Chapter 154: Naval Parade

"My beloved people, 1902 was an important year for Australia. We opened a small section of railway, built more industrial areas and factories, expanded our army and navy, and even exported our mineral resources and various weapons and equipment, including warships, for the first time." Arthur waited until the cheers of the crowd stopped again before he began his speech.

"In terms of people's livelihood, we built more hospitals and schools to ensure the medical and educational foundation of more people. At the same time, our various construction plans also added a large number of jobs. In just one year, more than 30,000 Australians found suitable jobs. From the beginning of 1902 to the end of 1902, our per capita annual income increased by a full two pounds, reaching a level of more than twelve pounds. This figure has increased by a full four pounds since the establishment of the Principality of Australia, so that everyone's living standards have been guaranteed to a certain extent." Arthur said proudly.

Although this figure cannot be compared with European countries, it has improved a lot compared with Australia's own situation.

New Zealand, which has a very similar background and geographical location to Australia, has maintained an annual per capita income of around 11 pounds, and has been surpassed by Australia.

At this point, the applause and cheers from the audience could not be stopped, and people began to shout again, expressing their joy.

After waiting quietly for a while, Arthur continued: "Today, I am very happy to stand with everyone and watch the second military parade since the founding of Australia, and the first military parade of the navy."

"As a huge island country, the navy is extremely important to Australia. For various reasons, Australia does not have battleships for the time being. But please rest assured that this situation is only temporary and must be changed. The Australian Navy I imagine is a world-class navy with many powerful fleets composed of battleships. We still have a long way to go to achieve this goal, but I am confident and I firmly believe that Australia can do it." Arthur said with a smile.

Although Australia has no plans to expand battleships in the short term, appropriate comfort is still necessary.

After all, the matter about the dreadnought cannot be said openly. Arthur can't tell everyone in secret that a powerful warship that will completely eliminate the current battleships will be born in the next few years!

Under this premise, it is the best choice to not expand the navy in battleships and keep people's hope for the navy.

Hearing Arthur's vision of the future of the Australian Navy, most Australians still have hope for this.

After all, it is well known that Australia has mastered the construction technology of battleships. In the eyes of many Australians, the reason why Australia has not started the battleship construction plan is that the economy cannot keep up for the time being.

When Australia's economic construction develops, the government will naturally start the construction of battleships, and Australia's navy will be world-class.

In the stands, some officials from New Zealand also showed envy. Like the last military parade, these people are New Zealand colonial government officials who came to participate in the Australian military parade after being invited.

Since Arthur established the Political Council in New Zealand and obtained the loyalty of the Alliance Party, the connection between New Zealand and Australia has become closer. Not only have some New Zealanders chosen to come to Australia to work, but the economic exchanges between the New Zealand colonial government and the Australian principality government have also gradually become active.

This situation is something Arthur is happy to see. The exchanges between Australia and New Zealand are becoming smoother and smoother, and the merger of Australia and New Zealand will be smoother in the future.

The reason why some New Zealanders come to Australia to work is not only that there are not enough jobs in New Zealand, but also that the new job salary in Australia greatly exceeds the per capita annual income in New Zealand, and the various welfare policies are relatively good, and there will definitely be no salary deductions.

In addition, New Zealand and Australia can be regarded as having the same roots, the same culture, the same language, and even the same origin, which makes many New Zealanders not reject going to Australia.

Another point is that the distance between New Zealand and Australia is not far. At present, the only way to communicate between the two regions is by sea, which takes about two to three days.

Is this time long? Actually not long.

For those New Zealanders who come to Australia to work, they can also take leave at any time and return to New Zealand in two or three days.

Because Arthur specifically instructed the governments of both sides, neither Australia nor New Zealand would stop these people from traveling between the two regions.

According to the report in 1902, the economic exchanges between New Zealand and Australia increased almost three times in 1902, and the total import and export trade between Australia and New Zealand reached more than 40,000 pounds.

Of course, a large part of this is goods exported by Australia to New Zealand. Some of Australia's preliminary industrial products flowed into New Zealand and occupied part of New Zealand's market.

New Zealand is more developed in agriculture and animal husbandry, as well as some mineral resources.

But these are not scarce in Australia, and are even very abundant resources for export. This also leads to a trade deficit between Australia and New Zealand, almost all of which are imported from Australia by New Zealand.

This is also good news for Australia. The more New Zealand's economy depends on Australia, the closer the two regions will be in the future.

It is for this reason that officials from the New Zealand colonial government were invited to two consecutive military parades. Only by letting these people clearly see the changes in Australia will they imagine that such changes will also happen in New Zealand.

In order to better spread what they have seen to New Zealand, the factions of the officials invited to each military parade are different.

These officials can basically be divided into four factions, some of whom are original colonial government officials, and there are officials belonging to the New Zealand Labor Party and the Coalition Party, as well as officials belonging to the military forces.

Arthur now basically controls the officials of the New Zealand colonial government and the officials belonging to the Coalition Party.

With the supervision of officials from these two factions, I believe that what these New Zealand officials see and hear can be spread the next day after they return to New Zealand.

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