The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 636 - 484: Movie Premiere

"Henry! Could you hurry up? The movie’s about to start, and at this pace, will we even manage to get seats?" In a suburban house in Sydney, a young boy anxiously yelled towards the room.

"I got it, Keely!" A response came from inside, and not long after, another youth rushed out.

"Gogogo!"

The two exchanged glances without any hesitation and hurried towards the place with the most taxis nearby.

As the capital of Australasia, Sydney’s taxi industry had developed rapidly.

Among the more than 2 million people in Sydney, there were at least a thousand taxis and more than 5,000 private vehicles.

The boys were lucky; it didn’t take long for an empty taxi to arrive. They quickly waved it down and hopped in.

"Is it the Royal Square you’re headed to?" Before the boys could even speak, the taxi driver asked with a face that seemed to have anticipated it.

"Yes, please hurry, sir. We’d like to grab a good seat." Henry nodded and requested.

"Don’t worry, my driving skills are well-known among all Sydney taxis. I guarantee you’ll get a great seat." The taxi driver didn’t hesitate and immediately drove towards the Royal Square.

The distance to the Royal Square is about 20 kilometers, and would typically take an hour to reach.

However, today was somewhat strange. More than half an hour had elapsed, yet they had covered less than half of the journey. The driver, who had confidently boasted earlier, was slightly embarrassed.

Fortunately, there was no rating system for taxis at the time. Otherwise, the two impatient boys might have given the taxi driver a bad review.

After spending an hour and a half, the taxi finally stopped near the Royal Square. The two boys paid the fare and rushed to the movie screening inside the square.

No wonder they were so anxious. The Royal Square was filled with young people like them, hurriedly heading to the movie, hoping to secure their preferred seats.

Today was March 17, 1919, which theoretically, shouldn’t have been a special day.

But for Australasia as a whole, it was somewhat special.

As early as the beginning of the year, the three major film studios jointly announced that the film "Heroes" produced by them would be played for free at all major movie screenings across the country.

From March 17 onwards, the two-month-long event would have at least two screenings every week.

Today was the premiere of the film. Not only were the young people looking forward to it, but the Australasian media was also eagerly awaiting the news.

As it turns out, Australasia’s cultural promotion was highly praised.

Arthur valued the movie industry greatly as it was not only a field that could earn considerable revenue, but also allowed for cultural exports through movies and their related products.

Setting aside the exporting aspect for a moment, these movies served as political propaganda, subtly instilling loyalty and patriotism in the viewers.

It’s not just the scientific research industry, but all walks of life in Australasia are like this.

Arthur has repeatedly stressed at Cabinet Meetings that deeds are more important than empty talk, and only deeds can make the country strong.

Even if he has a lot of money, Arthur’s thoughts are always about subsidizing agriculture, subsidizing scientific research, and other practical industries, ensuring their income and living standards.

Worth mentioning is that, under Arthur’s command, there were strict limits on housing prices in major cities in Australasia.

The largest real estate company in Australasia is the Royal Financial Group, so it is quite simple for Arthur to control housing prices across Australasia.

Take the Sydney area as an example, the cost of building a residential building in the suburbs of Sydney is about 8,000 to 12,000 Australian dollars, and the cost per room averages 200 to 300 Australian dollars.

The public sale price of a house is about 220 to 330 Australian dollars, and domestic residents can also enjoy certain discounts.

There are two ways for people to choose a house: one is full payment, and the minimum is 210 Australian dollars for the ownership of a house.

The other is to choose a loan from the Royal Bank. As long as you have a job in Australasia, you can qualify for a loan, and the interest is very low.

A 210 Australian-dollar house, if choosing to pay by loan, can be paid in fifteen or twenty years, with house prices of 220 and 225 Australian dollars respectively.

As you can see, housing loans in Australasia are low, as the government has to ensure that people have adequate housing.

In addition to buying houses, Australasian citizens and immigrants have another option, which is to rent cheap apartment housing.

Generally, in suburban areas or near factories, there will be cheap apartment housing constructed by the government-led construction companies available for rent to citizens or immigrants.

Such apartment housing will not cost more than 120 Australian dollars, and the cost of renting per year will not exceed 10 Australian dollars, emphasizing affordability.

Of course, compared to ordinary residential buildings, such houses have more drawbacks.

Aside from being cost-effective, these houses have almost all drawbacks. Firstly, the size is relatively smaller, such low-cost rental housing is basically two-room or one-room, and the number of people who can live there is naturally much less.

Secondly, the sound insulation and thermal insulation of the house are not very good, it can be barely called habitable, but it is not a place for long-term living.

However, there is another advantage to low-rent housing: some factories and enterprises provide it for free as rewards to their outstanding employees.

After all, the cost of renting such low-rent housing is at most around 10 Australian dollars a year. Giving them to outstanding employees as rewards not only costs little but also gains the goodwill of the employees.

Some enterprises under the Royal Financial Group, including the Royal Machinery Factory, allocate a batch of low-rent housing every year to reward outstanding employees, allowing them to live there free of charge for a year.

Whether it is low-rent housing or residential buildings, both are supplied with water and electricity. This is the biggest change in Australasia’s development over the past ten years or so, with electricity basically available throughout the urban area.

Of course, the term "urban area" refers to the urban districts, and some suburban low-rent buildings still lack electricity or do not have a stable supply of power.

Nevertheless, being able to provide electricity to the entire important urban area is undoubtedly an important achievement for the Australasian government during this era.