Chapter 284: Chapter 252: The Upcoming House of Representatives Election_2

What Arthur was more concerned about was the report from the Ministry of Civil Affairs on the immigration situation over the past two months.

Currently, immigration in Australasia can be described as growing higher and stronger each year.

After setting a new immigration record last year, the number of immigrants in the first two months of 1908 has already exceeded 130,000, and there is hope of setting a new high this year.

If the addition of the data for the first half month of March is taken into account, the number of immigrants in 1908 has already exceeded 170,000, with an average of over 2,000 immigrants received in Australasia every day, showing the terrifying speed of immigration in Australasia today.

It is precisely because of such an exaggerated number of immigrants that Australasia conducts census actions almost every year to determine the true population of Australasia and facilitate government planning for the next step.

At present, with the addition of these new immigrants, the population of Australasia has exceeded 7,300,000, and the population of Sydney has officially surpassed 1,000,000.

Of course, it is limited to 1,000,000. After the population of Sydney reached 1,000,000, under the efforts of various departments such as the Propaganda Department, Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Education, the vast majority of the remaining immigrants have been relocated to West Australia and South Australia, and the remaining half have gone to New Zealand.

West Australia and South Australia’s most popular attraction is, of course, the rapidly developing Leonora Industrial Base.

This industrial base is highly valued by Australasia and is expected to create tens of thousands of industrial jobs in the future, making it necessary to migrate to the area as early as possible.

In addition to the good news that immigration has the potential to set a new high, Australasia’s current financial revenue situation is also very good.

The total fiscal revenue in the first two months has already exceeded 7 million Australian Dollars, and although investments are also massive, this can also be considered good news.

Minister Grant also reported on the actions and achievements of the Propaganda Department, and Arthur encouraged him to lay out more plans abroad and promote other cities in Australasia to attract more immigrants.

Arthur also proposed an idea to create a ranking list of suitable cities for immigration and to extensively publish and promote it overseas.

As it is a list created by Australasia itself, there is no harm in slightly favoring its own interests.

As long as those European citizens choose to believe in this list, the Propaganda Department’s plan will be successful.

Never mind if it’s true or not, just deceive the immigrants first. After all, immigrants in this era are not too wealthy, and it’s not that easy for them to afford round-trip tickets.

Of course, Arthur only put forward an idea, and how it is done and what to do depends on Minister Grant’s ability.

For Arthur, all he needs to do is guide the country’s development at a macro level, while those officials are the real choice for micro-level execution.

If a country needs its king to be personally involved in all aspects, then the country is destined not to last long.

After more than two hours of reporting, the meeting finally reached the last agenda item, the upcoming House of Representatives election.

The House of Representatives election is a nationwide political activity in Australasia, and is welcomed and participated in by most Australasians.

According to the last House of Representatives election in 1906, more than two million Australasians participated in the voting for the 298 seats in the House of Representatives, showing the importance of the election in the hearts of Australasians.

This year’s election is separated from the previous one by a two-year gap, and the number of immigrants has increased by more than 1,000,000 during this time.

This indicates that the number of people participating in the votes this year is definitely more than two million, and the process and plan for voting needs to be more detailed to avoid any accidents during the election.

Justice, openness, and accuracy are the topics that Arthur cares about. The officers also know Arthur’s ideas, after all, the election of the House of Representatives is not the first time.

However, each election is different, as Australasia develops, the election of the House of Representatives will be more and more valued by people, and the number of participants will certainly be more and more.

In order to fully count these people’s votes, not only do a large number of officials need to calculate, but also go deep into cities and towns to collect the intentions of all people. This is a big project, at least for the current Australasian government.

In fact, the government officials also attach great importance to the election of the House of Representatives, as most of these officials have already had a party, and their parties also care about the proportion of seats they occupy in the House of Representatives elections.

After all, according to the regulations of Australasia, the proportion of seats they occupy in the House of Representatives determines how much funding they can get each year and whether their main officials can enter cabinet departments.

For example, the two larger parties in Australasia, the Unity Party, and the Rural Party, have each obtained a Cabinet Minister’s seat and the eligibility to enter the Cabinet Government because they occupy more seats in the House of Representatives.

This is, after all, the Cabinet Government, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to enter the highest government, one that no party or individual can afford to miss.

After more than four hours of discussion, the government finally finalized an election process and plan that satisfied everyone.

First, there are the voting collection boxes, all villages and cities in Australia need to be equipped. Among them, small villages should be equipped with one voting collection box, large villages and small towns with two voting collection boxes, and large towns and small cities with three voting collection boxes.

For cities with populations exceeding 50,000, 100,000, and 200,000, they will be equipped with four, six, and ten voting collection boxes, respectively.

For all voting collection boxes, not only do soldiers specifically protect them, but state governments also need to send a certain number of officials, who will be dispersed and supervise the voting collection boxes in their non-residential areas.

Apart from the double supervision of soldiers and officials, state governments also need to organize manpower to carry out random inspections on the voting collection boxes within their jurisdiction to avoid accidents.

Moreover, Arthur and the Cabinet Government will also carry out random spot checks, which is equivalent to a five-layer insurance and basically prevents any accidents.

The House of Representatives elections will begin on June 1st, with the voting period from June 1st to June 20th and the transportation phase from June 21st to July 1st.

All the votes will be counted by the state governments, under the supervision of the Royal Parliament, the House of Representatives, the Cabinet Government, the royal family, the people, and the military, and random spot checks will be carried out on the counted votes.

States have about 20 days to count the votes, and it is expected that on July 21st, state governments will report the final results to the Cabinet Government. After random spot checks are error-free, the results of the House of Representatives elections will be announced around July 25th.

In order to prevent possible accidents during the election period, even after the results are announced, all votes will still be concentrated in the capital, with Arthur personally organizing manpower to re-examine them.

If the state’s statistical situation is incorrect or even significantly different, not only will the election results of the House of Representatives be rejected, but the state governments will also bear the corresponding responsibilities and even trace back to each voting box.

Arthur does not believe that under such a strict electoral system, there will still be people who secretly violate the rules or even cheat.

After all, the final result will be reviewed. If state governments have the guts to tamper with the results, let them try it.

Most people approve of such an election plan, so it was smoothly determined as the 1908 House of Representatives election plan and announced to the public.

This also means that people have more than two months to think about who they should support as their new representatives.