Chapter 167 The first graduating class of college students

On July 4, 1903, several transport ships loaded with weapons and equipment set out from the port of Sydney, Australia, heading directly to the destination island country.

What is loaded here is part of the Island-Australia Treaty, including 20,000 Gew98 rifles, one hundred German-made Maxim heavy machine guns, fifteen 105mm Krupp howitzers and millions of rounds of ammunition. , tens of thousands of artillery shells.

Of course, there are still a large number of bullets and artillery shells being manufactured. Judging from Australia's current military industry strength, being able to produce so many weapons and equipment is considered to be working overtime.

It took less than half a month to successfully deliver this batch of weapons and equipment to the island country's port, and Arthur also successfully received the balance payment from the island country.

The total order value of the entire arms trade was nearly two million pounds, and the battleship alone was sold for more than one million pounds.

Of course, the delivery of the battleship will have to wait until next year, and the entire construction time will take at least more than a year.

Australia's total profit from the deal with the island country's weapons and warships was as high as more than 700,000 pounds.

Although more than half of the profits belong to Arthur's arms factory, which is the royal family consortium, nearly half of the profits still belong to the Australian government.

Although the Australian government's revenue is less than 300,000 pounds, this is already a huge improvement for Australia, which had no revenue from the military industry before.

On September 4, 1903, another batch of weapons and equipment also set out from the Sydney port, using a large number of transport ships and several warships to escort it. However, the destination was no longer the previous island country, but the Far East, which had severe friction with the island country. Russian Empire.

Due to confidentiality reasons, this batch of weapons and equipment was disguised as clothing and food, and was transported to a port controlled by the Tsarist Empire in a very low-key manner.

Although the number of these weapons and equipment is almost half of that of the island country, no one can deny the damage and power that these heavy firepower weapons can bring.

If the island country is not fully prepared, perhaps these new heavy weapons from the Russian Empire can give the island country a good drink. Although it will not completely reverse the situation of the war, there is still hope to change a small war.

Although the arms trade in the Russian Empire was not as profitable as the island countries, it also brought tens of thousands of pounds in profits to Australia.

These two arms trades are also the two main arms trades in Australia at present. After all the orders for the island countries and the Russian Empire are completed, Australia's arms factories can only provide weapons for the country.

During this period, there is another piece of good news for Australia, that is, the first class of college students from the Australian National University has successfully graduated and entered all walks of life in Australia.

Although the first batch of college students at the Australian National University enrolled more than a month later than later, this does not prevent them from successfully graduating three years later.

The first batch of college students involved a total of five majors. Among them, the more important mechanical majors and physical chemistry majors each have 200 college students. So far, the Australian National University has the two departments with the largest number of college students.

Next are the architectural profession and the medical profession. Architecture majors, also commonly known as civil engineering, learn how to design and build. Needless to say, the medical profession can provide Australia with much-needed medical talents. These talents will also provide strong manpower for many large hospitals in Australia.

The literature major has the smallest enrollment. There were only one hundred undergraduates in the first class majoring in literature, and even now the total number of literature students in the entire Australian National University is less than five hundred.

But literary students still have many important uses for Australia. The union between all immigrants and native Australians that Arthur hopes to see depends on the pens and words of these literary students.

Don’t underestimate the role of literati in guiding people’s thoughts. As long as these people publish their articles about the Australian nation crazily in various newspapers, many Australians will see it and gradually believe and recognize it.

The graduation of this generation of college students will change Australia the most in industry and medicine.

With one hundred and fifty medical graduates, all major hospitals in Australia are basically in operation. Except for some particularly important positions, which are hired by foreign experts, other positions are basically held by these medical graduates. .

Many graduates of mechanical majors and physical chemistry majors were invited to Arthur's arsenal and shipyards, as well as various factories and laboratories built in the industrial area.

They are crucial to Australia's scientific research strength. Although they are not decisive leaders, they can also become a very good backbone.

The enrollment of Australian National University has been on a downward trend over the years. Except for the first batch of college students, which had 800 students, the second batch of college students only had 600 students, and the third and fourth batches currently have only 500 students.

This has also resulted in the current number of teachers and students at the Australian National University being less than 1,700 after the first class of college students graduate.

Although the number of college students has decreased compared with before, the teaching efficiency of teachers will also increase accordingly.

As college students graduate one after another, Australia's relatively short supply of mainstay talents can finally be filled. On the basis of using the Victoria Prize to attract top scientists, Australia's middle and lower-level scientists can finally develop.

On September 13, 1903, after presiding over the opening ceremony of the fourth Australian National University, Arthur received a request from the new cabinet government to convene a cabinet meeting, so he rushed to the Government Affairs Building without stopping and attended The first major cabinet meeting of the second cabinet government.

The place where the meeting was held was also the place where the cabinet election was held, but it seemed a little empty at this time, with only eleven cabinet members and Arthur.

"Prime Minister Evan, tell me! About the purpose of convening this large cabinet meeting." Arthur asked.

The Prime Minister can hold a general small cabinet meeting alone, with all cabinet members participating, and then he only needs to report all the results of the meeting to Arthur.

Of course, this kind of cabinet meeting cannot decide major events related to Australia. Its purpose is only to let the cabinet deal with some political problems and difficulties that it usually encounters.

There is only one reason why a large cabinet meeting can be held, and that is that Arthur must be present to decide major events related to Australia's political situation.

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