Chapter 115 Senate Meeting (Please Subscribe!)

On April 23, 1902, after a ten-day election period, the specific list of the first suffrage group was finally released.

This time, the suffrage group has a total of 100 seats, and any adult New Zealander can participate in the election.

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

However, these individual candidates obviously do not have the advantage of party candidates. Most of the seats are occupied by political parties, and there are less than ten seats left for individual candidates.

In terms of political parties, the Coalition has a great advantage this time. Perhaps because the relief committee brought by Arthur has indeed achieved many benefits, the Coalition is more popular in New Zealand, and many people also have a good impression of Australia.

Among the 100 seats, the Coalition occupies more than half, more than 70. After deducting the seats obtained by individual candidates, there are only less than 20 seats left for the Labor Party.

The gap between the seats can clearly show the current popularity of the Coalition and the New Zealand Labor Party in New Zealand.

Arthur didn't even do anything behind the scenes. It was the result of the New Zealanders' own election.

With the success of the election of the Senate, the first meeting of the Senate soon arrived.

Arthur also attended the meeting and appointed two vice-presidents of the Senate, namely Grant Wilson, the leader of the Alliance Party, and Andy Rimmer, the leader of the New Zealand Labor Party.

In addition to the means of checks and balances, Andy Rimmer was chosen as one of the vice-presidents of the Senate because the Senate really had no one.

Those individual candidates were all civilians in New Zealand before, and they could not control the situation by becoming vice-presidents.

In addition to those individual candidates, the rest were members of the Alliance Party and the New Zealand Labor Party.

Letting Grant Wilson's men come to the same position as Grant was an insult to Grant, and it was also inconsistent with Arthur's intention to win over the Alliance Party.

Then the only way was to let Andy Rimmer, the current leader of the New Zealand Labor Party, to supplement the number. Anyway, the vice-president did not have much power, and the actual power of the Senate also came from Arthur.

With the support of the two deputy speakers and the witness of Arthur, the Senate successfully held its first meeting and discussed the next decision of the Senate.

It is said to be a decision, but in fact it is just to discuss the scope of the Senate's capabilities and the next action.

Arthur gave the Senate the right to make suggestions to the colonial government and supervise all New Zealand officials.

If these rights are implemented well, they will definitely be very huge.

But how to implement them and the methods of implementation need to be discussed in more detail.

Because most of the seats are held by the Coalition Party, the Senate quickly passed the strategy of recommending the government to strengthen its ties with Australia and improve the public's favorability towards Australia.

Although the New Zealand Labor Party and those individual candidates did not understand the purpose of doing so, it did not prevent them from agreeing with the strategy proposed by the Coalition Party.

After all, strengthening ties with Australia is also good for New Zealand. At least the Australian Royal Relief Committee has also implemented some relief policies in New Zealand. For the workers of the New Zealand Labor Party and these New Zealand individuals, the benefits are definitely greater than the disadvantages.

They can also clearly see that it is impossible to achieve rapid rise by relying solely on New Zealand's own development.

Even if it follows the development model of Australia, it is impossible. Because Australia has the support of Arthur, as well as technical and financial assistance from Britain and Germany.

But what about New Zealand? As an autonomous colonial government of the British Empire, after achieving self-sufficiency in food, the British Empire basically did not provide any relief to New Zealand.

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

With the British Empire deeply mired in the quagmire of the European arms race, it is impossible to rely on the British Empire's assistance.

Instead of pinning hopes on the British Empire, which has been sucking blood from New Zealand, it is better to put hopes on the United Australia.

At least Australia is close to New Zealand, and has a similar history and common blood with New Zealand.

Subsequently, the Senate determined the next plan, which is to count the poor population in New Zealand and help the Royal Relief Committee to use work-for-relief methods so that these poor and unemployed people can quickly get into work, at least have a little money to meet their living needs.

This is a matter of personal interest. Whether it is the Alliance Party, the New Zealand Labor Party, or individual candidates, they are all very excited and active in this regard.

Arthur also agreed to give New Zealand two million pounds of funds as the Duke of Australia to help New Zealand develop better.

Of course, this sum of money will be directly handed over to the New Zealand government and supervised by the Senate.

Although it is a fund used to win people's hearts, it does not mean that Arthur is completely assured to hand over these funds to the New Zealand colonial government.

As the Duke of Australia, Arthur cannot stay in New Zealand forever. The future supervision work must indeed be handed over to the Senate, so that they can supervise the New Zealand colonial government as Arthur's eyes.

When the people of New Zealand have won over, Arthur will let the two political parties take the opportunity to incite a referendum in New Zealand, and then the annexation of New Zealand will be successful.

This is a long plan, and Arthur is not in a hurry about it. After all, there are still nearly 20 years to complete this plan.

As long as Arthur is the Governor of New Zealand, no one can stop New Zealand from approaching Australia.

After the meeting of the Senate, Arthur summoned Grant Wilson again in the Governor's Mansion.

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

With the establishment of the Senate, Grant Wilson has become one of the hottest bigwigs in New Zealand. Although his power and status are not at the top of New Zealand, compared with a small mayor before, it has been greatly improved.

Of course, Grant Wilson naturally understands who brought all this to him, so when he looks at Arthur, his eyes are full of respect.

"Your Highness, I have followed your orders and asked all members of the Alliance Party to publicize the superiority of the alliance with Australia within their control. At the same time, we are also trying our best to dig out people who have a good impression of Australia to join us, which will not only expand the size of the Alliance Party, but also speed up our plan." Grant Wilson said with a smile.

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