Chapter 110 The current situation in New Zealand (please subscribe!)

Arthur's words were like a heavy hammer, hitting the hearts of all New Zealanders.

yes! No matter how benevolent His Royal Highness Arthur is, he is still the monarch of the Australians. For Arthur, New Zealand was just a territory that was temporarily managed for twenty years. Even Arthur had only administrative power during these twenty years and had to be restrained by the colonial government.

Under such circumstances, no one is a fool, and it is naturally impossible for them to devote all their efforts to developing a land that may not belong to them.

Thinking of this, the New Zealanders were disappointed for a while, and then a terrible idea came to mind. What if New Zealand is the territory of His Royal Highness Arthur? What if they are all His Highness Arthur's subjects?

If New Zealand, like Australia, is Arthur's territory, then wouldn't His Highness Arthur be able to develop New Zealand like he did in Australia and increase the income of all New Zealanders?

There are many New Zealanders who think this way. After all, New Zealand was part of Australia decades ago. Isn’t it natural to want to merge now?

If Arthur knew what the New Zealanders were thinking, he would have nodded with satisfaction at the success of his plan.

As a royal member of the British Empire, Australia is also a principality territory separated from the British Empire.

Under such circumstances, Arthur would definitely not be able to openly oppose the British Empire.

After all, a large part of Arthur's status and prestige was inherited from Queen Victoria, so naturally he would not do such a thing to dig into his own roots.

So if you want to plot New Zealand's land, you can only push for New Zealanders to ask to join Australia.

The speech at the port is just the first step of the plan, and there will be more follow-ups to allow more people and forces to promote New Zealand's joining of Australia.

The port speech was a success, at least judging from the New Zealanders' expressions.

Regardless of the mood of the colonial government and General Pierce, Arthur's speech was definitely not something they could interrupt.

Later, under the leadership of colonial officials, Arthur went to the building where the colonial government was located to learn more about the situation in the New Zealand colony.

The history of this area of ​​New Zealand becoming a colony began in 1788, but for more than fifty years until 1841, New Zealand had been a colony under Australia.

It was not until 1841 that New Zealand separated from Australia and established the British New Zealand Colony.

Compared with Australia, New Zealand's development level was slightly higher than Australia's at the beginning.

New Zealand has always been Australia's food production region and the base for British livestock products.

When gold was discovered in Australia, it was also discovered on the west coast of New Zealand.

With the influx of gold prospectors, New Zealand's immigration also received a huge boost, and production and trade also developed rapidly.

However, due to the decline in international agricultural product prices and gold production in the late 19th century, New Zealand's unemployment situation was relatively serious and its economy was in recession.

Of course, New Zealand's economic decline is not attributable to Australia's rise.

In the past, Australia's food supply was somewhat dependent on New Zealand, but now Australia has established good animal husbandry and agriculture, not only getting rid of the need for foreign food, but even exporting large quantities of food abroad.

More importantly, because of its advantages in land area and population, Australia has successfully seized many markets in the livestock and food industries. This is also one of the reasons why New Zealand's economy has fallen into a downturn.

If it weren't for the fact that after Australia became independent, the UK shifted its focus on importing livestock products to New Zealand, New Zealand's economy would have been even more sluggish.

But in general, New Zealand's current development level is still at the same level as Australia because of its relatively good development in the beginning.

As of now, New Zealand has a total population of 1,014,000 people. Most of the population lives in the North Island of New Zealand, and less than two-fifths of the population lives in the South Island of New Zealand.

In terms of land area, New Zealand's total land area is approximately 268,600 square kilometers, consisting of New Zealand's North Island, South Island, Stewart Island and some nearby small islands.

Mountains and hills account for 75% of New Zealand's total area, which is why New Zealand's livestock industry is so developed.

According to information from the New Zealand colonial government, New Zealand's per capita income is about eleven pounds, and there are less than 200,000 people in the extremely low-income population.

In terms of mineral resources, although it is not as good as Australia, a country known as sitting on a mine car, New Zealand is also one of the countries with relatively rich mineral resources.

In terms of metal mines, New Zealand has gold mines, silver mines and iron ores. Among them, the output of gold mines and silver mines has been decreasing year by year due to similar reasons.

New Zealand also has a certain amount of coal mines. Although its coal and iron ore reserves are not as rich as Australia's, it can also establish certain industries and is considered rich in minerals.

Because of its previous prosperity, New Zealand has built a certain amount of roads, bridges, railways, telecommunications and other public projects, and its infrastructure is better than Australia's.

However, with the economic recession, many public projects have fallen into disuse, and some roads and railways are no longer usable due to lack of maintenance.

More importantly, as an autonomous colony of the British Empire, New Zealand was restricted by the British Empire in all aspects and could not develop independently.

A lot of wealth has been absorbed into the UK, and not many can stay in New Zealand.

In general, New Zealand is temporarily on par with Australia's development level due to its previous success.

But what can be expected is that if New Zealand continues to stagnate like this, and even its economy and development fall into regression, it will be a matter of time before Australia's development level surpasses New Zealand's.

The poor economic situation in New Zealand has already aroused dissatisfaction among New Zealanders, which is why a certain degree of independence wave broke out in New Zealand.

Coupled with the rapid development and economic integration brought about by Australia's independence, New Zealanders are gradually eager for New Zealand to become an independent and self-governing country.

Currently, New Zealand has two influential political parties, the New Zealand Labor Party, which is composed of many workers, and the Alliance Party, which is composed of many New Zealand retired soldiers and officials.

The New Zealand Labor Party advocates that New Zealand follow Australia's example and establish an autonomous territory with self-government rights.

The Alliance Party hopes to make New Zealand an independent country, or one of the regions of an independent country, by joining Australia.

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