The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 179

Chapter 179: Chapter 173: Losses in Animal Husbandry

Both Australia and New Zealand used to have a very high degree of recognition towards the British Empire.

That is why Australia and New Zealand continued to maintain a very close relationship with the British Empire by joining the Commonwealth of Nations after gaining independence, respectively.

However, it’s slightly different now. In the disaster in New Zealand, the support level of the British Empire for New Zealand is not very high, and is even merely on par with other European powers.

Some New Zealanders who still regarded the British Empire as their suzerain felt unsatisfied and disappointed. Compared to the aid from Australia, the British Empire’s assistance seemed to be less sincere.

Previously, there were three opinions on the status and situation of New Zealand. The first opinion believed that New Zealand should continue to be under the rule of the British Empire, which, as the world’s first superpower, could protect New Zealand’s interests well.

The second opinion held that New Zealand should strive for more independence, and even went to the extent of promoting New Zealand to become an independent country.

And the third opinion, like Grant’s, was to have a favorable impression of Australia with a similar status and history as New Zealand. They tried to make New Zealand and Australia unite, even going back to the era when they were Australian colonies and allowing the two regions to merge thoroughly and firmly.

Before Australia’s independence, the support levels for these three opinions were in sequence: the first > the second > the third.

After Australia became the Australian Duchy, the view of New Zealanders towards New Zealand changed to the second > the third > the first.

With Arthur becoming the Governor of New Zealand and carrying out various constructions and relief operations in New Zealand, the second and the third opinions basically maintained the same support levels. However, in the later stages, the idea of uniting Australia had already surpassed the concept of an independent New Zealand.

At this point, the complete advantage of merging with Australia hadn’t been fully acknowledged. Many people still placed their expectations on the British Empire and the independence of New Zealand.

There was no doubt that the actions of the British Empire smashed the hopes of these people. Would New Zealanders trust a suzerain who didn’t offer them strong support during the disaster?

Especially when compared with Australia, the aid from the British Empire seemed like pitiable alms.

This news article struck deep within the hearts of all New Zealanders, as they all pondered one question: where should the future of New Zealand head towards?

Although there isn’t a definitive answer at present, there are quite a few New Zealanders whose minds are becoming swayed, and they are beginning to focus on the currently popular New Zealand Alliance Party.

On November 29,1903, the 21st day after the typhoon disaster.

After 21 days of rescue and reconstruction work, much of the debris caused by the typhoon and waves was gradually cleared away.

This only applied to the urban area that needed to be rebuilt, while large parts of the coastal plains continued to be in ruins.

The damage caused to New Zealand by the typhoon went far beyond the surface as it devastated agricultural areas on the West Coast. It is predicted that in a short time, New Zealand’s agriculture and animal husbandry industries will be severely affected.

Unfortunately, agriculture and animal husbandry, being one of the economic pillars for New Zealand, are the main means of generating revenue for the current colonial government.

This also implies that in the future, New Zealand’s finance will be facing a deficit, and this deficit could last for several years.

As post-disaster reconstruction work entered a relatively stable phase, Arthur finally had time to return to Wellington and discuss the next actions with the officials in Wellington.

Wellington, Government Building, a certain conference room.

At this moment, the conference room was more crowded than the last time they had held a meeting discussing plans after the disaster. Hundreds of officials from the New Zealand colonial government, the New Zealand Labor Party and Alliance Party, the Advisory Council, various city Mayors, Garrison Commander Piers, and leader of the relief organization Joshua filled up the small conference room.

“Ladies, gentlemen, today’s conference topic is to discuss the next plans for New Zealand, including relief plans for the refugees and the focus of our rebuilding efforts. How to enable these refugees to obtain an income and return to their normal lives is our primary direction.” Arthur scanned the room and slowly spoke.

“Your Highness, everyone,” an official from the New Zealand colonial government took the initiative to speak, “This typhoon not only caused devastating damage to our cities on the West Coast but also dealt a devastating blow to our animal husbandry industry there.”

“According to a rough estimate, at least millions of cattle and sheep died in this typhoon, with hundreds of thousands missing. The pasture lands on the West Coast suffered severe destruction. Even within a few years, parts of the West Coast’s pastoral lands basically won’t return to their previous state. This also means that New Zealand’s economy and national income will experience a prolonged period of stagnation.”

“Therefore, I believe that in addition to rebuilding the towns on the West Coast, we should also allow these refugees to continue the work-for-relief approach to clean up the vast pasture lands on the West Coast. This way, our pastoral lands could recover more quickly, and the refugees could temporarily gain an income-generating job, allowing them to return to their normal lives.”

New Zealand’s pasture lands are scattered throughout the North and South Islands, which is why small New Zealand can become a major animal husbandry country.

But unfortunately, the pastures of New Zealand’s North Island are located west of the mountain range, that is, the West Coast and the Oakland Peninsula.

However, these regions had the misfortune of being hit hardest by the typhoon, causing significant losses to New Zealand’s animal husbandry industry.

The New Zealand colonial government official’s suggestion was simple: invest as much human and material resources as possible into the recovery of the animal husbandry industry and pastoral lands. This affected not only the economy and income of many New Zealand herdsmen but also the economy and income of the entire New Zealand.

As the pillar industry of New Zealand, the income from animal husbandry accounted for more than half of the total revenue of the colonial government and was the industry many New Zealanders depended on for survival.

It was something New Zealand was proud of as an animal husbandry powerhouse, but it also made the rebuilding of the industry crucial when facing such a massive disaster.

Among the hundreds of thousands of affected New Zealanders in the disaster- stricken areas, at least half of them worked in the animal husbandry industry.

This provided them with stable income and a guarantee to their livelihoods.

Thus, the best way for them to resume their lives was to restore the animal husbandry industry they relied on, allowing them continuous stable sources of income instead of simply relying on the government and external relief.