Chapter 640 The Impact of Expelling the Aboriginals

After the work of each department was almost arranged, Prime Minister Roger stood up and spoke with a slightly heavy face about the biggest problem currently facing the government.

"Your Majesty, after we expelled a large number of indigenous people from Java and Sumatra, the rubber production in Southeast Asia has had a huge impact, and it may even evolve into a worldwide rubber crisis." Prime Minister Roger said.

The Dutch East Indies controlled by the Netherlands is one of the most important areas for natural rubber production, contributing nearly one-third of the rubber production in Southeast Asia.

Even if we look at the whole world, the Dutch East Indies' rubber production still remains at more than one-fifth, which is already a quite exaggerated figure.

After expelling a large number of indigenous people, rubber production in Java and Sumatra has been short of manpower. We cannot rely on the remaining Dutch and a small number of indigenous people on these two islands to plant rubber.

Let’s not talk about whether these people are willing to go, there are certain skills in harvesting rubber, and people who don’t know how to go will only cause trouble.

The rubber crisis in Southeast Asia began with the colonial rebellion of the Dutch East Indies, and it has no signs of stopping even now.

The two most important reasons are that Australasia is still expelling indigenous people, and the rubber production in Java and Sumatra has fallen into a labor shortage.

The second reason is that rubber industrial parks in other regions cannot expand rapidly. The lost rubber production in Java and Sumatra will not be made up by other regions in a short period of time.

The price of rubber has remained high since the birth of this product, and rubber cultivation has always been one of the most profitable industries, even now.

Although we have experienced rubber crises before, with the rapid development of automobiles, the price of rubber, which is widely used in automobile tires, is even higher than before.

According to rubber price records, the price of rubber around 1880 was about 401 pounds per ton.

As time entered the early 20th century, the price of rubber also increased to 45% per ton, which is considered normal.

But after the birth of the Australasian automobile, as automobiles became popular all over the world, the price of rubber used in tires also experienced a surge.

1 has increased to the point where the rubber price per ton in different regions has even exceeded 800 pounds per ton.

Next came the World War. Continuous wars greatly reduced the demand for rubber, which also made the originally insufficient rubber production become excessive. The price of rubber dropped from 1 to 1, with the lowest price per ton being less than 250 pounds.

Even after the war, the economic recovery speed of various countries was not very good, and the production and demand for rubber were not growing rapidly. The price of rubber has been stable at around 300 pounds per ton, and sometimes even fell below 250 pounds.

1 Most of them are produced in South America, and 1 a large number of rubber industrial parks are planted, and the combined output has even exceeded the record set by South America. This is one of the reasons why rubber prices have not been rising.

According to the intelligence obtained after Australasia took control of the Dutch East Indies, the entire Dutch East Indies region (including the former Australasian occupation and the Sultanate of Kalimantan) has a rubber planting area of ​​up to 400,000 hectares. The output is as high as 280,000 tons.

Based on the value of about 270 pounds per ton of rubber, the total value of 280,000 tons of rubber is close to 75.6 million pounds.

What kind of exaggerated concept is this? Although it seems to be less than 100 million pounds, Australasia's total annual financial revenue is just over 100 million pounds.

The total value of rubber production in the Dutch East Indies alone is not much different than the total annual fiscal revenue of Australasia. This is enough to prove the huge profits of the rubber industry today.

Of course, less than a quarter of the more than 400,000 hectares of rubber plantations formerly belonged to the Netherlands.

This also makes the Dutch East Indies' rubber production value reach more than 75 million pounds, and the Dutch can only receive about 15 million pounds in annual income.

But this is definitely not a small income, and it is also the value of the Dutch East Indies. Together with other mineral resources in this area, including tens of millions of indigenous people, the Dutch East Indies could previously generate an annual income of more than 20 million pounds for the Netherlands.

But all this changed completely with the policy of expelling Aboriginals from Australasia.

Prime Minister Roger continued: “According to our statistics, rubber production dropped by more than a quarter last year, and it may be even lower this year, or even less than half of the peak.

High rubber prices have seriously affected our domestic industrial development. Not only the automobile industry, but also many industries that use rubber are already complaining about the price of rubber. A large number of rubber plantations abroad are also complaining about the lack of manpower after we expelled the indigenous people. . "

"Is there anyone behind this?" Arthur asked.

If rubber prices were simply reduced due to the expulsion of Aboriginal production from Australasia, the situation would be manageable.

But if there is someone pushing behind the scenes or even wanting to cause another rubber crisis, then you have to be on guard.

You know, the automotive industry in Australasia is definitely the best in the world. This has also resulted in the domestic rubber industry in Australasia being quite large, with numerous manufacturers producing various types of tires.

There are also a series of repair shops that repair tires, small workshops that produce rubber products, etc. This is a complete industrial chain.

If a crisis breaks out in rubber at the source, it will be a devastating blow to the entire rubber industry chain, and it will also be an extreme obstacle to the Australasian industry.

"We haven't found anyone behind it yet, Your Majesty. But the opinions of a large number of rubber plantation owners, including the Dutch, have to be taken into consideration. They ask us to retain certain indigenous people as their labor force." Prime Minister Roger shook his head. He shook his head and replied.

Arthur was relieved when he heard that no one was pushing from behind. But after hearing the threats and complaints against Australasia from some rubber plantation owners, including the Dutch, Arthur couldn't help but smile and ordered: "

Tell those foreign rubber plantation owners that the current Dutch East Indies are the territory of Australasia, and they should naturally abide by the laws of Australasia.

Those indigenous people are not recognized by Australasian law and are not citizens of Australasia. Naturally, they do not have the qualifications and rights to live in Australasian territory.

As for the lack of labor, they can hire local legal citizens or Australasians.

As long as they abide by Australasia's labor laws and effectively protect the interests of civilians, I believe there will be a large number of people willing to work for them, provided they need to change. "

It is impossible for the indigenous people to continue to stay in Java and Sumatra. Both islands are part of Arthur's colonial localization plan, so it is naturally impossible for the indigenous people to leave such hidden dangers.

While this may affect rubber plantations on both islands, most of these plantations are foreign properties and will not have much impact on Arthur and Australasia.

More importantly, according to the historical trend of rubber prices, the price of rubber will plummet within ten years, but rubber production is continuing to grow.

Under such circumstances, Arthur naturally had no interest in taking over these rubber plantations. Although many industries in Australasia require the use of rubber, with several islands in the Dutch East Indies, there is no shortage of rubber in Australasia.

As for the complaints from foreign rubber industrial parks, they are completely innocuous to Arthur. As long as they abide by the laws of Australasia, there is actually no shortage of human resources.

But if their crisis is based on non-compliance with the law, then the crisis they suffer is completely deserved. The Australasian government has no responsibility or obligation to help them solve the crisis.

"Your Majesty, will this have an impact on our reputation? We have just rejected the rubber plantations in the Dutch East Indies. I am afraid that some Europeans will hate us." Prime Minister Roger was a little worried and hesitant. expressed his concerns.

"It doesn't matter." Arthur chuckled and said: "The protests of a small number of capitals have no impact on us, and we do not need the support of these capitals at all. More importantly, the current islands of Java and Sumatra are Australasia Territory, foreign capital has no qualifications to dictate our rule.

If that doesn't work, the royal consortium can also acquire some rubber plantations to maintain the scale of domestic rubber production.

I don't believe it. The rubber industry cannot operate without these rubber plantations. They cannot determine our domestic rubber production. "

Although rubber was very important to Australasia's industrial development, these foreign rubber plantation owners had no influence on Australasia.

First of all, their rubber plantations are still Australasian territory in the final analysis, and Australasian laws will naturally apply.

More importantly, they cannot compete with the larger royal consortium in terms of assets or status.

Failure to comply with the law will lead to labor shortages, labor shortages will lead to a collapse in rubber production, and a collapse in rubber production will lead to loss of profits. This is an endless cycle, and it also forces them to surrender to the Australasian government.

If there really was someone unwilling to surrender to Australasia, Arthur wouldn't mind buying them at a low price after their business fell into total losses or even bankruptcy.

For the royal consortium, it is not cost-effective to purchase rubber plantations at normal prices or even at premiums. After all, the price of rubber will still experience fluctuations and decreases for a period of time.

If it were purchased at a low price when the rubber plantation went bankrupt, no matter how the price of rubber fluctuated, the deal would still be a good deal.

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