Chapter 248: Inspection of the Western Australia Industrial Base
As the year entered 1908, Australasia gradually returned to calm and resumed its usual development.
After more than two months of reorganization and training, the newly expanded army was officially formed. After the soldiers were granted ranks and numbers, the 4th Regular Division, 1st Colonial Division, and 2nd Colonial Division were deployed to their new stations, starting the process of defense and training.
The 1st Colonial Division was sent to the New Guinea colony, while the 2nd Colonial Division was deployed to Portuguese Timor.
At present, the colonial divisions were still in their infancy, and the real recruitment of soldiers would only begin once they arrived in the colonies. However, once the two colonial divisions underwent initial training, New Guinea and Portuguese Timor would have stronger defensive forces.
After the switch of defense forces, the garrisons of Portuguese Timor and New Guinea returned to the mainland of Australasia.
Currently, the defense deployment in Australasia was clear. The Australian region had the 1st to 4th Regular Divisions stationed, while New Zealand had the New Zealand Garrison Regiment of 6,000 men, consisting of both the original New Zealand garrison and the troops transferred from New Guinea.
Arthur's Guard Division was not included in this count. The Guard Division directly reported to Arthur, with its main duty being the protection of the royal palace and Arthur.
In addition to these defensive forces, Arthur also had over a thousand royal guards and security personnel, typically stationed at the royal palace as part of its defense.
When Arthur traveled or visited other countries, the royal guards would serve as his main protective force, as the Guard Division, with its thousands of troops, would present a logistical problem and be too conspicuous.
The weapons of the royal guards were not the typical Lee-Enfield rifles found in the army but instead the Casadin submachine gun, which was developed by the royal arms factory.
The name "Casadin" came from the inventor, Casadin James Kenway. In addition to the Casadin submachine gun, the royal guards were also equipped with the self-developed As-1898 semi-automatic pistol.
As for heavy weapons like machine guns and artillery, the royal palace had a stockpile, but the guards usually did not use them. After all, their primary responsibility was protecting Arthur, not going to war with heavy weaponry.
Currently, the military strength of Australasia's army wasn't very strong, but it was adequate. As an island nation made up of various islands, if Australasia's navy could defend its territorial waters, the army could maintain its current scale without any major issues.
This was also the reason why the country's defense budget was gradually leaning toward the navy.
In fact, Australasia's strategic environment shared some similarities with the United States.
The U.S. is bordered by oceans to the east and west, and its neighboring countries in the north and south are relatively weak, which has given the U.S. a favorable geographical position to develop peacefully, far from European conflicts.
Looking at Australasia's geography, the Pacific and Indian Oceans border its east and west sides, Antarctica lies to the south, and the weak Dutch East Indies is to the north.
While there are colonies of great powers nearby, most of them are small islands in the Pacific that are not very important to these powers. The truly important colonies lie in the Malacca Strait and India, but due to the presence of Dutch East Indies in between, and since these regions were all British colonies, Australasia had no conflict of interest with them.
This has provided Australasia with a favorable development environment, where it can remain unaffected by European conflicts while slowly developing into a major player in the region, influencing surrounding situations.
After all the departments delivered their reports, Arthur nodded in satisfaction.
In general, although the cabinet government experienced considerable changes in mid-1907, the country's development speed did not stop, and Australasia was still progressing rapidly.
In fact, the growth rate in 1907 was higher than in the previous years, with both population and economy showing signs of Australasia emerging as a major power.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs' next task remained attracting a large number of immigrants from Europe and other regions to boost Australasia's population.
Under the country's medical, educational, and immigration policies, and the welfare benefits for workers, Australasia's attractiveness as an immigration destination had significantly increased. It had now become the second most popular immigration destination, after the United States.
Attracting immigrants, ensuring welfare for the existing population, and addressing civil issues were the key tasks for the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
Minister of Civil Affairs, Henris, took on the task seriously and promised that 1908's immigrant population would hit a new high.
The Ministry of Transportation's task was relatively simple. Besides the northern railway, almost all road and railway construction in the country had been completed.
There were some new railway projects related to the two colonies, but colonial matters were generally the responsibility of the governors, and even the ministers were not expected to intervene.
The construction of the northern railway had entered a stable phase, with over 60,000 natives already involved in the work, and that number was still growing.
If progress goes smoothly, the northern railway should be completed by 1914, though delays could push the completion date to 1916.
The Ministry of Agriculture's task was also fairly simple. Besides organizing natives to continue cultivating land, it was also focused on monitoring food prices both domestically and internationally and being ready to either stockpile or sell grains as needed.
The Ministry of Education's task was somewhat more complicated. In addition to expanding the existing universities, it was also focused on increasing the number of universities and technical schools to train more university graduates and skilled workers.
The construction of new universities could be temporarily halted to make room for technical schools, as skilled workers were critical for developing the industrial sector.
The Ministry of Health had a relatively straightforward task, proceeding methodically. The number of hospitals should not be expanded too rapidly until there were sufficient medical professionals. Their current job was to attract more healthcare talent and prepare a solid foundation of medical personnel for the hospitals.
To address the shortage of medical personnel, three universities had already opened medical programs, each graduating nearly 600 healthcare professionals annually. However, these professionals could only serve as assistants to doctors, and it would be risky to place them in positions as primary doctors without the necessary years of experience.
The Ministry of Public Security had relatively light work. With Australasia's rapid development, crime rates had decreased significantly. Most crimes were committed by foreign immigrants, as domestic order had largely stabilized.
To address the higher crime rates among immigrants, the Ministry of Public Security, after consulting with Arthur, introduced corresponding measures.
Firstly, they planned to improve the welfare of immigrants, helping them find jobs and housing early on and providing certain compensations. Immigrants who chose land would receive at least 10 acres, while those who chose not to would receive at least 100 Australian dollars and be introduced to factories or other job opportunities.
Of course, rewards were accompanied by penalties. Immigrants who continued to commit crimes would face severe punishments, ranging from a month of forced labor and small fines for minor crimes to 10 years of forced labor or even the death penalty for severe crimes.
However, a provision stated that if immigrants reported family members or friends who were planning or committing crimes, it would not affect their immigration process.
In reality, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had the lightest workload. Since Australasia's main policy was still focused on internal development, the country had only minimal interaction with other countries, except for a few close relations.
Currently, Australasia's influence was mostly limited to Southeast Asia, though it had gained significant recognition in Europe. Despite not having substantial influence in Europe, Australasia had become a consideration for many immigrants when choosing a destination.
This was thanks to Arthur's good reputation in the UK and the actions of the Portuguese government and King Carlos I.
Currently, the countries with the best relations with Australasia were Germany and Russia, maintaining surface-level good relations with the UK.
Besides these, while most great powers and European countries had diplomatic relations with Australasia, the ties were not close.
At present, the country's most important industrial sector was still under heavy development. While Australasia's industrial scale had already reached a top level, it still lacked a deep industrial foundation.
Arthur, with support from the UK and Germany, had planned the next step: to use limited British support and Germany's extensive support to bring Australasia's industrial base, particularly the steel industry, to the same level as the major industrial powers.
For this, the Industrial Department had planned a new industrial zone, or industrial base, located at the junction of Western Australia and South Australia. This location, with its proximity to mineral resources, provided very favorable conditions for industrial development.
The only problem was transportation, but the Industrial Department had already worked out a plan with the Ministry of Transportation to ensure that the railways would connect directly to both the southern and northern industrial railways, solving the transportation problem.
Currently, Australasia's main industrial bases were located in the southeast of Australia and the north of New Zealand, as these regions were the economic and population centers of the country.
However, the mineral resources in these regions were limited, which was a major obstacle to the diversification of Australasia's industrial development.
By selecting the new industrial base in Western and South Australia, the government hoped to overcome this limitation by exploiting the region's rich mineral resources.
Although the population in Western and South Australia was not abundant, the Industrial Department had decided to make changes.
To address the labor shortage, the government planned to deploy at least 200,000 natives to work in the industrial base, along with tens of thousands of local workers. The new industrial base was expected to quickly catch up with older industrial zones in scale.
To demonstrate the importance of the industrial base, and since there was little else to do in the coming days, Arthur set off for Western Australia on January 2, 1908, to personally inspect the newly chosen industrial base.
Thanks to the industrial railway, it only took two days to reach the site, and Arthur planned to inspect the base for one day. If progress went smoothly, he hoped to return to Sydney before the National Day celebrations.
As Australasia's development continued to improve each year, National Day activities had also gained more attention. Shops and workshops would often hold discounts to celebrate the country's founding, and on this day, the bright national flag of Australasia would be seen in every village and city, a testament to the people's love for their country.
(End of Chapter)
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