Chapter 232: Chapter 217: Albert Einstein

With the end of the 1906 government annual report meeting, time quickly came to 1907.

After entering the new year, the frequency of the Kingdom Government issuing decrees increased significantly, and many effective laws were enacted, such as the “Encourage Fertility Law” that could greatly increase the local population.

According to this law, as long as one holds a legal citizenship of the Kingdom of Australasia, for each additional child born after the first, an immediate reward of 50 Australian dollars will be given, and 20 Australian dollars in child-rearing subsidies can be claimed from the government each year.

This funding will continue until the child reaches the age of six, and then it will be converted into a lower level fee reduction for tuition and miscellaneous fees.

If a family has more than five children, the mother will be awarded the title of “Mother of Heroes,” not only appearing on Australasian newspapers but also giving all her children priority in entering schools and universities.

Even when applying for scholarships and grants, priority will be given, and numerous welfare policies will be provided from birth to graduation, significantly reducing the pressures of raising offspring for Australasians.

Many Australasians welcomed this policy. After all, Australasia’s geographical location means it is not at the center of international attention, and various crises and wars around the world have little to do with Australasians.

Apart from the daily news and political news in their newspapers, the everyday leisure activity for Australasians revolves around having children.

Once the government resolved their concerns about raising offspring, the people of Australasia could feel at ease procreating and even receive generous rewards.

Many families have decided to be the first to claim the title of “Mother of Heroes.” The numerous benefits brought by this policy and the funds and welfare that come with each additional child are tempting.

Meanwhile, various transportation fleets in Australasia, including cruise ships and escort fleets, frequently traveled between Europe and Australia, bringing more immigrants to Australasia.

With the establishment of the Kingdom of Australasia, Australia gradually became a migration choice for Europeans.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that no one chose to immigrate to Australia before; it’s just that European people at the time preferred to immigrate to the Americas.

The Americas have vast lands and a developed economy, and there is not much difference in language, so they can assimilate well into life there.

But now, Australia has similar traits to the Americas. Although Australia’s economy is not as developed, its economy and quality of life are steadily growing.

More importantly, there is no war or conflict in Australia, and the King of Australasia, Arthur, is also more closely related to Europeans in terms of lineage.

Due to these factors, Australasia has become the second choice for immigration after the Americas, and more and more European people want to immigrate to Australia.

If all goes well, the population growth in Australasia in 1907 will be the highest in recent years, and as long as there is no war in Australia, the scale of immigration will continue to grow.

With a strong source of immigration and the implementation of many domestic policies encouraging fertility, Arthur and the Australasian Government see the hope of expanding their population to the tens of millions.

Such a population growth rate is welcomed by everyone before the population reaches the billions.

Since the establishment of the Federation, exchanges between Australia and New Zealand have become more frequent.

It became even more frequent after the establishment of the Kingdom, and even the one or two days of sailing between the two regions could not discourage this economic convergence.

This has also, to some extent, promoted the growth of Australasia’s shipbuilding industry. In recent times, more and more people have taken loans from the Royal Bank to set up small private shipyards.

Most of the ships they built are very small fishing boats or sailboats, all for daily work and travel.

Due to the territory being made up of various islands and peninsulas, the fishing industry in Australasia is also thriving.

Famous seafood in later generations, such as Australian lobster, Australian abalone, blue-flag tuna, and yellowtail fish, are all produced in various regions of Australasia.

Especially in the southern region of the Australian Continent and the area surrounding Tasmania Island, there are many natural fishing grounds, and seafood is one of the features for Australasians.

These rich fishing grounds and aquatic products sustain a large number of fishermen and practitioners in the Kingdom of Australasia.

This has also allowed many people to see business opportunities. At present, Australasia’s shipbuilding industry is not well-developed, and although it can build top-of-the-line battleships and dreadnoughts, there are not many shipyards for building small civilian ships, and various small fishing boats and ships are in short supply.

For these loan applications, as long as the basic qualifications and conditions are not an issue, loans can be easily obtained.

Of course, the amount of loans they can apply for is also basically balanced with the amount of assets they can mortgage.

Arthur was not worried about running away with the loan; first of all, there were mortgaged assets as compensation, and secondly, Australian dollars were only circulating in the Australasian region. Taking Australian dollars to other countries could escape the supervision of the intelligence and public security departments, and whether other countries recognized Australian dollars remained a question.

Moreover, individuals applying for loans must have lived in the Australasian region for more than ten years and have a legal citizenship of Australasia.

After layers of screening, it was not easy for people with ulterior motives to obtain loans.

In January 1907, Arthur attended the Victoria Award ceremony as usual.

This annual international award has attracted at least about ten top international talents for Australasia, and the number is still increasing.

The name of the winner of this year’s Victoria Physics Prize surprised Arthur, and he immediately decided to woo him into the embrace of Australasia.

Albert Einstein, a man with great fame in future generations.

Einstein’s achievements in physics were enough to make him one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century.

The current Einstein was still very young, born in 1879, and was now only 27 years old, having just received his doctorate in physics from the University of Zurich.

It was precisely because of Einstein’s proposal of the photon hypothesis that successfully explained the cause of the photoelectric effect that he won the 1906 Victoria Physics Prize.

When Arthur first saw Einstein’s name, he hesitated a bit.

According to Einstein’s life trajectory and experience, he was first a pacifist and humanitarian, and then became a democratic socialist.

Einstein had once been denied immigration to the United States under the refugee clause because he believed and advocated for anarchism, and he was also accused of being a participant and supporter of a certain movement between 1937 and 1954.

In addition to being a Jew, Einstein supported Zionism and the choice of settling in the ancient land of Judaism, that is, Jerusalem.

Facing such a seemingly uncontrollable top scientist, Arthur worried that winning over Einstein might cause some impact and fluctuation in Australasia’s political environment.

But after some thought, Arthur decided to win him over anyway. First of all, Einstein’s abilities and knowledge were absolutely among the top scientists in the world today, and since such talent has appeared, Arthur naturally could not pass it up.

Regardless of whether Einstein’s political views are consistent with Australasia’s political situation, the current Einstein is still very young, and what he has revealed and supported is only pacifism and humanitarianism.

Australasia currently has no wars, and Arthur is also very passionate about aiding the bottom rung of the population.

Isn’t this the simplest form of pacifism and humanitarianism?

At least in the short term, keeping this top scientist in Australasia and allowing him to contribute more to Australasian research is something that Arthur can do.

As for later matters, Arthur is definitely not a kind person. If such a top scientist cannot be controlled by Australasia, then Einstein can only be invited to see the beautiful underwater world.

On the day of the Victoria Prize ceremony, Arthur invited all the award-winning scientists and talents to a small celebration banquet.

At this banquet, Arthur extended a unified invitation to all talents to carry out scientific research and technology work for Australasia; Australasia will provide them with more advanced laboratories and more research funds.

No one expressed any objection, and at most, they said they needed more time to think.

Actually, they were not stupid, offending Arthur on his turf would be like shining a lantern in the toilet.

Of course, Arthur’s top wooing target was still Einstein. The day after the banquet, Arthur invited Einstein to the Australasian National University and asked him to visit the major laboratories of the university.

The National University was the first university established by Arthur with funding, and its construction standards and goals were internationally top-notch.

As a result, many laboratories in the National University were among the world’s top, and for this reason, Arthur and the government paid a price of millions of Australian dollars.

After the visit, Arthur got straight to the point, inviting Einstein to become an honorary professor of physics at the Australasian National University. All the research labs in the National University could be opened to Einstein, and he could receive at least 200,000 Australian dollars of research funds each year.

At the same time, Arthur stated that he would form the Australasian Royal Physics Research Association and invited Einstein to become the first president of the association to conduct academic research in Australasia.