Chapter 172: Assistance in Progress

The typhoon finally landed in New Zealand.

When the residents of the town of Opunaki saw the five-meter-high waves, everyone's heart fell to the bottom, and despair began to spread among the crowd.

However, the typhoon did not give people time to communicate and cry. In just a moment, the huge waves passed through the entire town of Opunaki and swept towards the crowd who were desperately fleeing outside the town.

The huge waves were not the most despairing. The fragments of broken trees, houses and fishing boats carried by the huge waves could not only demonstrate the power of the typhoon and the huge waves, but also cause great damage to the crowd, and once again make up for the huge waves.

This typhoon, which had already begun to slaughter, did not know the crime it had committed. After destroying Opunaki, a fishing town on the North Island of New Zealand, it rushed all the way north to the North Taranaki Bay.

On the way of the typhoon, it happened to be a protruding corner of the North Island of New Zealand, which not only included more than a dozen fishing towns, but also the second largest city in the North Island of New Zealand, Auckland.

On the afternoon of November 8, 1903, Wellington, North Island, New Zealand.

Except for Arthur, all the important officials of New Zealand were basically present, sitting in the meeting room of the colonial government with frowns on their faces.

Under the premise that Arthur was not present, the person who presided over the meeting and had the highest status was naturally Pierce Anthony, the commander of the New Zealand garrison.

The news of the typhoon landing on the west coast of the North Island had reached Wellington, which was why all the important officials of New Zealand, including the commander of the garrison, General Pierce, sat together.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the top priority now is to immediately send a large amount of aid and soldiers, and even civilians, to the west coast from Auckland to Opunaki for rescue. If our rescue is delayed by one minute, hundreds of New Zealand civilians may die tragically in this disaster." General Pierce said solemnly.

Now it is an emergency moment for New Zealand, and General Pierce can no longer care about whether he exceeds his authority or not. The most important thing at present is to rescue all the New Zealand civilians affected by the disaster. Other things seem vulnerable in the face of disaster.

"I think General Pierce is right. The most important task of the New Zealand government is to rescue those civilians, even at all costs." Joshua Bullock agreed.

Joshua Bullock is the head of the Royal Rescue Committee left by Arthur in New Zealand, and is also the middleman between New Zealand forces and Arthur.

To a certain extent, Joshua also represents Arthur's opinion, so he is also one of the giants in New Zealand's political situation.

"With Joshua's approval, General Pierce's solemn expression obviously relaxed." No matter what the situation is, General Pierce is unwilling to offend Arthur. Joshua, who can represent Arthur's opinion, agrees with his point of view, which is the most fortunate thing for General Pierce.

"But General Pierce, the government doesn't have much money for disaster relief. Last time, after His Royal Highness the Governor General issued a large number of repair and construction tasks, most of the funds donated by the Australian royal family have been used. In addition to the government's consumption during this period, our current available funds are even less than 100,000 pounds. This fund even has to take into account the government's maintenance and military expenses, which is not enough for disaster relief." The colonial official said with a little helplessness.

Although the relationship between the colonial officials and the garrison commander General Pierce is not very good at ordinary times, the colonial officials can still stand with General Pierce on such important matters that concern the hearts of the New Zealand people.

But the current situation in New Zealand is indeed like this. It has just gotten rid of the previous economic downturn. In addition, most of the funds Arthur assisted were used for construction. The remaining funds, taking into account the maintenance of the New Zealand government and the army, can be used for disaster relief. Very little money is left, which is just a drop in the bucket for this disaster.

"I will try to help, everyone. Your Highness has also informed me that the Australian government and the royal family can provide New Zealand with free aid of 150,000 and 300,000 pounds respectively. This money will arrive soon and I believe it can temporarily support the rescue work." Joshua said directly.

After confirming that the typhoon had left Australia, Arthur had someone notify Joshua, the New Zealand head of the Royal Relief Committee in New Zealand, and also asked Joshua to convey Australia's aid.

After hearing what Joshua said, everyone was obviously relieved. Funding is a serious problem for New Zealand at present. Even if it is a private loan, it is impossible to meet the needs of this disaster relief.

Australia's ability to provide 450,000 pounds of aid has greatly exceeded the expectations of all New Zealand officials. This fund can at least meet the early and mid-term deployment of the rescue, and the New Zealand government can barely handle the aftermath and compensation issues in the later stage.

"Along with the funds, there is also a batch of food and clothing. But relying on Australia's aid alone is not enough. I suggest that your government immediately request humanitarian assistance from the British Empire and European countries to restore this beautiful country of New Zealand to its pre-disaster state as soon as possible." Joshua suggested.

The British Empire is now busy competing with the German Empire in naval arms. Coupled with the chaotic situation in Europe and the current conflict in the Far East, there are not many resources that can be allocated to New Zealand.

In addition, since Arthur became the Governor-General of New Zealand, the British Empire has allocated even fewer resources to New Zealand, and it is still decreasing year by year.

After all, Queen Victoria's will almost turned New Zealand into Arthur's private territory. As long as there was no accident, New Zealand was almost a piece of fat meat in Arthur's mouth.

Under such circumstances, the British nobles would naturally not waste domestic resources to develop New Zealand, which was destined to become someone else's territory.

What's more, the appointment of the Governor of New Zealand was Queen Victoria's will before her death, and even Edward VII had no right to change it.

In the eyes of the people of the British Empire, any attempt to intervene in New Zealand was a betrayal of Queen Victoria's will before her death, and also a betrayal of the British Empire.

Under such circumstances, which official would propose to intervene in New Zealand?

It can be expected that even if the British Empire agrees to provide assistance to New Zealand, it is probably just perfunctory assistance.

As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. Under the premise of Australia's 450,000 pounds of timely assistance and a large amount of food and clothing assistance, the British assistance seems so insignificant.

New Zealand officials were not aware of Arthur's conspiracy and only thought it was Joshua's sincere proposal.

It happened that New Zealand was indeed lacking various assistance including funds at present. Therefore, after a vote by everyone, Joshua's proposal was quickly agreed to, asking European countries, especially the British Empire, for assistance to help New Zealand, which was in disaster.

November 10, 1903.

After two days of raging, the typhoon finally passed through Auckland, the second largest city in New Zealand, which connects the North Island of New Zealand and the Auckland Peninsula, crossed the Hauraki Gulf, entered the Pacific Ocean from Fitzroy Port on Great Barrier Island, and gradually disappeared from the sight of New Zealanders.

This is fortunate for New Zealanders. The typhoon that had wreaked havoc on New Zealand for two days finally left New Zealand completely, and the disaster in New Zealand was initially declared over.

But the bad news is that the typhoon-ravaged area extends from the southwest of New Zealand's North Island, Opunaki all the way north to Auckland, which is the most essential west coast area of ​​New Zealand's North Island. It has a total of four cities including Auckland and more than ten towns, with a total population of more than 300,000.

No one knows how much damage this typhoon has brought to this area. All officials of the New Zealand colonial government have been prepared for the destruction of Auckland.

Around afternoon, the 450,000 pounds and a batch of food and clothing aid promised by Australia had arrived at the port of Wellington.

In order to deliver this batch of supplies safely, the transport fleet even detoured from the south of the Tasman Sea, passing through Stewart Island on the South Island of New Zealand, and detoured the entire South Island to deliver this batch of supplies safely.

At the same time, the response from Europe has also been heard. Although most European countries have nothing to do with New Zealand, out of humanitarian spirit, the major powers have provided assistance to New Zealand, even if the assistance is small.

Among them, the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire provided the most assistance. The German Empire provided one million marks and dozens of tons of food, while the Austro-Hungarian Empire provided 500,000 kronor in financial aid.

The aid from the remaining powers was basically the same, with financial aid worth about 5,000 to 10,000 pounds, and France was no exception.

The British Empire, which was highly expected by the New Zealand colonial government, provided only 20,000 pounds in aid, which was far less than the aid from the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The various aids from European countries totaled almost 150,000 pounds.

Among them, the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire contributed 50,000 pounds and 41,000 pounds respectively, making them the two countries with the most aid this time.

Although the officials of the New Zealand colonial government were very disappointed with the British Empire's share of aid, the most important thing at present was to carry out emergency rescue work on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island, and the New Zealand government could not take care of other things for the time being.

However, this does not mean that others also have no time.

As the current leader of the Alliance Party and the head of the Political Group, Grant is currently in high spirits.

From a small mayor to the leader of the largest political party in New Zealand, and also the head of one of the most important administrative agencies, Grant clearly knew who gave him this power, and also understood that the person who gave him this power could easily take back these powers.

In fact, Grant has never forgotten his mission. After Arthur left, he has been vigorously promoting the support of New Zealanders for the Alliance Party.

At present, the Alliance Party has grown into the veritable first party in New Zealand. There are more than 20,000 New Zealanders who support the Alliance Party, and there are hundreds of officials who have joined the Alliance Party, including mayors of some large and small cities and core officials of the colonial government.

Grant keenly grasped the difference between the British Empire and Australia's aid to New Zealand this time, and soon planned to let more New Zealanders know the difference between the two.

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