Chapter 641 Population and Development

"How is the situation with our rubber plantations in the Royal Territory and other areas?" Arthur looked at Prime Minister Roger and asked.

After previously occupying the Royal Territory, New Guinea and other areas, Australasia is building its own rubber plantations.

But the construction of rubber plantations is not that simple. First of all, plantations cannot be built anywhere.

Rubber planting has very strict requirements on geographical location, climate temperature, light and humidity, rainwater and even soil.

Rubber likes an environment of high temperature, high humidity and calm wind, and requires fertile soil. It requires an average annual temperature of 2 to be cold-resistant. If the temperature drops, there is a risk of death.

The rainfall requirements are even more stringent, requiring an average annual rainfall of 1150 to 2500 mm, but it is not suitable for planting in low-humidity areas. Suitable for growth in acidic sandy loam soil with deep, fertile, moist and well-drained soil. It has shallow roots, fragile branches, and poor adaptability to wind. It is susceptible to wind and cold and reduces glue production.

With such a long list of requirements, even in Southeast Asia, which is very suitable for rubber planting, most of the areas where rubber planting can be carried out are restricted.

Fortunately, Australasia has almost annexed the entire Dutch East Indies. Even the land in the Sultanate of Kalimantan can be used for rubber planting. Naturally, there is no shortage of land for building rubber plantations.

"Your Majesty, the first batch of rubber plantations can already start harvesting, and more still have a long growing season, and it is expected that they will not be officially harvested in 2 to 3 years." Prime Minister Roger replied.

These rubber plantations are officially constructed industries in Australasia, and Prime Minister Roger is naturally the person who knows the current situation of the rubber plantations best.

Rubber trees are naturally planted in rubber plantations. When they are mature and can be harvested, use a knife to cut off a little bark on the rubber tree, and the branches and leaves of the rubber tree can flow out along the groove, which is also the raw material for making rubber.

The longest time is waiting for the rubber tree to grow to its full size and be harvested.

Generally speaking, after the construction of a rubber plantation is completed, it takes 2 to 3 years before it can be harvested. This is also the reason why the expansion of rubber production takes a long time.

"What is the current size of our rubber plantation?" Arthur nodded and continued to ask.

"At present, the scale of rubber plantations we have built in the Royal Territory, Sulawesi and New Guinea has exceeded 50,000 hectares, and the maximum rubber output is expected to reach 50,000 tons. If we can purchase some ready-made rubber in Sumatra and Java, From rubber plantations, our rubber output can exceed at least 50,000 tons." Prime Minister Roger said with a smile.

Australasia's annual rubber demand is approximately 100,000 yen, which means that the rubber plantations controlled by Australasia alone can almost meet Australasia's rubber demand.

Of course, compared to Australasia, Europe and the Americas, which have a larger population and more developed economies, are the largest consumers of rubber.

The Dutch rely on the profits from exporting rubber to Europe and America every year to maintain an army of more than 200,000 and a fleet, and also keep the Dutch economy in good shape. This is basically due to rubber.

If it were not for the rubber cultivation in the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch would not have been able to maintain the size of their previous army. The Netherlands, like Belgium, was at best a third-rate country in Europe.

Countries like Australasia that have already occupied rubber-producing areas are not bad. At least they can produce rubber themselves without worrying about such an important raw material being restricted by other countries.

But those countries that do not have rubber-producing areas, such as Germany, the Austrian Empire, Switzerland, Sweden, etc. in Europe, because they have lost their colonies and their own land cannot be used to grow rubber, they can only spend a lot of money to buy it from abroad every year. This not only increases the cost of industry, but also allows a large amount of wealth to flow abroad.

If the previous main suppliers of rubber were the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands and Thailand, then the main suppliers of rubber now have become the United Kingdom, France, Australia and Thailand.

Britain and France have a large number of colonies in Southeast Asia, and it is normal for them to have large-scale rubber production.

After Australasia annexed the Dutch East Indies, the gap with Britain and France in rubber production was not too big. In addition, the rubber production of the four countries of Thailand accounted for more than 80% of the world's rubber production.

This rubber incident also reminded Arthur that although the indigenous people of Java and Sumatra need to be expelled as soon as possible, this does not mean that immigration to these two islands will not be possible in a short time.

Let’s not mention Sumatra for the moment. Java Island’s rich resources, fertile land, and a large number of areas suitable for growing rubber cannot tolerate being abandoned in the past two or three years.

According to the population data of these two islands, if the indigenous people are not counted, the population of Sumatra and Java is mostly Dutch, and the total number of Dutch exceeds 200,000.

This also shows the importance of the Dutch East Indies to the Dutch. After all, the population of the Netherlands is only a small country, but the ability to immigrate more than 200,000 people to the Dutch East Indies has proven how important the Dutch East Indies are to the Dutch.

Unfortunately, after Australasia annexed the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch living in Java and Sumatra had only two choices, either to join Australasian citizenship and submit to Australasian rule, or to They can only be deported back to the Netherlands or voluntarily immigrate to other areas.

"What's our immigration data in January?" Arthur asked with interest.

The immigration data of the previous year was relatively good in recent years, which also made Arthur very interested in this year's immigration data. After all, it was related to the final development of the population size and the development plan of Australasia.

“Your Majesty, due to the impact of the National Day ceremony and the military parade, we welcomed a total of 40,000 tourists and 80,000 immigrants in January.

Although February’s data is not as good as January’s, there is hope that the number of immigrants will exceed 100,000. Prime Minister Roger said slightly excitedly.

What does the immigration scale of nearly 250,000 people in two months mean? This means that the scale of immigration this year is destined to reach a new high!

If you include the local population development, this year's population growth figure will be at least more than 1.5 million. Such population growth is no worse than that of countries with larger populations.

Moreover, most of the 80,000 immigrants in January were British, which will also help Australasia maintain the proportion of the British population and enhance the country's stability.

Hearing such exaggerated immigration data, Arthur nodded with satisfaction, smiled and ordered: "Try to attract some immigrants to Sumatra and Java, and speed up the development of Sumatra and Java.

At the same time, we will reduce the proportion of immigrants absorbed by Sydney and Melbourne and allow more immigrants to move to the Capital Territory and Northern Australia to develop our new administrative regions. "

Compared with the population that has already settled in a certain city, these immigrants who have just arrived in Australasia are the population that is better able to immigrate to the new area.

After all, they had just arrived in Australasia and had no roots, so where they settled would actually have little impact.

If the conditions offered by Sumatra and Java are better, I believe some immigrants will still choose to go to these two areas.

You know, even the island of Java, which has a small land area, can easily accommodate a population of more than 20 million people without any pressure.

Now, the recognized population of Java Island is only 170,000. It is just empty talk to fully develop Java Island with this population of 170,000.

In Arthur's mind, both Sumatra and Java were to be developed as if they were native lands, and their final outcome would be the localization of colonies, completely becoming the native land of Australasia.

It is impossible to fully develop these two areas without a population of more than 5 million, which also means that we must immigrate to these two areas in advance.

Ultimately, Australasia's biggest headache is its population problem. Let’s not talk about the two most important mainlands of Australia and New Zealand. Which one of New Guinea, Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi is not a huge island that can accommodate tens of millions of people?

If any of these islands is developed, it can bring huge benefits to Australasia.

But the problem is that the total population of Australasia is only 30 million. It is simply impossible to properly develop these areas in just a few decades.

"I understand, Your Majesty." Prime Minister Roger nodded and said: "Of the nearly 150,000 immigrants in January, more than 100,000 went to other administrative areas, and only about 40,000 chose to stay in Sydney or Melbourne.

I will encourage as many people as possible to travel to other boroughs and temporarily limit the population in Sydney and Melbourne. "

The attraction of big cities to people is unquestionable, and the same applies to these immigrant populations.

Since they all choose to live in a new country, these immigrants naturally want to live in internationally renowned metropolises such as Sydney and Melbourne and enjoy more advanced and developed urban life.

This has also caused the population of the two major cities of Sydney and Melbourne to rise steadily. Especially when Sydney was the capital, it attracted more than one-fifth of the total number of immigrants every year, seriously jeopardizing the development of other regions in Australasia.

At present, the combined population of Sydney and Melbourne is close to that of Australia, the Capital Territory, Northern Australia, and Northern New Zealand. The combined population of the four states does not reach 6 million.

In addition to better developing the Murray River Basin, relocating the capital will also reduce the attractiveness of Sydney and Melbourne to immigrants and allow other less populated areas to attract more immigrants.

If Sydney remains the capital of Australasia, other regions will never receive more immigrants, and the gap between Sydney and other states will become wider and wider.

Although it is good news that Sydney is developing better and better, if it affects the development of the entire country just to create a city with a population of more than 5 million or even tens of millions, then it will be a bit outweighed by the gains and losses.

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