Chapter 364 The Necessity of Language Unification

In terms of fiscal revenue, Australasia's annual fiscal revenue exceeded 100 million Australian dollars for the first time, reaching 101.5 million Australian dollars, an increase of about 5% over the previous year.

This year's growth slowed down a lot compared to the previous year, but the growth rate was not slow.

If the Leonora Industrial Base had not officially started production, it would be a question whether this year's fiscal revenue could exceed 100 million.

Of course, high fiscal growth also means high fiscal expenditure. For the construction and development of the country, the Australasia government has never saved money in terms of funds.

Throughout 1913, the total fiscal expenditure of the Australasia government reached 100.1 million Australian dollars, and the growth rate of expenditure was much faster than the growth rate of revenue.

This also led to a fiscal surplus of only 1.4 million Australian dollars in 1913. Compared with the fiscal surplus of millions or even tens of millions in previous years, this year's fiscal surplus made Australasia look like a country in one of the two major military groups.

Of course, a large part of the high increase in fiscal expenditure is the growth in military affairs.

In 1913, Australasia's military expenditure was as high as 47.06 million Australian dollars, which was close to half of the government's annual fiscal revenue.

Although a large part of this was caused by the 300,000 colonial troops, it cannot be denied that Australasia's military expenditure in the next few years will only rise because of Australasia's joining the Allies.

In fact, Australasia's financial situation is already good, at least it can maintain a fiscal surplus.

The current financial situation of the major European powers is not very good. Many countries have fallen into a debt crisis and are even likely to go bankrupt.

The development of the European arms race to this point has become an unaffordable expense for the major European powers.

If the arms race cannot be alleviated by some things, then the only thing that can be expected is to rely on launching a war to forcibly end this arms race.

In terms of industry, Australasia has also made rapid progress.

At present, the growth rate of steel production has gradually slowed down because the government has focused on other industrial directions besides steel production, such as the chemical industry and the machinery industry.

However, due to Australasia's unique mineral resource advantages, Australasia's steel production is still growing.

By the end of 1913, Australasia's total steel production reached 1.8639 million tons and 3.0762 million tons, respectively, ranking seventh in the world.

In addition to the total steel production, Australasia's iron ore and coal mining are also among the top eight in the world.

At present, Australasia's industry accounts for 3.8% of the world's total industry, and is catching up with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a traditional industrial power in Europe.

And at the foot of Australasia is Italy, one of the European powers.

To put it bluntly, the only thing that Italy has a clear advantage over Australasia is perhaps its population.

This advantage is also being chased by Australasia. If Australasia's population can still maintain a high growth rate, it is expected that in a maximum of five years, Australasia will far surpass Italy in all aspects, thus becoming the seventh power in the world.

Of course, if the Austro-Hungarian Empire had been dismantled in World War I as it had been in history, Australasia might have been able to directly leapfrog to become the sixth power.

Thanks to 300,000 colonial troops, the total number of Australasia's troops has reached 522,000, ranking seventh among all countries involved in European conflicts.

If the size of Australasia's navy can be improved, Australasia can get rid of the title of the eighth power and seek opportunities to catch up with Italy and Australasia.

In terms of more important food production, Australasia has also seen considerable growth.

In 1913, the total cultivated land area in Australasia reached 27.41 million acres, and the per capita cultivated land area decreased to 1.98 acres.

This is actually very normal. After all, the construction of a large number of infrastructure and industrial bases has attracted a large number of immigrants and rural population to become workers, and the agricultural population has naturally decreased.

However, due to the large-scale population growth, the cultivated land area in Australasia has increased overall.

At present, the annual grain output of Australasia has reached 12.79 million tons, making it a veritable major grain producer.

Of course, most of the grain produced in Australasia is currently transported to major domestic granaries for strategic reserves.

Of the 12.79 million tons of grain, less than one-tenth is exported, and the export targets are allies such as Britain, France and Russia.

How exaggerated is Australasia's grain production? If you save a little, 12.79 million tons of grain is enough to feed 50 million people for a year.

In addition to Australasia's extremely developed animal husbandry, Australasia's annual grain output can feed all the people in the country for three years, and it is still nutritious with vegetables and meat.

The agriculture in Australasia alone is enough to feed all the people in Australasia.

If we take into account the black soil leased from Argentina this time, after all these black soils are planted in agriculture, Australasia's grain production will increase a lot.

Taking into account the entire land area of ​​Australasia, even with the current agricultural level, Arthur is confident that he can feed 50 million people.

Not to mention that with the development of population and technology, agricultural production will also undergo earth-shaking changes.

After listening to the reports from the Prime Minister and ministers of various departments on the current development status of the country, Arthur was generally very satisfied.

Judging from this development trend, as long as it wins World War I, Australasia will be able to become one of the top five powers in the world after World War I.

Even if something happens to Russia in World War I, Australasia will directly become the fourth great power in the world after Britain, France, and the United States.

By then, Britain and France would need to return blood from their colonies, and the heavy responsibility of fighting the United States would fall on Australasia.

Although this is a challenge, it will also be able to get more assistance from Britain and France, which will also be good for the development of Australasia.

After all, Britain and France do not want the United States to stir up trouble at this time. The weak Britain and France are not necessarily the opponents of the United States. Whether Australasia can resist the United States has become the most important topic after World War I.

After a brief annual report, Arthur shifted the topic to the newly received colonies and asked the cabinet government about its policies on the new colonies.

"Your Majesty, if you want to control these colonies and territories in the long term, in addition to military control, you also need to make some changes in education. I believe that it is mandatory to use English as the official language throughout Australasia. Teaching. Moreover, improving supervision and restrictions on non-English schools can better bring the people together if they speak English uniformly,” Education Minister Stefan stood up first and proposed.

As the saying goes, books share the same text, and cars share the same track. If you want to better unify a region, the same writing and the same system are necessary.

"Well, Minister Stefan's proposal is very good. Do you have any other opinions?" Arthur nodded and said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, in addition to controlling education, in terms of religion, you should also send a large number of missionaries to change the faith of all Australasia to Protestantism, at least Christianity. Only by throwing yourself into the embrace of God can you become A loyal Australasian," Archbishop Steed suggested.

The official religion of Australasia is Protestantism, or Australian Protestantism to be precise.

Australian Protestantism has its own supreme archbishop, who is loyal to the king of Australasia.

Apart from some relatively minor differences, Australian Protestantism is no different from British Protestantism. It's just that Arthur made a more detailed division in order to better facilitate his rule.

Although the official religion of Australasia is Protestantism, Australasians believe in different religions because of the immigrants from all over Europe.

Among them, the largest number of believers are naturally Protestantism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy, which all belong to Christianity.

British immigrants and German immigrants both believed in Protestantism, while Russian immigrants believed in Orthodox Christianity. As for other European immigrants, some believe in Protestantism, some believe in Orthodox Christianity, and some believe in Catholicism.

In any case, these three religions belong to Christianity and are within the scope acceptable to the Australasian government.

Religions other than Christianity are not popular in Australasia and are mostly practiced by those indigenous and descendants of indigenous and immigrants.

A unified country must have a unified language and a unified belief. Archbishop Steed is right to say that at least most Australasians must believe in Christianity.

The gap brought about by faith is huge. Even in modern times when religion has lost its power, there are still many people who are stubborn about religious beliefs.

The people in power in Australasia all believe in Protestantism, which means that Australasians must also believe in Protestantism, or the closely related Catholic and Orthodox churches.

When conflicts arise between high-level officials and civilians, it is often the civilians who change, not the high-level officials.

Of course, the current situation in Australasia is not bad, but a few colonies and regions need to send missionaries to preach.

Arthur also attached great importance to religious issues. After Archbishop Steed made the proposal, Arthur nodded and said: "The proposal to send missionaries is very necessary. Bishop Steed, this matter will be left to you. The mission of the Ministry of Education is to A large number of English-only schools were opened in the colonies, and the mission of the church was to send a large number of missionaries to these areas.”

After hearing Arthur's order, Archbishop Steed nodded solemnly and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, the church's missionaries will head to the new colony within a few days to complete your mission."

Although Archbishop Steed comes from the Church of England, in a political environment like Australasia, it has long been clear who his true allegiance is.

As the mystery of religion gradually recedes, religion has to bow its head before secular power.

Archbishop Steed was obviously a smart man. He understood that although his rights came from the church, the church's power was given by Arthur.

If Arthur is not satisfied, he can be replaced at any time. Therefore, after coming to Australasia, Archbishop Steed completely regarded himself as the bishop of the Church of Australasia, rather than the previous bishop of the Church of England.

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