The Rise Of Australasia

The first thing the new Cabinet did was to swear allegiance to Arthur, who was quite satisfied with the members of the new Cabinet Government.

However, the changeover of the Cabinet Government did not have much impact on Arthur; after all, the Cabinet Government was still under his control, and who held the position did not matter.

After the Cabinet Government began operations, the affairs of Australasia were, for the time being, put to rest.

Because compared to the stable Australasia, the chaotic and complex international situation was the focus at the moment.

Compared to the calm of 1922, there were quite a few major international events in 1923, involving many powerful nations, and to some extent, influenced the development of the world situation.

On July 1st, 1923, in the presence of many countries, the Russian Civil War was brought to light, and powerful nations led by Britain-France-Australia began mediating the conflict.

The Russian Civil War truly began at the start of 1919, and by now, it had spanned a full four years.

Together with the previous revolution and World War I, Russia had not seen peace and stability for nearly ten years, which was a colossal blow to Russia's development and even directly destroyed Russia's economy and industry.

As a superpower that stood tall in Eastern Europe before World War I, Russia's industrial level had fallen far behind that of an island nation such as Britain and was even inferior to the weakest of the great powers, Italy.

The collapse of the economy was even more severe. If Soviet Russia was barely holding on with a centralized distribution system, then Tsarist Russia under Nicholas II was living day to day on the Romanov Family's centuries of wealth accumulation and substantial borrowing.

According to Russian data, Tsarist Russia had accumulated foreign debts of up to 830 million pounds since the beginning of the civil war.

Although this amount of funds might not seem excessive, it was what remained after Tsarist Russia had been weakened by World War I and the revolution. For Russia, where the Ruble had significantly devalued, it was an enormous debt that was virtually unpayable.

The other powerful nations understood this too, and after squeezing Russia for four years, it was time to give Russia some breathing room to recover its economy.

The mediation was given considerable importance because of the participation of Britain-France-Australia, with both Russian parties sending their important representatives to take part.

This was inevitable, as the Russian Civil War had been going on for so long that whichever side was exhausted, and the soldiers were eagerly anticipating the arrival of peace.

Both parties understood that this was internal Russian consumption. The problem was, no one could afford the consequences of defeat, as it meant the fall of a government, the demise of a country.

The situation in the Russian Civil War had each side with its own advantages, but after the intervention of the World Alliance Intervention Army, the advantage was on the side of Tsarist Russia.

Now, including regions like Ukraine and Poland, many areas had been reclaimed by Tsarist Russia, but it was the World Alliance Intervention Army that actually occupied them.

In plain terms, there were no victors in the Russian Civil War. If one insisted on a victor, it would be countries like Britain-France-Australia that profited significantly from the civil war.
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Australasia alone had gained nearly a thousand tons of gold reserves from Tsarist Russia, along with countless mineral resources, including various kinds of manpower and so on.

Australasia had priority mining rights to a considerable portion of Tsarist Russia's mineral resources, which would have to wait until Russia's situation stabilized before exploitation. This was one of the reasons the Russian Civil War was moving towards a peaceful phase.

The conflict in Russia at the start of the war was divided between North and South, but now, Tsarist Russia had regained its advantage.

The regions controlled by the other side, aside from around Moscow, were now largely impoverished areas to the east.

Meanwhile, Tsarist Russia occupied most of the developed regions of Eastern Europe, but it was expected to pay a considerable price to smoothly take over these territories from the Intervention Army.

If it weren't for the reluctance of many countries in the World Alliance to give their full effort, this war certainly wouldn't be as tight.

Although the revolutionary party's ideas had a significant impact on the people, in the face of powerful weapons like European nations' airplanes and tanks, Soviet Russia could not hold out.

While the peace negotiations attracted a fair amount of attention, the progress was destined to be slow.

On the contrary, amidst the anticipation of the nations, the Naval Limitation Treaty was finally signed. The long-disputed issue of limiting submarines was forcefully put to rest by the French.

After all, if submarine development were restricted, other countries' navies would truly have no hope of catching up with the Royal Navy.

However, the British were not without gains; before the signing of the Naval Limitation Treaty, they successfully built two super battleships, further enhancing the Royal Navy's power.

As the eyes of countries around the world were fixed on the talks taking place in London, Australasia had already built the largest movie city in the world—the World Film City, also known as Sydney National Film City.

Arthur's purpose in creating this movie city was to emulate the Hollywood of later history, establishing Australasia's entertainment hub and feverishly exporting its culture to other nations.

Although the United States' Hollywood was founded earlier, the influence of American films was not as significant compared to Australasian films and, for the time being, the United States wasn't a competitor for Australasia.

This was actually quite normal; even though Australasian films were the most famous worldwide, this did not hinder the development of the film industry in other countries.

Many countries, including Britain, France, and Germany, also had their own film companies and produced a large number of movies every year.

However, considering the current advantages held by Australasia, the World Film City was the most hopeful to develop into something like Hollywood of later generations, to become the benchmark for the global film industry, and to cultivate the leading brand for the movie sector.

To add fame to Australasia's World Film City, Arthur personally attended the opening ceremony and delivered a short speech, and also watched the premiere of the movie "Special Hero—Rixi."

This was in fact an inevitable development in film, not just movies that tell human stories, but also movies that tell the stories of non-human characters.

"Rixi" is an Australasian film featuring a heroic dog that saves children, captures thieves, and tracks down fugitives, presenting from a special angle the contributions of dogs as humankind's companions.

Australasia also had a particularly famous film company, owned by none other than the renowned 20th-century actor, screenwriter, and director—Charlie Chaplin.

Chaplin, born in London, United Kingdom, began writing, directing, and acting in movies in 1915. After Australasian films became famous both domestically and abroad, Chaplin came to Australasia with his friends to start his own film company.

Chaplin's film company had since become one of the largest comedy film companies in Australasia, and his personal performances in films were also loved by movie audiences both at home and abroad.

The most popular types of movies in Australasia were of three kinds: patriotic movies produced with official credentials, comedy movies like those made by Chaplin's company, and movies that tell stories of romance and chivalrous adventures featuring either robust, muscular heroes or innocent and cute-looking beauties that kindle admiration.

Australasia already had quite a few movie stars, and their worth continued to rise.

The fees for famous Australasian movie actors had already reached more than 50 Australasian dollars, and their income from shooting a single movie was equivalent to the annual income of an ordinary person, which also attracted fresh blood to the film industry.

However, the government still had a certain degree of control over the film industry. Not only did it strictly scrutinize the content of the films, but it also imposed certain limitations on the income of film industry actors.

Jobs such as film actors, which involved easy work and high incomes, had a higher tax rate compared to ordinary people.

Film actors with an income below the average income level were taxed the same as ordinary people.

But for film actors earning more than twice the average income, the tax rate reached 25%, which was considered quite heavy.

Subsequently, there were income levels for film actors that were five times and ten times the annual income, where they faced tax rates of 40% and 55%, respectively, effectively limiting the income of movie stars to an extent.

Although such a tax rate was unprecedented, since the film industry was just developing, the government was able to set such tax rules without much opposition.

For the people, a considerable part of the taxes collected from movie stars were used for the development of people's livelihoods, which was beneficial to them, so naturally, they did not object.

Besides, such tax policies were also agreed upon by Arthur, and within Australasia, who would dare to oppose Arthur's policies?

With Arthur's presence, the opening of the World Film City, and the release of several films, there was considerable coverage from both domestic and foreign media.

The World Film City would not only serve as the benchmark for Australasia's film industry but also, like the historical Hollywood, could accommodate concerts, operas, movies, and fairy tales as performance venues.

The World Film City could accommodate up to 200,000 visitors at its maximum and covered an entire mountain area.

The mountain summit was the main venue for World Film City, while mid-mountain and the mountain base were responsible for receiving visitors and housing some commercial facilities.

If developed well, the impact of the film city could equal that of a luxurious commercial street, if not exceed it significantly.

After all, Hollywood in later times was already the best example; the movies produced by Hollywood occupied half the world of cinema. Whether one could make it into Hollywood also became one of the standards by which a movie star's international success was measured.