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Since the war began, Arthur had never paid much attention to the state of the Australasian Government's finances.
It wasn't that Arthur was disinterested in the nation's finances, but given the economic development of Australasia during the war, it was very difficult for the finances to be in deficit.
In 1936, Australasia's Gross National Product reached an unprecedented 10.7335 billion Australian dollars, marking the first time that GNP surpassed 10 billion Australian dollars since the nation's founding 37 years ago.
As per the current exchange rates, 1 pound = 1.87 Australian dollars = 19.33 New US dollars = 25.73 rubles = 27.34 Island dollars = 191 francs.
10.7335 billion Australian dollars is roughly equivalent to 5.7398 billion pounds, surpassing the British mainland's GNP of 5.502 billion pounds.
