Chapter 172
The typhoon finally made landfall in New Zealand while the assistance was being carried out.
When the residents of the small town of Opunaki saw the huge waves more than five meters high, everyone's hearts fell to the bottom, and despair began to spread among the crowd.
However, the typhoon did not give people time to communicate and cry. In just a moment, the huge wave passed through the entire town of Opunaki and swept towards the people who were desperately fleeing outside the town.
The huge waves are not the most despairing thing. The fragments of broken trees, houses and fishing boats carried by the huge waves can not only demonstrate the power of typhoons and huge waves, but also cause great damage to the crowd. In huge waves, After the wave, do the last hit again.
The typhoon, which had already begun to kill, did not know the crime it had committed. After destroying Opunaki, a fisherman town on the North Island of New Zealand, it rushed north towards North Taranaki Bay.
On the path of the typhoon, there happens to be a protruding corner of New Zealand's North Island, which not only contains more than a dozen fishermen's towns, but also the second largest city in New Zealand's North Island, Auckland.
On the afternoon of November 8, 1903, Wellington, North Island, New Zealand.
Except for Arthur, all the important officials of New Zealand were basically present, sitting around the conference room of the colonial government, frowning.
In the absence of Arthur, the person currently presiding over the meeting and having the highest status is naturally Piers Anthony, commander of the New Zealand Garrison.
The news of the typhoon landing on the west coast of the North Island has reached Wellington, which is why all the important New Zealand officials, including the garrison commander General Pierce, were sitting together.
"Everyone, the top priority now is to immediately send a large number of aid, soldiers, and even civilians to the West Coast from Auckland to Opunaki for rescue. If our rescue is delayed by one minute, hundreds of New Zealand civilians may die tragically. This disaster." General Pierce said solemnly.
At this critical moment concerning New Zealand, General Pierce no longer cares about anything that is ultra vires or not. The most important thing at the moment is to relieve all the New Zealand civilians affected by the disaster. Other things are vulnerable in the face of the disaster.
"I think General Pierce is right. The most important task of the New Zealand government at present is to rescue those civilians, even at all costs." Joshua Bullock said in agreement.
Joshua Bullock is the head of the Royal Rescue Committee that Arthur stayed in New Zealand, and is also the middleman between New Zealand forces and Arthur.
To a certain extent, Joshua also represents Arthur's opinions, so he is also one of the giants in New Zealand politics.
"After receiving Joshua's approval, General Pierce's solemn expression was obviously relieved." No matter what situation he faced, General Pierce was unwilling to offend Arthur. Joshua, who could represent Arthur's opinions, agreed with his own point of view, which was very important to him. This is the most fortunate thing for General Pierce.
"But General Pierce, the government does not have much funds for disaster relief. After His Royal Highness the Governor last issued a large number of repair and construction tasks, most of the funds provided to us by the Australian royal family have been spent. In addition, during this period Due to the government's consumption, our current available funds are even less than 100,000 pounds. This fund even has to take into account government maintenance and military expenditures, which is not enough for disaster relief." Colonial officials said slightly helplessly.
Although the relationship between colonial officials and the garrison commander General Pierce is not very good in peacetime, colonial officials can still stand with General Pierce on such important matters that concern the hearts of the people of New Zealand.
But the current situation in New Zealand is indeed like this. It has just got out of the previous economic downturn, and most of the funds assisted by Arthur have been used in construction. The remaining funds can be used with the support of the New Zealand government and the military. Funds for disaster relief are so meager that they are just a drop in the bucket for this catastrophe.
"I will find a way to contribute, everyone. His Highness has also informed me that the Australian government and the royal family can provide New Zealand with free assistance of 150,000 pounds and 300,000 pounds respectively. These funds will arrive soon. I believe it can temporarily support the rescue work," Joshua said directly.
After confirming that the typhoon had left Australia, Arthur notified Joshua, the New Zealand head of the Royal Relief Committee in New Zealand, and also asked Joshua to convey Australia's assistance.
After hearing what Joshua said, everyone was obviously relieved. Funding is a serious problem for New Zealand at present. Even private loans are simply impossible to meet the needs of this disaster relief.
Australia's ability to provide 450,000 pounds in aid has greatly exceeded the expectations of all New Zealand officials. This fund can at least meet the early and mid-term deployment of the rescue, and the New Zealand government can barely handle the later aftermath and compensation issues on its own.
"Along with the funds, there is also a batch of food and clothing. But Australia's assistance alone is not enough. I suggest that your government immediately requests humanitarian assistance from the British Empire and European countries, so as to restore the beautiful country of New Zealand as soon as possible. Go back to before the disaster,” Joshua suggested.
The British Empire is now busy in the naval arms competition with the German Empire. Coupled with the chaotic situation in Europe and the current conflicts in the Far East, there are not many resources that can be allocated to New Zealand.
In addition, since Arthur became the Governor of New Zealand, the British Empire's resource tilt towards New Zealand has become even less, and it is still decreasing year by year.
After all, Queen Victoria's will almost turned New Zealand into Arthur's private domain. As long as he didn't show up, New Zealand was almost Arthur's meat.
Under such circumstances, the British nobles will naturally not waste domestic resources to develop New Zealand, which is destined to become someone else's territory.
What's more, the appointment of the Governor of New Zealand was Queen Victoria's last will and testament, and not even Edward VII had the power to change it. Any attempt to intervene in New Zealand would be seen by people in the British Empire as a betrayal of Queen Victoria's living will and a betrayal of the British Empire.
Under such circumstances, which official would propose to intervene in New Zealand?
What can be expected is that even if the British Empire agrees to provide assistance to New Zealand, it will probably only be perfunctory assistance.
As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. Under the premise that Australia provided help in times of need of 450,000 pounds and a large amount of food and clothing aid, the British aid seemed so insignificant.
New Zealand officials were unaware of Arthur's plot and regarded it as a heartfelt suggestion from Joshua.
It just so happened that New Zealand currently lacked all kinds of assistance, including funds. Therefore, after everyone voted, they quickly agreed to Joshua's proposal and requested assistance from European countries, especially the British Empire, to help New Zealand, which was in disaster. .
November 10, 1903.
After two days of raging, the typhoon finally passed through Auckland, New Zealand's second largest city connecting the North Island of New Zealand and the Auckland Peninsula, crossed the Hauraki Gulf, entered the Pacific Ocean from Fitzroy Port on Great Barrier Island, and gradually disappeared from the sight of New Zealanders.
This is fortunate for New Zealanders. The typhoon that wreaked havoc on New Zealand for two days has finally left New Zealand completely, and the disaster in New Zealand has initially come to an end.
But the bad news is that the typhoon-ravaged area stretches from the southwest of New Zealand's North Island, Opunaki all the way north to Auckland. This is the more elite west coast area of New Zealand's North Island, with a total of four cities including Auckland and more than ten cities. It is a small town with a total population of more than 300,000 residents.
No one knows how much damage this typhoon has brought to this area. All New Zealand colonial government officials have been prepared to destroy Auckland.
Around afternoon, Australia's promised 450,000 pounds and a batch of food and clothing aid arrived at the port of Wellington.
In order to safely deliver this batch of supplies, the transport fleet even detoured from the southern part of the Tasman Sea, passing through Stewart Island in the South Island of New Zealand, and circled the entire South Island before safely delivering this batch of supplies.
At the same time, the response from Europe has also come. Although most European countries have nothing to do with New Zealand, out of humanitarian spirit, major powers have provided assistance to New Zealand, even if the assistance is very small.
Among them, the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire provided the most aid. The German Empire's aid was one million marks and dozens of tons of grain, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire's financial aid was half a million crowns.
The assistance provided by the remaining major powers is basically the same, with financial assistance worth approximately 5,000 to 10,000 pounds, including France.
The British Empire, which the New Zealand colonial government had high hopes for, provided only 20,000 pounds in aid, which was far less than the aid provided by the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Various aids from European countries totaled almost 150,000 pounds.
Among them, the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire contributed 50,000 pounds and 41,000 pounds respectively, making them the two countries with the most aid this time.
Although officials of the New Zealand colonial government were very disappointed with the British Empire's share of aid, the most important thing at present was to carry out emergency relief work on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island, and the New Zealand government could not take care of anything else for the time being.
But that doesn’t mean others don’t have the same time.
As the current leader of the Union Party and the leader of the political suffrage group, Grant is currently in high spirits.
From a small mayor to the leader of New Zealand's largest political party, and also the head of one of the most important administrative agencies, Grant clearly knew who gave him this power, and he also understood that the person who gave it to him could easily take it back. these powers.
In fact, Grant has never forgotten his mission. After Arthur left, he has been vigorously promoting New Zealanders' support for the Union Party.
At present, the Alliance Party has grown into New Zealand's veritable first party. More than 20,000 New Zealanders support the Alliance Party, and hundreds of officials have joined the Alliance Party, including mayors of some large and small cities and officials of the colonial government. core officials.
Grant was keenly aware of the differences between the British Empire and Australia's assistance to New Zealand this time, and soon planned to let more New Zealanders know the difference between the two.
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