Chapter 90 Railway Construction (Subscribe!)

The construction of railways requires huge funds and manpower and material resources, which is why Arthur has not built railways before.

Australia's finances are very rich, and the royal family also has a lot of spare funds. If it were not for the lack of steel production and the shortage of manpower, the plan to build railways would have started long ago.

However, it is not too late to start now. It is just in time to complete the construction of railways before the start of World War I and speed up Australia's mobilization capabilities across the country.

The good news is that Australia did build railways during the colonial period, although they were just simple railways built by the colonies themselves to transport minerals.

Some sections of these railways can also be included in the planning scope of industrial railways, and can continue to be put into use with slight modifications.

These railways can also speed up the construction time of Australia's industrial railways, and at the same time save some funds and material resources.

In terms of manpower, Arthur is not short of it. After having the natives of New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, Australia has gained confidence in manpower.

In various previous development plans, thousands of workers participated in them, which was already a huge scale.

But now, all construction and development plans without 5,000 people are small-scale, and national-level construction basically starts with 10,000 people.

This is very effective for the advancement of construction progress. The tasks that previously took several months to complete can now be basically completed in just over two months.

This not only saves Australia's capital investment to a great extent, but also reduces the casualty rate of Australians at work in disguise.

After all, all the hard, tiring and dangerous work is done by the indigenous people, and because of the small population of Australia, there are still a lot of high-paying and easy jobs waiting for Australians.

In August 1901, Arthur began to get busy. Not only because the railway negotiations were about to be completed and the construction of the railway was about to begin, but also because of what he had said to Butler Hunter before, the establishment of a global scientific research award.

In order to manage the royal property more conveniently, Arthur ordered Butler Hunter to establish a royal consortium, which would accommodate all the royal assets and be managed by Butler Hunter.

Including shipyards, military factories, two steel mills, the Royal Bank, all shares of private wineries and manors, and half of the shares of the Australian National University, 150 million pounds loaned to the government, and more than 100 million pounds in cash, all of Arthur's current property.

Although Arthur's goal is not to be rich enough to rival a country, and he is not even interested in money.

But his identity is destined, and his assets cannot be small, and will only increase with time.

The royal family is not highly involved in many developments in Australia, which is one of the issues raised by Butler Hunter.

This point has also been recognized and supported by Arthur. Butler Hunter will use at least 20 million pounds of funds to lay out all walks of life in Australia.

Maybe it will be used to buy minerals, maybe it will be used to buy shares in other industries, or maybe it will be used to create new factories and enterprises with the government.

In short, increasing the participation in some special industries is also a way for Arthur to consolidate and improve his reputation and power.

When a country's monarch has most of the right to speak or share in the country's important industries, then he naturally has many rights.

This is equivalent to the combination of the chaebol and the monarch in later generations, one has actual power and the other has nominal power.

The combination of the two will create a real ruler comparable to the despotic monarchs in history.

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The industrial railway is a project invested by the royal consortium. Because it takes at least ten years to build and at least 20 million pounds to invest.

The construction of this railway will adopt a model of joint investment by the royal family and the government. The royal family invested 10 million pounds, accounting for 49% of the shares, and the government invested 10.1 million pounds, accounting for 51% of the shares.

Shares only represent control rights, and the actual profit sharing, that is, all future charges of the railway, will be divided equally between the royal family and the government, and in addition to the initial investment, other additional expenses will be borne by the government.

This is an investment that is very satisfactory to both the government and the royal family. The government can only pay half of the funds to obtain control of the railway and build the railway smoothly.

The royal family can obtain long-term benefits and the great reputation gained by investing in the construction of the railway.

Don't forget that in this era, building railways is also one of the signs of becoming an industrial country.

Being able to build a railway through Australia will not only speed up Australia's various construction and economic development, but also be very important for enhancing Australia's national confidence and cohesion.

The government and the royal family who invested will also gain great prestige and fame and fortune.

On August 11, 1901, after the railway plan was discussed, Arthur asked the newspaper to print it urgently and send it to the whole country for free.

The upcoming railway through Australia also caused a sensation among all Australians. Some people even directly compared this unborn railway to the backbone of Australia and the hope of Australia's rise.

The government and the royal family also gained a lot of prestige, especially Arthur. Under the publicity of the Australian Daily and Victoria Daily, Arthur's reputation in Australia reached its peak. Any news newspaper about Arthur would attract a lot of Australians to scramble.

This is a good thing for both Arthur and Australia. Whether a monarchy is strong or not depends largely on the degree of trust the people of this country have in their monarch.

Imagine, when all the people and soldiers are not loyal to their monarch, will the army of this country still have combat effectiveness?

On the contrary, if all the people and soldiers of this country are fanatically loyal to the monarch, then this country will also burst out with terrible cohesion, which is far stronger and more fierce than non-monarchical countries.

Perhaps only the religious forces that have dominated Europe for a long time can be compared with this cohesion.

On September 1, 1901, with the laying of the first steel rail of the industrial railway in Sydney, the construction plan of the industrial railway officially began.

The groundbreaking ceremony attracted tens of thousands of Australian people to watch, and people held homemade banners, most of which read "Long live the industrial railway! Long live His Royal Highness the Duke!"

At the same time, a fleet quietly set off from Sydney, bypassed the Tasman Sea, and turned to the west.

Second update, please support! 1901 was a year of transition and industrial development, and 1902 was the year to show the results. In addition, I plan to open a fan forum, and anyone with a fan value of more than one point can comment. I wonder if you have any opinions (mainly for some h ads and the like)