The Rise Of Australasia - Chapter 301:

Chapter 301: Chapter 265: The End of the Parade

Arthur stayed in Wellington for about a week, visiting not only Victoria University of Wellington but also holding a speech for over an hour at Victoria University.

Although the actual impact is unknown, the effectiveness of the speech seemed to be good as evidenced by the awe-inspiring and passionate eyes of the faculty and students of Victoria University of Wellington, as well as the hardworking responses from the university students.

After leaving Wellington, the cars that came with the fleet started to come in handy.

Riding in cars, Arthur headed northwest towards a small town in South Taraki Bay of the Tasman Sea, Opunaki.

This small town is no different from an ordinary fishing town in New Zealand, but it holds special significance for present-day New Zealand and Australasia.

Since the typhoon hit New Zealand on November 8, 1903, the situation in New Zealand and the entire Oceania has undergone a tremendous transformation.

The first step was New Zealand’s referendum to join Australia after the disaster, forming the Australia and New Zealand Federation, and then the current Kingdom of Australasia.

And the first area where the typhoon landed in New Zealand is the seemingly ordinary small town of Opunaki.

Outside Opunaki Town now stands a monument to the typhoon event at that time.

This monument attracts many Australasians to visit, not only as one of New Zealand’s great disasters but also as one of Australasia’s great disasters.

The losses caused by the disaster to New Zealand include not only the death and injury of more than 100,000 people but also the loss of millions of cattle and sheep and large areas of crops, which is also the real reason why the total population of New Zealand is still only 1.35 million to this day.

Arthur stood in front of the typhoon disaster memorial for a long time and offered a bouquet of flowers.

Although this was only a normal gesture in Arthur’s view, it was greatly appreciated by many New Zealanders who experienced the typhoon event firsthand.

After all, following the typhoon, Australia not only donated to New Zealand, but Arthur also made two donations, one as Duke of Australia and another in his private capacity.

After finishing what had to be done in Opunaki Town, Arthur set off along the western highway of North New Zealand and, passing through New Spreymouth, Pio Pio, Hamilton, Huntley, Waitako Harbour, and Manukau, finally arrived at his second destination in North New Zealand, Oakland.

Oakland at this time is a rebuilt Oakland and has quickly grown into the second-largest city in North New Zealand.

This is because many of Oakland’s citizens chose to stay in Oakland, even though it had become a wasteland after the destruction of the typhoon.

Upon arriving in Oakland, Arthur found that the area had been well rebuilt. Although the industrial area is not very developed at the moment, agriculture and animal husbandry are everywhere, reflecting Oakland’s current development situation.

In Oakland, there is also one of the three universities in New Zealand, Oakland University. As per the usual, Arthur visited Oakland University and gave a speech.

People in Oakland are even more grateful to Arthur, as it would have been impossible for Oakland to rebuild so quickly without the generous donations from Arthur and Australia.

It can be said that the fact that Oaklanders could quickly recover their pre-disaster life within a few years is largely due to Arthur and Australia’s donations.

After the same tedious but unavoidable inspection and review, Arthur boarded the fleet and arrived at Pickton, the capital of South New Zealand State, just across the sea from Wellington.

There is a world of difference between the development levels of North New Zealand State and South New Zealand State.

In terms of area, the South New Zealand State is larger than North New Zealand State, but its population is only about half that of the North New Zealand State.

As the largest city in South New Zealand State, Pickton has a population of over 80,000. However, the second-largest city in New Zealand, Oakland, which was rebuilt after the disaster, already has a population of over 100,000.

If it is said that North New Zealand has a certain scale of industry, then the only advantage New Zealand State has is animal husbandry and agriculture.

South New Zealand State lags far behind North New Zealand State in all aspects, which is the clearest feeling Arthur has after traveling through North New Zealand and South New Zealand.

However, in South New Zealand State, one can also see more lush farmland and larger pastoral areas, and the faces of South New Zealand State residents are full of smiles.

There really isn’t much worth inspecting in South New Zealand State, with three major cities, Pickton, Crestchurch, and Invercagill, all with populations of less than 100,000, and the total population of South New Zealand State not exceeding 500,000, which is less than half of Sydney.

After casually strolling through the three cities, Arthur reviewed the New Zealand garrison stationed in Pickton.

After encouraging all the soldiers and personally presenting salaries and supplies to some of them, Arthur was satisfied with his trip to New Zealand and headed to his next destination, the New Guinea Colony.

After several years of construction, the capital of the New Guinea Colony, Moritzby Port, had grown into a fledgling city with a population of fifty thousand.

Due to Arthur’s strategic grain reserve plan, New Guinea had always been regarded by the Australasian government as a natural granary and one of the test grounds for Australasian mechanized agriculture.

Currently, New Guinea has more than one sixth of the grain output of Australia, and the food produced in New Guinea alone is enough to feed more than four million people for a year.

Due to the good relationship with Germany, some of the grain produced in New Guinea is directly transported to German New Guinea in the north, leading to the fact that there are not many cultivated lands in German New Guinea, as Germany has no intention of vigorously developing agriculture in such regions.

The officials of the New Guinea Colonial Government took Arthur’s inspection very seriously, and Arthur symbolically encouraged the officials and accompanied important officials of the colonial government to visit several large plantations in New Guinea.

He then inspected the New Guinea military, spending three days in New Guinea doing these actions.

After all these, Arthur hurried to Australian Timor without stopping and continued with his next tour.

The Governor of Australian Timor was Roman Pito, a member of the Royal Parliament and an official from New Zealand.

As one of the earliest New Zealand officials to swear allegiance to Arthur, it was not surprising for Roman Pito to become the Governor of Australian Timor, after all, the core members Arthur brought from Britain were virtually all assigned heavy responsibilities, and the vacancies could only be filled by promoting talent from Australia and New Zealand.

However, this could also be considered a good thing, as it made the Australian and New Zealand forces loyal to Arthur feel at ease.

After all, if Arthur only recognized the officials he brought from Britain, the local forces of Australasia would never be integrated into Arthur’s core circle of subordinates, and their loyalty to Arthur would naturally decrease.

As the latest territory incorporated into Australasia, Australian Timor naturally has a pitifully small population.

Even after several years of development, the population of Australian Timor has just barely exceeded ten thousand, and almost all the inhabitants of Australian Timor are located in the capital, Dili.

If New Guinea is considered an important grain-producing region for Australasia, then Australian Timor is more like a military fortress and outpost.

Although there are only just over ten thousand residents, there are as many as three thousand garrison troops around Dili, and there are several radio stations, constantly communicating with the domestic situation in Australasia.

In fact, that was exactly what Arthur and the government had planned. Australian Timor could not develop in the short term, so the government positioned it as an outpost for Australasian defense.

Due to the fact that there are still several thousand Portuguese residents in Australian Timor, Arthur’s stay there was the shortest.

Although Arthur was very interested in witnessing the civil life of Australian Timor, he decided against it after thinking about it.

After all, it has only been a little over two years since this land was annexed by Australasia, and there are still thousands of Portuguese residents in Dili.

Although several weapon recovery operations had been organized by Governor Roman in this area to maintain the stability of Australian Timor after its official annexation, no residents other than those from Australasia were allowed to possess firearms, and even Australiasian residents who owned firearms had to register with the government and report each use of a weapon.

However, who could guarantee that there were no people hiding firearms among these Portuguese residents, just waiting for the arrival of Arthur and high-ranking Australasian government officials?

As the saying goes, no matter how high your Kung Fu skills are, you still fear the kitchen knife; Arthur, no matter how well-prepared, would not gamble on whether anyone would try to assassinate him.

After all, are there not many such cases in history? A very similar one is Archduke Ferdinand of Austro-Hungary, which triggered World War I.

And there are many other kings and high-ranking nobles, including King Alexander I of Serbia and King George I of Greece.

These blood-soaked incidents tell Arthur a truth: no matter how noble his status, no matter how much love he receives from others, he is still an ordinary person and will die if shot.

A sensible king wouldn’t risk his own life in a gamble, and Arthur wouldn’t be so foolish.

In fact, as long as Arthur didn’t take any risks, the possibility of being assassinated would be almost zero. After all, there was a battalion of troops protecting him openly and many intelligence personnel from the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau were secretly following him. If there was any abnormality near Arthur, these intelligence personnel would take action immediately.

It’s worth mentioning that only those who have been cleared can get within 300 meters of Arthur.

Those who can get within 200 meters have to undergo another round of searches. Unless the person is a minister or official particularly trusted by Arthur, his guards and members of the Royal Security Intelligence Bureau will not be polite and will arrest those who do not submit to the search first.