Territory of Papua

Hearing what Arthur said, everyone present fell into jubilation. Even the cabinet officials who had already stepped into the higher echelons of government were beaming with joy.

For a country to expand its territory peacefully was definitely something everyone wanted to see, let alone lands very close to Australia like British New Guinea and New Zealand.

British New Guinea was located not far north of Australia, with a population of about seven hundred thousand-odd.

The value of this land was not very high, nor was its population very large, but it could become an important northern gateway for Australia and a stepping stone to peer into Southeast Asia.

To the west and northwest of British New Guinea lay the Dutch East Indies colony of the Netherlands.

The development potential of the Dutch East Indies colony could not be underestimated, with a total area reaching nearly two million square kilometers and a total population exceeding twenty million.

More importantly, these populations in the Dutch East Indies were so-called indigenous people, meaning slaves not regarded as human lives by Westerners.

As long as they could secure an island in the Dutch East Indies, they could obtain a large amount of free labor and also use it as cannon fodder for Australia's industrial development.

In Arthur's view, people who could not integrate into Australian multiculturalism and could not become true Australians had their greatest use in sacrificing their own lives for Australia's development.

Needless to say, New Zealand was naturally much the same; although its various mineral resources were not as prosperous as Australia's, it could still be considered an excellent country in terms of Animal Husbandry, which could just make up for Australia's dilemma of insufficient available Arable Land.

If Australia could completely integrate British New Guinea and New Zealand, then the merged country would have no problem accommodating even hundreds of millions of people.

It had to be said that even at the very end of her life, Queen Victoria had secured a massive amount of benefits for Arthur and Arthur's Australia, giving Australia the capital to rise and the potential to become a superpower.

However, for the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria's departure was a pure loss. As a queen who had ruled the country for over sixty years, Queen Victoria's prestige in Britain was unrivaled, and the monarchical power she wielded could not be matched by Crown Prince Edward, who was about to succeed her.

To put it this way, when Queen Victoria was willful, she could dismiss and appoint the Prime Minister according to her own intentions without worrying about facing condemnation from the government and the people.

But if Edward dared to do so, the next day the streets would be filled with news condemning Edward, and protests against the tyrant would be everywhere across the empire.

When all was said and done, the United Kingdom was still a Constitutional Monarchy, and the power of the British monarch would still be subject to heavy restrictions.

Even with someone like Queen Victoria, who relied on long-accumulated prestige and the advantage of winning the hearts of the people to wrest back a certain amount of say from the government, these temporary rights could not be inherited by the new monarch after the throne changed hands.

Crown Prince Edward had two things to headache over in the short term: first, handling Queen Victoria's funeral well, which had to satisfy the royal families of various European nations and the British Royal Family, as well as the British people who adored Queen Victoria.

At the same time, Crown Prince Edward also had to communicate well with the government; after all, a government that Queen Victoria could suppress might not necessarily be suppressed by Crown Prince Edward.

However, Arthur was not blind to Crown Prince Edward's troubles. After settling the guards and attendants presented by Queen Victoria, Arthur convened a Cabinet meeting the very day after to discuss how to take over British New Guinea and New Zealand.

According to the agreement with Crown Prince Edward, once Australian soldiers arrived, all British soldiers and forces would withdraw from British New Guinea, and British New Guinea would be officially handed over to Australia for administration.

As to whether to turn it into a new state of Australia or continue treating it as a colony, that was a matter for Australia to headache over.

Precisely because of this, Arthur decided that it would be best to receive British New Guinea as soon as possible.

Relying on Queen Victoria's remaining prestige, it would be very easy for Australia to completely control and take over British New Guinea.

But if they waited until Queen Victoria's funeral was over or even longer, when Queen Victoria's prestige gradually dissipated, it was hard to say whether British New Guinea would be willing to accept Australian administration by then.

It was still the familiar conference room on the top floor of the Government Building, and still the few familiar people of the cabinet.

Arthur sat at the head, smilingly tossing a difficult problem to everyone: "Gentlemen, according to Her Majesty the Queen's final will, British New Guinea is handed over to us to administer, and I shall serve as the Governor of New Zealand for twenty years. Now it is also time to discuss the issues of British New Guinea and New Zealand. How should we administer these two regions? Everyone share your views."

British New Guinea was fine; it was already meat on the chopping block for Australia, practically a certainty with nowhere to run.

But New Zealand was different; Arthur was only serving as Governor of New Zealand for twenty years. If Australia's policies towards New Zealand were biased, then it was very likely that twenty years later, Australia would lose the administrative rights to New Zealand, thereby causing New Zealand to return once again to the embrace of the United Kingdom.

"Your Highness, why not directly rename British New Guinea as the State of New Guinea and make it our seventh state in Australia?" proposed Henris, Minister of Agriculture: "British New Guinea is very close to Australia and possesses excellent ports. Making it a state directly poses no problems at all, just as smoothly as our previous colonies converted into states."

"Mhm, a good thought. Do any of the others have any ideas?" Arthur nodded expressionlessly and cast his gaze toward the others.

"Your Highness, I feel that in the short term we cannot make New Guinea our new state; we should first administer it as a colony." Prime Minister Evan stepped forward and raised a differing opinion: "British New Guinea is different from our several states in Australia. Although British New Guinea has a population of over seven hundred thousand, only more than thirty thousand of them are British people and European immigrants, with the rest being local indigenous people. If we directly administer British New Guinea as our new state, where will these indigenous people go? If we count them all as our legitimate citizens, wouldn't that be far too unfair to all of us Australians?"

Prime Minister Evan's meaning was very simple: if British New Guinea were directly made a state, then the method of disposing of these indigenous people would become a thorny problem.

But if British New Guinea remained a colony, then who would care about the life and death of colonial indigenous people?

"Your Highness, my proposal is to continue administering New Guinea as a colony. Currently, what we need is the Territory of Papua, not the State of New Guinea." Prime Minister Evan looked at Arthur and said solemnly.