Chapter 261 Current Development Issues

"Your Majesty!" Seeing Arthur slowly approaching, everyone in the cabinet stood up and said respectfully.

Arthur nodded calmly, sat in the main seat, and said with a smile: "Everyone, let's start. This is the first meeting of our reformed cabinet."

Everyone sat down after hearing this, but the seats this time have changed compared to the previous meeting. Several newly added cabinet seats are all ranked before the cabinet ministers.

It is worth mentioning that there is an empty seat between the cabinet ministers and the new seats, which is prepared for the future minister of royal affairs.

"I guess you all know each other, so let's get straight to the point!" Arthur said: "Although our cabinet has undergone a reform, our goal has never changed. Developing the country is our eternal theme."

"Prime Minister Walter, how many processes are there in this meeting?" Arthur asked.

"Your Majesty, in addition to reporting our achievements over the past six months, the division of duties of the current reformed cabinet government is also an important topic. In addition, there are also reports and improvements on some current issues in government work, which are all content that needs to be discussed at today's meeting." Prime Minister Walter stood up and introduced.

"Then let's talk about the division of duties of the current reformed cabinet government." Arthur smiled and directly raised the most important topic for cabinet ministers.

"Several new cabinet positions, the chief justice is responsible for the domestic judicial system, and the state courts of each state are also uniformly managed by the chief justice. In judicial cases involving middle and senior officials, the judicial system and the House of Representatives have law enforcement powers. The law enforcement system of the House of Representatives is responsible to the House of Representatives, and the chief justice is responsible to the cabinet government and the Royal Parliament. Do you have anything to say?" Arthur looked at everyone and asked with a smile.

Seeing that everyone shook their heads tactfully, Arthur continued, "In addition to being the archbishop, the Archbishop of Australasia is also the head of the Kingdom Protestant Association, coordinating and managing Protestant affairs in the country. But other religions besides Protestantism should also have the right to handle their own affairs."

"As for the newly born Secretary of State, he is generally responsible for helping the Prime Minister handle state affairs. The House of Representatives theoretically has the right to supervise the cabinet government, but the cabinet government's execution power lies with the Royal Parliament and must be approved by me. As for the remaining Minister of Royal Affairs, he is responsible for handling affairs between the royal family and the government, and is only responsible to me."

"That's all for this topic for now. The most important thing at the moment is the development of the country and the next plans of various departments." Arthur ended the topic and smiled and said, "Let's talk about the government's work progress and problems encountered so far this year. Everyone is here today, and we can brainstorm and solve problems when we encounter them."

Seeing that Arthur quickly ended the topic, everyone didn't dare to say anything more and quickly focused on the new topic.

Although the development of Australasia is generally smooth, it does not mean that there will be no problems in the process of development.

The ministers looked at the summarized information in their hands and carefully thought about the achievements and problems faced by their departments.

"You non-departmental ministers should also listen carefully to the current problems and achievements of each department. As a member of the cabinet minister, even if you are not doing government work, you can still come up with some opinions and contribute to the country." Arthur looked at several new candidates and said.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Several people nodded in response.

"First, let's talk about the current achievements of the government. Listen to the good news from the government first, and then focus on solving our problems." Arthur ordered.

"Your Majesty, so far, all the developments of our government are on a rising trend. The number of immigrants in the first seven months of this year has exceeded 420,000. At present, our total population has reached 7.651 million, and the non-immigrant population has increased by more than 80,000." Prime Minister Walter stood up and made a summary.

"Industry and agriculture are also developing steadily. According to our construction speed, the Leonora Industrial Base is expected to be put into use at the end of 1909, and the first phase of the industrial base will be completed in mid-1910, and the second phase will be under construction. If the progress is smooth, we hope to complete the second and third phases of the industrial zone in 1913 and 1916, and the entire industrial zone will be completely completed before 1918."

Prime Minister Walter paused for a while, and then continued: "Our fiscal revenue has also ushered in a steady growth. So far, in just less than eight months, our fiscal revenue has exceeded 27 million Australian dollars, and it is expected that the total fiscal revenue this year will exceed 40 million Australian dollars."

"So far, our fiscal expenditure is about 33 million Australian dollars, and the fiscal loss is about 6 million Australian dollars. However, this is because we have started the construction of three battleships, plus the construction of the Leonora Industrial Base. If there is not much construction in the second half of the year, it is expected that our fiscal situation will still be able to return to a surplus state." Prime Minister Walter introduced.

Australasia has been developing and building for eight years, and has achieved a preliminary turnaround.

This is the case when domestic construction has not stopped, which also reflects the results of the government's development over the years.

Only with sufficient budget can more things be done. At least for now, Arthur is still satisfied with Australasia's finances.

After a brief report, Arthur looked at the various cabinet ministers and asked: "If you have some issues that cannot be decided at work, you can raise them now and the cabinet will vote on them."

After a few seconds of silence, Agriculture Minister Mark Reddell stood up first and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, everyone. Judging from the development situation as of this year, our per capita cultivated land has reached about 2.3 acres, and the total cultivated land has reached about 2.3 acres. It covers an area of ​​approximately 17,595,200 acres. It is expected that our annual grain output this year will reach more than 7 million tons. On the premise of meeting domestic consumption and strategic grain reserves, we should still have at least three acres. Millions of tons of grain are exported.”

Arthur nodded. The increase in grain production and the increase in cultivated land per capita is good news. There is nothing to say about such good news, so Arthur nodded and continued to listen.

"But this growth rate relies entirely on the use of a large number of indigenous people and the increase in the agricultural population, rather than on the use of our agricultural technology and agricultural machinery." Mark Reddell continued: "Take our current important grain-producing area, New Guinea. It seems that New Guinea has a lot of arable land and many rivers, which are very suitable for growing crops.”

"We have an advantage in New Guinea, that is, because of the small population, we can realize large-scale unified planting, encourage qualified citizens to set up large farms in these areas, use unified planting and harvesting methods, and use large machinery to Upgrading our agriculture. Currently, many regions in Australasia can use this method to produce more food with a small agricultural population and a large amount of machinery. This way, the saved agricultural population can be used in other areas and save money. Our labor costs and labor.”

"At the same time, I think we should also vigorously support the establishment of the agricultural chemical industry and promote changes in agricultural science and technology such as fertilizer plants and synthetic ammonia technology. If most of our land can use more fertilizer technology, then our food production will It should increase by at least 20%. The current tractor experiment in a small area of ​​Sydney is very successful. I think it should be promoted nationwide in time and use machinery to drive agricultural production and reform. If all conditions can be implemented, I think. I believe that even if our available arable land no longer expands, there is hope that the grain output will exceed 10 million tons." After finishing speaking, Mark Reddell glanced around, then looked at Arthur with respectful eyes, waiting for Arthur's words. ideas and decisions.

"Well, the Ministry of Agriculture's idea is good. Do you have any opinions?" Arthur nodded and asked for other people's opinions.

"Your Majesty, there is no problem in supporting chemical industry and agricultural technology, synthetic ammonia technology, and corresponding factories. Our newly built Leonora Industrial Base also contains such factories and fields. We are building Leonora Comprehensive Industrial Base The purpose is to build technological factories involving all aspects of Australasia to improve Australasia’s existing production methods,” Industry Minister Pierre nodded first.

This idea was already involved in the Leonora Industrial Base, which is why Minister Pierre nodded in agreement without even thinking about it.

"There is no problem with the Ministry of Finance, Your Majesty." Finance Minister Roger nodded and said: "In terms of factories and agricultural technology, the Ministry of Finance can spend about one million Australian dollars to encourage the establishment of more factories in this area, and Develop corresponding agricultural fertilizer technology. As for the large-scale use of tractors mentioned by Minister Mark, I think it is too financially burdensome to implement it at one time. It is better to conduct preliminary large-scale use tests in New Guinea, if private farmers want to. If tractors are purchased and used in agricultural production, we can also provide certain subsidies to help tractors enter more private farms.”

Arthur nodded, this is indeed the best method at present. Although the cost of a single tractor is not too high, if it is widely used throughout Australasia, it is not currently affordable by the government's finances.

The best way is to promote it on a large scale in important grain-producing areas like New Guinea, and to encourage larger private farmers with certain preferential policies to allow them to purchase tractors on their own.

As long as these farm entities realize that tractors bring convenience to agriculture and can bring them tangible benefits, they will spontaneously purchase such machinery without government encouragement to speed up the efficiency of their own farms.

"Does anyone else have anything to say?" Arthur asked.

This matter is actually not a big problem, and Agriculture Minister Mark himself has proposed an appropriate solution.

Coupled with the opinions given by the Ministry of Finance based on the current government financial situation, basically the agricultural problem will be properly solved.

Seeing everyone shaking their heads, Arthur said: "Then let's go to the next department. Are there any problems with other departments?"

After a while of silence, Education Secretary Richard Noble Chapman stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the education department has a heavy task this year, but our budget is no longer large. The Ministry of Education requests to apply for at least five more A budget of one million Australian dollars is used to expand existing universities and build two more universities.”

"How is the Ministry of Education's current work going? How much is your budget this year? Is it going to be spent so soon?" Arthur asked in confusion.

Generally, at the year-end summary meeting every year, the financial budget for the next year will be allocated to each department based on the situation of the previous year.

In particular, departments like the Ministry of Education will receive extra attention from the government and generally have an additional budget of about A$2 million.

"Your Majesty, we are currently planning to expand the Australasian National University and the University of Auckland and build them into the first and second universities in Australasia. The expansion plans of these two universities will cost about one million Australian dollars each. Australasian National University, in particular, needs a budget of at least A$1 million to A$1.5 million to barely keep up with the pace of European universities," explained Education Minister Richard.

"In addition, in order to reserve more technical talents for the Leonora industrial base, we have built a technical training school in Western Australia and South Australia to train technical workers for the industrial base. There are also nearby Sydney and Melbourne The expansion of technical schools has cost a total of 2 million Australian dollars. This year’s Ministry of Education budget is only 6 million Australian dollars. Excluding the normal maintenance costs of several universities, the current available budget for the Ministry of Education is less than 6 million Australian dollars. With one million Australian dollars, there is nothing we can do to build a new university,” Richard explained.

The Ministry of Education has indeed taken big steps this year, not only to expand existing universities but also to maintain them at the level of European universities.

New technical schools and universities will also be built to meet the growing demand for skilled workers and universities within Australasia.

Currently, with the popularization of Australasian education policies, the per capita academic qualifications in Australasia have reached the secondary school level.

Although there are many people who come out of general education classes with half-skilled skills, the Australasian government has done its best to raise the per capita education level to around secondary school in this era.

Judging from the various schools and universities that have been established in Australasia over the years, we can see the efforts of the government and education departments in the educational environment of Australasia.

Arthur looked at Prime Minister Walter and Minister Roger, waiting for the opinions of the government and financial departments.

"Your Majesty, education is an important matter for the country, and the popularization of education is very necessary for our development in all aspects. If it were not for our efforts in education, I am afraid that our industry would not have enough talents to develop to the current scale. Therefore, I think the work of the education sector is very necessary. The additional budget of five million Australian dollars is not much. Even if it is to build a university, I think the budget can be expanded to about eight million, which should be enough. Expanding the number of universities in our country to ten makes sense for our educational work," Prime Minister Walter spoke first.

The ten universities are only a fraction of the number of universities in the great powers, but for Australasia, they are already the result of hard work.

If we can have ten universities, it means that we can train thousands or even tens of thousands of college students every year, which will greatly fill the vacancies of mid-level talents and even cultivate the seedlings of high-level talents for Australasia.

Among the thousands of college students every year, it is very likely that many outstanding scientists and experts of various types will be trained. These talents are very important to the development and construction of the country.

Although Arthur can rely on the Victoria Award to obtain a certain number of high-level talents every year, the talents he cultivates are definitely more loyal than the talents he recruits, and they are also very easy to use.

Everyone turned their attention to Finance Minister Roger again, waiting for the final opinion of the finance department.

Finance Minister Roger smiled helplessly and said: "Since the Prime Minister has said so, how can the Ministry of Finance not support it? Your Majesty, the Ministry of Finance can provide a budget of about 8 million to 10 million Australian dollars. , to help the education department build more universities and expand more schools. But after spending these ten million Australian dollars, I am afraid that the financial situation will be in loss again this year. Your Majesty, please don’t blame me!”

Before Arthur could speak, Prime Minister Walter quickly said: "Don't worry, Minister Roger. These financial budgets are used for education, and even a slight loss is not a big deal. This decision was made with everyone's participation. Your Majesty is also watching, so who can blame you?"

Arthur finally gave instructions: "Minister Richard, I hope that all the extra financial budget can be used in the cause of education. When the education department makes achievements, you, as the minister, should take the first credit. But I hope that the university There are no shoddy projects in the construction of other schools. Australasian students should live in a safe and comfortable environment, not some dangerous projects, do you understand?”

Minister of Education Richard nodded quickly and made his own commitment.

He doesn't care much about capital expenditure, but he must ensure the quality of engineering and construction. This is Arthur's bottom line for all construction projects in Australasia.

Basically, all construction departments will listen to Arthur's instructions and openly agree to it.

At least there have not been any incidents of shoddy construction in Australasia, which makes Arthur very satisfied.

But if such an incident of shoddy engineering really happens, no matter whose hands it is under, Arthur will never show mercy.

The development and construction of the country cannot tolerate any surprises. If anyone dares to obstruct it, then he is not only the enemy of the country's development and construction, but also the enemy of Arthur and all Australasians.

"Do you have any questions from other departments?" After giving the instructions, Arthur also looked at the others and asked.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Public Security has several issues that require your Majesty's decision." Minister of Public Security Thomas Cech stood up and said.

"The security department has developed to the present and has a total of more than 2,600 police officers. Although it seems like a lot, it is still very few for the huge Australasia, and it cannot effectively maintain the security environment in any region of the country. . At the same time, because of the popularity of cars and the construction of various roads, I think it is necessary for us to establish a road police department to better manage the flow of roads," Minister Thomas said.

"Our police station often receives various requests for help from the public. Many of these are just trivial matters, but we have to do them because of the people's requests for help. This is a great waste of our police resources. Therefore, I think it is necessary to establish an assistance police unit that specifically handles these matters, separate from the police in our Department of Public Security.”

Before several police revolutions took place, although police systems have been generally established around the world, the specific duties of the police and what the police should do are not clearly defined.

The police in this era can be regarded as a synthesis of all police forces, which has also resulted in the already few public security departments in Australasia being busy and not very efficient.

"Any specific ideas?" Arthur asked.

It is still necessary to professionalize police services. Although this will be decades earlier than in history, it can greatly improve the efficiency of the Public Security Department, so why not do it?

Moreover, police specialization does not have any technical content. At most, it only provides professional training for police officers in a certain aspect, which does not require much time and resources.

"Your Majesty, I think the current police in our security department should be divided into several categories. First of all, the first category is our law enforcement police. This type of police is specifically responsible for handling illegal and criminal cases and maintaining our domestic security and order. This Category 1 police officers should also be our most professional police officers, and their appointment requires a lot of training time and internship time,” Minister Thomas said.

"The second type of police is what I call the police who maintain traffic order. This type of police only needs to popularize traffic laws and knowledge to a certain extent before they can take office. Their main task is to maintain traffic order on our domestic roads. There are no cases law enforcement powers and are not allowed to own and carry firearms.”

"The third type of police is responsible for residents' daily help, as well as some disasters in our daily lives. These disasters such as fires, floods, etc. If residents encounter difficulties, they can ask for help from these police. They will become the police department closest to the people. "

Arthur nodded and looked at the others.

In the final analysis, this was the Ministry of Public Security's own business, so the other ministers tacitly chose to remain silent and quietly wait for Arthur's opinion.

"Your Majesty, I think such professional division is very necessary. It can at least greatly improve the efficiency of the police, and even hopefully reduce our domestic crime rate and case handling success rate." Minister of State Kent said with a smile: " But the problem is that the size of the public security department will definitely continue to expand. If the existing number of police officers is divided into three categories, there will not be enough police officers in any category, which will hinder the efficiency of the police. "

It has to be said that the number of traffic police and comprehensive police must be at least 1,000 each to initially reflect their role.

In particular, the comprehensive police force must not only have a sufficient number of police officers, but must also be deployed in cities of all sizes to reflect its role in being close to the people and helping them.

Arthur nodded and asked Minister Roger: "Does the Ministry of Finance currently have enough budget?"

Minister Roger responded: "Your Majesty, if the number of policemen of all types is expanded, I think half a million Australian dollars can train at least thousands of policemen of all types. Even if it is necessary to establish a systematic training institution for three types of policemen, it will cost one One million Australian dollars is completely sufficient, and the funds can even be received tomorrow.”

Arthur nodded and said to Minister of Public Security Thomas: "Then I will give you one million Australian dollars, Minister Thomas. The specific classification of the police system, as well as the establishment of training institutions and the task of expanding the scale of the police will be left to you. I We hope to see some results by the end of this year and plan to deploy three types of police in all cities next year.”

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