Chapter 305: Chapter 269: Surge in Food Production

The proportion of British-descendant population has always remained at around 70%, which is good news for Australasia and something that Arthur is quite satisfied with.

Although Australasia is an open immigration country and theoretically does not exclude any white immigrants from Europe.

Nevertheless, there are preferences among immigrants. For Australasia and Arthur, the closest will always be British immigrants, because both Australasia and Arthur were born in the United Kingdom, and British immigrants are the foundation of governance in Australasia.

Secondly, Russian immigrants are, besides British immigrants, the most acceptable and governable ethnic group for Australasia.

First of all, the marriage between the Australasian royal family and the Russian monarchy brings the two countries closer as friendly in-laws.

Additionally, Russian immigrants generally come from a background of serfdom, and Russia is an authoritarian country ruled by the Tsar. These Russian immigrants have a higher acceptance of monarchism, and even a majority of them maintain a fond attitude towards it.

As for the current second-largest group of German immigrants in Australasia, Arthur is not very opposed to them but does not want to introduce too many.

At least the scale of Russian immigrants should rise to the second place, which would be a more satisfactory racial ratio for Arthur.

The reason is quite simple. Although Germany and Australasia currently have very good relations, this is because there are no conflicts of interest between them.

However, Arthur knows that Germany will inevitably stand against the United Kingdom in the future. If there are too many German immigrants in Australasia, conflicts will surely erupt between British immigrants, which Arthur does not want to see and which may threaten national stability.

Moreover, Arthur cannot guarantee that Australasia can always maintain a friendly relationship with Germany.

For example, Arthur would not want to befriend the Third Reich that emerged after the abolition of monarchy after Germany’s defeat in World War I.

If Arthur is ever pulled onto the Third Reich’s war chariot, it would be a bitter experience.

However, overall, population growth is good news for Australasia. Even in today’s world, a country with a population less than 10 million cannot be called a strong country, and without a population of more than 50 million, it does not have the qualifications to compete with the powers.

If you look closely at every powerful country in the world, each one has a vast territory and a large population.

Resources, land area, and population are major factors limiting a country’s development. For Australasia, the only limitation is the population.

This is why Arthur is eagerly anticipating the population to rise to 10 million or even tens of millions. By then, what kind of potential will Australasia unleash?

Currently, the state-level administrative region with the largest population in Australasia is Victoria State, with a total population of 1,399,795. New South Wales State is not far behind, with a total population of 1,396,487.

As the capital and only city in the Capital Territory with a population exceeding 1 million, Sydney currently has a total population of 1,194,594.

Apart from these three state-level administrative regions, the only state with a population exceeding 1 million is South Australia State, with a total population of 1,125,487.

The neighboring West Australian State has also reached a population of 864,679. The construction of the Leonora Industrial Base has prompted the government to transport a large number of immigrants to these two states.

This is the real reason why the population growth in southeastern Australia has gradually slowed down, as a large number of immigrants have been transported to West Australia State and South Australia State, laying the groundwork for the construction of their industrial bases.

It is conservatively estimated that, before the initial completion of the Leonora Industrial Base, the populations of South Australia State and West Australia State will reach 1.3 million and 1 million respectively, fully meeting the initial demand for workers and labor in the industrial zones.

By the time the industrial zones are truly completed around 1916, the populations of South Australia State and West Australia State may even reach over 1.5 million and 1.2 million respectively, completely revitalizing these areas.

Compared with the seven regions in Australia, New Zealand’s population seems to be much smaller. The current population of North New Zealand State is about 920,000, while that of South New Zealand is about 570,000. Besides the more populous North New Zealand, the population of South New Zealand is the smallest among the larger states.

In terms of cities, Sydney is currently the most populous city, followed by Melbourne, with a population of over 870,000. At present, apart from the capitals of the two colonies and Tasmania’s Hobart, the capital cities of other states have populations of more than 100,000.

According to intelligence from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, there are a total of 23 cities with populations over 100,000 throughout Australasia, more than half of which are located in southeastern Australia.

This highlights the current development status of Australasia: the most important region of Australasia is Australia, and the most important region of Australia is the southeastern region.

Although the population has experienced significant growth, the per capita income of Australasia has not been affected and has even experienced growth.

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

The New Zealand region was not far behind, with per capita annual income of about 44 Australian dollars, far exceeding the per capita income of the two colonies, which was 26 Australian dollars.

Arthur had no doubt about the growth of per capita annual income because the deposit information of Australasian people in the Royal Bank, which he controlled, had shown that their savings had been increasing more and more in recent years. Didn’t everyone’s family have a hundred or two hundred in savings?

Of course, the growth of the economy was also reflected in the government’s finances.

Throughout 1909, the total fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Australasia was about 54,250,000 Australian dollars, an increase of 8 million Australian dollars compared to 1908, and the first time it had exceeded 50 million Australian dollars.

In comparison, total fiscal expenditure reached as high as 49 million Australian dollars, an increase of 6 million Australian dollars compared to 1908, which included some military expenses and expenses of other government departments.

For the first time in 1909, Australasia’s total military expenditure exceeded 19 million Australian dollars, which was due to the various tests and maintenance costs after the completion of the battleship. In addition, the corresponding training of naval officers and men also meant that military expenditure growth was normal.

More importantly, despite the crazy growth in various expenditures, Australasia’s finances surprisingly maintained a surplus, which was good news for both the treasury and government development.

According to the regulations related to the royal funds, in 1909 the royal family received 542,500 Australian dollars from the government, which was used to maintain the operation of the royal family and the royal palace, as well as to serve as special funds for the royal family.

The provision that the royal family would receive 1% of the total government fiscal revenue as royal special funds had already existed during the Australian period, but the income then amounted to only tens of thousands of pounds.

This also meant that no officials or members of parliament would object to the royal family taking more than 500,000 Australian dollars from the treasury at the moment.

After all, when the country was in crisis, the amount of funds the royal family received was small. Now, this over 500,000 Australian dollars was what the royal family deserved. Moreover, Arthur’s daily private input in Australasia’s civil affairs and various policies far exceeded this amount.

Currently, the available funds in Australasia’s treasury have reached a terrifying 230 million Australian dollars, which even made Arthur feel like he couldn’t spend it all.

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

For example, it took a long time for old powers such as the United Kingdom and France, which occupied a large number of colonies, to recover after World War I.

It is important to note that, as top powers, the United Kingdom and France could each make huge profits from their colonies every year, something that Australasia could never imagine.

Yet even these profits nearly failed to cover the costs of World War I, let alone the current state of Australasia, where revenues have only just moved into surplus.

The development of agriculture in Australasia is also encouraging news. At present, the total cultivated land area in Australia has reached 19,953,2952 acres, and the average land area per capita remains around 2.3 acres.

It was precisely because of the increase in arable land that the food production of Australasia reached a record high in 1909, reaching about 8.9 million tons.

Yes, the growth in food production was dramatic, with total output increasing by nearly 2 million tons compared to two years earlier in 1907, although the total area of arable land had only increased by slightly less than 2 million acres.

The real reason for the massive increase in food production was that agricultural machinery, such as tractors, had begun to be widely used in some agricultural areas in New Guinea and Australasia.

Furthermore, the construction and production of agricultural chemical plants and fertilizer processing plants had gradually increased Australasia’s grain yield per acre, even effectively approaching that of European grain production.

Currently, the food production of the New Guinea colony has exceeded 1 million tons, accounting for 11% of the total food production of Australasia.

Thanks to the continuous increase in food production in various regions, Australasia’s strategic food reserves have reached 2 million tons, enough to feed all Australasian people for one year.

At present, the annual total consumption of food in Australasia is about 2 million tons. In 1909, Australasia exported a total of 5 million tons of food, which was sold to Europe, America, and some powerful colonies.

Old powers like the United Kingdom and France basically have a certain degree of cooperation with Australasia.

Whether it is grain or meat products, Australasia is one of the suppliers and has a significant share in the markets of these two powerful countries.

Thanks to the geographical environment of Oceania that is more suitable for grazing, Oceania beef and mutton, or rather Australian beef and mutton, has gained a notable reputation, which is the current achievement of Australasia’s animal husbandry industry.