Chapter 470 Integration and Division of Labor

“Wow!” With a meaningful and continuous response, a knowing smile appeared on the faces of all the colonial commissioners, and the British Commissioner of Beituana lowered his voice, “In principle there is still room for negotiation in this matter, but I personally will never shy away from it for the sake of the British Empire, and we should know that from the very first day that we went overseas, we were ready to give everything for the sake of our country. It’s just that Bechuana only has diamonds to take, and that’s very embarrassing.”

“Like Togo, we only have a few diamonds locally, and of course there are rumors of some gold mines, so if we can get support from home in some way, I personally am certainly willing to go out of my way to find gold mines for the British Empire that can help the country grow.” The Commissioner of British Togo said with a reserved look on his face, “Let us admit one thing when it comes to diamonds, women do have a particular penchant for them.”

“Cameroon is not rich in resources, only pastures and forests, and I wonder what use they are?” The Commissioner of British Cameroon shook his head bitterly.

“As long as it exists, it cannot be said to be useless. Any construction requires resources, right now Newfoundland timber is used for the reconstruction of Europe, and once Malaya is converted into a production base, the demand will be there as well. What’s more, we all know that Australia has a very harsh environment, the land is not fertile enough, and timber consumption needs to be provided elsewhere.”

Alan Wilson opens his mouth and states that this is not true, forests and pastures can never be said to be useless, as long as the demand is there, uselessness is a false proposition. By the same token, this is also an exhortation to the Commissioner of British Kenya, who also believes that his administration of the colony is not rich enough in resources.

Currently the largest colony in British Africa, if you look at the population, is Nigeria, with an estimated population of thirty million.

Surrounded by French Africa, it can be said that as long as French Africa does not have problems, Nigeria is very safe.

Alan Wilson remembers Nigeria, seems to be considered within the scope of Africa’s power, although a large part of the population to support, but from the resources also has the basis of a strong country.

Later in life in Africa relying on the total population and resources, the discourse in Africa is very high, should be considered a ruthless role.

As for the visible problem is that the population is growing too fast, Allen Wilson’s time, Nigeria’s population has broken 200 million, and is still rising at a very fast rate, if not to take a solution, Egypt is the future of Nigeria.

A group of colonial commissioners were also aware of the Nigerian situation and devoted a great deal of discussion to it, and in the experience of British India, if the population of a single colony exceeded that of the mainland, it would have to be broken up while control was still in place.

It has become a consensus across Whitehall that Nigeria, with a population of thirty million, is in safe hands for now.

From Uganda to Tanganyika, from Swaziland to Sudan, every resource that the colonies have discovered nowadays, as well as those rumored to be there but have not bothered to confirm, are discussed in the mouths of the commissioners of the colonies.

“It is better that we do not compete with each other, some colonies are big and others are not so rich in resources. God is not so fair some times, so we as part of the Gentlemen’s Colony should talk it over. Don’t create internal competition.” Allen Wilson said this and added after a moment of silence, “Of course, with the exception of diamonds and gold, I mean industrial resources in general, we should negotiate and give some of the less accessible colonies a chance, after all, we all serve the same country, and we’re all honorable gentlemen with a higher education.”

“It depends on which university one received one’s higher education!” The Commissioner of the British Sudan joked laughingly.

“Both universities count.” Alan Wilson replied heartily, “Oxford and Cambridge are to remain united in the service of the nation.”

The Colonial Commissioners, apparently, were not repulsed by the possibility of having a burden added to their bodies, and even jumped at the chance. All were prepared to go through fire and brimstone for the British Empire.

This is also in response to the call of the Labour government, these civil servants are not averse to the emergence of nationalized enterprises in the colonies.

“According to the Soviets, this will stimulate productivity. At present, the mainland needs a large amount of resources to be imported, and at the same time, a large amount of resources can make the British pound more solid.” Alan Wilson talked about the benefits of nationalized enterprises, “The mineral resources in Africa definitely need the help of the locals, we can use this to cultivate some pro-British forces.”

“Gentlemen, let us envision the worst possible scenario for a moment. As we all know, a large part of today’s world order still belongs to the British establishment, and in the eyes of the Americans and the Soviets, it belongs to be a remnant of the old order. From all the words and deeds of the two countries when World War II was still being fought, we are not unaware of their aims; one wants self-determination for the nations, the other wants to liberate the world, and whichever one it is, it is aimed at the colonial powers.”

“Then we’ll follow the Soviet Union’s example and carry out a nationalization campaign in the colonies while cultivating pro-British forces, and if, and I say if, there comes a time when we just can’t stay in the colonies any longer, we can still hand over the local power to trusted hands, dismantle the nationalized enterprises, keep everyone’s shares, and work with independent leaders. ”

“So in the matter of nationalization, we don’t take it all, we must share a portion of it to the bullish local forces, to bundle interests, this is actually not considered a loss, if there is the help of the local forces, maybe there will be an explosive growth in the amount of exploitation, we still make money.”

“In terms of exploiting resources, the major colonies cooperate with each other, what is ensured is that once there comes such a day, if the colonies become independent, there is only a single industry that can be relied upon, so that we are still able to exert influence. We have integrated the major colonies by adopting an international division of labor model, which can also be described as a materialization of the Imperial Preference System.”

“That would be an explanation to the Conservative MPs.” Norman Brooke nodded as he looked at Sir Ismay beside him.

The main elements of the Imperial Preference System were: for imports between member countries, mutually reduced or duty-free; for imports outside the member countries, high tariffs were imposed in order to prevent the United States and other national powers from penetrating the British imperial market.

After the war, as the United States forced Britain to relax its restrictions, the scope of application and role of the system was gradually reduced. Many of the newly independent members of the Commonwealth canceled the concessions they had previously granted to British goods.

For the time being, Britain had no intention of going down on its knees, and the 1.2 billion pounds scraped out of the emergency raid, although it had tossed the major colonies around, would continue to be able to go through the motions with the U.S. as long as the homeland recovered. It was only the whole of British India that was lost on the books.

Much earlier, the US had been targeting Britain on the WWI debt issue. Even Axis countries like Italy were given the generosity of the US to reduce their debt by half, Germany even got tens of billions of dollars invested in it, and France was given significant debt relief, only to the UK was it extraordinarily stingy.

“The large-scale establishment of nationalized enterprises to the colonies is something I think the Americans will surely pressure once they see it.” Sir Ismay spoke with a bitter smile after hearing this, “I hope it’s hidden for as long as possible.”

“That can’t be helped, the Americans want to dismantle the Imperial Privilege System right away, but we can’t let it go for now because we don’t have the power to resist the scale of American industry yet, unless Malaya reaches the day when it can share the pressure.”

Alan Wilson said in a nonchalant manner, “Nationalization will cause inefficiency, but it also has to be divided into what industries, like the mining industry, it should be the easiest industry to take advantage of the advantages of nationalization and avoid the disadvantages of nationalization. We start with the most basic raw materials, to provide British companies with the most cost-effective raw materials, to improve the competitiveness of the British private sector. It can be accounted for to the Labour government with nationalization, to the Conservatives with the preservation of the imperial preferential system, and to the colonial elites with a bundle of benefits.”

“As it stands, only we humble social commons lose out, don’t we?” The corners of Norman Brooke’s mouth floated up into a smile, “But there’s no way around it, who let us, the people, be born to serve the Empire? These grievances can’t be publicized everywhere, so it’s decided.”

“Yes, Sir!” Nearly twenty colonial commissioners replied in unison.

“Ismay, keep the minutes, that’s all we’ll talk about today regarding the layout of British Africa.” Norman Brooke lifted his wrist to check the time, it was time for him to prepare for a chance meeting with the Dutch ambassador, as well as prepare for a delightful debriefing with Prime Minister Airdrie.

The current meeting seemed long, but in fact it had only been about Africa, Black Africa to be precise. There was not much talk about the Persian Gulf and the Suez Canal, and the Malaya program was lightly discussed within safe limits.

After the meeting had been adjourned, and after the necessary checks which could not be called body searches, the Colonial Commissioners left the Foreign Office building.

Of course, every commissioner who walked out of the Foreign Office building had a smile on his face, although the burden on his body was heavier, but under the inspiration of the glory of the British Empire, all of them gladly accepted it.

Alan Wilson also walked with the wind, recalled whether there was enough time, and went to find Hepburn, not key politics he had a topic to talk about, and her serious attitude, so that he was pleased, he began to outline the British literary world and history.

Hepburn’s apprehension vanished in a few minutes. It was as if the whole world sat with her alone, and he spoke of English literature into Hepburn’s one dark eye. And those eyes would brood and smile and blink appreciatively.

Alan Wilson remembered that in his not-so-long studies at Oxford, he would throw teachers aside, and this time he was throwing everything aside.

Alan Wilson considered whether to go ahead with the candlelight dinner plans today, or to wait until all the colonial issues were settled and there was plenty of time to talk about them, and in the end decided to postpone it, now was not the time.