Chapter 468 – The End of Rationing

“Alan, do you mean the independence of British India?” Norman Brooke smiled and said.

“The cost of British India is too high, back then we should have created a divide between North and South India instead of connecting the entire subcontinent with railroads, and with the passage of time the nationalists spread all over India. But honorable Sir Norman, the role of British India is replaceable, and the subcontinent is empty of huge numbers of people who can’t exert any real strength. In fact, I think Malaya could well replace India’s role if it developed all its potential.”

“If we were to replace it, we could totally take the operation of merging colonies in Africa and pinch out a huge one, but I don’t recommend it, the colonies in Africa should follow the Indo-Pakistani partition and be split up and managed.”

Norman Brooke nodded imperceptibly and said, “This time the commissioners of the colonies were called back to come up with a plan to deal with it, for the sake of the real British Empire. Work out a plan that is favorable to us.”

The true British Empire in Norman Brooke’s mouth naturally included all the existing colonies. As for Britain in the mouth of the Cabinet, it was nothing more than the party-controlled British Isles.

As for the plan that is good for us, of course, it is the plan that is good for the civil service, and although Norman Brooke did not say so explicitly, Allen Wilson understood it to mean just that.

“Wait until they are all back in London and come up with a plan that has feasibility. You’ll have to be in the seat as well, and although the work in Newfoundland is done, the performance of raking in four hundred million pounds from British India in the last two years is enough to give you a say.” Norman Brooke said this encouragingly, “Go back to your preparations and hopefully the meeting will come up with something that will make a difference.”

“I’ll do my best, Sir Norman.” Alan Wilson nodded his head, and in his heart, he was also quite excited about this meeting.

How to safeguard the current interests of the British Empire, in the colonial assessment report to Prime Minister Airdrie, Allen Wilson said once in general terms, but this meeting, facing the same group of imperial civil servants, it was possible to do something practical and help advise a bit.

In fact, before the First World War, the world market has been initially established, to the Second World War, due to changes in the global pattern, that kind of looting of raw materials instead of the normal procurement from the international market costs more, which is simply no longer necessary to maintain the original colonial system.

That’s not a reason to abandon the colonies though, because nowadays industrialization wasn’t just Britain on its own. There were still many competitors, so of course the imperial preferential system still had to be maintained as much as possible.

In the approach to the colonies, France was in fact very different from Britain, France’s colonial policy compared to the other powers, the assimilation is very high, in the government agencies use French civil servants, the official language is French, completely copy the French political system.

In education, the children and the native French children had the same textbooks, which contained the sentence “My ancestors were Gauls”, which was used word for word in the colonial textbooks.

This is the main reason why Alan Wilson said that if France had occupied Ireland, it would probably be an integral part of France by now. After all, Ireland is also a white community, Catholic faith, France faces ethnic and religious problems would disappear, assimilation can be said to be very easy.

In reality, however, this was a completely double-edged sword for France to maintain its colonies, although before World War II, such a policy served to enhance the sense of identity of the natives of the French colonies for France, and can even be said to think that I am French, and most of the French people also regarded the colonies as a province on an equal footing with the mainland of France, with Algeria as the most representative of them.

The state apparatus has an aspect of cruelty, that is, the more one’s own people hit the harder. China, a continental country, lost half of its population with every change of dynasty.

So after some colonial resistance, the native French people will often show the most real side, the first choice is to suppress, not as a last resort absolutely do not let these places independent.

However, France is now this kind of strong suppression attitude, for Britain is not necessarily a bad thing, because Britain and France’s colonies still have a lot of overlap, can borrow the facts of Vietnam, to caution the people of Malaya.

The behavior of the French army in Algeria was used as a cover for the behavior of the British army in British Africa. In the final analysis, each country had to consider its own interests, and while Britain and France had to be united in the general direction, Britain itself had to be more united.

Christmas Day, 1948, had a different significance for the citizens of London, because on that day, Prime Minister Adderley announced the abolition of rationing, which was to have been announced on New Year’s Day, 1949, a sort of conclusion, in the third year after the war, to the effects that the Great War had brought to Britain.

Currently Britain is the first country in Europe to make rationing history, a few months earlier than the Soviet Union in its original history.

Being so many days ahead of schedule kind of provides a nice mood for the citizens of Britain. Alan Wilson was also in a good mood, holding Hepburn’s hand as he strolled through Hyde Park, wearing a mask of course.

“How’s the magazine Lord Sheffield helped find? Are you still satisfied?” Alan Wilson inquired gently, wanting to know what Hepburn had in mind for being in the public eye.

“It’s great, I hear it’s a magazine that sells a million and a half cents a year. I also went back to Holland to shoot a commercial and it’s looking good now.” Audrey Hepburn said with a big smile on her face, “And it’s thanks to you.”

“With a girl like you, any man wouldn’t be able to resist helping out.” Alan Wilson said without any compliments, “I’m just an ordinary one amongst a huge group of men, but it’s really pleasing to see that you’ve gotten out of your predicament.”

“And thanks to you for Mr. Alim’s help, except that my mother is still a little bothered by his skin color.” Audrey Hepburn sighed, “Actually, it looks alright to me, I don’t know why my mother is like that.”

“Individually, the ratio of good to evil is about the same anywhere, except when South Asians get together, it’s surprising, I’ve worked in British India and know a bit about it.” Alan Wilson thought for a moment and explained, “The study of national character is doomed to futility, if you see a work that evaluates people from an ethnic point of view, don’t waste your hands on it, it’s all a lie, I’ve only ever seen one individual, never any people …… ”

Hearing Hepburn’s words, Alan Wilson remembered something that existed in Chinese history but happened in India, beginning in 1856, Hindu Brahmins and peace mullahs teamed up to spread prophecies throughout North India that British rule would end in 1857, one hundred years after the Battle of Placer, and village after village made toasted pancakes to pass on contact codes in preparation for a rising together, and among the Indian native soldiers Rumors circulated that bullets were coated in lard and butter. Finally, in 1857, the great Indian National Uprising broke out.

This revolt, of course, failed, and it is clear that the British captors’ luck without a hundred years did not become a reality.

So just because something similar occurs doesn’t mean that a similar outcome will occur, otherwise France, regardless of any hardware, would have been stronger than Britain at the time, so why didn’t the Industrial Revolution break out from France?

Alan Wilson has always avoided mentioning the issue of key politics when getting along with Hepburn, just from the perspective of how Alim the person alone, saying that Alim the person is good, does not mean that Indians are good. Whenever you know someone, you have to take your time with contact to build trust, and interests are built much faster.

Fiancée is not in London, Alan Wilson this Christmas is and Hepburn family over, in fact, with the environment that Hepburn is now in, Alan Wilson can completely raw rice, use contacts to silence Hepburn.

Just he has absolutely no need to do so, and even on other women’s smashing means do not want to use, just want to so with a relaxed mind to get along, Hepburn’s mother knows that Allen Wilson parents are gone, the attitude of this young man is also quite tolerant.

Christmas Eve of 1948, Allen Wilson spent in the home of Hepburn mother and daughter, enjoying dinner and then got up to say goodbye, and thanked Hepburn’s farewell, “Get some rest, I’ll come over to see you sometime.”

Before the arrival of New Year’s Day, Alan Wilson still followed the old habits, and colleagues in Whitehall key politics and drink, as if nothing happened, only Lord Sheffield, will be in private occasions to ask, “that seems to be a very simple little girl in the end was taken down or not, this kind of thing is still to be taken before it’s too late.”

Looking at a face of everyone is a man, I understand Lord Sheffield, Alan Wilson nodded deeply, even if a word is not listened to, it does not matter, first nod is not a bad thing.

Finally the arrival in London of Gerald Edward, Commissioner for British Malaya, ended Allen Wilson’s days of inactivity, and so the Whitehall civil service party, had another one.

“Has there been any reaction to my proposal?” Alan Wilson asked, surreptitiously, about the Healthy Malaya campaign.

“It’s working very well, Alan, you know the Malayan mindset too well.” Gerard Edward exclaimed greatly, “I wonder what exactly is the matter that the Honorable Cabinet Secretary has called us back for?”

“Something to do with the development of the colony, I don’t know exactly.” Alan Wilson was honest, he really didn’t know.

In the following days, the commissioners of the British African colonies arrived one after another and were notified that the meeting time was set for January 2nd, so that the commissioners of the colonies could prepare, and manage the information of the colonies themselves, to facilitate the discussion during the meeting.

All the commissioners who had a hand in the colonies were on the spot, and the ministers generally did not pay attention to what the officials of a particular colony were doing, but the cabinet secretaries would, and could, change them.

At eight o’clock on the morning of January 2, the Commissioners returning from the Asiatic and African colonies arrived at the Foreign Office building in Whitehall, together with Ismay, the Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, to await the arrival of Norman Brooke.

Alan Wilson attentively expressed goodwill before his old boss, Sir Barron, and proved himself a reliable man until Norman Brooke came in.