Chapter 530: Large-Scale Development of the Murray River Basin

It has been nearly three years since the end of World War I, but the hidden dangers it brought to countries around the world have not yet ended.

The biggest headache for European countries is the resettlement of soldiers who participated in World War I. Take Britain and France as an example. Britain and France recruited millions of soldiers in the war. They lost their jobs instantly after the war and did not receive any pensions.

These people greatly increased the unemployment rate in Britain and France, and are also a security risk for the British and French governments and societies.

This is not a small number. The number of soldiers participating in the war in various countries is generally as high as hundreds of thousands or even millions. One careless move may lead to serious demonstrations and crises.

This is also a good point for Australasia, because most of the soldiers are indigenous people, and only a small amount of severance pay is needed.

The remaining Australasian soldiers do not need to be dismissed at all, and even a certain scale of military expansion is required, so there is no risk of unemployment at all.

In addition to the various constructions carried out in the country, this has also made Australasia's unemployment rate the lowest among the great powers, and one of the most desirable immigration options.

On the other hand, the unemployment rate in Britain and France is no longer controllable. Millions of soldiers who were forcibly discharged, coupled with the unemployed workers in the reduced military industry, have led to millions of unemployed people in Britain and France.

A large number of unemployed people have disrupted social order and stability, and many people have gradually turned to illegal crimes, which has also increased the crime rate in Britain and France in disguise.

Even the United States, thousands of miles away, could not avoid it. Although the size of the US army in World War I was not high, it also laid off hundreds of thousands of troops after the war.

Coupled with the stigma during the flu period, the US economy suffered heavy losses.

Under various influences, the unemployment rate in the United States has also risen, and the unemployment crisis has begun to affect the world.

Although it seems that the industries and economies of various countries are recovering, the hidden dangers behind it have proved that this is only the last afterglow before the economic collapse.

If Arthur's estimate is correct, the world will still have an economic crisis, and it is bound to affect the world.

Judging from the performance of the major victorious countries, basically no country can escape the economic crisis, and even Australasia cannot completely avoid it.

However, if we prepare in advance, it will only affect the import and export trade volume, and the impact on the domestic economy can be controlled.

Although the economic crisis is still too far away, the economic recession of various countries is already visible to the naked eye.

It is only with the exception of Australasia and the United States that the world economy looks better.

In fact, the European economy has declined too much compared to six years ago, and at least one-third of Europeans are in a state of hunger and cold.

This was unimaginable before World War I. Before World War I, Europe had always been synonymous with development and prosperity. Not to mention hunger and cold, in the eyes of other backward regions, Europeans were rich and only ate good food.

But in the current situation, Germany and Russia, with a total population of about 200 million, are suffering from a huge food crisis, and other victorious countries also have a serious unemployment crisis. The recession in Europe is visible to the naked eye.

The impact of the economic crisis is one after another. In addition to the impact on various industries and enterprises, it will also produce a large number of unemployed people and increase the government's fiscal burden.

In the economic crisis, food reserves are a very important link. Arthur's expectation for Australasia is naturally to achieve self-sufficiency in food at any time and become a country with abundant resources, rather than a food importing country.

At the end of April 1920, Arthur took a special car again and went to the vicinity of Fort St. Arthur to inspect the development of the Murray River Plain.

As mentioned before, the Murray River Plain has millions of square kilometers of land, so this area is naturally not just Fort St. Arthur.

The purpose of Arthur's inspection this time is not Fort St. Arthur, but other nearby cities, Balranald.

Balranald is located along the Murray River, about 100 kilometers east of Fort St. Arthur.

Balranald is the food reserve city of the new capital, Fort St. Arthur. In other words, this is destined to be an agricultural city, and its main purpose is to develop agriculture as a food supply for the capital, Fort St. Arthur.

Why is it located here? It can be seen from the map that the land around Balranald for hundreds of kilometers is all extensive plains, and it is right along the Murray River, and there is no shortage of land and water resources.

As a pilot city for the development of the Murray River Basin, Balranald has condensed the efforts of the Australian government. It must be successfully developed and must be developed very well.

After determining the geographical location of Fort St. Arthur, Balranald was actually developed earlier than Fort St. Arthur.

After the completion of the railway construction, the government dispatched a large number of tractors, installed climbing pears and began to reclaim land, and has reclaimed tens of thousands of acres of land.

At present, Balranald already has thousands of residents. Large-scale automated production will be fully implemented here, striving to produce more food with less manpower, and even meet the needs of most of the country in the future.

Food production is completely inseparable from water resources. The good news is that because of the Murray River, Balranald and nearby agricultural planting areas are basically not short of water resources.

But just in case, a water storage area should be built nearby so that there is enough agricultural water at any time.

Arthur was very satisfied with the grand opening of Balranald Agriculture.

The flat plains allow tractors to show their skills here, and can also better realize the automated production of agriculture.

Both Australasia and the United States are very similar to Europe, and naturally have a high urbanization rate.

Especially in immigrant countries like this, the per capita land area is very large, which naturally creates the vastness of farms and the rapid popularization of automated agricultural production.

Agricultural automatic production has never been a new term in Europe and the United States. As early as 1830, Americans invented the earliest harvester, which provided great help for the development of agriculture.

After nearly a hundred years of development, harvesters have become very important for the production of European and American agriculture. The mechanization of agricultural production is far greater than manpower, which has also liberated a considerable amount of human resources for European and American countries.

Australasia's agricultural production has always advocated mechanization, that is, producing more food with less manpower.

Whether it is a tractor or a harvester, as long as it can be used, it is naturally much better than using a large amount of manpower for planting and harvesting.

When the Murray River Basin was being developed, it was determined that agricultural production in this area must be mechanized and eventually fully automated.

It is still unknown what this plain of over one million square kilometers can bring to Australasia. It may become Australasia's granary in the future, supplying most of the country's food consumption.

Speaking of the development of Balranald, it is still inseparable from the shadow of the royal consortium.

Of course, the current agriculture and animal husbandry are managed by the United Group, which is responsible for the development of agriculture and animal husbandry in Australasia. It owns a large number of farms and ranches and is currently the largest agricultural and animal husbandry giant in Australasia.

With the technical and personnel support of the United Group, the agricultural development of Balranald is still very smooth.

In order to attract more immigrants to live in Balranald, the Australian government has also opened up relevant policies, providing relevant agricultural technologies to residents of Balranald for free, and renting tractors and harvesters at low prices.

It is expected that it will take another five years to officially move the capital to Fort St. Arthur, and these five years are completely enough for the development of Balranald.

When it moves to Fort St. Arthur in the future, the grain output of Balranald will at least be enough for Fort St. Arthur.

In addition to Balranald, there is another city called Berry in the lower reaches of the Murray River.

Balranald mainly develops agriculture, while Berry mainly develops industry.

Starting from Berry, it takes dozens of kilometers along the Murray River to reach the coastline. In addition, it is close to Adelaide, and the railways and roads are quite developed.

With such inherent advantages, Berry is very suitable for industrial development, and the relevant Berry Industrial Zone is also under construction.

Although the total scale is not as large as the Leonora Industrial Base, the complete Berry Industrial Zone can at least provide hundreds of thousands of jobs and accommodate thousands of large and small factories.

The Leonora Industrial Base is mostly heavy industry and chemical industry, while the Berry Industrial Zone focuses on light industry to make up for some of the shortcomings of Australasia in light industry.

The Leonora Industrial Base and the Berry Industrial Base are located in the west and the east, one heavy industry and one light industry, which can just support half of Australasia's industry.

Because of the experience of building the Leonora Industrial Base, it is quite simple to build the smaller Berry Industrial Zone.

The construction here can also provide more jobs for Australasia, which can be regarded as a good preparation for the subsequent economic crisis.

Anyway, Australasia still has a lot of infrastructure. Even if the economic crisis breaks out, it is completely possible to rely on a large amount of infrastructure to provide the unemployed with a job and support their families through the method of work-for-relief.

For the ecological environment of Australasia, Arthur still put forward relevant requirements when building these industrial zones.

First of all, there is the problem of industrial emissions. The sewage in industrial production must be purified before it can be discharged into the river. This is a must.

Sewage equipment must be considered when building industrial zones, at least it should not have a huge impact on the ecological environment.

At the same time, air emissions are also a top priority. Arthur does not want the new capital to become the famous foggy city like London. Not to mention the harm to physical health, even the reputation is not so good.

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