KEO.PLUS

On April 23,1902, after a ten-day-long election period, the first Council Group’s specific list of members was finally freshly released.

This Council Group had a total of one hundred seats, and all adult New Zealanders could participate in the election.

Although the response in New Zealand was not strong, it still attracted hundreds of New Zealanders to participate.

However, these individual candidates clearly did not have the advantage of party candidates; most of the seats were occupied by parties, leaving less than ten for individual candidates.

On the party side, the Alliance Party had a significant advantage. Perhaps it was because Arthur’s Relief Committee had brought about many benefits, making the Alliance Party more popular in New Zealand and many people having a positive impression of Australia.

Within the hundred seats, the Alliance Party occupied more than half, over seventy in total. Subtracting the seats from individual candidates, the Labour Party was left with less than twenty seats.

The gap between the seats already showed the popularity of the Alliance and the New Zealand Labour Party in New Zealand.

Arthur didn’t even manipulate behind the scenes; it was entirely the result of New Zealanders’ own election.

With the successful election of the Council, the first meeting of the Council soon arrived.

Arthur briefly attended the meeting and appointed two deputy chairmen for the Council Group, namely Grant Wilson, the leader of the Alliance Party, and Andy Rimmer, the leader of the New Zealand Labour Party.

Selecting Andy Rimmer as one of the deputy chairmen of the Council group, besides the balancing measures, might not necessarily be due to the lack of.people in the Council group.

Those individual candidates were all common people of New Zealand, and they could not hold the scene as deputy chairmen.

If not those individual candidates, all that’s left are members of the Alliance Party and the New Zealand Labour Party.

Putting Grant Wilson’s subordinates in a position similar to Grant would be an insult to Grant and also contrary to Arthur’s intention of winning over the Alliance Party.

So it had to be left to the current leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, Andy Rimmer, to fill the number. After all, the deputy chairman doesn’t have much power in practice, and the real power of the Council Group comes from Arthur.

With the support of the two deputy chairmen and Arthur’s witness, the Council Group successfully held their first meeting and discussed the next steps for the Council.

It’s said that the decision-making is actually just discussing the scope of the Council Group’s capabilities and the next steps.

Arthur granted the Council Group the right to make suggestions to the colonial government and supervise all New Zealand officials.

If well-executed, these rights would be enormous.

However, how exactly it could be implemented and the methods of implementation needed to be discussed in more detail.

As most of the seats were held by the Alliance Party, the Council Group quickly approved a strategy to strengthen ties with Australia and increase the public’s good feelings towards Australia.

Although the New Zealand Labour Party and individual candidates didn’t understand the purpose, it didn’t hinder them from agreeing on the strategy proposed by the Alliance Party.

After all, strengthening ties with Australia is also beneficial to New Zealand. The Australian Royal Relief Committee has implemented some relief policies in New Zealand, which are definitely beneficial for the workers of the New Zealand Labour Party and the individual New Zealanders.

It’s also clear to them that relying solely on New Zealand’s own development will never achieve rapid growth.

It’s impossible even if they tried to emulate Australia’s development model. Because Australia has Arthur’s support, as well as technical and financial assistance from Britain and Germany.

But what about New Zealand? As an autonomous colony of the British Empire, after achieving self-sufficiency in food production, the British Empire hardly provided any aid to New Zealand.

Even part of New Zealand’s income and resources were transported to the British Empire, which is why New Zealand has always been developing tepidly.

At a time when the British Empire is deeply trapped in the European arms race, relying on the British Empire’s assistance is impossible.

Rather than placing hopes on the British Empire, which has been sucking New Zealand’s blood, it’s better to pin hopes on the union with Australia.

At least Australia is closer to New Zealand and shares a similar history and common bloodline with New Zealand.

Subsequently, the Council Group determined the next step, which is to count the number of impoverished people in New Zealand and help the Royal Relief Committee implement work-for-relief measures, allowing these impoverished and unemployed people to quickly engage in work, with at least some funds to meet their living needs.

This issue directly concerns their own interests. Whether it’s the Alliance Party, the New Zealand Labour Party, or individual candidates, they all show great excitement and enthusiasm in this regard.

As Duke of Australia, Arthur also agreed to grant New Zealand two million pounds of funds to help New Zealand achieve better development.

However, these funds would be directly handed over to the New Zealand government and supervised by the Council Group.

Although they were funds for winning over people’s hearts, it didn’t mean Arthur would completely trust the New Zealand colonial government with them.

As the Duke of Australia, Arthur could not stay in New Zealand all the time. The supervision work in the future indeed had to be handed over to the Council Group, allowing them to act as Arthur’s eyes, monitoring the New Zealand colonial government.

Once the hearts of New Zealanders are won over, Arthur will let the two parties take the opportunity to instigate a referendum in New Zealand, and then the annexation of New Zealand could be successful.

This is a long-term plan, and Arthur is not in a hurry about it since there are nearly twenty years left to accomplish this plan.

As long as Arthur remains the Governor of New Zealand, no one can stop New Zealand from getting closer to Australia.

After the Council Group meeting, Arthur again summoned Grant Wilson at the Governor’s Mansion.

At that time, Grant Wilson was in high spirits, and his face was full of respectful smiles.

With the establishment of the Council Group, Grant Wilson had become one of New Zealand’s hottest celebrities. Although his power and status were not at the top in New Zealand compared to that of a small mayor, he had already achieved a considerable improvement.

Naturally, Grant Wilson knew who gave him all this, so when he looked at Arthur, his eyes were filled with respect.

“Your Highness, as you ordered, I have instructed all members of the Alliance Party to promote the advantages of joining with Australia within their sphere of control. At the same time, we are trying to find people who have a favorable opinion of Australia to join us, not only to expand the scale of the Alliance Party but also to accelerate our plan,” Grant Wilson said with a smile on his face.