The Rise of Australasia

As it was the second year of popularizing the wireless radio station, Arthur’s implementation speech this Christmas also attracted much anticipation.

According to the estimates of the Propaganda Department, the current wireless radio signals have covered almost all major cities, with a total population coverage of over 11 million people.

This also means that after a year, it is not a problem for Arthur’s Christmas speech to attract millions of listeners this time.

Because from the sales of radios this year, the popularity of radios in Australasia is not low.

Of course, this is largely due to the low price of radios. Especially for the simplest crystal radios, the cheapest ones only require one to two months of salary, and ordinary people can afford it if they bite the bullet.

While giving the speech, Arthur couldn’t help but feel the rapid passage of time.

It feels like a short time, but it has actually been more than 20 years since he arrived in Australia.

However, looking at the achievements of Australasia so far, these 20 years of efforts have not been wasted.

Just a few days after Christmas, Arthur convened a new round of Cabinet meetings to establish the government development plan for the next year, that is, 1922.

As the saying goes, if you want to be rich, you must first build roads. Arthur attaches great importance to the construction of highways and railways, so the first topic mentioned is also related to the Transportation Department.

According to the current railway construction situation in Australasia, the Industrial Railway, Northern Railway, and Central Railway have been completed, with a total mileage of up to 43,000 kilometers, which seems to be quite developed.

But when compared with other powers, especially considering the vast territory of Australasia, it still seems somewhat backward.

First, look at an exaggerated figure. In 1850, the total mileage of railways in the United States had reached 18,000 kilometers, and now it has exceeded 430,000 kilometers, a full 13 times that of Australasia.

Although the United States has more developed economies and larger industries, the land area of the United States is still not as large as Australasia, so the backwardness of railway mileage can be seen.

Even the current railway mileage of Australasia is only ranked sixth in the world, only less than 1,000 kilometers more than mainland France.

Mainland France has an area of only 550,000 square kilometers, and the area of Australasia is more than ten times that of mainland France.

By comparing the two, it is clear that the transportation infrastructure in Australasia is still lagging behind, and the construction of railways and highways is still the main topic at present.

Arthur looked at Martin Pospiel, the Minister of Transportation, and asked, "Minister Martin, what is the new year plan for the Transportation Department?"

Knowing that this is a test for himself, Minister Martin dared not take any carelessness or drag on time, and carefully replied, "Your Majesty, in addition to maintaining and consolidating our current railways and highways, I think, it is necessary to continue to build railways.

In five years, the total railway mileage should be expanded to 50,000 kilometers, and in twenty years it should be expanded to 100,000 kilometers, in order to initially meet our demand for railway transportation."

Listening to the completely different opinions from the previous Ministers of Transportation, Arthur raised his eyebrows and asked with interest, "You think we need 100,000 kilometers of railways to be enough?"

"Not exactly, Your Majesty." Minister Martin explained: "It’s not that 100,000 kilometers are already enough, but that 100,000 kilometers initially meet our needs."

"Oh?" Arthur became more interested and asked with a smile, "Now, Australasia has a total railway mileage of only 43,000 kilometers, and it took more than 20 years to build. Do you want to build the remaining 57,000 kilometers of railways in almost the same time?"

"I cannot deny that this is a difficult problem, Your Majesty. But railways are very important for the development of the country. The total mileage of railways in the United States has reached 430,000 kilometers. If we do not want to fall behind in this regard, it is necessary to continue to improve our railway mileage." Minister Martin explained.

"Moreover, the development of the Merle River Basin also requires the construction of a large number of railways, as well as the expansion of the scope of industrial bases, and the newly established capital special district and Northern Australia by Your Majesty also need to build a large number of railways. Australasia is vast, and we have no reason not to build longer railways, Your Majesty."

Arthur nodded in satisfaction, agreeing with Minister Martin’s ambitious ideas.

Let alone discuss the huge 430,000 kilometers of railways in the United States, even in other colonies of the British Empire such as Canada and India, the railway mileage has also exceeded Australasia. ＲÁ₦őᛒЕȿ

Although a large part of these railways were built by the British for their own interests.

However, it cannot be denied that this railway mileage has played a vital role in the economic development of the Canadian and Indian regions.

It is necessary for Australasia to develop better and build more railways.

Especially when airplanes and airships are unaffordable for a large number of civilians, on land, trains have become the only choice for the majority of civilians to travel to distant areas.

Not only can this speed up the economic flow between various regions of Australasia and promote economic development, but it can also increase the mobility of the population, which is also helpful for the tourism industry in Australasia.

"The Transportation Department should come up with a plan as soon as possible, as well as the funds and manpower required for railway construction plans." Although Arthur did not express agreement or disagreement, his words already revealed his viewpoint.

"Yes, I will deliver it to you as soon as possible, Your Majesty." Minister Martin nodded excitedly, thrilled to have secured Arthur’s support.

The reason Arthur agreed with Minister Martin’s proposal of extending the railway mileage to 50,000 kilometers in five years and 100,000 kilometers in twenty years was that he saw the gap between Australasia and other powerful countries in terms of railway mileage.

Although the population did not require as much railway mileage as other powerful countries, the population would always grow, and it could not always remain at just over 20 million.

Furthermore, the vast territory of Australasia naturally required more railways, and the construction of railways was not a loss, but rather very important for a country’s development.

Moreover, with 100,000 kilometers in 20 years, an average of only 2,850 kilometers of railway would be built annually, which could potentially be achieved considering the current railway construction demand.

After all, the urgently needed railway construction in Northern Australia and the capital special zone mostly consisted of plains, so the construction would not only save manpower and resources but also time.

With the current level of machinery and equipment development, building 2,850 kilometers of railways in a year could be a challenging task but achievable with some effort.

Furthermore, even if building 2,850 kilometers of railways annually was not feasible, it would just take a few more years.

But Minister Martin’s aggressive approach to railway construction was something that some cabinet members did not possess.

In terms of national development, though conservative officials were necessary, aggressive ones were equally important.

It had to be admitted that some officials were too conservative for the country’s development. The construction of the nation needed a balance between conservatism and aggressiveness, which was also the reason why new blood constantly needed to be injected into the political arena.

Currently, Martin, who joined the Cabinet for the first time two and a half years ago, was undoubtedly the aggressive official.

As long as, in the remaining half a year’s tenure, Minister Martin could achieve a bit in the Transportation Department, Arthur would not mind letting him serve another term, to see whether Minister Martin was all talk or genuinely capable and ambitious.

Some officials becoming conservative is inevitable for any country and government.

Especially in the case of Australasia now, as long as there were no issues during their tenure, and they diligently completed their terms of office, they would have a chance to be granted a noble title, which was something no official could refuse.

As the saying goes, no action means no mistakes. If controversial ideas led to work mistakes, not only would they lose the chance to gain a noble title, but they might even become sinners of Australasia. This was what those officials feared and the reason they became conservative.

It should be noted that there has never been an official in Australasia’s history who made a significant mistake in their work. This means that if they made a mistake, they would likely be the first one and the one recorded in history.

These officials could not bear such a long-lasting bad reputation. The higher one stood, the more they cherished their feathers, which was the real reason for the increase in conservative factions in politics.

How to effectively deal with this situation? Injecting continuous new blood into the political vitality was the best way.

That was the reason why Australasia’s Prime Minister of the Cabinet could only serve two consecutive terms, and cabinet members only three.

Even the meritorious Prime Minister Kent, after completing this round of tenure, would have to give up his position as Prime Minister and pursue other cabinet positions or take a temporary break.

Even if Arthur trusted Kent, there was no reason to let him exceed his service term for a third time.

After all, it was neither wartime nor a huge crisis, and there was no reason to make an exception. It would not be worth the damage.

Since 1911, when Minister Kent was first appointed Prime Minister, he had been in office for nearly 11 years. Adding the remaining one and a half years, his service as Prime Minister would have lasted 12 years, spanning the major development period of Australasia.

In such circumstances, experiencing Australasia’s development in different capacities would actually bring more benefits.

As the Chinese proverb says, "those directly involved cannot see as clearly as those observing." Sometimes, playing the role of an observer could reveal the shortcomings in the government’s development.

Moreover, the political stage of Australasia could not be dominated by one person forever, as it would easily breed factions and power.

Although it was currently controllable, it could not prevent future monarchs from facing such situations.

Arthur also had to consider the following monarchs. Cultivating a high-prestige meritorious officer in Australasia did not serve the monarch’s interests, even if it was someone he greatly trusted.

Although this reasoning may seem too realistic, it was the case with any kingdom.

Officials in a monarchy should always serve the monarch. If an official with prestige on par with the monarch emerged, whom should the other officials listen to?

Arthur could surely suppress it now, but what about the future monarchs? A country’s development would inevitably face such issues, and the best way was to avoid the emergence of high-prestige officials as much as possible.

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