As it was the second year of popularizing the wireless radio station, Arthur’s implentation speech this Christmas also attracted much anticipation.
According to the estimates of the Propaganda Departnt, the current wireless radio signals have covered almost all major cities, with a total population coverage of over 11 million people.
This also ans that after a year, it is not a problem for Arthur’s Christmas speech to attract millions of listeners this ti.
Because from the sales of radios this year, the popularity of radios in Australasia is not low.
Of course, this is largely due to the low price of radios. Especially for the simplest crystal radios, the cheapest ones only require one to two months of salary, and ordinary people can afford it if they bite the bullet.
While giving the speech, Arthur couldn’t help but feel the rapid passage of ti.
It feels like a short ti, but it has actually been more than 20 years since he arrived in Australia.
However, looking at the achievents of Australasia so far, these 20 years of efforts have not been wasted.
Just a few days after Christmas, Arthur convened a new round of Cabinet etings to establish the governnt developnt plan for the next year, that is, 1922.
As the saying goes, if you want to be rich, you must first build roads. Arthur attaches great importance to the construction of highways and railways, so the first topic ntioned is also related to the Transportation Departnt.
According to the current railway construction situation in Australasia, the Industrial Railway, Northern Railway, and Central Railway have been completed, with a total mileage of up to 43,000 kiloters, which seems to be quite developed.
But when compared with other powers, especially considering the vast territory of Australasia, it still seems sowhat backward.
First, look at an exaggerated figure. In 1850, the total mileage of railways in the United States had reached 18,000 kiloters, and now it has exceeded 430,000 kiloters, a full 13 tis that of Australasia.
Although the United States has more developed economies and larger industries, the land area of the United States is still not as large as Australasia, so the backwardness of railway mileage can be seen.
Even the current railway mileage of Australasia is only ranked sixth in the world, only less than 1,000 kiloters more than mainland France.
Mainland France has an area of only 550,000 square kiloters, and the area of Australasia is more than ten tis that of mainland France.
By comparing the two, it is clear that the transportation infrastructure in Australasia is still lagging behind, and the construction of railways and highways is still the main topic at present.
Arthur looked at Martin Pospiel, the Minister of Transportation, and asked, "Minister Martin, what is the new year plan for the Transportation Departnt?"
Knowing that this is a test for himself, Minister Martin dared not take any carelessness or drag on ti, and carefully replied, "Your Majesty, in addition to maintaining and consolidating our current railways and highways, I think, it is necessary to continue to build railways.
In five years, the total railway mileage should be expanded to 50,000 kiloters, and in twenty years it should be expanded to 100,000 kiloters, in order to initially et our demand for railway transportation."
Listening to the completely different opinions from the previous Ministers of Transportation, Arthur raised his eyebrows and asked with interest, "You think we need 100,000 kiloters of railways to be enough?"
"Not exactly, Your Majesty." Minister Martin explained: "It’s not that 100,000 kiloters are already enough, but that 100,000 kiloters initially et our needs."
"Oh?" Arthur beca more interested and asked with a smile, "Now, Australasia has a total railway mileage of only 43,000 kiloters, and it took more than 20 years to build. Do you want to build the remaining 57,000 kiloters of railways in almost the sa ti?"
"I cannot deny that this is a difficult problem, Your Majesty. But railways are very important for the developnt of the country. The total mileage of railways in the United States has reached 430,000 kiloters. If we do not want to fall behind in this regard, it is necessary to continue to improve our railway mileage." Minister Martin explained.
"Moreover, the developnt of the rle River Basin also requires the construction of a large number of railways, as well as the expansion of the scope of industrial bases, and the newly established capital special district and Northern Australia by Your Majesty also need to build a large number of railways. Australasia is vast, and we have no reason not to build longer railways, Your Majesty."
Arthur nodded in satisfaction, agreeing with Minister Martin’s ambitious ideas.
Let alone discuss the huge 430,000 kiloters of railways in the United States, even in other colonies of the British Empire such as Canada and India, the railway mileage has also exceeded Australasia.
Although a large part of these railways were built by the British for their own interests.
However, it cannot be denied that this railway mileage has played a vital role in the economic developnt of the Canadian and Indian regions.
It is necessary for Australasia to develop better and build more railways.
Especially when airplanes and airships are unaffordable for a large number of civilians, on land, trains have beco the only choice for the majority of civilians to travel to distant areas.
Not only can this speed up the economic flow between various regions of Australasia and promote economic developnt, but it can also increase the mobility of the population, which is also helpful for the tourism industry in Australasia.
"The Transportation Departnt should co up with a plan as soon as possible, as well as the funds and manpower required for railway construction plans." Although Arthur did not express agreent or disagreent, his words already revealed his viewpoint.
"Yes, I will deliver it to you as soon as possible, Your Majesty." Minister Martin nodded excitedly, thrilled to have secured Arthur’s support.
The reason Arthur agreed with Minister Martin’s proposal of extending the railway mileage to 50,000 kiloters in five years and 100,000 kiloters in twenty years was that he saw the gap between Australasia and other powerful countries in terms of railway mileage.
Although the population did not require as much railway mileage as other powerful countries, the population would always grow, and it could not always remain at just over 20 million.
Furthermore, the vast territory of Australasia naturally required more railways, and the construction of railways was not a loss, but rather very important for a country’s developnt.
Moreover, with 100,000 kiloters in 20 years, an average of only 2,850 kiloters of railway would be built annually, which could potentially be achieved considering the current railway construction demand.
After all, the urgently needed railway construction in Northern Australia and the capital special zone mostly consisted of plains, so the construction would not only save manpower and resources but also ti.
With the current level of machinery and equipnt developnt, building 2,850 kiloters of railways in a year could be a challenging task but achievable with so effort.
Furthermore, even if building 2,850 kiloters of railways annually was not feasible, it would just take a few more years.
But Minister Martin’s aggressive approach to railway construction was sothing that so cabinet mbers did not possess.
In terms of national developnt, though conservative officials were necessary, aggressive ones were equally important.
It had to be admitted that so officials were too conservative for the country’s developnt. The construction of the nation needed a balance between conservatism and aggressiveness, which was also the reason why new blood constantly needed to be injected into the political arena.
Currently, Martin, who joined the Cabinet for the first ti two and a half years ago, was undoubtedly the aggressive official.
As long as, in the remaining half a year’s tenure, Minister Martin could achieve a bit in the Transportation Departnt, Arthur would not mind letting him serve another term, to see whether Minister Martin was all talk or genuinely capable and ambitious.
So officials becoming conservative is inevitable for any country and governnt.
Especially in the case of Australasia now, as long as there were no issues during their tenure, and they diligently completed their terms of office, they would have a chance to be granted a noble title, which was sothing no official could refuse.
As the saying goes, no action ans no mistakes. If controversial ideas led to work mistakes, not only would they lose the chance to gain a noble title, but they might even beco sinners of Australasia. This was what those officials feared and the reason they beca conservative.
It should be noted that there has never been an official in Australasia’s history who made a significant mistake in their work. This ans that if they made a mistake, they would likely be the first one and the one recorded in history.
These officials could not bear such a long-lasting bad reputation. The higher one stood, the more they cherished their feathers, which was the real reason for the increase in conservative factions in politics.
How to effectively deal with this situation? Injecting continuous new blood into the political vitality was the best way.
That was the reason why Australasia’s Pri Minister of the Cabinet could only serve two consecutive terms, and cabinet mbers only three.
Even the ritorious Pri Minister Kent, after completing this round of tenure, would have to give up his position as Pri Minister and pursue other cabinet positions or take a temporary break.
Even if Arthur trusted Kent, there was no reason to let him exceed his service term for a third ti.
After all, it was neither warti nor a huge crisis, and there was no reason to make an exception. It would not be worth the damage.
Since 1911, when Minister Kent was first appointed Pri Minister, he had been in office for nearly 11 years. Adding the remaining one and a half years, his service as Pri Minister would have lasted 12 years, spanning the major developnt period of Australasia.
In such circumstances, experiencing Australasia’s developnt in different capacities would actually bring more benefits.
As the Chinese proverb says, "those directly involved cannot see as clearly as those observing." Sotis, playing the role of an observer could reveal the shortcomings in the governnt’s developnt.
Moreover, the political stage of Australasia could not be dominated by one person forever, as it would easily breed factions and power.
Although it was currently controllable, it could not prevent future monarchs from facing such situations.
Arthur also had to consider the following monarchs. Cultivating a high-prestige ritorious officer in Australasia did not serve the monarch’s interests, even if it was soone he greatly trusted.
Although this reasoning may seem too realistic, it was the case with any kingdom.
Officials in a monarchy should always serve the monarch. If an official with prestige on par with the monarch erged, whom should the other officials listen to?
Arthur could surely suppress it now, but what about the future monarchs? A country’s developnt would inevitably face such issues, and the best way was to avoid the ergence of high-prestige officials as much as possible.
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