The Rise of Australasia

Chapter 829: Chapter 619: Colony Incident

Although the cost of manufacturing televisions is a significant issue at present, it is fundamentally impossible to abandon the development of the television.

The importance of television to people hardly needs to be mentioned, for who doesn’t wish to watch a movie or TV show with their family during their leisure time?

Of course, this is under the condition that people have enough free time after work. If people can’t be assured of sufficient leisure time, buying a television is just the desire to own one, rather than the desire to watch it.

It seems now that for television to truly become widespread in every household, it would be impossible without improvements over the next ten years.

However, the good news is that in Larasia, most of the population already has access to wireless broadcasting and radios, allowing televisions to further develop over time and for radios to continue generating more profits.

"Let’s start with small-scale production, Mr. Baird. We can’t stop improving the television either. I see this device replacing radios as people’s top choice of household appliances,” Arthur instructed after some thought.

There are still quite a few middle-class and wealthy people in Larasia, and these are the real consumers of televisions at present.

It’s also an ideal situation to use televisions as rewards for those who have made contributions, incidentally increasing the popularity of the device.

In any case, it’s a no-lose situation. It is very necessary to take an early hold of the television market, as brand and recognition are sureties in an industry.

"I hope to quickly reduce the production cost of televisions to below 100 Australian dollars and to improve the stability of movie playback as much as possible. This is key for the device to become more widespread in households,” said Arthur with a smile.

There must be enough profit between the cost and the selling price, which also suggests that, given the current costs, people might have to spend three to five years of income to buy a television.

If we can reduce the production cost to below 100 Australian dollars, there is hope that the television market can expand rapidly in a short time.

After all, the main purpose of a television is to play movies. Why would people not choose to watch cheaper movies at the cinema instead, considering the cost of more than 100 Australian dollars?

More than 100 Australian dollars would be enough to take the family to the cinema several dozen times, which would be far more economical than buying a television.

"Yes, Your Majesty!”

The high manufacturing cost is the biggest issue for televisions at the moment, in fact, as long as the cost can be reduced, the current television would already meet Arthur’s requirements.

After all, in history, it was not until after World War II that televisions became truly widespread. Even if televisions were invented this year or next, the development period of more than 20 years also proves that the current television research in Larasia is superior to that of historical television.

Just as Arthur returned from the Royal Science Academy, Foreign Secretary Darren rushed to request an audience, bringing with him a piece of news that surprised Arthur immensely, “A massive rebellion has broken out in the Dutch East Indies!”

The reason for Arthur’s surprise was that the current Dutch East Indies comprised only Java Island, Sumatra Island, and most of Borneo, which are not far apart, thus relieving the pressure of controlling this land compared to the entire Dutch East Indies previously.

The size of the Dutch colonial military had not been reduced, so how could it be that they were unable to control even this smaller Dutch East Indies?

It was not until Arthur heard the explanation from Foreign Secretary Darren that he nodded in understanding of the current situation in the Netherlands.

The Netherlands, once the carriage driver of the seas, is now a second-tier European nation, or to put it more bluntly, almost third-tier.

After Larasia had seized part of the Dutch East Indies, the Dutch were forced to once again increase their exploitation of the indigenous people in the East Indies to maintain a balance in their revenue there.

Thus, this led to an even more severe rebellion among the indigenous people of the Dutch East Indies than before.

The rebellion was still at a stage that the Dutch Government could control, after all, the Netherlands, whatever it might be said, was a European nation, and it was simple to suppress a native rebellion.

But since World War I, every country had been facing serious economic problems. Although the Netherlands was not a combatant in World War I, its economic problems were quite severe, having had close economic ties with Germany previously.

The Germans suffered huge economic losses after World War I, which severely affected the Dutch industry and economy.

To preserve the economy of the native land, the Dutch had no choice but to once again set their sights on the millions of indigenous peoples in the Dutch East Indies, exploiting them even more ruthlessly to alleviate the domestic economic issues.

Such exploitation led to widespread dissatisfaction among the colony’s immigrants and indigenous peoples. After all, the Dutch East Indies was merely a colony, and the treatment of the Dutch there was markedly different from that of those in the Netherlands.

The Dutch also raised taxes on the people in the Dutch East Indies, including the Dutch and the Indo-Dutch, which naturally caused dissatisfaction among those Dutch, and even sparked small-scale protests.

Actually, this was nothing new; which country didn’t have some protests? For these purebred Dutch, the colonial government was relatively polite, persuading them with kindness to give up the protests.

But the Dutch protests gave the indigenous people hope; they believed the colonial government was already weak.

Under the leadership of some mixed-bloods with ulterior motives, the indigenous peoples of the Dutch East Indies quickly followed with their own protests, and even some mines and factories held strikes to resist the colonial government’s harsh taxes and cruel policies.

The incitement by these mixed-bloods led to the number of indigenous participants in the protests skyrocketing to several hundred thousand in a short time, directly threatening the colonial government’s rule.

This naturally caused the colonial government’s displeasure. After all, those Dutch were not the same as these indigenous peoples.

No one could afford the risk of slaughtering their kin, but there was no risk in slaughtering indigenous people; in fact, quelling the protests could even lead to praise back home.

With this in mind, the colonial government launched a brutal suppression of the protests in the Dutch East Indies, forcefully repelling two large-scale protests through two bouts of military repression.

These suppressions left at least several thousand indigenous dead and at least tens of thousands injured. The starkly different treatment compared to the Dutch protests deeply dissatisfied the indigenous and mixed-blood people, and the intensity of the protests increased. In some urban cities, a comprehensive strike was even initiated.

Masses of indigenous began to attack parts of the colony’s cities, even successfully seizing a city’s armory.

This also gave the indigenous hope, believing the current Dutch government was already too weak and that it was time for the Dutch East Indies to declare independence and escape the cruel rule of the Dutch.

Without any intervention from other countries, the current number of protesters and strikers in the Dutch East Indies has surpassed a million, with the number of armed rebels reaching tens of thousands.

This was already beyond the control of the current Dutch East Indies Government; with tens of millions of indigenous still in the Dutch East Indies, if they really united in resistance to Dutch rule, even the Kingdom of the Netherlands, despite all its efforts, might not be able to suppress the indigenous rebellion.

But this was inevitable. The European peoples’ disregard for indigenous life meant that these indigenous could never willingly submit to European rule.

If a country is strong, the indigenous might acquiesce. But once a country like the Netherlands entered a period of decline, the indigenous would try everything to escape their rule.

"What have the Dutch been doing recently?” Arthur asked with a hint of curiosity.

The current situation was so tricky that even the Kingdom of the Netherlands would struggle to handle it, which made Arthur very curious about what the Dutch would do next.

After all, the Dutch East Indies was also a colony comprising three large islands with tens of millions of natives, and it was also very close to Australasia; it was impossible for Arthur to remain uninterested.

Perhaps this was also the best opportunity for Australasia to intervene in the Dutch East Indies, and even possibly obtain the entire Dutch East Indies from the Netherlands through a trade of interests.

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