Chapter 354: Chapter 306: Military Layout of 1912 (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)
On December 31st, just a few days after the Christmas vacation, the Australasian Government reentered the whirlwind of state affairs.
The last day of the year often coincided with the time for the Cabinet Government’s annual report meeting.
However, as the new Cabinet had only been working for a few months, the report would be a summary of the previous Cabinet’s actions, thus, the content of the annual report was relatively sparse.
Of course, the main focus of this meeting was the new Cabinet’s plan for its term.
Due to the volatile situation in Europe and around the world, no one can be certain whether war will break out tomorrow.
This implies that the work of the Fourth Cabinet Government is extremely difficult, and there is a high likelihood that they will experience a world war unprecedented in history during their term.
This also means that the Fourth Cabinet Government’s role is very critical. A single misstep could potentially set the country’s progress of ten years up in flames.
While history from the future can provide Arthur many lessons and experiences, who can guarantee that this world will follow the same course?
Will Italy switch sides? Will the United States enter the war? Will revolution erupt in Russia Nation?
Set aside these three questions, Australasia itself is something that Arthur could not easily predict.
Theoretically, whichever side Australasia aligns itself with, it would be able to provide some substantial assistance, and possibly even alter the course of the future war to some extent.
But Arthur’s aim isn’t limited to this. What Arthur seeks is for Australasia to gain a higher international status through this war and to benefit from the defeat of other countries. After the First World War, it should be at least a player, not a pawn.
Although the annual report meeting had been greatly streamlined, what was reported was mostly vital news.
As of December 31, 1911, Australasia’s population had officially reached over 10.51 million, with Australia’s population at 8.27 million and New Zealand’s population at 2.14 million.
The New Guinea Colony, Australian Timor, and Royal Territory populations were 73,000, 19,000, and 8,000 respectively.
Australasia now officially had its second city with over a million people: Melbourne.
Melbourne’s current population was just over 1.04 million people, making it the second economic center of Australasia, behind Sydney. These two cities were considered the two brightest pearls in Oceania.
With more than a decade of development, at least within Australasia’s urban cities, the level of development has initially caught up with that of ordinary cities in Europe.
For cities like Sydney and Melbourne, with populations in the millions, their scale and development level is in no way inferior to top-tier European cities.
In truth, this is quite normal, given that Australasia has devoted the strength of the entire nation to developing these two cities.
These two cities are peerless within Australasia, establishing their unique dominance amongst the cities in Australasia.
Even under Minister Grant’s advice, Arthur has already formulated and issued relevant immigration laws, heavily encouraged immigration to remote areas, colonies, smaller towns, and to some extent, reduced the welfare treatment of big cities.
Yet, still, four out of every ten immigrants chose to stay in a big city, or at least, in a state capital with a population in the hundreds of thousands.
After all, only large cities can provide more job opportunities and more opportunities for these immigrants to find.
What’s there to do in small towns? Except for special cases like the Leonora Industrial Base, small towns are mostly engaged in agriculture development, serving at most as a farm owner.
Most immigrants harbour dreams of striking it rich and are not content with merely being obedient farm owners.
Ten million is a threshold, a necessary condition for formally embarking on the path to becoming a strong country.
In this world, a country with fewer than ten million people is destined to never become a powerful nation.
But in reality, a population of ten million is only one of many criteria. If Arthur wants to achieve his ambitions, a population of just ten million for Australasia is far from sufficient.
In Europe, the number of regular and reserve troops of the European Nations combined is in the millions, even approaching ten million.
Though full mobilization would harm the foundation of these countries, it also indicates that these countries have the courage and the ability to fight a desperate battle.
Now look at Australasia, a 500,000-strong army may already be the current limit. Any more would seriously impact the nations’ development.
But if Australasia wants to become a recognized Power with international status, besides a strong navy, a land army exceeding one million is also very necessary.
This shows that Australasia’s population must exceed twenty million in order to have the strength and confidence to compete with other powerful nations.
Given the current rate of Australasia’s immigration, to exceed a population of twenty million, it would take at least another ten years.
If you take into account that when war breaks out in Europe, countries are sure to limit emigration. That means that during the brink and duration of the war, immigration to Australasia will definitely decrease, possibly to a significant degree.
In other words, it might require twenty years until Australasia’s population can break through twenty million.
Twenty years later, World War II might already be on the verge of beginning. At this point, Australasia is only just starting to build confidence in terms of population, that might be somewhat too late.
