Chapter 109: Chapter One Hundred and Nine: The Current Situation in New Zealand (Subscribe!)

Translator: 549690339 I

Arthur’s words struck the hearts of all New Zealanders like a heavy hammer.

Indeed! As kind as His Royal Highness Arthur may be, he is eventually the monarch of the Australian People. To Arthur, New Zealand is merely a territory under temporary administration for twenty years and he only has administrative power during these years, even being controlled by the officials of the Colonial Government.

Under such circumstances, nobody is foolish enough to exhaust all their resources in developing a land that may not belong to them.

On considering this, New Zealanders were filled with disappointment, but this was soon replaced by a dreadful thought: What if New Zealand were indeed a territory under His Royal Highness Arthur? What if they were subjects of His Royal Highness Arthur?

If New Zealand, like Australia, was a territory under Arthur, wouldn’t His Royal Highness be able to develop New Zealand the same way he did Australia, increasing the income of all New Zealanders?

There were many New Zealanders with such thoughts, after all, several decades ago, New Zealand was also a part of Australia, so wouldn’t unification be a natural course of action?

If Arthur knew the thoughts in the minds of the New Zealanders, he would nod

in satisfaction at the success of his scheme.

As a member of the royal family of the British Empire, Australia is also a Duchy that split from the British Empire.

Under such circumstances, Arthur certainly could not oppose the British

Empire openly.

After all, a significant part of Arthur’s status and prestige is inherited from Queen Victoria, and he certainly would not undermine his own foundation.

So, the only way to covet New Zealand’s land was to encourage the New Zealanders to ask to join Australia themselves.

The speech at the harbor was just the first step in the plan. There will be many more follow-ups, to allow more people and powers to promote New Zealand’s accedence to Australia.

The speech at the harbor was very successful, at least from the expressions of the New Zealanders.

No matter what the Colonial Government and General Pierce feel, Arthur’s speech is definitely not something they could interrupt.

Afterward, under the leadership of the colonial officials, Arthur went to the building where the Colonial Government was located to understand the situation of the New Zealand Colony in detail.

The history of colonization in New Zealand began in 1788, but for over fifty years until 1841, New Zealand was always a colony under Australia.

Only from 1841 onwards, did New Zealand separate from Australia to establish the British New Zealand Colony.

Compared with Australia, the initial development of New Zealand was slightly superior.

New Zealand has long been a food production area for Australia and a base for British animal husbandry products.

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

With the influx of gold miners, New Zealand’s immigration rates drastically improved, and production and trade also developed rapidly.

However, due to the decline in international agricultural product prices and gold production at the end of the 19th century, the unemployment situation in New Zealand was serious, and the economy was also in decline.

Of course, the rise of Australia is undoubtedly a factor in the downturn of New Zealand’s economy.

Previously, Australia’s food supply was somewhat dependant on New Zealand, but currently, Australia has established good animal husbandry and agriculture, not only has it escaped the need for foreign food, but it has even started to export food in large quantities.

What’s more important is that, due to its advantage in terms of land area and population, Australia easily captured many markets in animal husbandry and the food industry, which is one of the reasons New Zealand’s economy is in a downturn.

If it weren’t for the United Kingdom choosing to import animal husbandry products from New Zealand after Australia declared independence, New Zealand’s economy would have been even more depressed.

However, as a whole, because of its good initial development, the current development level of New Zealand is still on par with Australia.

Up to now, New Zealand has a total population of 1.14 million, with most of the population residing on the North Island of New Zealand, and fewer than two- fifths of the population residing on the South Island of New Zealand.

In terms of land area, New Zealand has a total land area of approximately 268600 square kilometers, comprising the North Island of New Zealand, the South Island, Stuart Island, and some nearby small islands.

Mountains and hills occupy 75°/<> of New Zealand’s total area, which is why its animal husbandry industry is so developed.

According to intelligence from the New Zealand Colonial Government, the per capita income in New Zealand is about eleven pounds, and there are just under 200,000 people belonging to the extremely low-income population.

In terms of mineral resources, although not as rich as Australia, New Zealand is one of the countries with relatively rich mineral resources.

When it comes to metallic minerals, New Zealand has gold mines, silver mines, and iron mines. The production output of gold and silver mines has been decreasing year by year due to the exhaustion of the ores.

New Zealand also has coal mines. Although the reserves of coal and iron are not as rich as in Australia, it can establish certain industries and can be considered rich in mineral resources.

Due to its previous prosperity, New Zealand has built a certain amount of highways, bridges, railways, telegraph lines, and other public works, and its infrastructure is better than that of Australia.

However, with the decline of the economy, many public works have fallen into disuse, and some roads and railways have become unusable due to lack of maintenance.

More importantly, as a self-governing colony of the British Empire, New Zealand is restricted by the British Empire in all aspects and cannot develop independently.

A large portion of wealth has been absorbed by the British mainland, and the wealth that remains in New Zealand is not much.

Overall, because of its previous successes, New Zealand is temporarily on par with the development level of Australia.

However, it can be foreseen that if New Zealand continues to stagnate, or even if its economy and development deteriorate, it is only a matter of time before Australia will surpass New Zealand.

The economic recession in New Zealand has already incited dissatisfaction amongst New Zealanders, which is why there has been a wave of independence there.

In addition, the rapid development and economic integration brought about by Australia’s independence have gradually made New Zealanders yearn for New Zealand to become an independent and autonomous country.

Currently, New Zealand has two political parties with significant influence, namely the New Zealand Labor Party, composed of many workers, and the Alliance Party composed of many retired soldiers and officials from New Zealand.

The New Zealand Labour Party advocates that New Zealand follow the model of Australia and establish an autonomous territory with autonomy.

On the other hand, the Alliance Party hopes to make New Zealand an independent country, or part of an independent country, by joining Australia.