After hearing what Arthur said, everyone present fell into a carnival. Even the cabinet officials who have entered the top of the government are all smiling.

The peaceful expansion of the country is definitely something that everyone wants, let alone British New Guinea and New Zealand, which are very close to Australia.

British New Guinea is located not far north of Australia and has a population of about 700,000 people.

The land isn't very valuable and not very populated, but it could turn into an important northern gateway to Australia, as well as a springboard for a peek into Southeast Asia.

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

The development potential of the Dutch East Indies Colony should not be underestimated, with a total area of nearly 2 million square kilometers and a total population of more than 20 million.

More importantly, these populations of the Dutch East Indies were so-called natives, that is, slaves who were not treated as human beings by Westerners.

As long as you can find an island in the Dutch East Indies, you can get a lot of free labor, and you can also use it as cannon fodder for Australia's industrial development.

In Arthur's view, the greatest role of these people who cannot integrate into Australia's diverse culture and become a true Australian is to give their lives for the development of Australia.

Needless to say, although New Zealand's mineral resources are not as prosperous as Australia's, it is also an excellent country in terms of animal husbandry, which can just make up for Australia's lack of available arable land.

If Australia can fully integrate New Guinea and New Zealand, it will not be a problem for a united country to accommodate hundreds of millions of people.

It has to be said that even at the end of her life, Queen Victoria fought for a lot of interests for Arthur and Arthur's Australia, giving Australia the capital to rise and the potential to become a superpower.

But for Britain, Queen Victoria's departure is a pure loss. As a queen who ruled the country for more than 60 years, Queen Victoria's prestige in Britain was unparalleled, and the monarchical power she gained was not comparable to that of the incoming Edward.

It can be said that when Queen Victoria was willful, she was able to remove and appoint the prime minister according to her own intentions, without worrying about being blamed by the government and the people.

But if Edward dared to do so, the next day the streets would be filled with news blaming Edward, and the whole empire would be filled with demonstrations against the tyrant.

Britain is still a constitutional monarchy after all, and the power of the British monarch will still be greatly limited.

Even if there is a person like Queen Victoria, with the prestige accumulated over the years and the advantage of winning the hearts of the people, she can take back a certain voice from the government, but after the change of the throne, these temporary rights cannot be inherited by the new monarch.

Crown Prince Edward has two headaches in a short period of time, one is to handle Queen Victoria's funeral well, not only to satisfy the European royal family and the British royal family, but also to satisfy the British people who love Queen Victoria.

At the same time, Crown Prince Edward still has to communicate with the government, after all, the government that Queen Victoria can suppress, Crown Prince Edward may not be able to suppress

However, Crown Prince Edward's troubles Arthur did not understand, and after settling the guards and retinue presented by Queen Victoria, Arthur convened a cabinet meeting the next day to discuss how to take over British New Guinea and New Zealand.

According to the agreement with Crown Prince Edward, after the arrival of Australian soldiers, all British soldiers and forces would be evacuated from British New Guinea, and British New Guinea would be officially handed over to Australian administration.

As to whether to make it a new state of Australia, or to continue as a colony, that's a headache for Australia.

It was for this reason that Arthur decided that it would be better to receive British New Guinea as soon as possible.

With the remnants of Queen Victoria's prestige, it was easy for Australia to take full control and take over British New Guinea.

But if Queen Victoria's prestige fades by the time Queen Victoria's funeral is over or even longer, it is difficult to say whether British New Guinea will accept Australian administration.

It is still a familiar conference room on the top floor of the government affairs building, and it is still a few people who are more familiar with the cabinet.

Arthur sat down at the top and smiled and threw the puzzle at everyone: "Ladies and gentlemen, according to Her Majesty's last will, British New Guinea has been entrusted to us, and I have been the Governor of New Zealand for twenty years. Now is also the time to talk about British New Guinea and New Zealand, how are we going to manage them? Let me all share your opinions. ”

British New Guinea is fortunately, it is already a fish meat in Australia, and basically has no way to run.

But New Zealand was different, and Arthur was only the governor of New Zealand for twenty years. If Australia's policies are biased against New Zealand, it is likely that in two decades, Australia will lose its stewardship of New Zealand, and New Zealand will return to the arms of the United Kingdom.

"Your Highness, why don't you just change the name of British New Guinea to New Guinea, as our seventh state in Australia?" "British New Guinea is so close to Australia, and has an excellent port, that there would be no problem in making it a state, just as it would have been if we had changed our colonies to states," said Henrith, the Minister of Agriculture. ”

"Well, good idea, do anyone else have any ideas?" Arthur nodded expressionlessly, and looked at the others.

"Your Highness, I don't think we will be able to make New Guinea our new state for a short time, and we should first administer it as a colony." Prime Minister Evan stepped forward and put forward a different opinion: "British New Guinea is different from our Australian states, although British New Guinea has a population of more than 700,000, but there are only about 30,000 British and European immigrants, and the rest are local aborigines. If we were to administer British New Guinea directly as our new state, where would these natives go from here? If all of them were counted as our legal citizens, would it be too unfair for all of us Australians? ”

Prime Minister Evan simply said that if British New Guinea were to be treated directly as a state, then the question of how to deal with these indigenous people would be a thorny one.

But if British New Guinea was still a colony, who cared about the life and death of the colony's natives?

"Your Highness, my proposal is to continue to administer New Guinea as a colony. What we need at the moment is a colony of New Guinea, not a state of New Guinea. Prime Minister Evan looked at Arthur and said solemnly.