Chapter 50 Australian New Guinea
After hearing what Arthur said, everyone present fell into a carnival. Even the cabinet officials who have reached the top levels of the government are all smiling.
Everyone wants to see the country peacefully expand its borders, let alone lands very close to Australia like British New Guinea and New Zealand.
British New Guinea is located not far north of Australia and has a population of approximately 700,000.
The value of this land is not very high, and the population is not very large, but it can become an important northern gateway to Australia and a springboard for exploring Southeast Asia.
To the west and northwest of British New Guinea was the Dutch East Indies colony.
The development potential of the Dutch East Indies colonies cannot be underestimated, with a total area of nearly two million square kilometers and a total population of more than 20 million.
More importantly, these people in the Dutch East Indies were so-called indigenous people, that is, slaves who were not regarded as human beings by Westerners.
As long as you can seek an island in the Dutch East Indies, you can obtain a large amount of free labor and can also be used as cannon fodder for Australia's industrial development.
In Arthur's view, the greatest role of those who cannot integrate into Australia's diverse culture and become true Australians is to devote their lives to the development of Australia.
Needless to say, New Zealand is of course not as prosperous as Australia in various mineral resources, but it is still an excellent country in terms of animal husbandry, which can just make up for Australia's shortage of available arable land.
If Australia could fully integrate New Guinea and New Zealand, it would not be a problem for the integrated country to accommodate even hundreds of millions of people.
It has to be said that even at the last moment of her life, Queen Victoria fought for a lot of benefits for Arthur and Arthur's Australia, giving Australia the capital to rise and the potential to become a superpower.
But for Britain, Queen Victoria's departure was a pure loss. As a queen who has ruled the country for more than sixty years, Queen Victoria's prestige in Britain is unmatched, and the monarchic power she has obtained cannot be matched by Edward, who is about to succeed her.
It can be said that when Queen Victoria was willful, she could remove and appoint the Prime Minister according to her own intentions without worrying about being criticized by the government and the people.
But if Edward dared to do this, then the next day the streets would be full of news accusing Edward, and there would be demonstrations against the tyrant all over the empire.
After all, the United Kingdom is still a constitutional monarchy, and the power of the British monarch is still greatly restricted.
Even if someone like Queen Victoria can take back a certain amount of voice from the government by virtue of her long-term accumulated prestige and the advantage of winning the hearts of the people, after the throne is replaced, these temporary rights cannot be transferred to the new monarch. inherited.
Crown Prince Edward has two headaches in a short period of time. One is to handle Queen Victoria's funeral, not only to satisfy the royal families of Europe and the British royal family, but also to satisfy the British people who love Queen Victoria.
At the same time, Crown Prince Edward still had to communicate well with the government. After all, the government that Queen Victoria could suppress, Crown Prince Edward might not be able to suppress. However, Prince Edward’s troubles were not clear to Arthur. After settling the guards and entourage presented by Queen Victoria, , Arthur held a cabinet meeting the next day to discuss how to take over British New Guinea and New Zealand.
According to the agreement with Crown Prince Edward, after the Australian soldiers arrive, all British soldiers and forces will evacuate from British New Guinea, and British New Guinea will be officially handed over to Australian management.
As for whether to turn it into a new Australian state or continue to be a colony, that is a headache for Australia.
It is precisely because of this that Arthur decided that it would be better to take over British New Guinea as soon as possible.
With the remaining prestige of Queen Victoria, it is very easy for Australia to completely control and take over British New Guinea.
But if Queen Victoria's prestige gradually dissipates after Queen Victoria's funeral is over or even longer, it will be hard to say whether British New Guinea will be willing to accept Australian management.
It was still the familiar conference room on the top floor of the Government Affairs Building, and there were still a few familiar people in the cabinet.
Arthur sat at the top and smiled and posed a difficult problem to everyone: "Everyone, according to Her Majesty the Queen's last will and testament, British New Guinea was handed over to us, and I have been the Governor of New Zealand for twenty years. Now is the time to discuss it. The problem with British New Guinea and New Zealand is that how do we manage these two areas? Everyone, please tell us your opinions."
Fortunately, British New Guinea is already a sure fish for Australia, and basically has no choice but to run away.
But New Zealand is different. Arthur has only been the governor of New Zealand for twenty years. If Australia's policies are biased against New Zealand, it is very likely that Australia will lose the management rights of New Zealand in twenty years, causing New Zealand to return to the embrace of the United Kingdom.
"Your Highness, why not just rename British New Guinea to New Guinea as our seventh state in Australia?" Agriculture Minister Henrys suggested: "British New Guinea is very close to Australia and also has excellent ports. , there will be no problem if we directly turn it into a state, just like our previous colonies changing states." "
Well, that's a good idea. Does anyone else have any other ideas?" Arthur nodded expressionlessly, Looked at the others.
"Your Highness, I feel that we cannot use New Guinea as our new state in a short period of time. We should first manage it as a colony." Prime Minister Evan stood up and put forward different opinions: "British New Guinea and our Australia Different from several states, although British New Guinea has a population of more than 700,000, there are only more than 30,000 British and European immigrants, and the rest are local indigenous people. If we directly take British New Guinea as our new If they are managed by a state, then where will these indigenous people go? If they are all counted as our legal citizens, is it too unfair to all of us Australians?"
Prime Minister Evan's meaning is simple. If British New Guinea is directly regarded as a state, then the treatment of these indigenous people will become a thorny issue.
But if British New Guinea was still a colony, who would care about the life and death of the colonial natives?
"Your Highness, my proposal is to continue to manage New Guinea as a colony. What we need now is the Australian New Guinea colony, not the New Guinea state." Prime Minister Evan looked at Arthur and said solemnly.
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(End of chapter)