The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 610 - 467: Increasing Income

After the enfeoffment ceremony, Arthur publicly announced the establishment of the Nobleman United Consortium, which would be managed by the royal financial group and open for investment only to the new nobility.

As long as one became a nobleman of Australasia, they would receive a basic share of the Nobleman United Consortium.

Generally speaking, a Sir would have a basic share, which could guarantee an annual dividend of at least 500 Australian dollars.

For a Baron, the basic shares would yield an annual dividend of 1500 Australian dollars, a Viscount 5000 Australian dollars, an Earl 12,000 Australian dollars, and a Duke 50,000 Australian dollars.

If the profits of the Nobleman United Consortium were insufficient to cover annual dividends, the royal financial group would sponsor them, ensuring that each noble would receive their own dividends.

It can be seen from this provision that the Nobleman United Consortium was actually an institution for Arthur to distribute money to all the new nobles, uniting the interests of all the new nobles.

After all, the new nobles of Australasia had no territories, so there would naturally not be small and large states like those of the European nobility.

Therefore, the Nobleman United Consortium could also be considered as a benefit for all the new nobles of Australasia, enabling them to receive large dividends each year as long as they were nobles.

In order to ensure that the Nobleman United Consortium had enough profitability, Arthur represented the royal financial group in injecting 5 million Australian dollars into the Consortium, helping it to make better investments and construction.

At the same time, the Nobleman United Consortium would establish an exclusive Nobles’ United Bank, dedicated to the service of these new nobles. Nobles would have lower loan interest rates and higher loan limits at the Nobles’ United Bank.

In this way, the treatment of the new nobles instantly surpassed that of most other classes; after all, doing nothing and solely relying on dividends obtained from the Joint Consortium would be enough for even a Sir to live a rich life.

However, the majority of the people did not envy or resent this, as Arthur had personally promised that, regardless of class, anyone who made outstanding contributions to the royal family and the government could potentially be granted a noble title.

This included accumulating military merit, engaging in scientific research, and even contributing to various aspects of Australasian society. As long as there were significant contributions to the country and the royal family, becoming a new noble was no longer a fantasy.

In addition to broadening the channels for ordinary people to be promoted to nobility, Arthur’s plan also placed great emphasis on the improvement of the existing living standards of the general population.

It is more practical to implement real policies than to simply paint big pies, which is Arthur’s theory across all his policies.

After announcing the Nobleman United Consortium policy, Arthur then declared that various subsidies would be issued to promote the increase of public income, encourage factories to raise workers’ wage levels, and implement a new round of subsidy policies for low-income groups.

At present, the per capita annual income of Australasia has reached 55.21 Australian dollars. In contrast to the general decline in per capita income in European countries, the continuous increase of per capita income in Australasia is rare.

However, compared to the war-unaffected United States, the per capita income level of Australasia is relatively low, and its attractiveness to immigrants is much lower than that of the United States.

As the monarch of Australasia, Arthur was happy to see the growth of national government income but also happy to see the growth of people’s income.

For one thing, the increase in people’s income could affect the growth of industry, economy, and tax revenue, which in another way would feed back to the government.

A huge amount of funds flowing into society would accelerate the economic growth of Australasia, boost GDP, tax revenue, and growth in all industries, even tourism; for Arthur, there were only benefits and no harm in this.

Perhaps some funds would be lost because of this, but the resulting improvement in various industries in Australasia and the people’s love for the government could not be replaced by any amount of capital.

As expected, upon hearing Arthur’s announcement of raising people’s income, almost all the people burst into earth-shattering cheers.

Previously, the cheers of the people at the enfeoffment ceremony were for the government and Arthur, and for the new nobles.

But now, the people were cheering for their own happiness, for being part of such a great country and having such a great monarch.

Throughout history, there have been countless wise and talented monarchs, but not many who truly cared for the people’s interests and were devoted to them.

Perhaps those monarchs could all be called benevolent and great, but only those who had experienced it would know the kind of love they had for such monarchs.

It was no exaggeration to say that in Australasia, anyone who publicly slandered Arthur would not leave Australasia alive.

After the enfeoffment ceremony, there were awards for all the meritorious soldiers. Although most of the soldiers did not accumulate enough merit to be granted a title, there were still many among them who made great achievements and deserved to be personally rewarded by Arthur.

Apart from nearly 200 knights and 19 barons, Australasia also gave birth to more than 400 medal recipients in recognition of the great contributions of the Australasian soldiers in the war.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the land enfeoffed this time amounted to a total of 400,000 acres, which was a staggering 1,600 square kilometers.

Fortunately, Australasia had a vast territory and a small population, so there was enough land to distribute. The 400,000 acres of land were insignificant compared to the total land area of Australasia, not even worth mentioning as a drop in the ocean.

In addition to subsidies for factories, Arthur also decided to provide subsidies and tax reduction to Australasians engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry to ensure that the majority of people could benefit from income growth.

Since the last time Arthur reduced taxes for the people, the taxes of the Australasians have become very low. Especially for the commoners, only those with annual incomes exceeding 20% more than the average annual income will be subject to personal income tax.

Even various miscellaneous taxes are minimal for low-income people, and instead, there are various tuition and medical fee reductions, which are also ways to ensure that the living standards of Australasians will not decline significantly under any circumstances.

At the end of various ceremonies, there was a military parade celebration, which had not been held in Australasia for a long time.

Because this military parade was to celebrate the victory of the war, Australasia mobilized its entire army, navy, and air forces, with tanks, aircraft, artillery, and various warships, demonstrating the strength of the Australasian army both domestically and internationally.

It is worth mentioning that not all of the native soldiers who fought for Australasia were expelled from the territory of Australasia.

Before Australasia took over Southeastern colonies, there were many indigenous countries and forces in the Dutch East Indies, which also had considerable power. Some of these powerful indigenous nations had completely independent military, administrative, and diplomatic powers.

After occupying the land, Australasia swallowed up the vast majority of indigenous tribes but reserved a very small number of indigenous powers.

In Sulawesi Island, there were originally five indigenous forces - Wando Tribe, Manda Tribe, Sultanate of Ruhunu, Gowasu Sultanate, and Toraja Tribe. After being integrated by the Australasian government, only the southern Sultanate of Brunei and Gowasu Sultanate were left to manage the entire indigenous population of Sulawesi.

Some of the yellow native people were arranged in these two Sultanate countries. They would become residents here, ready for Australasian conscription at any time.

In simple terms, these indigenous populations are the source of indigenous army strength in Australasia and serve as cannon fodder for the Australasian army during wartime.

About 2 million indigenous people were relocated to these two Sultanate countries, and together with the original indigenous population of Sulawesi, the indigenous population controlled by the two Sultanates exceeded 5 million.

This also represents that, if Arthur is willing, these indigenous populations can become millions of indigenous armies at any time, fighting for the Australasian Army.

In return for these natives, Arthur promised to leave them enough land and not expel them any further.

Of course, these two Sultanate countries where the indigenous reside must unconditionally obey the orders of the Australasian government.

Moreover, these indigenous populations are not recognized by Australasia, but they will enjoy some benefits, ensuring their loyalty when fighting for Australasia.

For these more than 5 million yellow natives, Arthur made his promise. As long as they make sufficient contributions, they can be recognized by the Australasian government and become an honorable Australasian citizen.

Although the conditions for obtaining citizenship are strict, the chances of these yellow natives becoming citizens are much higher compared to the black natives of New Guinea Island.

Arthur expelled millions of black natives in New Guinea Island, showing Arthur’s attitude towards these black natives. No matter how great their contributions, Arthur does not recognize them as Australasian citizens.

Apart from these Black natives, it is not a problem to say that Australasia is a diverse immigrant country.

Although the main ethnic group in Australasia is Europeans, Australasia also welcomes immigrants from Asia.

Currently, in Australasia’s population of 18.67 million, more than 400,000 are of yellow ethnicity, most of whom are immigrants from East Asia.

In fact, since the Qing government began studying the Australasian system, there has been a steady stream of East Asian immigrants coming to Australasia and settling permanently on this land.

Australasia’s universities have also become targets for many East Asian students. Currently, Australasia welcomes dozens of East Asian students every year, more than half of whom choose to stay in Australasia after graduation.

Apparently, compared to many East Asian countries, Australasia is an excellent choice for studying abroad.

Firstly, the various systems in Australasia are highly similar to Europe, and its technology is also considered first-class in Europe.

Furthermore, the distance between Australasia and East Asia is much closer compared to the distance between Europe and East Asia, which also saves a considerable amount of study expenses.

Under the influence of various factors, many East Asian students choose to study in Australasia and then serve their home countries after returning.

Arthur welcomes these people, as they can enhance the international reputation of Australasian universities and the international influence of Australasia.

After returning to their countries from studying in Australasia, these people naturally have deeper feelings towards Australasia than towards other countries.

This is the advantage of Australasia, and it can easily win over many Asian countries.

Such study-abroad policies have been used in later generations by many countries to cultivate a large number of foreign forces that are friendly to them.