Chapter 335
The end of 1912 was relatively peaceful, and Arthur also experienced a dull November and December.
On Christmas Day in December, as usual, Arthur delivered a speech in Sydney Square, encouraging Australasians to make their own contribution to the development of the motherland and to sincerely and unitedly love all their compatriots.
Of course, in addition to such relatively peaceful words, Arthur's speech also touched on military aspects, such as the expansion of the navy and army in the next few years.
On Christmas Eve that day, newspapers printing Arthur's speech were distributed throughout Australasia.
Among these newspapers, Arthur's speech almost occupied the largest page, and other news could only be reduced to the smallest font and printed in certain areas on the side and back of the newspaper.
Discourses such as rejuvenating the country through science and education and building a strong military power were also circulated in the streets of Australasia along with Arthur's Christmas speech.
It is said that after Arthur's speech, many families chose to let their children pursue the path of scientific research.
Becoming an excellent scientific researcher has become the most glorious thing for many Australasian families.
Of course, Arthur's talk of expanding the army and navy within a few years attracted the attention of many Australasians.
The salary of soldiers in Australasia is considered to be the highest in Australasia, and the military's usual welfare benefits are also very generous.
Many people have already started exercising in advance, trying to improve their physical fitness as much as possible before the next conscription and be selected by the Australasian conscription office.
Of course, another major condition for recruitment review is the review of political background, which cannot be changed.
This also makes some people who do not meet the conditions feel sad and can only shift their goals to scientific research or other directions.
On major holidays like Christmas, the royal family usually distributes small gifts to the people.
This year's gift is a pound of beef and mutton and a liter of milk, which can theoretically be received by all Australasians.
Of course, immigrants who have not yet obtained Australasian citizenship are also included. Within half a month from Christmas to National Day, they can receive it from their villages, cities and governments at all levels.
Although one person only has one pound of meat and one liter of milk, Australasia already has a large population. This will cost more than 5,000 tons of beef and mutton and more than 5,000 tons of cow and sheep milk.
Because Australasia is a vast country, the time for people to receive supplies has been extended until the end of the National Day holiday.
From Christmas in December to January 17, the end of the National Day holiday, people have more than half a month to receive their supplies.
If you fail to collect the materials within the time limit, you will be deemed to have voluntarily given up on receiving the materials, and there will be no compensation for the delay.
But this should not be seen among ordinary people in Australasia. For ordinary people, a pound of meat and a liter of milk are not too much, but who is willing to give up free things?
Arthur and his family spent a happy Christmas at the palace, and also prepared a gift for William and Anna.
The gift to William is a specially made AS-1898 semi-automatic pistol model.
Because it is a model, it has no lethality, and there is no need to worry about the safety of William and those around him.
Giving William such a gift also represents Arthur's intention, which is to allow his eldest son and heir to develop a hobby for military weapons from an early age, so that he can master the army more calmly in the future.
For Arthur, his successor must be capable enough to inherit the current Australasian system.
As the founding king of Australasia, Arthur's popular support and prestige in Australasia are naturally unquestionable.
In Australasia during Arthur's time, the monarchy was definitely beyond the reach of future monarchs.
Such a high degree of monarchy has both advantages and disadvantages, and the requirements for the capabilities of the country's monarch are also very strict.
Since he is Arthur's heir, William must be capable in both literary and military matters in order to continue to lead Australasia to a higher level.
It is worth mentioning that since they have reached the age of three, William and Anna will begin to receive basic aristocratic education starting from the second half of this year.
This made the happy time of the two little guys almost disappear. In addition to aristocratic etiquette, most of the time was spent on extracurricular education.
Of course, Anna was okay. After all, she was the only princess in the country. She only needed to receive aristocratic education and simple preschool education.
But William is different. William's long learning career has begun now. Although he is only three years old, he already has multiple private teachers teaching him some principles.
In addition to all kinds of knowledge, the traditional aristocratic riding and shooting skills are also within the scope of William's learning.
Of course, in order not to overpower the situation and give William enough rest, William can get two days of rest per week.
The gift for Anna is an exquisite princess tiara.
This tiara was specially made by Arthur Jean's jeweler. It contains gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, pearls and other jewelry. It looks very exquisite and beautiful. The cost of these materials alone is as high as more than 100,000 Australian dollars. If you include the cost of craftsmanship and its potential value, this princess tiara is probably worth hundreds of thousands of Australian dollars.
The pistol model given to William will definitely cost no more than 100 Australian dollars. The price difference between the two gifts is thousands of times, which actually shows Arthur's different attitudes towards cultivating William and Anna.
For Arthur, Anna is not the first heir, and because she is a girl, of course she needs to be rich.
As for William, as the first heir of the country, he has a heavier burden than anyone else, so he needs more rigorous training.
Arthur has even planned that after William graduates from high school and completes all his intellectual education, he will be sent to a military school for training and even to serve in the army. Only by understanding everything about the military can you better control the military.
This also destined that William would not have a good life in the next twenty years or so.
His studies and ability development are constantly supervised by Arthur, and his external image and life must also be supervised by the House of Representatives and the people.
With Arthur in front of him, if William wants to better control the country, he must do better and convince the Australasians.
A few days after Christmas, time came to the last day of 1912.
Because the next day was New Year's Day in 1913, the annual summary report meeting for 1912 was held as usual on the last day of 1912.
It is the familiar conference room of Sydney Palace again, where the annual report meeting is held.
For Arthur, there is still a lot of good news this year.
First, the population of Australasia this year has reached 12.116 million, the total population of Australia is 9.727 million, the total population of New Zealand is 2.237 million, the population of New Guinea is 90,000, Australian Timor is 42,000, and the Crown Territory 20,000 people.
Judging from the current population growth rate, the population of Australia should exceed 10 million by the time of the next annual summary report meeting.
With a population of 12.11 million, Australasia ranks among the top 20 in the world, more than ten to be exact.
But there is still a big gap compared to the great powers. The population of the great powers can easily reach tens of millions or hundreds of millions. This is also the heritage and strength of the great powers.
Judging from the current strengths revealed by countries around the world, the current ranking of the top eight native populations of the world's major powers is: first
, Russia's 165 million people (immigration impact)
second, and the United States 94.31 million people (immigration reduction
) Three, Germany
is fourth with 65.41 million people (immigration impact) , Austria-Hungary
is fifth with 52 million people, island countries are
sixth with 51.3 million people, the United Kingdom is seventh with 44.1 million people (immigration impact)
, and France is 39.7 million people
. Eight, 35 million people in Italy.
It can be seen from this population ranking that among all the currently recognized powers in Europe, except for Australasia, they are all countries with the top eight populations.
The only country among the top eight countries in terms of population is not a major power, and it is also an island country that is currently almost the same as Australasia in terms of overall strength.
This also shows how important population is to the development of a country.
To become a regional power, it must have a population of tens of millions. To become a regional hegemon or a powerful country, you must have tens of millions of people.
There is good news for Australasia, that is, Russia is an important source of immigrants to Australasia. The population of Russia is very large.
More importantly, the Russian upper class does not pay much attention to the loss of population. In fact, this is normal. After all, Russia's population grows by as much as two to three million every year, and even as high as four or five million in some periods.
Under such circumstances, with hundreds of thousands of people losing less than one million people leaving the country every year, it is natural that the Russian high-level officials do not pay attention to it.
The current Russian immigrants have replaced British immigrants and become the largest group of immigrants in Australasia in a year.
Compared with the previous year's annual summary report, the population of Australasia increased by more than 1.6 million people during this year.
Among them, the new population is nearly 310,000, and the remaining nearly 1.3 million people are all immigrants from Europe.
Among these 1.3 million people, there are 770,000 Russian immigrants, accounting for more than half of all European immigrants.
After Russian immigrants, there were 290,000 British immigrants and 170,000 German immigrants.
Because of the good marriage relationship between Russia and Australasia, and the relatively lax domestic management in Russia.
Therefore, it is certain that even if a European war breaks out in the future, Australasia will still be able to attract a large number of immigrants from Russia.
Of course, attracting immigrants may involve providing the Russian government with some benefits in exchange.
But for Australasia, which is currently stockpiling strategic supplies such as food, arms and medical supplies, it is definitely a good deal to exchange part of the arms supplies for population.
Just one update today, take a day off, and continue with the daily routine tomorrow.
(End of chapter)