Rise of Australia

Chapter 345 Hunting and the Royal Zoo
As the king of Australasia, Arthur's work was actually very relaxed and happy during the less busy period of government affairs.

Because the cabinet meeting is held once a week, this also means that when there is no cabinet meeting and there are not many government affairs, Arthur has six days a week, which can be freely arranged.

But in the early 20th century, it was not easy to find enough entertainment, even for Arthur as the head of a country.

Fortunately, Arthur has enough power to do whatever he wants, including sound movies, football, sports, etc., which are very popular in Australasia, all of which are driven by Arthur.

Arthur currently has a lot of pastimes. Apart from watching a new movie occasionally, watching football matches organized by the states of Australasia, horse racing, and even traditional noble hunting are all Arthur’s pastimes. one.

Speaking of horse racing, this is an aristocratic sport that has been around for hundreds of years and is deeply loved by the aristocrats of the East and the West.

As the only convenient means of transportation for humans before the birth of cars and trains, horses appeared in all aspects of people's lives before the 20th century.

As early as 1174, at the Smithfield Friday Horse Market in London, there was a more formal horse racing for the first time.

Along with the development and spread of British horse racing, around the 13th century, there was a wave of horse racing fever in Europe.

In the West, horse racing is known as the sport of kings.Because horse racing is determined by the skill of the knight and the speed of the horse's running, it is not a small test for the requirements of riding skills and the endurance of the horse.

In the underdeveloped Middle Ages, those who could afford to hold and participate in horse racing were generally local nobles and wealthy families.

So far, horse racing is very popular in the United Kingdom, France, the United States, Germany, Italy, Australasia and some Asian regions. Every horse racing in these regions will attract a large number of people to watch.

The history of horse racing in Australasia dates back to 1840 during the colonial period.At that time, it was still in the period of colonial rule, and Flemington Racecourse had already held more formal horse racing competitions, and it has continued until now.

As the largest horse breeder in Australasia, Arthur's assets have hundreds of thousands of Australian wild horses.

Of course, the Australian Mustang is a more unified name.In fact, among the hundreds of thousands of horses owned by Arthur, they can be roughly divided into three categories, purebred Arabian horses imported from other places, Victoria Kent horses and Donald horses native to Australasia.

These three horse races are the oldest and have the largest populations in Australasia.

The history of the Arabian horse can be traced back hundreds of years ago. It was a purebred Arabian horse introduced by the British colonists at that time in order to improve the pedigree of Australian native working horses.

The remaining two Australian native horses have been preserved in the long European history because of their excellent speed and endurance, and they have become one of the few excellent horses preserved among the many horse races in Australia.

These three kinds of horses are all suitable for military horses, and they are also the main breeding goals of Arthur's horse farm.

At present, Arthur's private horse farm has a total of more than 50 Australian horses. It is the largest horse farmer in Australasia. The total number of horses owned can even directly arm at least [-] cavalry troops.

As the monarch of Australasia and the real owner of the racecourse, Arthur has ridden more than ten horses, which are the best among all the horses in Australia.

As the largest horse farmer, Arthur's racecourse will also hold horse racing competitions.Although it wasn't Arthur's instigation, for most large horse farms in the West, holding horse races is even more normal than eating and drinking.

Arthur's largest horse farm in Australasia, Kent Racecourse in Victoria, hosts the largest horse race in the whole of Australasia every year.

Of course, the Kent Racecourse has nothing to do with the Kent Steward and his son. This is because the area where the Kent Racecourse is located is the town of Kent, Victoria, which is the birthplace of the Victorian Kent Horse, so the horse farm is named Kent Racecourse.

At the Kent Racecourse, there are more than [-] Victorian Kent horses and tens of thousands of horses of other races. It is not only the largest horse farm owned by the Royal Consortium, but also the largest horse farm in Australasia.

Whenever a horse race is held at the Kent Racecourse, tens of thousands of onlookers often gather around the racecourse.

There are quite a few people who just come to watch for fun and to find a lively and cheerful atmosphere.But there are also some people who, in order to get rich overnight, take the opportunity of horse racing and use gambling to realize their fantasies.

Fortunately, Arthur's racecourse has regulations, and the maximum bet amount for each person will not exceed ten Australian dollars.

After all, gambling is still a matter of luck. Although there will be no cheating at the Kent Racecourse, who can guarantee that these gamblers will not lose money?
In order to avoid the current situation of gamblers being ruined as much as possible, the maximum bet amount is set for each person. This is the solution that the staff of the racecourse came up with.

Of course, for the truly noble nobles and capitalists, this restriction does not actually exist.

Because nobles and capitalists will not bet with commoners, this restriction will only take effect for commoners.

In fact, think about it, ten Australian dollars is not a lot.Judging from the current per capita income in Australasia, ten Australian dollars is equivalent to more than two months' salary per capita in Australasia, which is a huge sum of money for ordinary people.

Of course, the pastimes belonging to the Australasian commoners are far more than these.

In addition to the annual horse race at the racecourse, Arthur has also built many zoos, large and small, within the scope of Australasia. Tourists and citizens can buy tickets to watch.

The zoo was originally an exclusive entertainment for the nobles and monarchs in ancient times in the East and the West. It circled a garden with different scenery, and then stocked various rare animals for the nobles and monarchs to play and hunt.

The zoo at the beginning was more like an evolution from a hunting ground. At the beginning, it only placed some common wild animals for the nobles to hunt.

With the development of time, some zoos have become more formalized, planted with trees and flowers, and raised more precious wild animals for the purpose of playing and watching.

In Europe, this kind of zoo first appeared at the end of the 18th century, that is, more than 100 years ago.

With the development of zoos, even some zoos have started scientific research on biology.

The development of zoos in Australasia is relatively early, but because there are too many wild animals in Australia, and the previous colonial policy did not support this aspect, the development speed of zoos is not fast.

After Arthur's arrival, two large zoos were established in the capital territory and Victoria, and then a large zoo was established in New Zealand.

The good news is that Australia has a wide variety of wild animals, and each of the three major zoos has at least hundreds of animal species.

Of course, Australasian zoos don't exhibit venomous snakes.Although there are a wide variety of venomous snakes in Australia, Arthur has no interest in this kind of animal that can easily kill people.

The largest zoo in Australasia, the Royal Sydney Zoo, currently has more than 300 species of animals and plants and receives more than 5000 visitors a day.

According to the ticket price of 0.5 Australian dollars per person, the daily ticket income of the Royal Zoo in Sydney alone exceeds 2500 Australian dollars.

However, there are more than 300 kinds of animals and plants in the zoo, and the number of animals exceeds 5000. The daily feed cost far exceeds this figure.

The good news is that near the zoo, there is a ranch belonging to the royal consortium, which can provide some meat for the wild animals in the zoo.

Of course, there are also many vegetarian animals in the zoo. Some of their daily food depends on the extensive vegetation in the zoo, and part of it depends on the feeding of the zoo.

It is worth mentioning that the Sydney Royal Zoo’s reception hours are only from Sunday to Friday every week, and Saturday is dedicated to serving the royal family and nobles.

Even if there are members of the royal family who want to visit at other times, theoretically they have to clear the venue to serve the royal family.

However, after a visit or two, Arthur didn't have much interest in the animals and plants in the zoo.

Instead, it was Queen Mary and the two little guys who would go to the zoo from time to time to have a look.

This also reminded Arthur, since Australasia's own zoo does not have animals and plants from other regions, why not bring some rare animals and plants from other regions to thrive in specific places in the zoo?
Especially for some rare wild animals and plants of later generations, if they can be planted and raised in Australasia in advance, it can be regarded as an advance layout and investment.

Arthur spent a few days thinking about some rare animals and plants in later generations, and then submitted a list to the Kent steward, who asked the Kent steward to use the power of the royal consortium to purchase them from all over the world.

For the royal consortium, it is not difficult to obtain some rare wild animals and plants from all over the world, and then transfer them to Australasia for planting and cultivation.

Compared with later generations, because it was 100 years ago, some wild animals and plants that were more precious in later generations are actually not so precious now.

Moreover, in this era, the concept of protecting rare wild animals and plants has not been popularized, and even because the pollution of the environment by industry is not so serious, hunting in Europe is now common.

For Australia, where industrial development is relatively slow, this phenomenon has become more obvious.

Most of Australia's land is currently in an undeveloped and barren state, with a large number of virgin forests, wild animals and plants, etc.

Australasia had implemented a ban on long guns for a period of time before, but Arthur regretted his mistake and changed it to ban short guns instead of long guns.

Of course, most of the firearms that can be circulated in the private market in Australasia are shotguns, firearms, etc. of ordinary quality.

More advanced Lee Enfield rifles, Gew-98 rifles, and other countries' standard rifles, submachine guns, light and heavy machine guns, grenades, and larger-caliber weapons are all under stricter control.

Even fully automatic pistols, which are more popular abroad, require strict management before they can be prepared in Australasia.

Of course, this does not mean that Arthur is afraid of the assassination case.In fact, under the protection of a large number of intelligence personnel and bodyguards, guards, and defense forces, Arthur stayed in Australasia, and it was impossible for any accidents and dangers to happen.

You know, even if it was just a simple trip for Arthur, there would be thousands of security forces following him.

It is no exaggeration to say that within two or 300 meters of Arthur, anyone who acts recklessly will be subdued by the guards immediately.

For these Arthur's exclusive security personnel, what they followed was the principle that they would rather kill ten by mistake than miss one.

After all, Arthur's safety was the most important thing, and everything else had to stand aside first.

　Second, ask for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)