After all, the British only provided half of the military expenses for these troops and would not provide weapons and equipment for these native soldiers when building a colonial army.


    Minister Raul nodded his head, indicating that he understood.


    After the small interlude from the Ministry of Defense, the annual report summary meeting for 1914 officially began.


    ording to the report from the Ministry of Civil Affairs, by the end of 1914, the total poption of Austrsia had sessfully exceeded 15 million, reaching 15.37 million.


    This was a significant milestone for Austrsia; after breaking past ten million three years prior, the poption of Austrsia had again reached a new number.


    Of course, the rise in poption also highlighted a piece of bad news—that since the outbreak of the European War, the number of immigrants to Austrsia had sharply decreased.


    In 1914, the poption of Austrsia grew by approximately 1.44 million people.


    While this seemed like a considerable number, the number of newborn babies reached 378,000. This meant that the number of immigrants for the entire year of 1914 was only 1.062 million, with Russian immigrants ounting for over 800,000, making up nearly 80% of the new immigrants to Austrsia.


    The number of immigrants had decreased by almost 300,000pared to the previous year, a significant portion of which were British and German immigrants.


    Even though Austrsia had a good rtionship with Britain, Britain would close the immigration channels during times of war, attempting to minimize the outflow of immigrants as much as possible.


    After all, most civilians didn''t like war. If there wasn''t a limit on immigration during special times, there would probably be a mass exodus of refugees before the war had even ended.


    This loss of national strength during times of war was something that none of the major European powers wanted to see.


    It wasn''t just Britain—all participating European powers had enacted some form of restrictions on immigration, which had almost halved the number of immigrants leaving Europe in 1914.


    Fortunately for Austrsia, there was the Tsardom of Russia, a steadfast ally that could provide support for immigration at any time.


    After all, to attract more Russian immigrants, Austrsia had resorted to bribing everyone in Russia; Russia was giving the green light to immigration to Austrsia, even to the point of almost personally delivering immigrants to the borders of Austrsia.


    Even more importantly, due to the frequent transportation of supplies to Russia, the rtionship between Austrsia and Russia had also entered a long honeymoon period.


    With the marriage alliance between the two royal families, Russian immigrants indeed became the best source of neers during this period, disregarding revolutionary elements among them.


    Considering future potential crises in Russia, Arthur had already made some early arrangements.


    Firstly, by screening all Russian immigrants, he selected over a thousand immigrants who recognized and weremitted to Austrsia, and after some training, they were sent back to Russia''s homnd to carry out secret infiltration tasks.


    Their primary role was to infiltrate organisations of revolutionaries and Russian rebels to gather more information for Arthur.


    No matter how corrupt Russia was, the Russian monarchy still needed to be saved. Even if the ruler wasn''t the current Tsar, it would at least be a direct rtive of the Romanov family.


    This isn''t just because of the good rtionship between the royal families of Austrsia and Russia, but also because of Russia''s geographical position.


    As long as Russia exists—or at least exists in the Far East—it will be an ally of Austrsia that can help bear the pressure from the Ind Nation and the United States.


    However, Russia was currently in a somewhat chaotic state, and it was questionable whether those 1,000 or so trained Russian immigrants could make their way into the inner circles of those people.


    It is worth mentioning that some Russian criminals have already fled to Austrsia under the guise of immigration.


    But Arthur was prepared for this—the Austrsian customs were strict in their inspections of all iing immigrants.


    They not only prohibited them from carrying weapons but also did not allow too many immigrants from the same region to gather together.


    These immigrants from all over Russia would be dispersed to various regions in Austrsia, including New Zend and all colonies.


    Of course, they can choose not to ept the government''s allocation, but the consequence will be losing governmental welfare policies.


    Although such a mandate is somewhat coercive, for ordinary people who merely aspire to lead a content and prosperous life in Austrsia, it''s not entirely uneptable.


    After all, the current immigration policies of Austrsia are quite generous. As long as one passes the immigration examination, whichsts about six months to a year, they can easily acquire Austrsian citizenship, receive 4 to 8 acres ofnd (depending on location and fertility), and even get an opportunity to work in various major factories across Austrsia.


    Given the rising average ie of Austrsians, the sries offered by these factories have be quite substantial.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Although the ie level still can''tpete with that of top-ranking powers like Britain, France, and Germany, the cost of living in Austrsia is rtively low, particrly for beef, mutton, and grains, which are much cheaper than in Europe, thus narrowing the standard of living gap between Europeans and Austrsians.


    ording to statistics, in terms of the consumption of beef, mutton, and grains, the average Austrsian even surpasses that of some regions in Europe, including some powerful nations.


    Moreover, Austrsia is strict in enforcing an eight-hour workday, with overtime being appropriatelypensated and paid for, and wage treatment is guaranteed.


    As a result, Austrsian factories have attracted arge number of citizens and immigrants, resulting in rapid development across all sectors in Austrsia.


    Although the addition of over a million immigrants each year might sound overwhelming, these people are distributed among various sectors such as agriculture and industry, which has prevented the unemployment rate in Austrsia from rising too much.


    ording to statistics from the Department of Civil Affairs, by the end of 1914, the average ie in Austrsia was 52.7 Australian Dors, still in a rtively stable growth state.


    The growth of the economy can be observed from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).


    In 1914, Austrsia''s GDP reached a staggering 1.677 billion US dors, equivalent to 335 million Pounds or 670 million Australian Dors, representing a growth rate of about 6%.


    Although the growth rate had deceleratedpared to the previous year, it was already quitemendable given that war broke out in the second half of 1914.


    If Arthur is not mistaken, the economic growth of the European powers involved in the war, particrly France, Germany, Austro-Hungarian Empire, and Russia, must be negative.


    It''s worth noting that war puts an enormous drain on a country. These countries had to mobilize some civilian factories into military production, producing sophisticated military equipment and weapons if they had the technology, or simpler military uniforms and helmets if they didn''t.


    Although this greatly alleviated the military demands of the front line, it also had a massive impact on the civilian economy, slowing down its growth or even plunging it into decline.


    The UK was rtively better off, given that its maind was unaffected by the war. But as it''s positioned in Europe, the impact was inevitable, certainly far more substantial than in Austrsia.


    In terms of government fiscal revenue, Austrsia''s government fiscal revenue for 1914 was 107.2 million Australian Dors, exhibiting a growth of approximately 5.6% from the previous year.


    As Austrsia''s economy wasrgely unaffected and even managed to make a small profit due to arge number of supplies being exported to Europe.


    In terms of fiscal spending, since the UK bore half the cost of the expeditionary force, Austrsia''s military expenditure actually dropped to just over 38 million Australian Dors.


    The total fiscal expenditure of the Austrsian government was 98.71 million Australian Dors. The fiscal surplus increasedpared to the previous year, reaching about 8.5 million Australian Dors.


    While military spending had fallen considerably, the overall government fiscal expenditure had not decreased much.


    After all, in the midst of war, it cost even more to bring in immigrants from Russia. At the same time, making certain sacrifices was unavoidable to stabilize domestic production.


    However, these sacrifices were bound to be recouped from the Allies. As the war intensifies in the new year, the Allies will truly becking weapons, equipment, and supplies.


    At that time, Austrsia will be able to make a fortune. The trading of food and weaponry alone will fill the coffers of the royal family and the Austrsian government, not only paying off all government debts but also making a small profit.


    If it were not for the war between Argentina and Chile, that had slightly soured Austrsia''s rtionship with the United States. On


    Arthur would even consider borrowing arge sum of money from the United States, which at that point could be paid back in either Francs or Marks.