Chapter 936: Reform of Business Units

“I have two things to accomplish right now, and now that one is underway, the other is about to begin.” Alan Wilson rubbed his forehead lightly, taking stock of the work organization issue.

“Withdraw from positions that have too much contact with the colonists? Hand them over to the natives?” Pamela Mountbatten inquired, if there was one more thing it was this, Britain had always ruled the colonies indirectly, direct rule was a means of last resort, and after World War II Britain was already in such a bad shape that it had to be done.

Even Allen Wilson, who had always advocated direct rule, only saw this as a contingency, not a necessity, which was not in keeping with the usual British tradition.

“Well, it is. We have too much of a presence to be beneficial to the well-being of the colonies. After all, we are not Frenchmen who can tell the blacks that our ancestors were all Gauls without a blush.”

Britain is in that very poor class above assimilation or national integration. While the role of promotion of the English language was objective, it never went out of its way to deliberately change anything deeper.

After all, within Europe, the French were much more cultured than the British, producing a bunch of great writers. The UK, when all is said and done, can only turn Shakespeare over and transfer references.

Language is only a small part of assimilation, and England couldn’t even get Ireland or Scotland right for a long time much less anything else.

Converting direct rule back to indirect rule didn’t necessarily lead to destabilization of the colonies, and even if it did, it’s not at all on the same level compared to the old days of doing nothing but taxing.

The only thing that Britain was good at in the colonial field was taxation. Before World War I, Britain took about 100 million pounds a year from British India, and then maintained that figure for a long time, which is equivalent to how much money? After some conversions, it is equivalent to about 870 million taels of silver, which is probably not as much as all of the unequal treaties of the Qing Dynasty put together.

Professionalism in the field of taxation, so that British India every year, the Qing dynasty from 1840 until the demise of the round again, from this point on, why Britain can be a long-term world financial center.

In the place of the present Malayan colonies, one has to consider the times. Britain never had to build British India, if railroads for the convenience of transporting raw materials count.

On the one hand, Britain strictly forbade the colonies to have their own industries, and the industries supported could only meet the basic needs. On the other hand, the colonies were administered with the most professional tax system.

That is to say, a purely agricultural country with modernized British taxation, it is not surprising that there were occasional famines in India.

Now the situation was different, Britain was in need of a place to help her secure her position in the world, preferably a colony in terms of reliability, before she chose to support Malaya’s industry.

With the value created by industry is completely different, now the Malayan colony contributes no less than India’s tax revenue, but never again the tragic situation of the former British India. In the final analysis, technological advances can only lead to different results.

Reducing the colonial overtones of Britain was the second thing Alan Wilson undertook, firstly to hide the white faces in all sectors everywhere, and if that could not be done, to centralize them.

This matter could be started along with the beginning of the investment in Burma, which could be seen as a shift on the economic level, while the latter could be seen as a shift in policy.

Allen Wilson, who was preparing to make policy changes in the colonies, received the arrival of Hedy Lamarr, “Student movements and protests seem to be quite frequent in France this year. I hear it’s a big financial burden due to the Algerian War.”

“Oh, that’s so.” Alan Wilson was full of surprise, never mentioning that he had previously picked up on it amongst his wife’s bonds, and side-stepping the question, “Any political changes? In terms of attitudes toward Algeria.”

This was the time of the emergence of the Fifth French Republic, when de Gaulle had finally come to the center of the political stage again after years of hibernation, of which, unfortunately, Hedy Lamarr was unaware, shaking her head in confusion.

“Well.” Alan Wilson also knew that for a big star whose greatest virtue was her face, national affairs were indeed slightly far away.

All he could remember was that the political movements of the late Fourth Republic had a great deal to do with the Algerian War.

Because of the festering anti-war rhetoric, the French expatriate group and the French Army in Africa, with Algiers as their home base, followed the old example of their predecessors’ support for Napoleon III, and pushed the Fourth Republic, expecting de Gaulle to come out and take charge of the situation, and continue the Algerian War.

Returning home with the scent of Hedy Lamarr, Alan Wilson still had to approach his wife, who was on good terms with the French elite, to inquire about the matter, “I hear there have been a lot more protests and marches in France this year?”

“I’ve heard something.” Pamela Mountbatten nodded her head, and then inquired suspiciously, “Why are you suddenly asking about this?”

“In the event that France becomes politically unstable, you should know that the United States has always been very concerned about the situation in North Africa, trying to find ways to intervene.”

Alan Wilson pointed this out, “France is in the middle of a war, the situation is not very stable. And with Algeria not far from the French mainland, Washington must be worried that France is really turning North Africa into its mainland. I’m a little worried about that. The friends you ask, and the perception of Algeria in France right now, is it firm?”

A change of government does not affect the determination to stick with the Algerian war for the French, a parliamentary state is much easier to interfere with than a presidential one, and Algeria’s vested interests can easily buy off their vocal MPs in the National Assembly, and then set them into the middle of a sell-out frame to keep the new government supporting the war.

But this tactic is not foolproof, once public opinion flips, French immigrants in Algeria can’t match public opinion with their native citizens, so public opinion still matters, and what matters most is what the native French citizens think.

Of course France wants to shake off US influence and act independently, but it is objectively impossible.

Paris is the headquarters of NATO, Allen Wilson saved Britain from the influence of the American garrison, but he did not have the ability to save France, and also the trouble, so that France has to bear the pressure of the British garrison.

The United States of course could not explicitly oppose French policy, which would provoke France’s resentment, and the United States could not beat France up for decolonization, so the U.S. approach was to aid France in suppressing Algeria, and at the same time, through the Italian garrison, to aid Algeria in its revolt against France, so that the war would last forever, and consume the French will to go to war.

“France has been negotiating with the Americans to place Algeria within the framework of NATO, something I was aware of.” Pamela Mountbatten mentioned what some French people thought when talking about the Algerian war.

“That’s impossible, how dare the French think.” Alan Wilson shook his head slightly, “Quite a few of the Algerian resisters, had free access to the U.S. Who gave them those passports? But now it seems that it is mainly a matter of money, if the battlefield situation is not lying about the French, there is still a chance of success.”

“I’ll ask carefully.” Pamela Mountbatten agreed dryly, “To the real public opinion in France about the war now?”

“Well, yes.” Alan Wilson stroked his chin, “I have a meeting with the regional commissioner recently, keep an eye on it for me, and if there are any unexpected moves, tell me directly.”

Letting his wife keep an eye on the situation in France, Allen Wilson himself began to prepare for the meeting, all the regional commissioners of the Malayan colony had to come, as it involved policy adjustments for the entire colony.

“The oil refining center in Singapore is nearing completion, and the colony’s industries are about to undergo some restructuring.”

Malayan Colony Administration Office, Alan Wilson looked at the regional commissioners who came from all over, as well as the heads of various departments, holding a pen in his hand and tapping the desktop, before saying something very unexpected, “The size of the colony’s civil service is going to be downsized, so we must all have a preparation in our hearts.”

“What …… “The entire conference room caused a messy argument because of the words of the top boss, it was obvious that everyone was displeased with these words of the top boss.

“A smaller civil service dilutes the colonial color.” Alan Wilson blocked out the disgruntled voices.

“That’s the right thing to do, but downsizing the civil service?” Ender advised with a stony face, “Commissioner Wilson, it would be the end of our civilization.”

“Ender, hold your horses. The direct administration and the colonists are in too much contact, and there will be some conflicts, that can’t be avoided. We will shrink to some more important areas.” Alan Wilson waved his hand, “And this matter is also simple, you just need to not call them civil servants. Don’t you need reliable people to run the refinery center, for example? The refinery center is not an administrative department, isn’t it normal not to call civil servants?”

The disgruntled voice disappeared, and Alan Wilson was heard to continue, “Similar to the oil refining center’s industry, we change it into a business unit, so that the employees of the business unit, are not considered civil servants. But it’s still the same people, doing the same things, the same colonial government support and salary, the civil servants who enter the establishment will not be treated less favorably because of this, as long as we don’t recognize it, everything is still the same as usual.”

“But from a perception point of view it’s a completely different story, for the vast majority of our colleagues, who are already underpaid, some of the conveniences of the job are far outweighed by the negative impacts that the conflict came to bring. When you enter the establishment, you will still receive financial support from the colonial government, and you will be more invisible, which is a good thing.”

“That way we look like we’ve cut the size of the civil service, when in fact nothing has changed.”

“But where are all the establishments to be created.” Richard frowned, “Isn’t it too obvious.”

“It doesn’t need to be done right away, a good start will allow us to shift our people slowly in the future.” Alan Wilson spun his pen and replied unhurriedly, “Rough development is over, Malaya can’t win in terms of quantity, so in terms of quality, doesn’t it need to be on the up and up? Iron and steel, rubber, agricultural products, all of them need our strict control, is not it?”