Prime Minister Evan was a seasoned politician who had ruled the colony of New South Wales for over a decade, and his perspective on issues was much stronger than Harris, who was just a regular official in the city government.
Like Arthur's ideas, the center of Australia's current development is still in domestic industrialization and other infrastructure.
Now incorporating Papua New Guinea into Australia would only add to the burden and not bring much practical benefit to Australia.
Continuing to retain the Papua New Guinea colony is a more cost-effective solution for Australia. It can continue to oppress Papua New Guinea and treat the nearly 700,000 indigenous people as its free labor force, while also focusing on developing Australia's domestic economy.
But Arthur is a monarch and cannot directly come out and discourage the enthusiasm of his subordinates. Therefore, Arthur's viewpoint, or rather the more correct viewpoint, needs to be articulated by another official, and Arthur just needs to agree.
It is evident that Prime Minister Evan has some experience in this regard, at least he knows what the most correct choice for Australia is, and also knows that Arthur is likely to choose that choice.
After Prime Minister Evan expressed his views, Arthur did not support one person's viewpoint decisively, but smiled and said to everyone, "Since everyone has only these two ideas, let's vote on these two ideas. We are a democratic government, so let's decide democratically when we have differences."
Although this was said, smart people already knew which viewpoint to support. Most people could see the difference in Arthur's attitude towards these two ideas, even though it was not expressed explicitly, they could still feel which idea he was satisfied with.
But this voting method still satisfied political novices like Harris. Everyone felt that their opinions were respected fully, even if they were not adopted, they were not explicitly rejected, right?
Soon, the voting results were successfully announced, and everyone agreed to continue Papua New Guinea as Australia's colony, and renamed it Australian Papua New Guinea.
The policy and system of Papua New Guinea remained unchanged, but its allegiance was now to Australia.
As for the choice of the Governor-General of Papua New Guinea, Arthur recommended Hannibal Enrique Hernandez, and he received the approval and support of all members of the cabinet.
Anibal Enrique Hernandez was also one of the men left by his father to serve Arthur. He was a talented all-rounder, although he did not have any outstanding individual abilities. Overall, his abilities were maintained at a level above average, and he was quite loyal to Arthur and the royal family. He was considered a good candidate for governor.
After all, Arthur did not expect anything significant to happen in British New Guinea under Anibal Enrique Hernandez's rule. His main task was to maintain stability in the colony and transport the wealth and resources collected from British New Guinea to Australia on time.
After solving the management problem in the New Guinea colony, Arthur threw the problem of New Zealand to the government.
New Zealand was different from British New Guinea. It was one of Britain's self-governing colonies, with a population of nearly one million.
Like Australia before, New Zealand was also seeking political and economic independence. It became a self-governing territory of Britain in 1907 and gained full independence in 1947, joining the Commonwealth.
Although New Zealand lagged behind Australia in terms of land area and population, it was a country that had already begun to seek independence. Its policies and systems should be treated carefully, otherwise, the dissatisfaction of the New Zealand people could lead to their separation from Australia.
Furthermore, Arthur had no sovereignty over New Zealand, and he was only the governor of New Zealand for twenty years under the command of Queen Victoria.
Although Arthur had management power over New Zealand during these twenty years, he did not have complete control over it. Without legal authority, the only hope Arthur had was that the majority of New Zealanders would choose to remain under his rule and form a union with Australia in the referendum held twenty years later.
This kind of union is not unprecedented in history. The Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of the major powers at present, was a union of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, and Emperor Franz of Austria was also the King of Hungary.
However, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a significant flaw in that the two countries' union was not very tight. Although the Empire was largely led by Austria, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained a high degree of autonomy and was more like two countries side by side.
Despite relying on Franz's outstanding talent to keep this patched-together country running and maintain its position among the great powers, such a country could not withstand unexpected devastation. After the defeat in World War I, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was divided into several small countries, and its former prestige disappeared.
New Zealand is too far from Australia to be directly annexed as a new state of Australia. Therefore, the best solution for the future is to join forces with New Zealand and establish a new country by merging the two countries.
"Everyone, regarding New Zealand, let's discuss what we should do. We only have a twenty-year period of rule over New Zealand, and if we can't resolve New Zealand's issues properly within these twenty years, we will have to sit back and watch New Zealand return to the embrace of Britain or let it become a new independent country," Arthur looked at everyone and threw out the most complex problem.
Looking at everyone, Arthur found that no one came forward to answer this question directly, so he began to call out names.
"Prime Minister Evan, as the former premier of the New South Wales colony, you should be able to empathize with the idea of a colony like New Zealand seeking independence. So, what do you think we should do about managing New Zealand? Should we continue to treat New Zealand as a colony, or should we regard it as a new region to be managed? Faced with New Zealand's independence issue, should we sit back and do nothing, or should we allow New Zealand's independent actions?" Arthur asked.
These questions were not easy to answer. Arthur was currently the Governor-General of New Zealand, and there was no benefit to him if he allowed New Zealand to achieve independence directly.
But if he were to suppress New Zealand's independence movement, would the New Zealanders still have a good impression of him?
If Arthur lost the hearts and minds of the New Zealanders, would there still be a chance for Australia to merge with New Zealand and establish a new country in the upcoming public vote in twenty years?
** Final Chapter for today **
**If the novel gets 50k views today then I will release 10x chapter tommorrow**