As the largest river in Australasia and the largest river in Oceania, the Murray River has contributed significantly to the economic development of Australasia.

The Murray River and its tributary, the Darling River, provide a large amount of industrial, agricultural and domestic water to the central part of the southeastern region of Australia, and were key to the rise of New South Wales and Victoria.

According to the preliminary report of the geological survey team, the total area of the Murray River and Darling River basin is estimated to be 1 million square kilometres, accounting for more than one-eighth of Australasia's total land area.

In its original history, this area of Gobi and desertification still has more than half of Australia's arable land, more than 75% of irrigated farmland, nearly half of cattle and sheep, livestock and at least one-third of dairy and meat production.

The total value of agricultural output alone accounted for more than 40% of Australia's total agricultural output and was the backbone of Australia's economy for generations to come.

At the same time, the Murray River basin also provides sufficient agricultural products, industrial raw materials and fresh water for the development of large cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane outside the basin, and is the hinterland of the economy.

And these results are achieved after the basin has become desert and Gobi. At present, the land is still dominated by the vast majority of grasslands, and the proportion of Ge murals is less than 5 per 1,000.

If the region can be saved, it will become even more exaggerated than ever before, the cradle of Australasia's agricultural and livestock products.

Of course, that doesn't mean the area is perfect. Australasia is famous for its great artesian basin, with parts of it overlapping with the Murray River Basin.

The basin was named the Great Artesian Basin because the Great Dividing Range made Australia's central and western regions relatively arid and lacking precipitation.

However, precipitation is abundant in the eastern part of the Great Dividing Range, and a large amount of rainwater seeps into the ground along the Great Dividing Range, flowing from the eastern part of Australia to the western region.

In this area of Australia's Great Basin, there are abundant groundwater resources underground, and a large amount of water can gush out with only a few holes, which is also the origin of the name of the Great Artesian Basin.

Nearly 30 years have passed since the Great Artesian Basin was raised in 1886.

With the influx of large numbers of immigrants from Australasia, the extraction of water resources in the Great Artesian Basin has become very diverse.

In the northern part of the Murray River Basin and the Great Artesian Basin, you will find more than a dozen drill holes gushing with large amounts of water.

These water resources provide a large amount of water for Australasia's livestock and industry, and are the reason why Australasia's industry and agriculture are growing so rapidly.

But over-exploitation of water is always bad, and Australasia in general is still short of water, especially in the central and western regions of Australia, where water scarcity has become more and more serious as the population has grown.

Some of the boreholes that are used to feed the mine are ignored after the mineral resources are depleted, and the boreholes that are still gushing out a lot of water are wasted.

According to the estimates of the geological survey team, although there is no shortage of water resources in the Great Artesian Basin and the Murray River Basin, if it continues to be wasted, Australasia will face a severe water crisis in 30 years at most.

Fortunately, Australasia's population is currently less than 15 million, otherwise the water crisis would have been sooner.

Australasia is a country rich in materials, with all kinds of mineral resources, which are very rich.

This does not mean that Australasia does not have its shortcomings. Because of the remote geographical location before, population has always been a big problem.

This, combined with the separation of the Great Dividing Range, has led to a scarcity of water resources in Western Australia.

Although Australia has more than 7 million square kilometers of vast trade land, the water problem is a hidden danger for the country's development, and it may even directly limit the country's development in the future.

Arthur had anticipated this, and over the course of more than a decade, a large number of reservoirs and water storage areas in Australia had been encouraged to be excavated, ensuring that Australian residents had enough water for domestic use for industry and agriculture.

But these reservoirs are still too scarce for the entire country's water consumption, and it is important for Australasia to conserve and cherish water if it wants to solve its water problem once and for all, at least for now.

In fact, New Guinea is very rich in water resources, and it does receive a lot of rainfall. But for at least forty or fifty years, this water will not be transported to Australia, and it will not help Australia's water problems.

If Arthur remembers correctly, the submarine pipeline technology would have been born more than 40 years later. This also means that perhaps after World War II, Australasia will have enough capacity to complete Australasia's own north-south water diversion project.

In any case, water resources in Australia have always been a problem, and no one should be allowed to waste them with impunity.

Thinking of this, Arthur ordered Prime Minister Kent to call in and decided to do something about environmental protection.

While the Prime Minister of Kent had not yet arrived, Arthur continued to look at the report to see the current problems in the Murray River Valley.

Over the course of two months, the survey team studied the causes of desertification and Gobi in western Australia, and temporarily blamed Australasia's abundant wildlife.

As we all know, there aren't many wild carnivores in Australia, and thylacines and dingoes are two of the larger wild carnivores in Australia.

But with the development of Australasian animal husbandry, the two wild animals, especially the larger and more ferocious thylacine, inevitably came into conflict with humans.

From colonial times, thylacine hunting has been practiced in Australian areas. Even some colonial governments openly rewarded a £1 for killing an adult thylacine and 10p for killing a juvenile thylacine.

As a result, tens of thousands of thylacines were killed during the colonial period. Although this policy did not continue after Arthur came to Australia, thylacine hunting has become a habit for many herders, and they are able to protect their cattle and sheep.

It is precisely because of the declining number of wild carnivores in Australia that a large number of wild animals have spread in a crazy way, causing very serious damage to Australia's grasslands and promoting the formation of land desertification.

Hares, kangaroos, wild goats, camels, wild boars and other wild animals, the number of them together is even billions, or billions.

With such a large number of wild animals, the harm to Australia's land can be imagined.

The geological survey team boldly predicts that if these wild animals are not restricted, I am afraid that within 20 years, the desertification of the Murray River basin will intensify, and this million-square-kilometer plain will gradually become a neighbor and desert.

The flood of wildlife in Australia Arthur had heard about it in later generations, but he didn't expect it to be so serious more than 100 years ago.

In any case, the development of the country is more important than anything else. Now that these wild animals have seriously endangered Australian land, it is necessary to introduce quite strict restrictions to limit the number of wild animals.

One of the main reasons for the flood of wildlife in Australia is also Australians' lack of attention to Australia's native carnivores.

If the thylacine population is sufficient, Australia's wildlife problems will not be so serious that it will even endanger the survival of the country.

About ten minutes later, the Prime Minister of Kent came in a hurry and knocked on the office door.

More than ten minutes is exactly the distance between the government council and the palace, which also means that the Prime Minister of Kent rushed over non-stop after receiving Arthur's order.

After all, the communication between the royal palace and the government council was by wired telegraph and wired telephone, and there was basically no delay in communication.

"Your Majesty!" Upon entering his office, Prime Minister Kent saluted Arthur respectfully.

"Sit. Look at this report, Prime Minister of Kent. It's an exaggeration, our current biological situation has become so serious that it is necessary to introduce relevant laws to limit it. Arthur pointed to the report and told the Prime Minister of Kent to read it for himself.

Seeing that Arthur was very serious and serious, Prime Minister Kent did not dare to be careless, so he picked up the report and read it carefully.

It opens with the merits and benefits of the Murray River Basin, as well as the excellent geographical location and resources of this area.

But at the back of the list, it is a very clear list of the current state of the poor ecological environment in this area, as well as the problems that are likely to occur in the future.

It is not surprising that Arthur surveyed the Prime Minister of Kent in the Murray River Valley, and that the basins and plains of central Australia are undoubtedly more suitable for the development of the country than the hills of Southeast Asia.

Whether it is the capital of the country, or as an excellent agricultural, animal husbandry and industrial production area, it has unique geographical and resource advantages.

After seeing the current problems in the Murray River basin in the end, Prime Minister Kent couldn't help but be speechless, and said to Arthur without hesitation: "Your Majesty, it is indeed necessary to introduce a law to protect the ecological environment of Australia and even the whole of Australasia. ”

Arthur nodded, threw the question directly to Prime Minister Kent, and instructed, "I'll leave this task to you, Prime Minister Kent." My request is that the first thing to do is to protect the wild carnivore in the Australian region, especially the thylacine population. ”

"Second, drastically limit the number of wildlife in regional Australia and, if necessary, introduce incentives to encourage Australians to hunt wild herbivores. The fur of these wild animals can be turned into a finished product, and the meat can be processed into canned food, which can be used as our food reserve for export to Europe in the future. ”

"In this way, these wild animals also have good economic value. When the hunting of wild animals forms a certain industrial chain, the government and the royal family will fund the establishment of meat canning factories, and thoroughly take wild herbivores as an industrial chain, which can not only solve the severe ecological and environmental problems we are currently facing, but also create a lot of income for the country and the government. ”

Needless to say, animal fur has a certain value. In addition to making various flavors of delicacies, the meat of wild animals will be made into a variety of canned products that will be exported to Europe in the future.

This different kind of meat can also be used to add food to future European armies. After all, you get tired of eating one kind of meat, don't you?

3200 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(This should be the last chapter of Volume 4, and Volume 5 will open tomorrow, World War I!) ）

(End of chapter)