The diplomatic department has made a request to the Chilean government, saying that the super-battleship requested by the Chileans has been designed, inviting the Chileans to visit Australasia on the spot, and signing a formal order for the purchase of warships.

However, Chile is located on the eastern coast of the Pacific Ocean, separated from Australasia by the entire South Pacific Ocean.

It would take some time for the Chileans to arrive, and Arthur was also coming to an end in 1910 before the Chileans arrived.

On December 31, 1910, the annual report meeting of the Cabinet Government was officially held at Sydney Palace.

This year's Cabinet Government Summary Report Meeting has become even more important than last year, as the situation in Europe has become more serious, and the Cabinet Government is about to usher in a new round of elections next year.

This will also be the first election after the cabinet restructure, and many senior cabinet ministers will also usher in the more important choices in their political careers.

Cabinet ministers can be re-elected for a maximum of three terms, which means that if they want to remain in the Cabinet Government, they will have to move forward to different positions.

In addition to the two highest points of the Cabinet government, the Prime Minister and the Minister of State, there are also three important positions: the Chief Justice, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Minister of Royal Affairs.

But the competition for these positions is getting higher than the other, especially the Secretary of State and Lord Chancellor and the Secretary of Princely Affairs, which need to be nominated by Arthur before they can be elected.

This also means that if Arthur is not optimistic about them, then they can only work towards the two positions of prime minister and speaker of the House of Representatives.

But in addition to other cabinet ministers, the contenders for these two positions include current Prime Minister Walter, former Prime Minister Evan and current Secretary of State Kent and so on.

Combined with the five senior ministers in the Cabinet government, there may be more than a dozen contenders for the two positions, and all of them are top politicians who have served as cabinet members, which is not a small pressure on these cabinet ministers.

Therefore, these cabinet ministers regard the annual summary report meeting at the end of this year as their last chance to show their political achievements, and the last chance to gain Arthur's trust and make Arthur look at them.

At the large conference table in the palace, the atmosphere had become very serious at this time.

Prime Minister Walter stood at the table with a solemn and respectful face, and was the first to speak: "Your Majesty, colleagues, allow me to begin the annual summary report of the Australasian Cabinet Government in 1910. First of all, I would like to report on the general situation in the country, and throughout 1910 we were in good shape, in an orderly and intense manner in all respects. ”

After a series of reports by cabinet officials, the current situation of Australasia was finally reported.

The first was Arthur's most important issue of population, and by the end of 1910 Australasia's total population had exceeded 9 million, with the exact figure being more than 9.43 million. Compared with the previous year, the total population increased by 910,000, including more than 850,000 immigrants, more than 100,000 newborns, and more than 40,000 deaths.

As the core of the country, the population of Australia has exceeded 7.54 million, and the population of New Zealand has exceeded 1.81 million.

The populations of the two colonies, New Guinea and Timor, also exceeded 60,000 and 20,000 respectively, and the overall population growth was very good.

In terms of demographics, British immigration has decreased, but it has also remained at 68.1% of the total population.

For the first time, the population of ethnic Russians surpassed the population of ethnic Germans, reaching 14.4 per cent. The German population has fallen to third place, accounting for 13.9% of the total population.

As Russian migration to Australasia grows, the proportion of ethnic Russians should continue to increase.

But Arthur's ceiling for British immigrants is 65 percent, and if the proportion of British immigrants falls below 65 percent, then Arthur will consider reducing the number of immigrants from other countries, after all, the stability of the country is far more important than population growth.

Melbourne is also growing rapidly, with a population of more than 950,000 as of this year.

If nothing else, Melbourne's population should exceed 1 million by 1911, making it the second city in Australasia to surpass one million.

The bad news is that in a short period of time, there are only two cities in Australasia with a population of more than one million, and the third and fourth most populous cities are Wellington and Newcastle respectively, with populations of more than 470,000 and 450,000 respectively.

These two cities were still a long way from a million people, and there was no hope even after the end of World War I.

However, for a country with a population of less than 10 million people like Australasia, having too many cities with a population of more than 1 million is a disadvantage of national development.

After all, Australasia has a vast territory of millions of square kilometers, and if most of the population is concentrated in certain cities, the development of other regions is doomed.

Because of the construction of the Leonora industrial base, Western Australia has also become a major destination for the Australasian government to send migrants.

With a population of more than 1 million, Western Australia's industrial development is not so restricted.

Speaking of industrial development, the completion of the construction of the Leonora Industrial Base and the attraction of factories to officially put into production have ushered in a good stage of development for various industries in Australasia.

At present, the scale of steel production in Australasia has also been greatly improved, with an annual output of 2,113,200 tons of iron and 1,400,500 tons of steel.

In terms of chemical industry, the Leonora Industrial Base has attracted more than 10 chemical plants, two agricultural machinery factories, one ammonia synthesis factory, two small fertilizer plants, 17 civilian factories, etc., producing agricultural machinery and fertilizers and various chemical products, which have made great contributions to the development and construction of Australasia.

With more than 50 factories of all sizes, the Leonora Industrial Base has created more than 10,000 jobs and contributed to the economic development of Western Australia.

At present, the per capita income of Australasia has reached 48.7 Australian dollars, and the per capita income of some Australasian regions has exceeded 50 Australian dollars.

The construction of the two colonies was almost on track, with a per capita annual income of $41 for a population of 60,000 in the colony of New Guinea and $40 per capita for a population of 20,000 in Australian Timor.

In fact, logically speaking, the income of the colony does not lag behind that of the mainland, but because the colony is still pouring in a steady stream of immigrants, the income of these immigrants will certainly not be too high in a short period of time, so the overall per capita annual income level of the colony has been lowered.

Of course, the government's total fiscal revenue has also ushered in a considerable increase. Thanks to the disaster in East Asia in 1910, Australasia made a lot of profits in grain exports.

Coupled with a large amount of aid from the United Kingdom, Australasia's financial aspects can be regarded as adding a bit of vitality.

For the whole of 1910, the total government revenue was $64.17 million, an increase of almost $10 million from the previous year.

Of course, if you don't count the additional profits from grain exports to East Asia, the growth in total fiscal revenue is about the same as last year, about 8 million Australian dollars.

Of course, with the growth of fiscal revenue, the level of government expenditure has also ushered in a considerable increase.

For the whole year of 1910, the government's total expenditure was $57 million, an increase of $8 million over the previous year.

Among them, military spending exceeded 20 million Australian dollars for the first time, and to be precise, it has reached 21.35 million Australian dollars.

Starting this year, Australasia's navy will have three battleships, two battle cruisers, more than a dozen frigates and destroyers, two submarines, more than 20 small patrol boats, etc.

Although the strength of the navy has increased a lot, the increase in the expenditure of the navy is indeed not small, which has led to the continuous increase in Australia's military spending.

But the good news is that the government is still in a surplus, although the surplus is only about 7 million Australian dollars, but after all, it is very good to be able to support the navy of a great power with a population of less than 10 million.

The royal special fund has also increased from 542,500 Australian dollars last year to 641,700 Australian dollars, and the royal special funds are also slowly growing along with the development of the Australasian economy.

This can be regarded as a little benefit that Arthur left to future generations, and after the development of Australasia in the future, it is no problem for the royal family's special funds to grow to millions or even millions of Australian dollars.

Even if the royal consortium does not manage well in the future, it can maintain a noble and luxurious life for all members of the entire royal family with the funds obtained from the government every year, and it is completely fine to at least be a rich man.

This was also Arthur's vision. Arthur spares no effort in the cultivation of offspring and heirs, but if the ability of the heir in the future is not good, and Arthur is not sure that he can control the entire country under the premise that Arthur thinks, then Arthur will consider reducing the royal power and pushing Australasia towards a constitutional monarchy.

This will also alleviate the contradictions between the royal power and the government, and it may be difficult for future kings to become a king who expands his territory, but with the royal consortium, it should not be a problem to be a lord of success.

No matter how bad it is, you can stay in Australasia and live your own luxurious and ordinary life.

As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility, and an incompetent absolutist monarch is likely to push the entire royal family into the abyss.

Thanks to the fiscal surplus, the Australasian government has $240 million in funds available, and the funds are already being spent.

This will be of great benefit to Australasia's large-scale expansion in the navy or other aspects in the future, after all, it is easy to do things with sufficient funds, and it can also be guaranteed in the face of huge consumption such as war.

In agriculture, the level of last year has continued, and the per capita arable land has increased by a little bit. If last year's per capita arable land was about 2.28 acres, then this year's per capita arable land is officially more than 2.3 acres, of course, only about 2.3 acres.

The second change of 3,000 words, ask for support, ask for a monthly pass!

(End of chapter)