The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 354: Chapter 306: Military Layout of 1912 (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

On December 3st, just a few days after the Christmas vacation, the Australasian Governmt retered the whirlwind of state affairs.

The last day of the year oft coincided with the time for the Cabinet Governmt's annual report meeting.

However, as the new Cabinet had only be working for a few months, the report would be a summary of the previous Cabinet's actions, thus, the contt of the annual report was relatively sparse.

Of course, the main focus of this meeting was the new Cabinet's plan for its term.

Due to the volatile situation in Europe and a the world, no one can be certain whether war will break out tomorrow.

This implies that the work of the Fourth Cabinet Governmt is extremely difficult, and there is a high likelihood that they will experice a world war unprecedted in history during their term.

This also means that the Fourth Cabinet Governmt's role is very critical. A single misstep could pottially set the country's progress of t years up in flames.

While history from the future can provide Arthur many lessons and experices, who can guarantee that this world will follow the same course?

Will Italy switch sides? Will the United States ter the war? Will revolution erupt in Russia Nation?

Set aside these three questions, Australasia itself is something that Arthur could not easily predict.

Theoretically, whichever side Australasia aligns itself with, it would be able to provide some substantial assistance, and possibly ev alter the course of the future war to some extt.

But Arthur's aim isn't limited to this. What Arthur seeks is for Australasia to gain a higher international status through this war and to befit from the defeat of other countries. After the First World War, it should be at least a player, not a pawn.

Although the annual report meeting had be greatly streamlined, what was reported was mostly vital news.

As of December 3, 9, Australasia's population had officially reached over .5 million, with Australia's population at 8.7 million and New Zealand's population at .4 million.

The New Guinea Colony, Australian Timor, and Royal Territory populations were 73,000, 9,000, and 8,000 respectively.

Australasia now officially had its second city with over a million people: Melbourne.

Melbourne's currt population was just over .04 million people, making it the second economic cter of Australasia, behind Sydney. These two cities were considered the two brightest pearls in Oceania.

With more than a decade of developmt, at least within Australasia's urban cities, the level of developmt has initially caught up with that of ordinary cities in Europe.

For cities like Sydney and Melbourne, with populations in the millions, their scale and developmt level is in no way inferior to top-tier European cities.

In truth, this is quite normal, giv that Australasia has devoted the strgth of the tire nation to developing these two cities.

These two cities are peerless within Australasia, establishing their unique dominance amongst the cities in Australasia.

Ev under Minister Grant's advice, Arthur has already formulated and issued relevant immigration laws, heavily couraged immigration to remote areas, colonies, smaller towns, and to some extt, reduced the welfare treatmt of big cities.

Yet, still, four out of every t immigrants chose to stay in a big city, or at least, in a state capital with a population in the hundreds of thousands.

After all, only large cities can provide more job opportunities and more opportunities for these immigrants to find.

What's there to do in small towns? Except for special cases like the Leonora Industrial Base, small towns are mostly gaged in agriculture developmt, serving at most as a farm owner.

Most immigrants harbour dreams of striking it rich and are not contt with merely being obedit farm owners.

T million is a threshold, a necessary condition for formally embarking on the path to becoming a strong country.

In this world, a country with fewer than t million people is destined to never become a powerful nation.

But in reality, a population of t million is only one of many criteria. If Arthur wants to achieve his ambitions, a population of just t million for Australasia is far from sufficit.

In Europe, the number of regular and reserve troops of the European Nations combined is in the millions, ev approaching t million.

Though full mobilization would harm the foundation of these countries, it also indicates that these countries have the courage and the ability to fight a desperate battle.

Now look at Australasia, a 500,000-strong army may already be the currt limit. Any more would seriously impact the nations' developmt.

But if Australasia wants to become a recognized Power with international status, besides a strong navy, a land army exceeding one million is also very necessary.

This shows that Australasia's population must exceed twty million in order to have the strgth and confidce to compete with other powerful nations.

Giv the currt rate of Australasia's immigration, to exceed a population of twty million, it would take at least another t years.

If you take into account that wh war breaks out in Europe, countries are sure to limit emigration. That means that during the brink and duration of the war, immigration to Australasia will definitely decrease, possibly to a significant degree.

In other words, it might require twty years until Australasia's population can break through twty million.

Twty years later, World War II might already be on the verge of beginning. At this point, Australasia is only just starting to build confidce in terms of population, that might be somewhat too late.