The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1250 - 924 National Orphanage

Chapter 1250: Chapter 924: National Orphanage

Chapter 1250 -924: National Orphanage

During the construction of the Airlake Canal, it was built to a width of 44 meters and a depth of 11 meters, allowing the passage of super vessels up to 35,000 tons.

As the Australasian Navy had completely phased out battleships in their construction plans, the heaviest aircraft carrier built currently was only the Imperial-class aircraft carrier with a standard displacement of 31,300 tons.

This also meant that all new-style Australasian warships could navigate through the canal to Lake Eyre, which would be the safest location for the Australasian Navy.

However, it was clear that, at least for now, this safe location would essentially be of no use to Australasia.

Because of Australasia’s achievements in aviation, the combat effectiveness of their aircraft carriers had been greatly enhanced.

According to rough estimates by the naval department, even if the Australasian Pacific Squadron encountered the Royal Navy Home Fleet, they would still have a fighting chance.

If it came to a desperate, face-to-face deadly battle, the Australasian Pacific Squadron might even have the hope of annihilating the Royal Navy Home Fleet through the advantage of missiles.

This was already quite an impressive achievement. Although the British fleet was spread globally, and the Home Fleet was just a relatively strong subdivision of the Royal Navy.

But the problem was that Australasia did not just have the Pacific Squadron, they also owned the Indian Ocean Fleet and the Home Fleet, totaling three fleets.

Considering the moderate investment in the navy by Australasia, achieving such excellent results was quite surprising.

The reason why the Royal Navy was so powerful was not only due to the huge amounts of silver and gold invested annually by the British, but also the centuries of heritage they possessed in naval development.

Looking at Australasia, it had been established for only 37 years, which essentially amounted to overtaking others on a curve in naval aspects.

If Arthur had not decided against spending massive amounts of funds on the navy, Australasia might well have been qualified to compete with the British Empire for the title of the world’s strongest navy.

After confirming the effectiveness of the Airlake Canal construction plan, Arthur finally put his mind at ease.

The initial project, into which Arthur had invested substantial funds, had attracted the attention of many media, both national and international.

If this construction had been a complete failure, although it would not have impacted Arthur’s position, it would have somewhat affected his reputation.

Although Arthur was not concerned about his reputation, having invested such a vast amount of silver and gold, he naturally wanted to achieve some results.

Moreover, once the Airlake Canal project was successful, the changes it would bring to Australasia would certainly be significant. Just the improved land area alone was enough to make other countries envious.

More importantly, Australasia was already not lacking in land, and the demands for post-war benefits needed to undergo certain changes.

After improvements, Australia alone was a vast land capable of accommodating hundreds of millions of people, along with New Zealand, New Guinea, Java Island, and Sumatra Island, the lands of Australasia could house at least over 500 million people.

Of course, the population mentioned here is not the maximum capacity, but an approximate number calculated after considering various factors affecting the residents’ quality of life.

If the maximum population capacity of the entire empire were calculated, this limit would have to be at least over 1 billion people.

However, it must be noted, Arthur had never intended to increase the national population to such a vast number. Even now, after 37 years of prolonged development, the population of Australasia was only about 46.81 million.

Let alone 500 million or 1 billion, even reaching a population of 100 million would likely take decades of gradual accumulation.

Of course, there was a more opportunistic method, which was to rapidly establish a dominant world status post-war, and then continue attracting immigrants through a booming economy and advanced technology, rapidly increasing the population via immigration.

But for Arthur and Australasia, this method had clearly become an inferior strategy.

The United States in later generations used a similar approach, not counting the natural growth of the domestic population, just the number of immigrants each year alone was a huge number.

However, while such population growth figures were pleasing, they clearly posed a risk to the nation’s security and stability.

The reason the later generations of the United States remained stable was also significantly due to its own powerful capabilities. But this stability was temporary, and the problems remained unsolved.

Once the United States was no longer powerful, various problems would swarm in, rapidly dissolving this vast country at an alarming rate.

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Understanding this, Arthur ceased attracting large numbers of immigrants from outside after the national population exceeded 40 million and roughly closed the gap with other powerful nations.

In the early days, the number of immigrants to Australasia each year reached hundreds of thousands or even millions, with Russians making up half of them.

But now, the number of immigrants each year was kept below 300,000, and they were all high-quality immigrants who had gone through rigorous selection.

Currently, the growth of the domestic population mostly relied on the natural growth of the native population. To encourage the Australasians to have more children, the Department of Civil Affairs had racked their brains for various kinds of subsidy policies.