Chapter 270: Grain production surges.
The proportion of the British population has remained at around 70%. This is good news for Australasia, and it is also something that makes Arthur quite satisfied.
Although Australasia is an open immigration country, it does not theoretically exclude any white immigrants from Europe.
But no matter what, immigrants also have kinship and distance. For Australasia and Arthur, the closest thing is always the British immigrants, because both Australasia and Arthur were born in the United Kingdom, and British immigrants are the foundation of Australasia's rule.
Secondly, Russian immigrants were a more acceptable and dominant ethnic group for Australasia than British immigrants.
The first is the marriage relationship between the Australasian royal family and the Russian royal family, which turned the two countries into close and friendly in-law countries.
In addition, Russian immigrants are generally converted from former serfs, and Russia is also a tsarist autocratic country. These Russian immigrants are more accepting of the autocratic monarchy, and most of the immigrants even maintain a loving attitude toward the autocratic monarchy.
As for the German immigrants who currently have the second largest number in Australasia, although Arthur is not too exclusive about them, he does not want to introduce too many.
At least the number of Russian immigrants should be raised to second place. This would be the racial ratio that Arthur was more satisfied with.
In fact, the reason is very simple. Although Germany and Australasia currently have a very good relationship, this is because Germany and Australasia do not have any conflicts of interest.
But Arthur knew that Germany would inevitably stand on the opposite side of Britain in the future. If there are too many German immigrants in Australasia, conflicts will inevitably break out with British immigrants in the future. This is something Arthur does not want to see, and it is also very likely to threaten the stability of the country.
What's more, Arthur can't guarantee that Australasia can always maintain a friendly relationship with Germany.
For example, in history, Arthur did not dare to make friends with the Third Reich that was born after Germany's defeat in World War I and the abolition of the monarchy.
If he were to be dragged onto the chariot of the Third Reich in the future, Arthur would be in trouble.
Overall, though, 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 without a population of more than 50 million cannot be qualified to compete with the great powers.
Take a closer look at every major 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 limiting a country's development. For Australasia, the only limitation is population.
This is why Arthur is very much looking forward to the population rising to tens of millions or even tens of millions. By that time, what potential will Australasia unleash?
Currently, the most populous state-level administrative region in Australasia is Victoria, with a total population of 1,399,795 people. New South Wales is not far behind, 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 is as high as 1,194,594 people.
In addition to these three state-level administrative regions, the only state with a current population exceeding one million is South Australia, with a total population of 1,125,487 people.
The neighboring state of Western Australia has a total population of 864,679. Due to the construction of the Leonora Industrial Base, the governments of these two states found ways to transport a large number of immigrants.
This is also the real reason why the population growth in southeastern Australia has gradually slowed down, because a large number of immigrants were transported to Western Australia and South Australia to prepare for the industrial construction and industrial base construction in the two states.
It is conservatively estimated that before the initial establishment 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 worker needs and labor demand of the industrial zone.
Around 1916, when the industrial zone was actually established, the populations of South Australia and Western Australia could reach over 1.5 million and 1.2 million respectively, completely bringing vitality to these two sparsely populated areas.
Compared with Australia's seven major regions, New Zealand's population is much smaller. The current population of North New Zealand is approximately 920,000, and the population of South New Zealand is approximately 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, while 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 capital cities of other states have a population of more than 100,000.
According to information from the Ministry of People's Livelihood, there are a total of 23 cities with a population of more than 100,000 in Australasia, and more than half of them are located in the southeastern region of Australia.
This also highlights the current development status of Australasia: the essence of Australasia is in Australia, and the essence of Australia is in the southeastern region.
Although the population has experienced substantial growth, Australasia's per capita income has not been affected and has even increased. According to reports from the Ministry of People's Livelihood, as of January 1910, the per capita annual income in Australasia was nearly 47 Australian dollars, and the per capita annual income in Australia had even reached as high as 48 Australian dollars.
New Zealand is not bad either, with a per capita annual income of about 44 Australian dollars, far exceeding the per capita income of the two colonies of 26 Australian dollars.
Arthur has no doubts about the growth data of per capita annual income, because it can be seen from the depositor information of the Royal Bank controlled by Arthur that Australasians have made more and more deposits in recent years, and whose families have not What about the deposit of one hundred and 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 government was approximately AU$54.25 million, an increase of AU$8 million compared with 1908, and it was the first time that it exceeded AU$50 million.
In comparison, the total financial expenditure is as high as 49 million Australian dollars, an increase of 6 million Australian dollars compared with 1908, which includes part of the military expenditure and the expenses of other government departments.
Throughout 1909, the total military investment in Australasia exceeded 19 million Australian dollars for the first time. This was also because the various tests and maintenance after the battleship was built required a lot of expenses. Coupled with the corresponding training of naval officers and soldiers, it is normal for military expenditures to increase.
More importantly, despite the 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 regulations related to royal funds, the royal family received 542,500 Australian dollars in funds from the government in 1909, which was used to maintain the operation of the royal family and the palace, and as a special fund for the royal family.
The stipulation that the royal family obtains 1% of the total government revenue every year as a special fund for the royal family existed in Australia, but the income at that time was only tens of thousands of pounds.
This has also led to the fact that although the royal family currently wants to take more than 500,000 Australian dollars from the finances, 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. What's more, Arthur's annual private investment in Australasian people's livelihood and various policies far exceeds got this number.
The current available fiscal funds in Australasia have reached a terrifying AUD 230 million, which even gives Arthur the illusion that he can't spend it all.
However, Arthur quickly eliminated this idea, because he knew that the consumption 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 the First World War?
You know, top powers like Britain and France can earn a lot of profits from their respective colonies every year. Such profits are far beyond the imagination of Australasia.
But such a profit could barely sustain a war, let alone Australasia, which was just entering a state of surplus.
Agricultural development in Australasia is also downright good news. At present, Australia's total cultivated land area has reached 19,532,952 acres, and the per capita cultivated land area remains at about 2.3 acres.
It was precisely because of the increase in arable land that Australasia's grain output reached a new high in 1909, reaching about 8.9 million tons.
Yes, the growth of grain is very exaggerated. Compared with two years ago in 1907, 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 food production was the widespread use of agricultural machinery such as tractors in parts of New Guinea and Australasia.
Coupled with the construction and production of some agrochemical plants and fertilizer processing plants, Australasia's grain output per acre has gradually increased, and has even affected the trend of European grain output approaching.
At present, the grain output of the New Guinea colony has exceeded 1 million tons, accounting for 11% of the total grain output of Australasia.
Thanks to the increasing grain production in various regions, Australasia's strategic grain reserves currently have reached 2 million tons, enough to feed all Australasians for a year.
At present, the total annual grain consumption in Australasia is about 2 million tons. In 1909, Australasia's total exports of grain were as high as 5 million tons. The grain was exported to Europe, America and some colonies of great powers.
Established powers like Britain and France basically have certain cooperative relations 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 of Oceania that is more suitable for grazing, Oceanian beef and mutton, or Australian beef and mutton, have gained quite a reputation. This is also an achievement of the current Australasian animal husbandry industry.
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