Chapter 261: Issues in Current Development
"Your Majesty!" Seeing Arthur slowly walking in, all the cabinet members quickly stood up and respectfully greeted him.
Arthur nodded lightly, took his seat at the head of the table, and smiled as he spoke: "Let's begin, everyone. This is our first meeting after the cabinet restructuring."
Upon hearing this, everyone took their seats. However, the seating arrangement had changed compared to the previous meeting. The newly added cabinet seats were placed ahead of the cabinet ministers.
It is worth noting that there was an empty seat between the cabinet ministers and the new seats, which was reserved for the future position of Minister of Royal Affairs.
"I'm sure you all know each other, so let's get straight to the point!" Arthur said. "Although our cabinet has been restructured, our goal remains unchanged. The development of our nation is our eternal theme."
"Prime Minister Walter, how many processes will this meeting cover?" Arthur asked.
"Your Majesty, apart from reporting on the achievements of the past several months, an important topic will be the division of responsibilities within the restructured cabinet government. Additionally, there will be reports on the government's work issues and suggestions for improvements, all of which need to be discussed today," Prime Minister Walter quickly stood up and explained.
"Then let's talk about the division of responsibilities in the restructured cabinet government," Arthur smiled and brought up the most important topic for the cabinet ministers.
"Several new cabinet positions include the Lord Chief Justice, who is in charge of the country's judicial system, and the state courts, which will also be managed by the Lord Chief Justice. For judicial cases involving mid-to-senior government officials, both the judicial system and the House of Representatives have the right to enforce the law. The House of Representatives' judicial system is responsible to the House, and the Lord Chief Justice is accountable to the cabinet government and the Royal Assembly. Does anyone have anything to say about this?" Arthur looked around at the others, smiling as he asked.
Seeing that everyone nodded in agreement, Arthur continued: "The Archbishop of Australasia, in addition to being the Archbishop, is also the head of the Kingdom's Protestant Association, overseeing Protestant affairs within the country. However, other religions, apart from Protestantism, should also have the right to manage their own affairs."
"As for the newly created position of Secretary of State, in general, this role assists the Prime Minister in handling state affairs. The House of Representatives theoretically has the supervisory power over the cabinet government, but the execution power of the cabinet government lies with the Royal Assembly and must be approved by me. As for the remaining position, the Minister of Royal Affairs, they are responsible for managing the affairs between the royal family and the government, and they report only to me."
"That's all for now on this topic. The most important thing at the moment is the nation's development and the next steps for each department," Arthur ended this topic, smiling and continuing, "Let's talk about the government's progress so far this year and the issues we've encountered. Since everyone is here, we can work together to solve these problems."
Seeing that Arthur quickly moved on, the others didn't dare to speak further and shifted their focus to the new topic.
Although Australasia's development had been smooth overall, this didn't mean that there wouldn't be some problems during the process.
The ministers looked at the summary materials in their hands and carefully considered the achievements and issues their respective departments were facing.
"Everyone who is not a department minister, listen carefully to the current problems and achievements of each department. As members of the cabinet, even if you're not directly involved in government work, offering some suggestions is still a contribution to the nation," Arthur said as he looked toward the new appointees.
"Yes, Your Majesty," they all nodded in agreement.
"Let's start by talking about the government's achievements so far. Let's hear the good news first, then we can focus on the problems we've encountered," Arthur instructed.
"Your Majesty, as of now, all aspects of our government's development are on an upward trend. The number of immigrants for the first seven months of this year has already surpassed 420,000, and our total population has reached 7.65 million, with the non-immigrant population increasing by over 80,000," Prime Minister Walter stood up and summarized.
"Both the industrial and agricultural sectors are steadily improving. Based on our construction speed, the Leonora Industrial Base is expected to be partially operational by the end of 1909, with the first phase of construction completed by mid-1910. If progress goes well, we expect to complete the second and third phases by 1913 and 1916, with the entire industrial base fully constructed by 1918."
Prime Minister Walter paused for a moment before continuing: "Our financial revenue has also seen steady growth. As of now, in less than eight months, our fiscal revenue has already surpassed 27 million Australian dollars, and we expect to exceed 40 million Australian dollars by the end of this year."
"So far, our fiscal expenditure has been about 33 million Australian dollars, with a deficit of around 6 million Australian dollars. However, this is due to the construction of three battleships and the Leonora Industrial Base. If there are fewer large-scale projects in the second half of the year, we expect our financial situation to return to surplus," Prime Minister Walter added.
Australasia's development had been ongoing for eight years, and it was beginning to turn from deficit to surplus, even with continuous construction in the country. This demonstrated the results of years of government development.
Having enough budget was crucial for doing more things, and at least for now, Arthur was satisfied with Australasia's financial situation.
After the brief report, Arthur looked toward the ministers and asked, "If there are any issues you haven't been able to resolve, feel free to bring them up now, and we can vote on them in the cabinet."
After a brief silence, Minister of Agriculture Mark Reddell was the first to stand up and respectfully said: "Your Majesty, everyone, as of this year's development, our per capita arable land has reached about 2.3 acres, with a total of about 17.6 million acres of arable land. We expect our annual food production to exceed 7 million tons, and after meeting domestic consumption and strategic reserves, we should still have at least 3 million tons for export."
Arthur nodded. The increase in food production and per capita arable land was good news, and there was nothing more to be said on that topic, so Arthur nodded and continued listening.
"However, this growth rate is entirely dependent on the extensive use of indigenous labor and an increase in the agricultural population, rather than on the use of agricultural technology and farming machinery," Mark Reddell continued. "Let's take New Guinea, our important grain-producing area, as an example. New Guinea has a large amount of cultivable land and many rivers, making it very suitable for crop cultivation."
"We have an advantage in New Guinea, which is that because the population is low, we can implement large-scale, unified farming. We encourage citizens with the conditions to establish large farms in these areas and use mechanized farming methods to upgrade our agriculture. Currently, many regions of Australasia can adopt this approach, using fewer agricultural workers and more machinery to produce more food. This will allow us to use the saved agricultural labor in other sectors, reducing labor costs and saving manpower."
"At the same time, I believe we should also strongly support the establishment of agro-industrial complexes and promote reforms in agricultural technologies such as fertilizer factories and synthetic ammonia. If most of our land can be utilized with more fertilizer technology, our food production should increase by at least 20%. Currently, tractor trials in parts of Sydney have been very successful, and I believe they should be promoted nationwide to drive agricultural production and reform. If all these conditions can be implemented, I believe that even without expanding our available arable land, we can still hope to produce over 10 million tons of food."
After finishing, Mark Reddell scanned the room and looked at Arthur with a respectful gaze, awaiting his thoughts and decisions.
"Well, the Agriculture Department's ideas are good. Does anyone have any comments?" Arthur nodded and asked for others' opinions.
"Your Majesty, supporting agro-industrial complexes and agricultural technology, synthetic ammonia technology, and related factories is no problem. Our newly constructed Leonora Industrial Base already includes such factories and sectors. The purpose of constructing the Leonora Integrated Industrial Base is to build factories that involve all aspects of Australasia's technology to improve our existing production methods," Minister of Industry Pierre was the first to nod and say.
This idea was already incorporated in the Leonora Industrial Base, which is why Minister Pierre agreed without hesitation.
"The Treasury has no objections, Your Majesty," Minister of Finance Roger nodded and said. "For factories and agricultural technology, the Treasury can allocate about 1 million Australian dollars to encourage the establishment of more such factories and the development of agricultural fertilizer technology. As for the widespread use of tractors that Minister Mark mentioned, I believe that implementing this nationwide would be too much of a financial burden for the Treasury. It would be better to test large-scale use in New Guinea, and if private farm owners wish to purchase tractors for agricultural production, we could provide subsidies to encourage them to purchase tractors."
Arthur nodded. This was indeed the best approach for now. While the cost of a single tractor wasn't very high, widespread use across Australasia was not something the current government's budget could afford.
The best approach was to promote it in important grain-producing areas like New Guinea and encourage larger private farm owners with favorable policies to purchase tractors themselves.
As long as these farm owners saw the benefits tractors would bring to their farms and experienced the tangible advantages, they would naturally buy the machinery without further government incentives.
"Does anyone else have anything to add?" Arthur inquired.
This wasn't a major issue, and Agriculture Minister Mark had already proposed a proper solution. With the Finance Department's suggestions based on the government's current financial situation, the agricultural issue was effectively resolved.
Seeing that no one else had anything to add, Arthur said: "Alright, let's move on to the next department. Are there any other issues in other departments?"
After a brief pause, Minister of Education Richard Noble Chapman stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the Education Department's tasks have been heavy this year, but our budget is limited. The Education Department requests an additional 5 million Australian dollars in budget to expand the existing universities and build two new universities."
"How are things progressing in the Education Department? You've already spent the budget so quickly?" Arthur asked, puzzled.
Generally, at the end of each year, departments were allocated their next year's budget based on the previous year's performance. Education, in particular, received special attention and usually had an additional budget of around 2 million Australian dollars.
"Your Majesty, we are planning to expand Australasia National University and Auckland University to make them the top two universities in Australasia. These expansion plans will each require about 1 million Australian dollars, especially for Australasia National University, which will need at least 1 to 1.5 million Australian dollars to keep up with European universities," Minister of Education Richard explained.
"Additionally, to prepare more technical workers for the Leonora Industrial Base, we've built one technical training school each in Western Australia and South Australia to train workers for the industrial base. There's also been an expansion of technical schools near Sydney and Melbourne, which has cost about 2 million Australian dollars. This year, the Education Department's total budget is 6 million Australian dollars. After covering the maintenance costs of several universities, we only have less than 1 million Australian dollars left, and we can no longer afford to build new universities," Richard explained.
The Education Department had indeed taken ambitious steps this year, not only expanding existing universities to match European standards but also building new technical schools and universities to meet the growing demand for skilled workers and university graduates.
With the increasing popularity of education policies, the average level of education in Australasia had risen to the level of high school.
Although many people came from semi-educated backgrounds, the effort to raise the average educational level to high school was already a major accomplishment for the Australasia government.
Arthur looked at Prime Minister Walter and Minister Roger, waiting for their opinions.
"Your Majesty, education is an important matter for the country. The spread of education is essential for the development of all sectors. Without our efforts in education, we would lack the necessary talent to develop our industry to its current scale. Therefore, I believe the work of the Education Department is crucial, and the additional 5 million Australian dollars in the budget is not much. In fact, if it's for building universities, I think the budget should be expanded to 8 million Australian dollars. This amount should be enough to expand our domestic universities to ten, which would be meaningful for our education efforts," Prime Minister Walter was the first to speak.
Having ten universities might seem small compared to other great powers, but for Australasia, it would be a remarkable achievement. If we could have ten universities, it would mean thousands or even tens of thousands of university graduates each year, which would greatly fill the gap for middle-tier talent and nurture future senior professionals for Australasia's development.
Of these thousands of graduates, many would likely become excellent scientists and experts, and such talents were vital for the country's growth and construction.
Although Arthur could rely on the Victoria Award to attract high-level talent, homegrown talent would be far more loyal and efficient to use.
The others turned their attention to Minister of Finance Roger, awaiting the final opinion from the Treasury.
Minister Roger gave a helpless smile and said, "Since the Prime Minister has said so, it would be unreasonable for the Treasury not to support it. Your Majesty, the Treasury can allocate between 8 to 10 million Australian dollars to help the Education Department build more universities and expand more schools. But after taking out this 10 million, I'm afraid our financial situation will run into a deficit again. Please don't blame me for that, Your Majesty!"
Before Arthur could respond, Prime Minister Walter hurriedly said, "Don't worry, Minister Roger. This budget for education will not be an issue. Even if we face a slight deficit, it will not matter. This decision has the participation of everyone, and His Majesty is overseeing it. Who would blame you?"
Arthur then instructed, "Minister Richard, I hope this extra financial budget will be entirely used for educational purposes. Once the Education Department shows progress, you, as the minister, should be recognized for the achievements. But I expect the construction of the universities and other schools to be of the highest quality. The students of Australasia should live in a safe and comfortable environment, not in dangerous constructions. Understand?"
Minister Richard immediately nodded and made his commitment.
Arthur was not particularly concerned about the cost of the funds, but the quality of the construction was a bottom line for all developments in Australasia. Every department involved in construction had been reminded of this, and on the surface, all had agreed.
At least for now, there had been no incidents of poor-quality projects in Australasia, which made Arthur feel very satisfied. But if such a situation were to occur, no matter whose responsibility it was, Arthur would not be lenient.
The development of the nation could not tolerate any mistakes. If someone dared to obstruct it, they would not only be enemies of the nation's development but also enemies of Arthur and all the people of Australasia.
"Are there any issues in other departments?" After giving his instructions, Arthur turned his attention to the others and inquired.
"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Public Safety has several issues that need your decision," Minister of Public Safety Thomas Chekh stood up and said.
"Up until now, the Ministry of Public Safety has grown to a scale of more than 2,600 officers. Although this seems like a lot, for the vast size of Australasia, it is still insufficient and cannot effectively maintain law and order in any region of the country. Additionally, due to the proliferation of automobiles and the construction of various roads, I believe it is necessary to establish a Road Police Department to better manage road traffic," Minister Thomas said.
"Our police stations often receive various requests for assistance from the public. Many of these requests are trivial matters, but they still require our attention. This has significantly wasted our police resources. Therefore, I believe it is necessary to create a specialized assistance police department to handle these tasks separately from our regular police officers."
Before police reforms took place, although police systems had been established worldwide, the specific duties and responsibilities of the police were not clearly defined. The police in this era could be seen as a combination of various roles, which led to busy workloads for the Public Safety Department, without a high level of efficiency.
"Do you have any specific ideas?" Arthur inquired.
Specializing police duties seemed necessary. While this would be decades ahead of historical timelines, it would greatly improve the efficiency of the Ministry of Public Safety. It was a development worth pursuing.
Moreover, the specialization of the police force did not require advanced technology; it mainly involved providing specialized training for certain types of officers, which wouldn't take up too much time or resources.
"Your Majesty, I believe we should categorize the police officers in our Ministry of Public Safety. First, the law enforcement officers, who are responsible for handling criminal cases and maintaining public order. They should be the most professional officers, requiring extensive training and internship time," Minister Thomas said.
"The second category will be the traffic police, who are responsible for maintaining road traffic order. These officers only need to be familiar with traffic laws and basic knowledge, and their main task will be to ensure the smooth flow of traffic on our roads. They will not have enforcement powers for criminal cases, nor will they be allowed to carry firearms."
"The third category will be officers who handle the daily requests of residents and respond to common disasters such as fires, floods, and other emergencies. These officers will be the most accessible to the public and will be closest to the community."
Arthur nodded and then looked at the others.
This was, after all, a matter for the Ministry of Public Safety, so the other ministers remained silent, waiting for Arthur's opinion.
"Your Majesty, I believe such a division of duties is necessary. It will not only greatly improve the efficiency of the police force, but it might also reduce the crime rate and increase the success rate of handling cases," Secretary of State Kent said with a smile. "However, the problem is that the Ministry of Public Safety will certainly need to expand. If we divide the existing police force into three categories, we will not have enough officers in any category, which could actually hinder their efficiency."
It was clear that the traffic and general police forces would each need at least a thousand officers to be effective, especially the general police force, which would need to be deployed in cities of various sizes to truly serve the public and assist citizens.
Arthur nodded and turned to Minister Roger, asking, "Does the Treasury have enough budget for this?"
Minister Roger responded, "Your Majesty, if it's just the expansion of the police force, I believe 500,000 Australian dollars will be enough to train thousands of officers. Even if we need to establish training systems for all three types of police, 1 million Australian dollars will be more than sufficient. This 1 million is not a problem, and the funds could be available as soon as tomorrow."
Arthur nodded and turned to Minister of Public Safety Thomas. "Then I will allocate 1 million Australian dollars for you, Minister Thomas. You are responsible for the categorization of the police system, setting up the training institutions, and expanding the police force. I hope to see some results by the end of this year, and we can plan to have the three types of police deployed in all cities by next year."
(End of Chapter)
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