Chapter 737 Resource-rich Java Island

After Arthur's urging, Timor's governor Hubert Reifer quickly came up with an eight-year development plan for Timor.

Within eight years, three universities, three large hospitals, a large technical training institution, a language school, etc. were built.

Because it was taken out on a temporary basis, it was inevitably somewhat scripted, and even basically doubled the original four-year plan.

But looking at Hubert Leifer's appearance, Arthur also understood that this was almost Hubert Leifer's limit.

If anyone could come up with an excellent development plan, then Arthur wouldn't pay so much attention to talents.

After urging and criticizing Hubert Leifer, Arthur headed non-stop to Sulawesi and Java, which were Arthur's real destinations for this trip.

On August 12, 1929, Arthur officially arrived in Batavia, Java Island, and was warmly welcomed by the Java state government and residents.

Although most of the residents of Java are immigrants, this still does not prevent these immigrants from paying lofty greetings to the symbol of the country - His Majesty the Great King Arthur.

Which of the policies and new infrastructure they can enjoy on Java Island was not built under Arthur's instructions?

They are not the aborigines of Java Island, so they are naturally extremely grateful for being able to obtain such fertile land on Java Island.

Facts have proved that as long as the country is prosperous, most people are definitely good citizens of the country.

The governor of Java Island is Yuri Navis Roberto, a guy Arthur is relatively familiar with.

Yuri Navis Roberto is the successor of the previous Governor of Java. He is the right-hand man of the former Governor and is definitely one of Arthur's people.

Why do you say that?

Yuri Navis Roberto is the best and oldest of the orphans raised by Arthur. He was already 8 years old when he was adopted, and he is now 35 years old.

An orphan like Yuri Navis Roberto, who was rescued and raised by Arthur, is naturally worthy of belief in his loyalty to Arthur.

After all, during the long training period, those who are not loyal to the royal family have been screened out.

"His Majesty!"

Seeing Arthur slowly approaching, Yuri Navis Roberto quickly led state government officials, members of the state House of Representatives and others to salute.

The people around him also watched with curiosity and excitement, and some people imitated the officials and followed him in saluting.

"Yuri, you did a good job." Looking at Yuri who had changed a lot in front of him, Arthur couldn't help but sigh.

"This is my honor!" Yuri Navis Roberto responded slightly excitedly, very excited about Arthur's encouragement.

"Let's go and have a look at the state government." Arthur ordered with a smile.

It was not a good thing to gather so many people in Batavia. As the largest city in Java, the gathering of too many people can easily lead to congestion in local areas, which can easily affect the operation of the entire city.

Yuri Navis Roberto responded quickly and took state government officials and congressmen to the state government.

Along the way, Arthur's attitude towards Yuri surprised other Java Island officials, and they couldn't help but look at their governor again.

You know, as Arthur matures, he shows less and less intimacy to officials.

This is actually a normal thing. After all, if there is no fear of royal power, it will be easy for people to covet it.

And because of Arthur's high prestige, it was difficult for officials to do whatever they wanted in front of Arthur.

Being restrained is a good sign, and when the official met Arthur for the first time, he was so nervous that he couldn't speak.

Arthur's attitude towards Governor Yuri actually represents the fact that Governor Yuri is Arthur's confidant, or that Yuri has Arthur's trust.

That being the case, it becomes obvious how to vote in the next gubernatorial election.

Although Arthur didn't know what the officials below him were thinking, it was Arthur's plan to release the news that he was close to Yuri.

At all times, Arthur attaches great importance to the cultivation of his confidants.

As the first batch of loyal subordinates he trained, Arthur would definitely be happy to train Yuri more.

After all, Yuri is only 35 years old now, and it seems a bit abrupt to hold such a high position.

Even Kent, the former prime minister whom Arthur trusted most, was promoted step by step.

As long as Yuri does well in the next few years, Arthur will consider letting Yuri serve in the cabinet.

Cabinet positions are related to the development of the entire country, so it is important to do a good job at the grassroots level before Yuri takes up the cabinet position.

After all, according to what Arthur thought, Yuri would not only serve as a cabinet minister in the future.

He also wants to take a further step in the cabinet position and look for an opportunity to sit on the throne of prime minister.

Needless to say, the ability requirements of the Prime Minister go without saying. If Yuri had not experienced good training, no matter how loyal he was, Arthur would not agree to hand over such an important position to him.

After coming to the state government, Arthur first listened to Governor Yuri's report on the development of Java Island in recent years.

Compared to Timor Governor Hubert Leifer, Yuri's report was much more honest.

Not only did he not annex the credit of the previous governor and governor, he even pushed all the credit that originally belonged to him to Arthur.

Perhaps Governor Yuri knew the terror of the Royal Security Intelligence Service, so he chose not to hide anything.

But Arthur was quite happy with this attitude, at least he didn't think of himself as a fool.

To be honest, with the Royal Security Intelligence Service, Arthur can control the development of every administrative district in Australasia.

In addition to solving problems arising in each state, this inspection also allowed Arthur to actually examine the ability and loyalty of the governors of each state.

So the question is, why should the loyalty of these governors be tested?

In fact, Arthur was indifferent.

Relying on his own prestige, even if someone is disloyal to him, he will never dare to stand up against him.

Arthur's purpose of doing this was naturally to pave the way for his son William.

First, find and train potential officials with excellent abilities so that they can become William's help in the future.

Judging from the promotion trajectory of Australasian officials, it is impossible for state government officials to set foot in the Royal Government without more than ten or twenty years of hard work.

There will definitely be help from William so that William can better control the government in the future.

Secondly, find some officials who are neither capable nor loyal.

Arthur would not deal with these officials, but would leave them to William to handle.

Dealing with these officials under Arthur's control would not allow things to develop beyond Arthur's expectations, but would also allow William to get a good education and political experience.

If Hubert Leifer is a pest that Arthur wants to eliminate in the future, then Governor Yuri is a potential stock that can be cultivated in Arthur's mind.

If cultivated properly, when Governor Yuri reaches a high position in the future, it will be almost the time when William truly takes control of power.

Of course, Governor Yuri is definitely not the only one in Arthur's training plan. After William was able to grasp a certain amount of power and had the means to fight against the cabinet, political parties, and parliament, Arthur could safely hand over the throne to William.

Arthur's first day in Java was relatively harmonious.

Governor Yuri led the state government to give Arthur a more detailed government affairs report. Arthur was quite satisfied with Governor Yuri and Governor Yuri's predecessor.

Although some problems were exposed in the government affairs report, overall the flaws were not concealed.

Of course, because Java Island has been localized for a relatively short period of time, although Java has the largest population among the localized colonies, the corresponding infrastructure can only be said to be average.

If it were not for inheriting the legacy left by the Dutch, I am afraid that the construction of Batavia would still be far behind.

However, average infrastructure construction does not mean that Java Island’s economic construction is average.

As the richest land in the Dutch East Indies before and the most populous area in Indonesia later, Java Island's current development rate is definitely the highest among all the colonies in Australasia.

Coupled with the remaining Dutch population, this brings the population of Java Island to almost 800,000, surpassing New Guinea, which has just reached the threshold of 750,000.

On the second day after arriving in Java Island, Arthur asked Governor Yuri to come up with the construction plan of Java Island and talk about the problems in the development of Java Island.

Regarding the construction plan of Java Island, Governor Yuri did not talk eloquently, but designed a relatively detailed and reasonable plan based on the current situation of Java Island.

Compared to Hubert Reifer's script, Governor Yuri's development plan was obviously more satisfactory to Arthur.

To be honest, Arthur was not surprised at all why the Dutch regarded Java as the core area of ​​the Dutch East Indies.

Just looking at the mineral resources of Java Island, there is no need to worry about the development direction of Java Island after localization.

Java Island covers an area of ​​approximately 80,000 square kilometers and has huge economic value.

In terms of mineral resources, Java Island has petroleum, coal, manganese, iron, gold, silver, phosphorus, sulfur, iodine and other minerals.

In terms of plant resources, Java is rich in corn, cassava, peanuts, soybeans, sweet potatoes, kapok, sesame, bananas, mangoes, durians, citrus, tea, coffee, tobacco, rubber, cinchona (the raw material of quinine), sugar cane , kapok and coconut, there is no need to worry about food.

In fact, this is indeed the case. In later generations, the island of Java could support a population of more than 400 million. The current population is less than one million, and with a little reclamation of the food-producing areas left by the indigenous people, it can fully meet the island's food consumption.

It is worth mentioning that Java also has many carnivores, including tigers, crocodiles, etc. that are rare in Australasia.

Australasian zoologists and natural environment researchers are already evaluating the possibility of introducing tigers from Java to significantly reduce the numbers of rabbits and camels in Australia.

Although calling for universal hunting can effectively reduce the number of hares, hares reproduce so quickly that it will take a long time to improve the environment in Australasia.

The harm caused by wild rabbits to the environment occurs every moment, and Arthur naturally hopes to solve this problem as soon as possible.

Let’s talk about Java Island’s development plan.

Because it is rich in mineral resources, it has coal mines and iron ores, and it is an island surrounded by the ocean and has many excellent ports, so it is more suitable for the development of industry.

In the development plan, Governor Yuri mentioned building an industrial zone around Batavia. The construction of the industrial zone is divided into two phases. The first phase is relatively small. After completion, it is expected to provide a steel output of 10,000 tons each, as well as various small factories, which are expected to accommodate 10,000 workers.

The second stage is relatively large and requires a population base of at least one million people.

Because the number of workers that can be accommodated in the second stage has reached 100,000, the scale of the industrial zone can be said to be medium-sized in the country.

The two phases of industrial zones combined will take at least eight years to complete, and the funding required will start at one million Australian dollars.

If Java Island's finances were not relatively good, Java's funds alone would not be able to initiate such industrial construction.

So much for industrial construction for the time being. It's not that Governor Yuri is more cautious, but the current world market makes it impossible for Java Island to support much industry.

Linking industrial output to demand was Arthur's request for the industrial sector and states after the outbreak of the economic crisis.

If we continue to produce blindly, we will only end up harming others and ourselves, just like the United States at that time.

As mentioned before, there is no shortage of food in Java. Food is important at all times. Ensuring food reserves and obtaining profits through sufficient food production are Governor Yuri's expectations for Java Island.

In the development and construction of Java Island, increasing food production is also a very important part.

You know, Java Island is located in the tropics, and food production, especially rice production, can achieve three crops a year.

This is outrageous. Compared with the Australian region in the southern temperate zone, the food production of Java Island can be at least twice that of Australia with the same scale of cultivated land.

As a result, it becomes necessary to build Java into an important food-producing area.

Governor Yuri will naturally not give up the natural advantages of Java Island, and has also made very important arrangements for food production.

In addition to improving and re-cultivating the food-producing areas left by the indigenous people, it is also necessary to cultivate cultivated land in the northern alluvial plain area, striving to make Java Island the most important food-producing area in Australasia.

In addition to industry and agriculture, the next step is to make up for the lack of infrastructure and work on education and medical care.

There is no need to talk about infrastructure construction. We can only invest a lot of manpower and financial resources, as well as the material resources exchanged for financial resources.

This is also the point where Governor Yuri wants to win Arthur's support, because Java Island's finances really cannot support all aspects of construction, and the support of the Royal Government is necessary.

Of course, it is not just infrastructure that requires support from the Royal Government. Including medical care and education that have not been mentioned yet, they all require unified dispatch and help from the royal government. After all, Java Island does not have that many talents and material reserves.

Thanks for the support!