The Rise Of Australasia

In the construction of the new royal palace, Arthur had considered building an underground air-raid shelter, or more precisely, an underground safety base, but it seemed unnecessary at the moment.

Firstly, the island chains surrounding Australasia had already determined that foreign aircraft were basically unable to enter the mainland of Australasia.

If the native land of Australasia was truly threatened, it would be facing a world-wide war, or even a full-scale nuclear war.

Not to mention how far away that time might be from now, even if a supposedly safe underground air-raid base was built now, it might not necessarily withstand the attacks of the weapons at that time.

Especially in the case of air-raid shelters specifically designed to protect against nuclear weapons, as technology advances, various radiation-proof materials will also be gradually invented.

It would be better to wait until radiation-proof materials are matured in the future before building a well-developed underground base, rather than adding some unnecessary pressure to the construction of the palace now.

After inspecting Saint Arthur Castle for a few days, Arthur finally put down his guard and decided to return to the palace.

There were several important matters to be dealt with next, leaving Arthur with little free time and no mood for sightseeing.

Arthur had returned to Sydney by the end of March, and as soon as he set foot in the palace, Butler Kent sought an audience.

"Butler Kent, what happened?" Arthur inquired with a bit of curiosity. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

As the steward of the entire royal palace and the actual controller of the Royal Financial Group, Butler Kent’s workload was no less than Arthur’s.

Moreover, the development of the Royal Financial Group into a huge enterprise that rivals nations today would not have been possible without Butler Kent’s hard work and dedication.

"Your Majesty, as the Royal Financial Group has developed to its current state, I believe it’s time for it to be split up," said Butler Kent solemnly and seriously.

"Split up? Why so suddenly?" Arthur asked curiously, taken aback.

"Your Majesty, the Royal Financial Group owns more than a thousand factories and companies, with over a million employees. It’s not easy to have such a large scale, but the Royal Financial Group should not be this big. As your public property, its scale should be reduced to at least one-third of its current size to make it more acceptable to others," explained Butler Kent.

The development of the Royal Financial Group covered Australasia’s mining, steel, petroleum, automobile, aviation, military, shipbuilding, agriculture, pastoral, light industry, and food sectors, which were all closely related to the lives of Australasians.

Although it looked formidable, the implications behind it were also terrifying.

The Royal Financial Group almost controlled every aspect of the nation. Perhaps there would be no problems during Arthur’s reign, but problems would inevitably arise in the future.

After all, not every monarch would have as high a reputation as Arthur, nor would every prime minister be as loyal as Prime Minister Kent.

"Do you have any plans, Butler Kent?" Arthur nodded, approving Butler Kent’s plan to split the Royal Financial Group.

"Your Majesty, at a macro level, we need to split the Royal Financial Group into 3 or 4 largescale financial groups. The Royal Financial Group would only retain the military, shipbuilding, and banking sectors, while the rest would be split into the new financial groups, and it should appear as though they have nothing to do with the royal family," Butler Kent proposed after some hesitation.

Military, shipbuilding, and banking were undoubtedly some of the most important industries for the Royal Financial Group. The military factories and shipyards, which possessed Australasia’s most advanced military technologies, could not be given up by the Royal Financial Group.

In addition, the Royal Bank was currently the largest bank in Australasia, with more users than the few scattered civilian banks and the National Bank established by the government not long ago.

Having the military, shipbuilding, and Royal Bank, the Royal Financial Group would already be considered one of the giants in Australasia. As for the public assets of the Royal Financial Group, this was more than sufficient.

As for the remaining miscellaneous factories and enterprises in various industries, they could be split into three to four large and small financial groups. All Arthur needed to do was secretly control them and introduce a public figurehead, who would completely separate them from the Royal Financial Group.

However, these industries would still belong to Arthur, but they would not look as if the royal family’s wealth was so exaggerated, making it less likely for others to become envious.

Another important reason for splitting the Royal Financial Group was that the current size of the group made it too unwieldy to manage.

As the actual manager of the Royal Financial Group, Butler Kent knew this all too well. Handling both palace and financial group affairs left him exhausted.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to request the split of the Royal Financial Group, Butler Kent also wanted to resign from his position in charge of the financial group, and concentrate on being the Royal Palace steward, serving Arthur and his family for the remaining years of his life.

Arthur contemplated for a while, and eventually agreed to Butler Kent’s proposal.

On April 1, 1919, the splitting of the Royal Financial Group officially began.

All enterprises other than military, shipbuilding, and banking changed their names and abolished the word "royal".

This also symbolized that these enterprises were no longer publicly affiliated with the Royal Financial Group, and they would either have their own public figurehead or join other financial groups.

A few days later, several large financial groups in Australasia were established one after another.

The steel industry formed the Heavy Industries Group independently, the agriculture-pastoral industry formed the United Group, and all petroleum companies merged into the Royal Oil Company, which was renamed the Australasian National Petroleum Company.

As for the various enterprises and factories invested in or established by the royal financial group, all the names were changed and the royal or royal titles were canceled.

The unified explanation given by the royal financial group was that due to funding issues, some assets had to be divided.

Add to that the propaganda department’s total control of the news, and no bad news leaked out.

Even among the public, stories were circulating that the royal financial group had to cut back due to spending too much money on helping the poor each year, unknowingly earning Arthur a great deal of prestige.

The royal financial group, which originally seemed like a massive entity, was now separate from the royal family and turned into the Heavy Industries Group, United Group, and various other large enterprises.

Well-known names like the Benz Car Factory and Diesel Engine Research Room retained their original titles.

After all, Benz and Diesel had quite a reputation in Australasia, and most people believed the owners of these two enterprises were Benz and Diesel themselves.

People heard in the news that the royal financial group only had military industry and banking left, and some even asked to reduce the welfare of citizens to ease the financial burden of the royal family.

Arthur flatly refused, as any wise person would know the truth. Using such an excuse to reduce welfare benefits would eventually be uncovered.

Furthermore, Australasia’s current welfare benefits are an important guarantee to attract immigrants. Although at least 2 million immigrants can be obtained from Russia every year, relying solely on Russian immigrants would result in an unhealthy national composition.

As an immigrant country, Australasia welcomes immigrants from Europe and other regions, but it also needs to have a clear understanding of its own ethnic composition.

British descendants serving as the main ethnic group of Australasia are an unchangeable foundation and a guarantee of stability for the country.

Currently, among Australasia’s population of over 20 million, there are just over 10 million British descendants, barely breaking the 50% ratio.

Meanwhile, after several years of catching up, the proportion of Russian descendants has approached 40%, amounting to about 8 million people.

This signifies that without imposing any restrictions on immigration, the proportion of Russian descendants would soon surpass that of British descendants, which might not be a good thing for Australasia’s stability.

Only by importing a large number of British descendants can the balance of ethnic ratios and national stability be maintained.

Not long after the division of the royal financial group, Arthur, dressed in his finest clothing, attended the opening ceremony of the Nobleman United Consortium Bank, or the Nobility United Bank.

The new nobles are definitely rising stars in the Australasian political arena, receiving attention from everyone in Australasia.

The Nobility United Bank’s total investment is 3 million Australian dollars, making it the first largest investment in the Nobleman United Consortium and the third largest bank investment in Australasia.

However, with the pressure from the royal financial group, the opening of the Nobility United Bank did not cause much of a stir.

After all, just one Royal Bank has more than 8 million users, and no other bank could hope to catch up aside from the government-established National Bank.

The National Bank is the state treasurer, the bank that issues salaries to all officials and some workers, with a total of more than 5 million users.

Except for these two large-scale banks, before the establishment of the Nobility United Bank, the largest-scale bank was established by European capitalists with just under 1 million users.

All 100 of Australasia’s new nobles were also present at the opening ceremony of the United Bank.

They all wore smiles, as the gains and losses of the United Bank were related to their dividend amounts. The greater the scale of the United Bank, the greater their interests would be.

Currently, the United Bank has only established its headquarters and branches in Sydney and Melbourne, as it’s not that easy for a bank to expand.

After all, the United Bank is not an official force like the Royal or government. To have more users, it’s inevitable that they need to compete with other small and medium-sized banks.

As the two largest cities in Australasia, Sydney and Melbourne offer the best opportunities for development.

Only when the United Bank can maintain a foothold in Sydney and Melbourne will it have the capital to expand from these cities and open branches in the capitals of each state.

Before that, they should first consolidate their foundation, operate honestly for a few years, and gradually accumulate a group of old customers.