Rise of Australia

Chapter 662 Start of construction and accident
In order to prove that the infrastructure construction plan is not a joke, the government, under Arthur's urging, started the construction of several major infrastructure projects, including the subway construction projects in Sydney, Melbourne and St. Arthur's Castle.

Subways are very important for large cities. They not only speed up the flow of people within the city, but also facilitate connections between various parts of the city.

Take the current situation in Sydney as an example.Without the subway, it would take more than two hours to travel from the southernmost point to the northernmost point of Sydney, even by car.

If there is a traffic jam or a large flow of people on the way, the time will be extended, which greatly reduces the convenience of communication within the city.

The subway does not have the trouble of traffic jams. It can shuttle freely underground in the city. Each subway can transport hundreds or even thousands of passengers, accelerating the flow of people within the city.

However, it is still difficult to build railways underground.In addition to building a subway station underground, it is also necessary to ensure that the underground railway tunnel is very stable and will not collapse due to various problems.

After all, this is a large-scale construction that the government strongly advocates. If there is a problem with the quality, it will be a big blow to the government's reputation.

The subway construction in the three cities will certainly not be carried out in full. Sydney's subway will serve as a pilot for Australasia's subway construction.

After all, the subway technology is relatively new to Australasia, and railway experts from across the country must be gathered to ensure the safety and stability of the subway.

The underground environment is no better than above ground. If an accident occurs underground, not only will it be difficult to rescue, but the mortality rate will also be very high.

After a period of preparation, the Sydney Metro construction project was officially launched on September 1926, 9.

As a railway expert who once built the subway in New York, Wadrick naturally became a member of the Sydney subway construction and even entered the railway design department.

In addition to the very eye-catching Sydney Metro, in September, Australasia also launched the construction of the Unst Reservoir Hydropower Station in the Capital Territory, the Capital Territory Railway Ring, the New Sydney Bridge, etc., allowing Australasia to The news continues to reverberate around the world.

The construction of various railways, water conservancy projects, bridges and infrastructure has also made Australasia like a big construction site. Construction sites can be seen everywhere, and the number of workers of all types has also increased dramatically.

This does not include roads built by municipal governments and village and town governments.Some roads that connect to smaller facilities and villages and towns are basically not announced to the public because they are too small in scale.

However, the total of these roads across Australasia is also a considerable amount of construction, which invisibly makes the impact of Australasia's infrastructure construction more severe, and also makes the country's development and economic growth take a step forward. Moving forward at incredible speed.

Unlike Arthur, who is obviously relaxed, Prime Minister Roger still has to deal with a lot of government affairs every day.

The Australasian government has always adhered to the strategy of making its own decisions on small matters and convening cabinet meetings to wait for Arthur's decision on major matters. This has also kept the government and the Prime Minister relatively busy.

Arthur was also happy to be free. After all, it was beneficial to properly delegate power. We couldn't really let the government be an obedient puppet that only knew how to simply execute its own orders.

Looking at the mountains of documents on his desk, even Prime Minister Roger, who loves the position of Prime Minister, had to sweat profusely.

"Cary, why are all the reports from the transportation department handed over to me?" Looking at the first report from the transportation department in front of him, Prime Minister Roger was a little surprised and looked at his secretary with questioning eyes.

"According to reports from people in the transportation department, it seems that an accident occurred during railway construction, resulting in more than ten casualties, so I had to report it to you." Secretary Kari clearly knew what the Prime Minister was concerned about and quickly replied .

"Damn it." Prime Minister Roger cursed secretly and quickly looked at the documents on the table.

After reading it carefully, Prime Minister Roger breathed a sigh of relief.

Although there were indeed more than ten casualties, the accident was an accident. The cause was an unexpected landslide on the mountain that buried more than a dozen workers.

Although the construction team responded quickly and provided rescue operations, more than ten people were injured or killed.

This situation often occurred in previous railway constructions, but the previous casualties were all indigenous people, so naturally they could not be reported.

But now, the railway workers are all Australasians themselves, and the casualties of more than ten people will naturally be reported to the government.

In fact, this is also because of the economic crisis, and Australasia's infrastructure has attracted the attention of countries around the world.

Otherwise, the transportation department can handle the casualties of more than ten people, and there is no need to report it to Prime Minister Roger.

"Just let Minister Martin handle it by himself." Prime Minister Roger ordered: "This is an accident after all, and no one is responsible. In addition, let Minister Martin report to His Majesty himself. This is his own responsibility."

"Also, tell Minister Martin that the pensions of the injured and injured workers should be distributed as soon as possible, and the families of the injured and injured workers should be appeased as soon as possible. These people have contributed to the country, and the country cannot forget their contributions." Roger The Prime Minister continued his instructions.

Although no one is responsible for the accident, this does not mean that the government can be careless in handling the accident.

After all, it involved more than ten casualties, which was considered an incident for Arthur, who always loved his people like a son.

If Arthur found out if he didn't handle it well, at least he would be held accountable, but at worst he might lose his chance for re-election.After dealing with matters in the transportation department, Prime Minister Roger turned his attention to busy government affairs and started to get busy again.

In fact, Arthur is not completely free now. At least for now, Arthur is receiving a guest, a guest from Germany.

Germany is still a monarchy, and its ruler is William II, who had a good relationship with Arthur before.

As for the envoy sent by William II, who was also an envoy from a German noble, it was naturally impossible for Arthur not to receive him.

In fact, Arthur was already very clear about the purpose of the German envoy.When it comes to the countries most severely affected by the economic crisis, the United States and Germany are definitely on the list, and are a big step ahead of No. 3.

Although Germany's economy and industry had improved before the economic crisis, this was because Britain, France and some European countries moved heavily polluting industries to Germany and imported large quantities of cheap German industrial products.

This also means that German industry is very dependent on European countries and financial support from the United States.

But after the economic crisis broke out, all countries only cared about their own interests, so it was naturally impossible for them to import large quantities of German industrial products.

This also caused German industry to instantly enter a state of overcapacity and a severe lack of funds.

A large number of European countries, including Britain and France, are also transferring the harm of the economic crisis to Germany. Although Germany has also responded by stopping reparations, it still cannot eliminate the impact of the economic crisis.

What impact will the economic crisis have on Germany?

The data can actually show it very well.In the original history, during the four years of the economic crisis, Germany's coal production fell by 32.7%, pig iron production fell by 70.3%, steel production fell by 64.9%, the machinery manufacturing industry fell by 62%, and total power generation fell by 23%. , the gross industrial production dropped by nearly [-]%, the production of consumer goods dropped by more than [-]%, the total exports dropped by nearly [-]%, the total imports dropped by more than [-]%, and the national gold reserves decreased by more than [-]%.

Just the decrease in total import and export volume and gold reserves can actually show the impact of the economic crisis on Germany.

But in this world, the impact of the economic crisis on Germany is undoubtedly more serious, much more serious than in history.

Because Germany is currently much more chaotic than Germany in history, the monarch, states and the military cannot determine a force that truly controls the country's voice.

In addition, the United States, which historically lent heavily to Germany, does not lend much in this world. Germany's current situation is much worse than in history, and the impact of the economic crisis is much more serious.

The first is the unemployed population.At present, the unemployed population in Germany has increased sharply, and various industries are experiencing continuous bankruptcies and layoffs.

The industries that could provide a large number of jobs before were because European countries were continuously reducing the import of German industrial products, causing German industry to collapse in a short period of time because the products produced could not be sold at all.

The number of unemployed people in Germany has exceeded 500 million and is heading towards the 600 million threshold.

And how many unemployed people can the German government help?According to data released by the German government, approximately 400 million unemployed people have received relief, accounting for 81.2% of the total unemployed.

This may seem like a lot, but each unemployed person can only receive about 27.9 marks per week in unemployment assistance funds, and even less than 20 marks in small cities.

What can these funds be used for?

Before World War I, 20 marks was equivalent to 1 pound. There was no big problem in spending these funds for a week, and it was enough to satisfy everyone.

But now that the mark is extremely devalued, even a capital of 27.9 marks is not enough to support a person to eat for a week.

Even in some cities with relatively high prices, 20 marks can only buy a few pieces of bread. This means that most of the unemployed people are hungry, and mass starvation is not far away.

It is worth mentioning that compared to some cities controlled by the German government, cities controlled by states are more stable.

More powerful states like Bavaria already use their own currencies rather than the extremely devalued mark.

Although Bavaria's currency is not too valuable, compared to the mark, it can at least be regarded as a normal currency.

According to information disclosed by the Bavarian state government, the number of unemployed people in Bavaria is approximately 40, and the average weekly unemployment benefit received by each person is worth about 40 marks after conversion.

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(End of this chapter)