Rise of Australia

Chapter 178 New Zealand Referendum

As New Zealand prepares for the referendum, Australia also ushers in its fourth National Day, which also means that Australia has been established for four full years.

This time the National Day event was not as grand as in previous years, because the new palace and the new government affairs building were under construction, and there was no military parade.

Mainly the flag raising and the government's annual speech, Arthur did not rush back to Australia.

After half a month of preparation, on January 1904, 1, referendums across New Zealand officially began.

In order to ensure the fairness of this referendum, New Zealand dispatched almost the entire colonial government officials and all garrison soldiers to resolutely resist any injustice.

And New Zealand also invited officials from the German Empire, the British Empire, France, Australia and the Kingdom of the Netherlands as witnesses to ensure the fairness of the referendum.

Of course, these officials are actually colonial officials around New Zealand, which is why they were able to arrive in New Zealand quickly.

However, these people actually carried the orders of their respective countries, and they did have the right to represent their respective countries.

In order to ensure the fairness of this referendum, the referendum will last from January 1 to February 15, a full month.

During this period, New Zealand will invite the entire witness group to conduct random inspections in all towns and cities in New Zealand to ensure the fairness of the referendum.

There are three options in this referendum, which are New Zealand independence, continuing to be ruled by the British Empire as an autonomous colony, and joining Australia.

Judging from these three options at present, the least popular one has become New Zealand's independence.

In this typhoon crisis, New Zealanders have seen the inadequacy of New Zealand's individual strength.

If it weren't for the help of Australia and European countries, I am afraid that New Zealand would be a headache enough for the rescue link after the disaster, and even more casualties and losses will be born.

This is actually a common problem in the world at present. Weak regions and countries are like the meat on the hunter's table, and can only wait for the division of the great powers.

Judging from the size of New Zealand, even if it succeeds in going out independently, it will only become a joke.

Although it is much better economically and industrially than Asian countries of the same size, it cannot be compared with European countries at all.

And although New Zealand, which has gained complete independence, got rid of the control of the British Empire, it will also be coveted by other powers.

With the size of New Zealand, it is not enough to resist any big power country, not even the sub-powerful countries such as Spain and the Netherlands.

Such an ending may not be better than staying in the British Empire. At least the British Empire is still the world's number one power and has the ability to protect all its colonies.

In the anticipation of all New Zealanders, the New Zealand referendum has officially started.

Throughout New Zealand, a total of hundreds of collection points have been set up to collect the referendum choices of all New Zealanders.

In addition, the New Zealand colonial government will also organize staff to go to some remote areas to collect the opinions of New Zealanders, and try to allow all eligible New Zealanders to participate in this referendum.

Because of the small land area of ​​New Zealand, the referendum will only last for one month.

But after that, there will be as long as half a month of statistical time, and then the results of the referendum in New Zealand will be officially announced on March 3, one and a half months later.

The referendum in New Zealand has attracted the attention of some parts of the world.After all, apart from Australia, which is relatively special, New Zealand is also the first incident in which colonial residents control the destiny of their own region.

This even gave some countries in colonial areas the hope of independence, and they also wanted to instigate a referendum so that the country could gain independent status.

It's a pity that their rulers don't have the evidence in Arthur's hands, and their actions are doomed to fail.

It is absolutely impossible for European colonial countries that have not been weakened by World War I and World War II to give up their colonies.

Even some small countries in Europe regard their own colonies as very important, not to mention the old powers that rely on colonies to absorb a lot of profits and resources.

Politicians in these countries have even anticipated the harm that incidents like New Zealand will bring to their colonies, so they have already put the colonial army on standby in order to suppress possible colonial rebellions.

At this time, the countries' attitudes towards the colonial residents were still relatively cruel. For the colonial residents, human rights were something that they could only hope for half a century later.

Arthur did not appear in this referendum, but Joshua, who represented Arthur, still represented Australia and toured all the cities in New Zealand.

This referendum has attracted the active participation of New Zealanders. It can be seen from the collection boxes that are often full in various towns and cities that there are not a few people who participated in this referendum, which can also reflect the true opinions of the New Zealand people.

Wellington and Auckland, including the four cities of Christchurch and Invercargill in the South Island of New Zealand, are the places visited the most by the entire witness group.

Because these four cities are the four cities with the largest population and the most developed economy in New Zealand.

Among them, Wellington and Auckland are located in the North Island of New Zealand, and Christchurch and Invercargill are located in the South Island of New Zealand.

However, compared with Wellington and Auckland, the two cities in the South Island lag far behind in terms of population size and economic development.

The populations of Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand have both exceeded 15, and Wellington in New Zealand in particular has a population of more than [-].

It is worth mentioning that when New Zealand was just separated from Australia, its colonial capital was Auckland.

It was not until 1865 that the colonial capital of New Zealand was transferred from Auckland to Wellington, the southernmost part of New Zealand's North Island and the northernmost part of the South Island across the sea.

But at that time, Wellington was still a backward town, and the choice of Wellington as the capital was still the opinion of Australian MPs (because Australian MPs were relatively neutral and maintained a good relationship with New Zealand.)
The reason for choosing to transfer the capital is not that Auckland's geographical location is not good.

On the contrary, Auckland, including the nearby urban areas, is located in the plains, and had the largest population and the most developed economy in New Zealand at that time.

But because of the discovery of gold mines in the South Island of New Zealand, the colonial government of New Zealand was worried that the discovery of gold mines in the South Island of New Zealand, coupled with the fact that the capital is located in Auckland, the northern tip of the North Island of New Zealand, would lead to the independent psychology of the people in the South Island. Go out independently to establish a new colony, so the colonial capital was transferred to the relative center of New Zealand, Wellington, the southernmost tip of the North Island.

When Wellington became the capital of New Zealand, it was just a small town with a population of less than [-].

With the development of New Zealand by successive Governors of New Zealand, Wellington gradually grew into a city and became the second largest port city in New Zealand after Auckland.

The current Wellington is already the political, industrial and economic center of New Zealand, and has surpassed Auckland to become the largest city in New Zealand.

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(End of this chapter)