The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 401: Chapter 338: The British Delegation Arrives

On February 3, 1913, the Australasian Conscription Act was officially proulgated.

The Act stipulates that all male legal citizens who are 18 years old and under 30 years, except for students, medical workers, scientific researchers, educators and other important fieldworkers, must participate in militarized training twice a year.

Theoretically, the military training is conducted in July and October each year, lasting half a month each time.

During this half-month of military training, everything from formation training to gunnery training is covered.

Although these trained individuals will not quickly become qualified soldiers within a short period, they are more prepared compared to ordinary people who have never received any military training.

For Australasia now, Arthur does not intend to mobilize millions of troops all at once.

This would not only damage the country's potential for development, but the enormous military would also put a strain on the government's finances.

However, there is no choice, having sufficient reservists is also a means to ensure national security.

In an era when other powerful nations have hundreds of thousands of standing armies and millions of reserve forces, how could the security of Australasia be guaranteed if its military is too scarce? see ,em,pyr for more

Even if the security of the native land could be ensured, all the colonies and territories outside the native land, as well as Australasia's influence and status abroad, also need substantial military strength to maintain.

Although in Arthur's estimation, Australasia has successfully achieved the status of a power in industry, economy, and military.

However, even among the powers, there are significant differences. The status of power that Australasia has achieved is only equivalent to that of lower tier powers like Italy, considered as the gatekeepers of the powers.

It may seem like a power, but when compared to top-tier powers such as Britain, France, and Germany, even two Australasias are no match.

The enactment of the Conscription Act did not meet much opposition in Australasia.

In fact, this is normal. After all, anyone who participates in military training during this period can receive a salary equivalent to the average annual income at the time.

And they don't have to worry about losing their jobs because they participate in militarized training.

If there really are companies that dismiss employees on such grounds, they need not worry, the Australasian Government and the royal family will see justice done for the employees.

In fact, from the timing of Australasia's militarized training, it can be seen that the government had foreseen this.

In most parts of Australasia, January to June is the busy farming season, and it is also the time to plant wheat and other grain crops.

From July to October, wheat is in its growth stage, which is a slack farming period. For the farmers and herdsmen of Australasia, this is a period when they have enough spare time for militarized training.

From November to December, it's the wheat harvesting period, and the busy agricultural season starts again.

Therefore, the Ministry of Defense specifically arranged the annual military training for July and October, which are relatively close.

The timing from August to September coincides with the sheep shearing period. Thus, the timing of Australasia's militarized training almost perfectly avoids the busy agricultural and pastoral periods.

As for the financial burden that annual militarized training brings to the Ministry of Defense, after Minister Raul's calculations, the rough figure was around 6 million Australian dollars.

Among these, there are about 1 million male citizens of Australasia who are 18 years old and under 30 years old.

After deducting students and some important positions, the number of people participating in military training each year is about 800,000.

Two training sessions in total mean providing a month's salary for these 800,000 people, about 4.2 Australian dollars per person, in total around 331 million Australian dollars.

Although there are 800,000 people participating in the training, that doesn't mean the government has to provide weapons for them all.

In fact, the training can be staggered. Of these 800,000 people, only about 100,000 to 200,000 rifles are needed so that everyone can fire a few dozen bullets during their training.

Adding up all the expenditure, Minister Raul gave an approximate figure of about 6 million Australian dollars.

This amount is not too high for the Ministry of Defense and is affordable.

Of course, representing the royal family, Arthur also expected to take action. Thus, he directly stated that the royal family would bear the salaries of all those undergoing militarized training.

Considering this, the royal family would cover around 300 million Australian dollars, and the government would cover around 300 million Australian dollars for the annual militarized training in the short term.

For the Ministry of Defense, the added military budget for this year is not just that.

The first is the proposal report on the increase in the number of Colonial Divisions put forward by Arthur. Arthur stipulates that by 1915, there must be 15 Colonial Divisions and they must have certain combat capabilities.

And there are only two years left until 1915, so the expansion of the Colonial Division is imminent. The time left for Minister Raul to draw up the expansion plan is pretty scarce.

Fortunately, although a Colonial Division has as many as 20,000 soldiers, all the soldiers and most low-ranking officers are composed of local Indigenous Peoples.