Chapter 51: New Zealand

Translator: 549690339 |

Prime Minister Evan, who had governed the New South Wales Colony for over a decade, certainly had a stronger perspective on issues than Henris, who had previously served as an ordinary city council officer.

Similar to Arthur’s thoughts, Australia’s current development focus remains on industrialization and other infrastructure within its native land.

Now incorporating New Guinea into Australia would only add burden and not bring much practical benefits.

Maintaining the New Guinea colony is a more cost-effective approach for Australia, which allows them to continue oppressing New Guinea and using nearly 700,000 indigenous people as free labor while focusing on the development of Australia’s native land.

However, being a monarch, Arthur couldn’t directly discourage the enthusiasm of his subordinates. Therefore, it was necessary for another officer to present Arthur’s perspective, or a more correct perspective, and Arthur just needed to agree.

It was clear that Prime Minister Evan had some experience in this regard; at least he knew what the best choice for Australia was and what Arthur was likely to choose.

After Prime Minister Evan expressed his point of view, Arthur did not immediately support anyone’s opinion, but smiled at everyone, saying, “Since we all have only these two ideas, let everyone vote on them. We are a democratic government, and if there are differences, let’s decide democratically.”

Although that was said, the intelligent among them already knew which viewpoint should be supported. Most people could see the difference in Arthur’s attitude towards the two ideas, and even though it was not obvious, they could still discern which one he was more satisfied with.

However, such voting method still satisfied the political novices like Henris, who thought his opinion had been fully respected—even if it was not adopted, it was not obviously rejected, wasn’t it?

Soon the voting result was successfully announced, and everyone agreed to continue treating New Guinea as Australia’s colony and renaming it Australian New Guinea.

The system and policies of New Guinea remained unchanged, only the loyalty object changed to Australia.

As for the candidate for Governor of New Guinea, Arthur recommended Anibal Enrique Fernandez, who was also approved and supported by all cabinet members.

Anibal Enrique Fernandez was also one of Duke Arthur’s subordinates and a versatile talent.

Although Anibal Enrique Fernandez didn’t have exceptional single-direction skills, his overall ability was generally above the passing line, and he was fairly loyal to Arthur and the royal family, hence a good choice for Governor.

After all, Arthur didn’t have high expectations for what could be achieved in New Guinea under Anibal Enrique Fernandez’s rule; his main task was to maintain the stability of Australian New Guinea and transport the wealth and resources collected from Australian New Guinea to Australia each year.

After solving the administration issue of the New Guinea Colony, Arthur turned to the government with the problem of New Zealand.

New Zealand, unlike British New Guinea, was one of the United Kingdom’s self-governing colonies and had a population of nearly 1,000,000.

Like Australia before, New Zealand was also seeking political and economic independence, becoming a British dominion in 1907 and completely independent in 1947 when it joined the Commonwealth of Nations.

Although New Zealand lagged far behind Australia in terms of land area and population, it couldn’t be denied that New Zealand was a country seeking independence, and the policies and systems towards New Zealand should be carefully considered, lest the dissatisfaction of New Zealanders lead to a separation from Australia.

Moreover, Arthur had no sovereignty over New Zealand and only served as Governor of New Zealand for twenty years on Queen Victoria’s orders.

Although during these two decades, Arthur had gained control and ruling advantages over New Zealand.

However, this didn’t mean New Zealand was firmly in Arthur’s hands. Without legal reasons, the only hope for Arthur was that, after 20 years, most New Zealanders would choose to stay under his rule and form a joint country with Australia during the New Zealand referendum.

Such a joint country had historical precedent; one of the great powers today, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was formed by the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, with Austrian Emperor Francis also being the King of Hungary.

But, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a significant drawback: the union of the two countries was not close, and although the Austrian Empire was the main driving force, Hungary still maintained a substantial degree of autonomy, more like a dual state.

Even though Francis’ outstanding abilities kept this patchwork of a country functioning and maintaining its power,

However, such a country couldn’t withstand unintended destruction; after World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was divided into several smaller countries, and the once-powerful empire vanished.

New Zealand was too far away from Australia to be annexed directly as a new state of Australia.

Therefore, a better solution in the future would be to merge the two countries and establish a new country with New Zealand.

“Gentlemen, how should we deal with New Zealand? We only have twenty years to rule New Zealand, and if we can’t properly resolve the New Zealand issue within this period, we will have no choice but to watch New Zealand return to Britain or become a new independent country after twenty years,” Arthur said, casting the most complex problem before everyone.

Seeing that no one came forward to answer directly, Arthur started calling names.

“Prime Minister Evan, as the former prime minister of the New South Wales Colony, you should be able to empathize with the desire for independence in a colony like New Zealand. Tell us, what should we do to deal with the administration issue of New Zealand? Should we continue to see New Zealand as a colony, or manage it as a new region? Facing New Zealand’s independence issue, should we sit idly by, or let New Zealand’s independence movements go unchecked?” Arthur asked.

These questions were not easy to answer. Arthur was currently the Governor of New Zealand, and there would be no advantage for him in allowing New Zealand to declare independence directly.

However, if the quest for independence was suppressed in New Zealand, would the people still feel good about Arthur?