Chapter 345 Hunting and the Royal Zoo
As the king of Australasia, Arthur's job was actually very relaxed and enjoyable during a period when government affairs were not too busy.
Because the cabinet meeting is held once a week, this also means that when there is no cabinet meeting and there are not many government affairs, Arthur has six days a week that he can freely arrange.
But in the early 20th century, it was not easy to find enough entertainment, even for Arthur, the head of a country.
Fortunately, Arthur has enough power to do whatever he wants, including talkies, football, sports, etc., which are now very popular in Australasia. Arthur is behind these.
Arthur currently has many pastimes. In addition to occasionally watching a new movie, watching football matches organized by Australasian states, horse racing, and even hunting by traditional nobles are all Arthur's pastimes. one.
Speaking of horse racing, this is an aristocratic sport that has been circulating for hundreds of years and is deeply loved by Eastern and Western aristocrats.
Horses were the only convenient means of transportation for humans before the birth of cars and trains. For people before the 20th century, horses appeared in every aspect of people's lives.
As early as 1174, at the Smithfield Friday Horse Market in London, the first more formal horse racing appeared.
Along with the development and spread of British horse racing, around the 13th century, a horse racing craze started in Europe.
In the West, horse racing is known as the sport of kings. Because horse racing is determined by the skill of the rider and the speed of the horse, it is a big test for the requirements of riding skills and the endurance of the horse.
In the underdeveloped Middle Ages, those who could afford to host and participate in horse racing were generally local nobles and wealthy families.
So far, horse racing is very popular in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, Australasia and parts of Asia. Every horse racing event in these areas will attract a large number of people to watch.
The history of horse racing in Australasia dates back to the colonial period in 1840. At that time, during the colonial period, Flemington Racecourse had already held more formal horse racing competitions, and it continues to this day.
As the largest horse breeder in Australasia, Arthur's assets include hundreds of thousands of Australian wild horses.
Of course, Australian wild horses are a relatively unified name. In fact, among the hundreds of thousands of horses owned by Arthur, they can be roughly divided into three categories, purebred Arabian horses imported from other places and Australasian native Victoria Kent horses and Donald horses.
These three horse races are the oldest and have the largest populations of horses in Australasia.
The history of the Arabian horse can be traced back hundreds of years. It was a purebred Arabian horse introduced by the British colonists at that time in order to improve the bloodlines of Australia's native working horses.
The remaining two types of Australian native horses have been preserved in the long European history because they both possess relatively excellent speed and endurance. They have become one of the few excellent horses that has been preserved among the many horse races in Australia.
These three types of horses are all suitable to become military horses, and they are also the main breeding goals of Arthur's horse farm.
Arthur's private horse farm currently owns more than 500,000 Australian horses, making him the largest horse breeder in Australasia. The total number of horses owned can even directly arm at least 100,000 cavalry troops.
As the monarch of Australasia and the true owner of the racecourse, Arthur has ridden more than ten horses, all of which are among the best of all horses in Australia.
As the largest horse breeder, Arthur's horse farm also holds horse racing events. Although it was not Arthur's instruction, for most large horse farms in the West, holding horse racing competitions is even more normal than eating and drinking.
Arthur's largest racecourse in Australasia, Kent Racecourse in Victoria, hosts the largest horse racing event in all of Australasia every year.
Of course, the Kent Racecourse actually has nothing to do with the Kent Butlers and Sons. This is because the area where the Kent Racecourse is located is the town of Kent, Victoria, which is the birthplace of the Kent horse in Victoria, so the racecourse is named Kent Racecourse.
At the Kent Racecourse, there are more than 100,000 Victoria Kent horses and tens of thousands of horses of other races being raised. It is not only the largest horse farm under the royal family consortium, but also the largest horse farm in the entire Australasia.
Whenever a horse racing competition is held at Kent Racecourse, tens of thousands of onlookers often gather around the racecourse.
There are many people who come just to have fun and find a lively and cheerful atmosphere. But there are also people who, in order to get rich overnight, take advantage of horse racing and use gambling to realize their fantasies.
Fortunately, Arthur's racecourse has regulations, and the maximum bet amount for each person will not exceed ten Australian dollars.
After all, gambling still depends on luck. Although there will be no cheating at Kent Racecourse, who can guarantee that these gamblers will not lose money?
In order to avoid the situation where gamblers are ruined as much as possible, they set a maximum bet amount for everyone. This is a solution that the racecourse staff came up with.
Of course, for nobles and capitalists with truly noble status, this restriction does not actually exist.
Because nobles and capitalists will not place bets with common people, this restriction will only take effect on common people.
In fact, if you think about it, ten Australian dollars is a lot. According to the current per capita income in Australasia, ten Australian dollars is equivalent to more than two months' salary per capita in Australasia, which is also a huge sum of money for ordinary people.
Of course, there are far more pastimes for Australasian civilians than just these.
In addition to the annual horse racing at the racecourse, Arthur also built many zoos, large and small, across Australasia, where tourists and citizens can buy tickets to watch.
Zoos were originally an exclusive entertainment for nobles and monarchs in ancient times in the East and West. They surrounded a garden with different scenery, and then released various rare animals for the nobles and monarchs to play and hunt.
The first zoos were more like evolved from hunting grounds. At first, they only placed some common wild animals for the nobles to hunt. With the development of time, some zoos have become more formalized, planting trees, flowers and plants, and raising more rare wild animals, just for fun and viewing.
In Europe, this kind of zoo first appeared at the end of the 18th century, more than 100 years ago.
With the development of zoos, some zoos have even begun scientific research on biological aspects.
The development of zoos in Australasia is relatively early. However, because there are so many wild animals in Australia and there was no support for this in previous colonial policies, the development speed of zoos is not fast.
After Arthur's arrival, two large zoos were established in the Capital Territory and Victoria, and then a large zoo was established in New Zealand.
The good news is that Australia has a wide variety of wild animals. Each of the three major zoos has at least hundreds of animal species.
Of course, Australasian zoos do not exhibit venomous snakes. Although there are a wide range of venomous snakes in Australia, Arthur has no interest in this kind of animal that can easily kill people.
The largest zoo in Australasia, the Royal Sydney Zoo, currently has more than 300 species of animals and plants and receives more than 5,000 visitors a day.
Based on the ticket price of 0.5 Australian dollars per person, the daily ticket revenue of the Royal Sydney Zoo alone exceeds 2,500 Australian dollars.
However, with more than 300 species of animals and plants and more than 5,000 animals in the zoo, the daily feed costs far exceed this number.
The good news is that near the zoo, there is a ranch belonging to the royal family consortium, which can provide some meat for the wild animals in the zoo.
Of course, there are also many vegetarian animals in the zoo. Part of their daily food depends on the extensive vegetation in the zoo, and part of it depends on the feeding of the zoo.
It is worth mentioning that the reception hours of the Royal Sydney Zoo are only from Sunday to Friday every week, and Saturdays are reserved exclusively to serve the royal family and nobles.
Even if there are members of the royal family who want to visit at other times, theoretically they have to clear the place to serve the royal family.
However, after Arthur visited once or twice, he didn't have much interest in the animals and plants in the zoo.
Instead, Queen Mary and the two little guys would go to the zoo from time to time.
This also reminded Arthur that since Australasia's own zoo does not have animals and plants from other regions, why not bring some rare animals and plants from other regions to thrive in specific places in the zoo?
In particular, if some rare wild animals and plants of later generations can be planted and cultivated in Australasia in advance, it can be regarded as a kind of advance layout and investment.
Arthur spent a few days thinking about some of the rarer animals and plants in later generations, and then submitted a list to Kent Butler, asking Kent Butler to use the power of the royal consortium to purchase them from around the world.
It is not difficult for the royal family consortium to obtain some rare wild animals and plants from all over the world and then transfer them to Australasia for planting and cultivation.
Compared with later generations, because it was a hundred years ago, some of the more precious wild animals and plants in later generations are actually not that precious now.
Moreover, in this era, the concept of protecting rare wild animals and plants has not been popularized. Even because the pollution of the environment by industry has not been that serious, hunting is now common in Europe.
For Australia, which has relatively slow industrial development, this phenomenon has become even more obvious.
Currently, most of Australia's land is in an undeveloped and barren state, with a large number of virgin forests, wild animals and plants, etc.
Australasia had implemented a ban on long guns for a period of time, but Arthur regretted his mistake and changed it to a ban on short guns instead of long guns.
Of course, most of the firearms that can be circulated in the private market in Australasia are ordinary quality shotguns, muskets, etc.
The more advanced Lee-Enfield rifles, Gew-98 rifles, as well as other countries' standard rifles, submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, grenades and larger-caliber weapons are all under strict control.
Even fully automatic pistols, which are popular abroad, require strict management before they can be prepared in Australasia.
Of course, this does not mean that Arthur is afraid of assassinations. In fact, under the protection of a large number of intelligence personnel and bodyguards, guards, and defense forces, it was impossible for Arthur to have any accidents or dangers when he stayed in Australasia.
You know, even if it was just a simple trip by Arthur, there would be thousands of security personnel following him.
It is no exaggeration to say that anyone who makes any rash move within two to three hundred meters around Arthur will be subdued by the security forces immediately.
For these Arthur's exclusive security personnel, they adhere to the principle that they would rather kill ten by mistake than miss one.
After all, Arthur's safety is the most important thing, and everything else must be put aside first.
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(End of chapter)