"How are we doing on our rubber plantations in the Royal Territory and elsewhere?" Arthur looked at Prime Minister Roger and asked.

After occupying the Crown Territory, New Guinea and other regions, Australasia was building its own rubber plantations.

But the construction of rubber plantations is not so simple. First of all, plantations can't be built anywhere.

Rubber cultivation has very strict requirements for geographical location, climate temperature, light and humidity, rain and even soil.

Rubber likes high temperature, high humidity, quiet wind environment, and needs fertile soil, requiring an average annual temperature of 26~27 degrees Celsius, not cold-tolerant, the temperature drops and there is a risk of death.

The requirements for rainfall are more stringent, requiring an average annual precipitation of 1150~2500 mm, but it is not suitable for planting in low humidity places. It is suitable for the growth of deep, fertile and moist acidic sandy loam soils with good drainage. Shallow roots, the branches are fragile, the adaptability to the wind is poor, and the susceptibility to wind cold and reduce the amount of rubber produced.

With such a large set of requirements, even Southeast Asia, which is very suitable for growing rubber, has restricted most of the areas where rubber can be grown.

Fortunately, Australasia almost annexed the entire Dutch East Indies, and even the land of the Sultanate of Kalimantan could be used for rubber cultivation, so naturally there was no shortage of land for the construction of rubber plantations.

"Your Majesty, the first batch of rubber plantations can already be harvested, and there is still a long growing period for many more, and it is expected that the official harvest will not be until 2 to 3 years later." Prime Minister Roger replied.

These rubber plantations are an officially built industry in Australasia, and Prime Minister Roger is naturally the one who knows the current state of the rubber plantations best.

Rubber plantations are planted naturally rubber trees, and when they are ripe, they can be harvested, and a little bark is cut off from the rubber tree with a knife, and the branches and leaves of the rubber tree can flow out along the grooves, which is also the raw material for making rubber.

The longest of these is the time to wait for the rubber trees to grow to the point where they are ready to be harvested.

Generally speaking, it takes 2 to 3 years after the construction of a rubber plantation before it can be harvested, which is why it takes a long time for rubber production to expand.

"How big are our rubber plantations today?" Arthur nodded, continuing to ask.

"We have more than 50,000 hectares of rubber plantations in the Royal Territories, Sulawesi and New Guinea, and the maximum production of rubber is expected to reach 35,000 tons. If we can buy some ready-made rubber plantations in Sumatra and Java, we can produce at least 50,000 tons of rubber. Prime Minister Roger said with a smile.

Australasia's annual rubber demand is around 60,000 tons, which means that Australasia's rubber plantations alone can almost meet Australasia's rubber demand.

Of course, compared to Australasia, Europe and the Americas, which have a larger population and a more developed economy, are the bulk of rubber consumption.

The Dutch maintain an army of more than 200,000 troops and a fleet every year with the profits from the export of rubber to Europe and the Americas, and keep the Dutch economy well, which is basically due to rubber.

If it weren't for the rubber cultivation of the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch would not have been able to maintain the size of their previous army, and the Netherlands, like Belgium, would be at most a third-rate country in Europe.

A country like Australasia, which already occupies a rubber production area, is not bad, at least it can produce its own rubber without worrying about other countries restricting such an important raw material as rubber.

But those countries that do not have rubber producing areas, such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, etc., because of the loss of colonies, their own land can not be used to grow rubber, so they can only spend a lot of money every year to buy from abroad, which not only increases the cost of industry, but also makes a lot of wealth flow abroad.

If the main suppliers of rubber were the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Thailand in the past, now the main suppliers of rubber have become Britain, France, Australia and Thailand.

Britain and France had a large number of colonies in Southeast Asia, and it was not uncommon for them to have large-scale rubber production.

After Australasia annexed the Dutch East Indies, the gap between Britain and France in terms of rubber production was not too large, and the rubber production of Thailand and the four countries accounted for more than 80% of the world's rubber production.

The rubber incident also reminded Arthur that although the aborigines of Java and Sumatra must be expelled as soon as possible, it does not mean that migration to these two islands will not be possible anytime soon.

Sumatra aside, the abundant resources and fertile land of Java, as well as the large number of areas suitable for rubber cultivation, cannot tolerate two or three years of abandonment.

According to the population data of these two islands, Sumatra and Java are predominantly Dutch, with a total population of more than 200,000, excluding the indigenous people.

This also shows the importance of the Dutch East Indies to the Dutch. After all, the population of the Netherlands is only a small country, but the fact that more than 200,000 people can emigrate to the Dutch East Indies is a testament to how important the Dutch East Indies are in the minds of the Dutch.

Unfortunately, after the annexation of Australasia to the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch living in Java and Sumatra had only two choices: to join Australasian citizenship and submit to Australasian rule, or to be repatriated to the Netherlands or to emigrate to other regions on their own initiative.

"What are our immigration numbers for January?" Arthur asked with interest.

Last year's immigration data was relatively good in recent years, which also made Arthur very interested in this year's immigration data, after all, it is related to the final development of population size, but also related to the development plan of Australasia.

"Your Majesty, because of the National Day ceremony and the military parade, we welcomed a total of 154,000 tourists and 148,000 immigrants in January.

Although February's figure is not as good as January's, there is hope that the scale of immigration will exceed 100,000. Prime Minister Roger said with a little excitement.

What does the size of nearly 250,000 immigrants in two months represent? It means that the scale of immigration this year is destined to reach a new high!

If you take into account the local population development, this year's population growth figure will be at least 1.5 million or more, which is no worse than that of countries with more populations.

Moreover, more than half of the 148,000 immigrants in January were British, which also helps Australasia maintain the proportion of British origin and enhance the stability of the country.

Hearing such exaggerated immigration data, Arthur nodded with satisfaction, and ordered with a smile: "Try to attract some immigrants to Sumatra and Java, and speed up the development of Sumatra and Java."

At the same time, reducing the proportion of migrants absorbed by Sydney and Melbourne, allowing more migrants to move to the ACT and Northern Australia, and developing our new boroughs. ”

Immigrants who have just arrived in Australasia are better immigrants to a new area than those who have already settled in a city.

After all, they have just come to Australasia and have no roots, so it doesn't really matter where they settle down.

If the conditions offered by Sumatra and Java are more favorable, it is believed that some immigrants will still choose to go to these two regions.

You know, even the island of Java, which has a small land area, can accommodate a population of more than 20 million people easily and stress-free.

Now, the recognized population of Java is only 170,000, and it is just empty talk to fully develop Java with this 170,000 people.

In Arthur's mind, Sumatra and Java were to be developed as if they were local, and their final outcome was to be colony localization, completely becoming the mainland of Australasia.

It is impossible to develop these two areas without a population of more than 5 million, which means that you have to migrate to these two areas in advance.

In the end, Australasia's biggest headache is the population. Not to mention Australia and New Zealand, the two most important continents, New Guinea, Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi, which is not a huge island that can accommodate tens of millions of people?

Any one of these islands, if developed, could bring huge benefits to Australasia.

The problem is that Australasia's combined population is only 30 million, and it will not take decades to properly develop these areas.

"I understand, Your Majesty." Prime Minister Roger nodded, saying: "Of the nearly 150,000 migrants in January, more than 100,000 went to other boroughs, and only about 40,000 chose to stay in Sydney or Melbourne.

I will encourage as many people as possible to travel to other boroughs, temporarily restricting the populations of Sydney and Melbourne. ”

The appeal of big cities to people is undeniable, and the same is true for these immigrant populations.

Since they have chosen to live in a new country, it is natural that these immigrants want to live in internationally renowned metropolises such as Sydney and Melbourne and enjoy a more advanced and developed city life.

This has also caused the population of the two major cities of Sydney and Melbourne to rise, especially during the period when Sydney was the capital, attracting more than one-fifth of the total number of immigrants each year, seriously jeopardizing the development of the rest of Australasia.

At present, the combined population of Sydney and Melbourne is close to 6 million, while the total population of Tasmania, the Capital Territory, Northern Australia, and Northern New Zealand has not reached 6 million.

In addition to better developing the Murray River basin, moving the capital to make Sydney and Melbourne less attractive to immigrants is also a factor.

If Sydney had been the capital of Australasia, the rest of the country would have been deprived of more immigrants, and the gap between Sydney and other states would widen.

Although it is good news that Sydney's development is getting better and better, if it affects the development of the whole country, just to create a city with a population of more than 5 million or even tens of millions, it will be a bit more than worth the loss.

3000 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)