Chapter 324: Chapter 284: Cultural Export Plan

On July 17, 1910, Arthur ended his tour in Europe and boarded the Australasian Battleship to return to Australasia.

When he set off for Europe, in order to keep up with the funeral of Edward VII, Arthur managed to rush to London in just over 20 days, under the full escort of the Australasian Battleship.

This rush, however, left the remaining supply ships to trudge slowly to catch up, shielded by the Australia Battleship and the New Zealand battleship.

On the return, there was no rush, hence they could relax and slowly integrate both fleets into one, deliberatively heading towards Australasia.

In late August, after a month of chasing, Arthur finally arrived in Sydney Harbour.

Prime Minister Walter and Minister Andrew went to prepare for official duties and work, while Arthur, who temporarily had nothing to take care of, returned to the Royal Palace to play with his children.

William and Anna Miller are now nearly a year old and can crawl on their own. However, their mother, Princess Louise, and Queen Mary, are deeply in love with these two youngsters. Besides letting them crawl around a bit daily for exercise, they carried the two little ones most of the time.

This prevented Arthur from being able to carry either of his children himself since Princess Louise and Queen Mary were extremely affectionate towards their grandchildren. Arthur felt a slight neglect.

But Arthur didn’t mind these things and shook his head and plunged into his busy work.

After resting for a few days, Arthur summoned the head of the Royal Shipyard to inquire about the progress of the shipyard.

The news was encouraging. The construction of two Unified-class battleships was more than half-complete, and they were expected to be fully finished by the end of the year and would then enter the sea-navigation testing stage.

If the test was successful, they should be able to officially join the navy’s formation between the end of 1911 and the beginning of 1912 to strengthen Australasia’s naval forces.

As for Russia’s order, it was also expected to begin construction by the end of the year or early next year, and it should have no problem completing the four warships for Russia by the end of 1914.

When Arthur learned that the two Unified-class battleships still had no artillery installed, he had a sudden inspiration and immediately issued the command to the shipyard to suspend the installation of the main gun after the other construction of the ship was completed.

After all, they managed to acquire 305mm, 50-calibre artillery technology from the British. They might as well replace the guns of the two Unified-class battleships with 305mm 50-calibre guns and make the firepower of the battlecruiser even more potent.

Without any unexpected events, the aid from Britain, including the relevant experts, should arrive within a month.

Theoretically, there would be time for the gun replacement, and it essentially won’t delay the two battlecruisers’ from being constructed by the end of this year.

After arranging the affairs of the shipyard, it wasn’t many Days before, on August 24, Arthur welcomed guests from the Qing Empire who had travelled a great distance.

The external conditions for this Empire hadn’t been very good in recent years, with all sorts of calamities coming one after another.

In early August, a number of regions were hit by a flood disaster, which affected several provinces. Although it was not as severe as previous national disasters, it still represented a significant loss for the country.

The fact that they came to visit Australasia was for two reasons. Firstly, they wanted to buy more food from Australasia to alleviate the famines caused by the flood disaster in their country.

Secondly, they asked for a visit from a representative of Australasia, as the implementation of constitutionalism has shown a certain amount of achievement under the guidance of Australasian experts. Moreover, the Consultative Bureau, which took a great deal of money to construct, is also about to be established.

The Consultative Bureau was set up by the Qing Empire. It was a central consultation organ established in accordance with the legal system of Australasia to prepare for the Parliament.

The Bureau was set up because the authorities felt that the Houses of Parliament couldn’t be established at the moment. The Bureau would lay the foundation for the establishment of these Houses.

Nothing else to say, the construction of the Consultative Bureau, which is effectively the Congress of the Qing Empire, was extremely magnificent.

Continuing the consistent style of the Eastern Empire, the Bureau is luxurious and top-grade, impressive and profound. Besides the obvious disadvantage of extravagance and waste of money, it is undeniable that the Consultative Bureau of the Qing Empire has surpassed the scale and construction of the Administrative Court of Australasia.

But this is normal. After all, one country has a population of only over 8 million, while the other has a population surpassing 420 million (according to the census data issued by the Qing Empire last month). The income level and economic situation of the two countries are completely incomparable.

Hearing this news, Arthur shook his head. If they could use this money construct their Military and Navy, then they could at least build the top Navy and Army in Asia, couldn’t they?

In the final analysis, the country had decayed to its core. Superficial reform could not change this situation.

As for Australasia’s Administrative Court, Arthur has no plans to expand it in the short term. It is just enough to barely accommodate the Cabinet Government, departments of the government and other departments of the national government, it isn’t very crowded.

At least until the overcrowding impacts the operation of the office, Arthur thinks the current Administrative Court would suffice.

With the country’s finances, save where it is possible to save. Couldn’t the money be used for other constructions or expanding the Navy and Army?

As to the matter of dispatching an envoy to attend the opening ceremony of the Consultative Bureau, Arthur resolutely handed it over to Foreign Minister Andrew.