As New Zealand prepares for the referendum, Australia also celebrates its fourth national day, which also represents four years since Australia was founded.

This time, the National Day event was not as grand as in previous years, because the new royal palace and the new government building were under construction, and there was no military parade.

Mainly about the flag-raising and the government's annual speech, Arthur did not rush back to Australia.

After half a month of preparation, on January 15, 1904, a New Zealand-wide referendum officially began.

In order to ensure the fairness of this referendum, New Zealand dispatched officials from almost the entire colonial government and all soldiers stationed in New Zealand to resolutely resist any injustice.

New Zealand also invited officials from the German Empire, the British Empire, France, Australia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands to serve as witnesses to ensure the fairness of the referendum.

Of course, these officials were actually colonial officials from around New Zealand, which is why they were able to get to New Zealand so quickly.

However, these people do actually carry the orders of their respective countries, and they do have the right to represent their respective countries.

In order to ensure the fairness of the referendum, the referendum will last from January 15 to February 15, a full month.

During this period, New Zealand will invite the entire witness team to conduct random inspections in all New Zealand towns and cities to ensure the integrity of the referendum.

There are three options for the referendum: New Zealand independence, remaining under the rule of the British Empire as an autonomous colony, and joining Australia.

At the moment, among the three options, the least popular has become New Zealand's independence.

In this typhoon crisis, New Zealanders have seen the inadequacy of New Zealand's individual strength.

If it weren't for the help of Australia and European countries, I am afraid that New Zealand would have been enough to have a headache in the rescue link after the disaster, and even more casualties and losses.

In fact, this is also a common problem in the world at present, weak regions and countries are like meat on the hunter's table, and can only wait for the division of the great powers.

Judging by the size of New Zealand, even if it succeeds in becoming independent, it will only become a joke.

Although it is much better economically and industrially than Asian countries of the same size, it is not at all comparable to European countries.

And New Zealand, which gained full independence, was free from the control of the British Empire, but it was also coveted by other powers.

With New Zealand's size, it is simply not enough to resist any other great power, not even the second strongest countries such as Spain and the Netherlands.

This would not necessarily end better than remaining in the British Empire, which was still the world's largest power and could protect all its colonies.

In anticipation of all New Zealanders, the New Zealand referendum officially began.

Across New Zealand, there are hundreds of collection points that collect the referendum choices of all New Zealanders.

In addition, the colonial government of New Zealand will also organize manpower to go to some remote areas to collect the opinions of New Zealanders, and try to get all eligible New Zealanders to participate in the referendum.

Because New Zealand's land area is not large, the referendum is only a month long.

But there will be a month and a half of counting time before the official announcement of the New Zealand referendum results will be announced a month and a half later, on March 1.

New Zealand's referendum has attracted the attention of some parts of the world. After all, in addition to the relatively special Australia, New Zealand is also the first incident in which the inhabitants of the colonies control the fate of their own region.

This even gave some colonial countries hope for independence, and they also wanted to incite a referendum so that the country could gain independent status.

Unfortunately, their rulers did not have the evidence that Arthur had in their hands, and their actions were doomed to failure.

It is absolutely impossible for a European colonial power that had not been weakened by World War I and World War II to give up the colonies it owned.

Even some small countries in Europe regard their own colonies as very important, not to mention the old powers that rely on their colonies to absorb a lot of profits and resources.

The politicians of these countries had even anticipated the danger that such an event in New Zealand would bring to their colonies, and had already put the colonial armies on the lookout for the suppression of a possible colonial rebellion.

At this time, the attitude of various countries towards the colony residents was still relatively cruel, and human rights for the colony residents were something that could only be expected after half a century.

Arthur did not appear in this referendum, but Joshua, who represented Arthur, still represented Australia, patrolling all the cities in New Zealand.

The referendum attracted a strong participation from New Zealanders, and it is evident from the often full collection boxes in various towns that there are not a small number of people who participated in this referendum, which is also a strong reflection of the real opinion of the New Zealand people.

Wellington and Auckland, including the cities of Kleistchurch and Invercargill in New Zealand's South Island, were the most visited places by the Mission.

Because these four cities are the four most populous and relatively economically developed cities in New Zealand.

Wellington and Auckland are located in New Zealand's North Island, and Kleistchurch and Invercargill are located in New Zealand's South Island.

However, the two cities in the South Island lag far behind in terms of population size and economic development compared to Wellington and Auckland.

Wellington and Auckland, New Zealand, have more than 100,000 people, and Wellington, New Zealand, in particular, has a population of more than 150,000.

It is worth mentioning that when New Zealand was first separated from Australia, its colonial capital was Auckland.

It wasn't until 1865 that New Zealand's colonial capital shifted from Auckland to Wellington, the southernmost part of New Zealand's North Island, across the sea from the northernmost part of the South Island.

But Wellington was still a backward town at this time, and it was the opinion of the Australian parliamentarians to choose Wellington as the capital (because the Australian parliamentarians were relatively neutral and maintained good relations with New Zealand). ）

The reason why Auckland chose to move the capital is not because of its bad location.

On the contrary, Auckland, including nearby urban areas, was located in the plains and had the largest population and the most developed economy in New Zealand at the time.

However, because of the discovery of gold in the South Island of New Zealand, the colonial government of New Zealand was worried that the South Island of New Zealand would be found because of the gold mines, and the capital was located in Auckland, the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand, which would lead to the birth of an independent psychology of the people of the South Island and the establishment of a new colony from New Zealand, so the colonial capital was transferred to Wellington, the southernmost part of the North Island, the relative center of New Zealand.

When Wellington became the capital of New Zealand, it was a small town with a population of less than 5,000.

With the successive governors of New Zealand developing New Zealand, Wellington gradually grew into a city and became the second largest port city in New Zealand after Auckland.

Wellington, which is already the political, industrial and economic center of New Zealand, has also surpassed Auckland to become New Zealand's largest city.

The second more, ask for support!

(End of chapter)