The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 156: Chapter 151: Term Extension

1902 was a thriving year for Australia, with various construction projects showing results after two years of development, and the benefits brought to the Australian people went far beyond the infrastructure.

“In the new year, the government’s main goal remains to continue our development plans. In the new year, I hope that our currently operational railway lines can connect to the harbor, effectively enhancing transportation efficiency in nationwide industrial areas. At the same time, public safety must also be taken seriously. As our cities expand and our population grows, the security environment in Australia must be maintained at a high level,” Arthur concluded his instructions.

Overall, Australia’s development was smooth. Although it was not possible to become a world power in a short period, everything was possible after a long period of growth.

“Prime Minister Evan, I believe your Cabinet Government’s term is coming to an end, correct?” With everyone slightly relaxed, Arthur suddenly asked with a smile.

“Yes, Your Highness. The first Cabinet Government has a term of three years, starting from June 1900 and ending in June 1903,” Prime Minister Evan replied immediately.

“Only half a year left?” Arthur nodded after hearing this, thought carefully for a while, and then continued, “The government should get ready for the cabinet elections in six months. From the next Cabinet Government onwards, the term of cabinet members will be changed to four years while other aspects remain unchanged.”

The change of cabinet members’ terms from three to four years resulted from Arthur’s careful deliberation. Ultimately, three years was too short, and even with rapid development, the results were just beginning to show.

Moreover, different cabinet members would form various governments, so it was impossible to guarantee unity in opinions and consistency in policies.

It would be a shame if the rotation of the cabinet and elections hindered development and construction.

Although Arthur had decided to change the term of the Cabinet Government to four years, the formal amendment of the Australian Constitution would still take some time.

Also, Arthur did not want cabinet members to think that the term change was specifically designed for them. Thus, the term change will only take effect after the next Cabinet Government is established.

This was also a test for cabinet members regarding their prestige and credibility among the people. If they could stand out again in the cabinet elections half a year later and stay in their current positions, they would enjoy a longer term.

However, if their credibility with the people is insufficient, they might become the last cabinet members in Australian history with a term of only three years.

Sure enough, when Arthur announced the decision to extend the term by one year for the next Cabinet Government, almost everyone’s faces showed joy and contemplation.

Over the past two years in office, no matter in which department, these ministers had made some achievements, leading to significant changes in each department.

Arthur was also generous in rewarding them. In addition to financial rewards and verbal commendations, having their achievements recognized in the Victoria Newspaper and Australia Daily was most important to them.

Australia had developed to this stage, and the newspapers that truly entered the Australian national market were only the Victoria Newspaper and Australia Daily.

Although these two newspapers belonged to different media groups responsible for different scopes and clients, both were actually subsidiaries of the Royal financial group under Arthur’s control.

Backed by the Royal financial group, these two media groups easily dominated the Australian market.

It was precisely because the newspapers’ areas of responsibility were completely different that the two could coexist peacefully.

Of course, during important moments for Australia, both newspapers would publish important news, which was the only time the Victoria Newspaper and Australia Daily shared headlines.

It was precisely because the officials occasionally appeared on one of the newspapers due to Arthur’s good mood that they were confident about the elections in half a year.

Even if it was just a small section or a few news articles, after all, the newspapers covered the entire Australian population in this era with limited entertainment options.

According to statistics, out of Australia’s four million population, over 300,000 were newspaper subscribers.

Among them, over 150,000 were daily users of the two newspapers. That is to say, the daily sales volume of Australia Daily and Victoria Newspaper together exceeded 150,000, a substantial propaganda channel.

And it went far beyond that number, as many families only subscribed to one newspaper, but the readership included almost half of the households.

Adding to the many who quickly browsed newspapers in front of the newspaper office, although the daily circulation was only over 150,000, at least 400,000 people browsed the newspapers every day.

What a terrifying concept! Every day, a tenth of the Australian population read these two newspapers, making those featured almost nationally famous.

Of course, the massive print volume combined with Australia-wide customers made transportation of newspapers quite challenging for the two media groups.

As a result, the news in each newspaper was almost always from two days earlier, with only the headlines from the two days prior having enough time to print and sell.

It was only because some roads already had trains that the two newspapers were able to maintain a daily circulation of over 150,000 across Australia.

This was a common downside for all newspapers at that time since transportation methods were rather limited, which made it impossible for newspapers to choose to print the same day’s news. Just the printing time could take up half a day, let alone the time needed for distribution and sale.

Most likely, the newspaper would arrive the next day, with the news already becoming old news.

Therefore, most newspapers currently choose to print headlines from the previous day or even a few days before, which also allows them plenty of time for preparation.

It was precisely because current technology was not advanced enough, and the spread of information was very slow, that the vast majority of people relied on newspapers and hearsay for news.

Newspapers were able to maintain such high sales volumes because of this very reason. Although the newspapers were printing news from a few days earlier, it was still news that most people would not easily know about.