Chapter 54: Urban City Planning

Translator: 549690339 I

“Are all your officials settled comfortably? We’ve had many guests coming to England lately, so I couldn’t greet you personally, Arthur. I hope you can forgive your uncle.” Prince Edward smiled and said.

Having received a satisfactory answer from Arthur, Prince Edward’s smile became even warmer, and he didn’t forget to show concern for the officials Arthur had brought with him.

“They’ve all been settled with the help of Aunt Beatrice. It’s normal that you don’t have time with your grandmother’s funeral and the affairs of the United Kingdom to attend to,” Arthur replied.

Although gaining support from the United Kingdom was inevitable, the extent of support still depended on Prince Edward’s attitude.

As long as it didn’t break relations, Arthur didn’t mind maintaining a good relationship with Prince Edward. After all, Australia’s interests and those of the British Empire were not in conflict in the short term, and Australia was in no position to confront the United Kingdom before the empire declined.

“Hahaha, as long as Arthur doesn’t mind. Come, try these. They are all the foods you enjoyed in Britain. I specifically instructed the chef to prepare them for you. Having spent so long in Australia, I’m sure you must miss them, right? Even though you have the chefs your grandmother gave you, it’s not easy to recreate authentic British taste in Australia.” Prince Edward laughed and invited Arthur to taste the food that had been prepared.

Under the tacit understanding between Prince Edward and Arthur, the banquet hall experienced a warm uncle-nephew dinner.

During the dinner, Prince Edward and Arthur talked about their own interesting experiences as if they were ordinary relatives, chatting for a long time.

It wasn’t until the night deepened that the two, prompted by a nearby royal guard, ended the dinner as if they had just realized how late it had become.

Although most of the exchanges during the dinner were trivial, Arthur still learned a few important pieces of news.

Firstly, the arrangement for Queen Victoria’s funeral. After consulting with the UK Cabinet Government and Prince Edward, it was decided that the formal funeral would be held on the 29th of November, two days later.

The second matter was the formal coronation ceremony for Prince Edward. Although in theory, Prince Edward automatically received the title of King of the United Kingdom upon Queen Victoria’s death,

it wasn’t until the coronation ceremony that he would officially become the King of England.

Prince Edward’s coronation was scheduled for the seventh day following Queen Victoria’s funeral, which was the 6th of December, 1900.

As for the discussions on supporting Australia, it would have to wait until Edward officially succeeded to the throne and convened a meeting, where the decision would be made.

Overall, this was acceptable for Arthur since he maintained considerable popularity and recognition among the British people.

Entrusting the UK Cabinet Government with the decision to support Australia meant that the party-based government would have to take the British people’s opinions into account.

From this perspective, it was undoubtedly more advantageous for Asher and Australia.

Returning to his room exhausted, Arthur briefly tidied up his bed and went to sleep.

During the two days before Queen Victoria’s funeral, Arthur and the Australian diplomatic visiting group had a relatively relaxed time.

Since there was nothing to do, Arthur spent these two days touring London with the diplomatic group, admiring the beautiful scenery of the British capital city, and discussing the possibility of implementing various advanced projects in Sydney.

While Sydney was a good capital city for New South Wales State, it was only satisfactory as the capital of Australia.

Due to its status as a mere colony at the time, Sydney’s urban planning was not very thorough.

Although the current population was not very large, and various problems were not yet prominent,

as more immigrants were introduced to Australia, Sydney’s population would gradually increase, eventually reaching 500,000 or even 1,000,000 people.

Under these circumstances, Sydney’s urban planning seemed somewhat outdated, and many problems would become more severe over time.

Now, by touring London with the diplomatic group, they were seeking solutions. As the capital of the United Kingdom and one of its most developed cities, London’s population had already exceeded two million.

In terms of development, London was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant pearls in the world. Although some parts of its urban construction were not perfect, overall it was still worth referencing and learning from.

As long as problems like severe industrial pollution were avoided, London’s urban construction would be considered excellent.

Most of the diplomatic group’s representatives had seen the world, so apart from admiring London’s beauty, they also discussed which aspects of the city’s construction could be implemented in Sydney, or, to put it another way, how Sydney’s urban development could be improved by taking London’s example.

Unlike in the original history, Australia’s current capital city was Sydney, not Melbourne.

Melbourne was Australia’s largest city, and Sydney, close behind, ranked second.

The reason for choosing the second-largest city, Sydney, as the capital was that Sydney was the capital of New South Wales State, while Melbourne was the capital of Victoria State.

In terms of size and influence, New South Wales State had a greater impact than Victoria State, which was why Arthur chose Sydney as the capital.

However, both Sydney and Melbourne had their shortcomings; neither had been designed with the possibility of becoming vast cities in mind. With Sydney’s current urban design, it could accommodate at most over one million people; any more would cause significant problems for the city and lead to chaos.

Although a population of one million might seem high, million-plus cities were already quite common among the great powers and developed countries of today.

If Australia wanted to become a strong country, its capital’s upper limit had to be more than just one million. It had to be at least in the millions or even several million to accommodate an expanding population.

This meant that the government would inevitably have to improve the construction of Australia’s major cities, especially the capital Sydney.

Otherwise, although this would not have an impact in the short term, once large waves of immigrants arrived, Australia and Sydney would suffer from the effects of inadequate urban planning, spawning chaos.

In addition to visiting London’s sights, the three ministers were also assigned tasks by Arthur: gathering intelligence about the members of the British Cabinet Government and building good relations with one or two of them to prepare for the upcoming aid conference.

After all, British support for Australia would be decided by a Cabinet meeting, so building good relations with British Cabinet officials in advance would help Australia gain more aid in the future.

Given the relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom, as well as Arthur’s reputation and the prestige of the late Queen Victoria, the three ministers should not find it too difficult to build a rapport with British Cabinet officials..