasing in recent years. Whose family does not have a deposit of one or two hundred?

Of course, economic growth is also reflected in the government's finances.

Throughout 1909, the total fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Australasia was about 54.25 million Australian dollars, an increase of 8 million Australian dollars compared with 1908, and it was the first time to exceed 50 million Australian dollars.

In contrast, the total fiscal expenditure was as high as 49 million Australian dollars, an increase of 6 million Australian dollars compared with 1908, including part of the military expenditure and the expenses of other government departments.

Throughout 1909, the total military expenditure of Australasia exceeded 19 million Australian dollars for the first time, which was also because the various tests and maintenance after the battleship was built required a lot of expenses. Coupled with the training of corresponding naval officers and soldiers, the increase in military expenditure is normal.

More importantly, under the premise of crazy growth in various expenditures, Australasia's finances have actually maintained a surplus, which is good news for the development of finance and government.

According to the relevant regulations on royal funds, the royal family received 542,500 Australian dollars from the government in 1909 to maintain the operation of the royal family and the palace, as well as special funds for the royal family.

The regulation that the royal family obtains 1% of the total government fiscal revenue as royal special funds every year has existed since the Australian period, but the income at that time was only tens of thousands of pounds.

This also led to the fact that although the royal family is currently taking more than 500,000 Australian dollars from the treasury, no official or member of parliament has expressed opposition.

After all, when the country was in crisis, the royal family received very little funds. Now the more than 500,000 Australian dollars is what the royal family deserves, not to mention that Arthur's personal investment in Australasia's people's livelihood and various policies every year far exceeds this figure.

At present, the available financial funds of Australasia have reached a terrifying 230 million Australian dollars, which even makes Arthur have an illusion that he can never spend it all.

However, Arthur quickly eliminated this idea because he knew that the cost of war was huge.

Didn’t the old powers like Britain and France, which occupied a large number of colonies, not recover for a long time after World War I?

You know, top powers like Britain and France can earn a lot of profits from their colonies every year, and such profits are far beyond the imagination of Australasia.

But such profits can hardly support World War I, not to mention Australasia, which has just entered a surplus state.

The agricultural development of Australasia is also very good news. At present, the total cultivated land area in Australia has reached 19,532,952 acres, and the per capita cultivated land area remains at about 2.3 acres.

It is precisely because of the increase in cultivated land area that the grain output of Australasia in 1909 has reached a new high, reaching about 8.9 million tons.

Yes, the growth of grain is very exaggerated. Compared with 1907, two years ago, the total grain output increased by nearly 2 million tons, but the total cultivated land area only increased by less than 2 million acres.

The real reason for the massive increase in grain production is that agricultural machinery such as tractors have begun to be widely used in some agricultural areas of New Guinea and Australasia.

Coupled with the construction and production of some agricultural chemical plants and fertilizer processing plants, the per-acre grain yield in Australasia has gradually increased, and even has a trend close to that of European grain output.

At present, the grain output of the colony of New Guinea has exceeded 1 million tons, accounting for 11% of the total grain output of Australasia.

Thanks to the increasing grain output in various regions, the strategic grain reserves of Australasia have reached 2 million tons, enough for all Australasia people to eat for a year.

At present, the total annual grain consumption in Australasia is also about 2 million tons. In 1909, the total amount of grain exported by Australasia reached 5 million tons, and the grain was exported to Europe, America and some colonies of the great powers.

Old powers like Britain and France basically have a certain cooperative relationship with Australasia.

Whether it is grain or meat products, Australasia is one of the suppliers, and it also occupies a lot of markets in these two powerful countries.

Thanks to the geographical environment in Oceania that is more suitable for grazing, Oceania beef and mutton, or Australian beef and mutton, has already gained a great reputation, which is also the current achievement of Australasia's animal husbandry.

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