Chapter 149 Population Explosion

"In our five industrial zones, there are more than 20,000 Australian workers and more than 30,000 indigenous people working here, and the industrial output and volume account for the vast majority of Australia's total industrial output." Minister of Industry Pierre said with a smile.

Industrial zones are important sites for the development of industry established by the Australian government. After more than two years of long development, most of Australia's industries have been transferred to industrial zones, and the scale of industries scattered in other places is not very large, especially compared with these five large industrial zones.

Australia's current industry has a trend of concentrated development, which has also led to the increasing number and scale of industrial zones.

However, this also faces some problems. In terms of industrial development, although Australia has a vast land area and abundant mineral resources.

But this does not mean that there are no problems with industrial development. In addition to the population problem solved by the number of indigenous people, Australia has another slightly more dangerous and thorny problem, that is, insufficient water resources.

The development of industry requires a lot of water resources, and the population consumes a lot of water resources.

Now, because the scale of industry is not large, coupled with the insufficient population, the problem of water shortage has not appeared.

But when Australia's population size increases, this will be a thorny problem for the Australian government.

In order to solve this problem earlier, under Arthur's order, the industrial sector has begun to build some large reservoirs and water storage areas near industrial areas. The stored water will be used for industry, and some relatively clean water storage areas will also be used for agriculture and people's lives.

With the efforts of many indigenous people, the construction of reservoirs and water storage areas is still very effective. At present, each of Australia's five industrial areas has a small reservoir, which can meet the water needs of industrial areas when water resources are insufficient.

Of course, Australia will build more water storage areas in the future to completely improve Australia's water use problem.

After all, Australia's population will also usher in a surge, and the water use problem will need to be solved sooner or later.

The industrial area has brought more than 20,000 jobs to Australia, which is good news for people in Australia who do not have high incomes.

The income of these industrial areas is above the per capita income of Australia, which is also a key issue for Arthur and the Australian government.

Although this income level may not be high compared to the European powers, at least the workers do not have to worry about being over-exploited, and basic welfare and salary can still be guaranteed.

"In addition to industrial areas, we have also discovered a large number of new mineral resources in many areas of Australia. These include coal mines, iron mines, silver mines, aluminum mines, oil, etc. In particular, the reserves of coal and iron mines have increased by about three times compared to the end of 1900." Minister Pierre continued to report.

Arthur is not surprised to continue to discover these mineral resources. Australia is a country that is truly sitting on a mine cart, and the richness of mineral resources is unimaginable.

You know, in the future when the economy and industry are highly developed, Australia can rely on the export of a large amount of mineral resources every year to obtain rich income, and there is no sign of mineral resources being exhausted. This is enough to prove the richness of Australia's mineral resources.

"The above is the annual report of the Ministry of Industry this year. Please comment on it, Your Highness." After reporting all the information in his hand, Minister Pierre respectfully handed all the information to Arthur and said.

"Well, the Ministry of Industry has done a good job, but we still can't stop. In the new year, we will also start to implement the plan to jointly open automobile factories with the British Empire and the German Empire. In addition to the production needs of our existing automobile factories in China, our demand for steel production is not low. I hope that in the new year, our total steel production can reach one million tons, and the steel production will at least exceed 350,000 tons, so that we can initially meet our demand for steel production." Arthur nodded calmly, took a quick look at the complete report, and ordered.

Although it seems not easy to reach a total steel production of one million tons, it is still very simple for Australia's industrial sector.

You know, in 1902, Australia's total steel production increased by nearly 500,000 tons, reaching a terrifying 680,000 tons.

This number is only 320,000 tons away from one million tons, which is not difficult according to the industrial development of the previous year.

The same is true for steel production. The new goal set by Arthur is nothing compared to the growth rate in 1902, but whether it can reach one million tons is indeed one of the criteria for measuring whether a country is an industrial country.

Looking closely at all the great powers, the steel production of any country is as high as millions of tons. Even the most important steel production is generally over one million tons.

Compared with these great powers, Australia's industry has just started. Although it has a large amount of industrial equipment produced in the UK and assistance from Germany, it will take a lot of time to catch up with these countries, or to be on par with them.

"In addition to the excellent performance of the Ministry of Industry, Australia's population also saw a large increase in 1902. At the beginning of 1902, Australia's total population was approximately 3,996,200, and now it has grown to 4,263,900, with a population growth rate of approximately 6.7%. At present, our total population has officially exceeded 4 million, and is working towards the initial goal of 5 million." After the report from the Ministry of Industry was completed, Prime Minister Evan returned to the podium in the center again to continue the general report of the cabinet government.

"In 1902, our immigrant population reached over 190,000, which is the year with the largest number of immigrants so far. Among them, there are about 60,000 immigrants from the British Empire, about 70,000 immigrants from the German Empire, and the rest are from other European countries, such as France, Spain, Italy and Austria-Hungary. Our newborn population is about 94,000, and the death population is 23,000. The proportion of newborns has almost doubled, which is also because Australia's per capita income has increased a lot. Only when people have a stable job and a good salary can they have enough energy and time to have children, and they can also have extra funds to support newborns." Prime Minister Evan reported.

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