Brief Introduction to Official Positions in Australia 澳洲官職論

澳洲官職論

The political structure here differs significantly from that in China, and we would like to humbly list some of them below.

All provinces of Australia fall under the regulation of the Britain imperial court (chaoting 朝廷) due to the concern that diplomatic tensions can be easily stirred up once they have taken actions that might disturb neighbouring countries. For instance, any communications between the provinces or Australia’s ban on the entry of coloured races are both seen as disruptive actions, and therefore cannot be carried out without obtaining approval from the British imperial court. Another example would be the establishment of the Australian Navy for the purpose of national defence in case any neighbouring country would covet its land and wage wars. The Australian navy currently has eight warships which were all supplied by Britain and have been preparing in Australia for future potential attacks. Britain offers Australia support in supplying coal, soldiers’ pay and provisions, gunpowder and bullets, and also covers the operational cost of the Royal Australian Army Ordnance Corp. Therefore, Australia in turn pays eighty thousand pounds to Britain every year to cover these expenses. Likewise, dominion over both civil and military matters is held by governors of each province of Australia, meaning that they have full authority to decide whether to start or end a war. However, these provincial governors are also appointed by Britain. The governors used to be able to receive as much as ten thousand pounds every year compared with the seven thousand pounds nowadays, and the rest of the grant from Britain is to be used by the provincial governments. The salaries of secretaries (shiye 師爺) and other staff members in general are also covered by the national treasury.

Additionally, a judge of the District Court (ancha xianguan 按察縣官, surveillance commissioner of a county) is employed based on the candidates’ merits and talents and receives their salaries from local treasuries. However, courts (yanei 衙內) are indeed “prestigious,” in that they still issue and implement orders or arrest warrants in the name of the British emperor. Similarly, the customs house in every province is regarded as a taxation office and is called “the cashier of the British emperor”, although in fact, it collects taxes and charges on behalf of Australia’s national treasury only. In addition, the name of the British imperial title is also marked on the facades of prisons as well as on prison uniforms. The same condition also applies to the soldiers patrolling the waterfronts, police stations, uniforms, batteries all over the country, lawyers for dealing with crimes and smuggling, postal services and staff at the Customs House, but matters in other areas are governed by Australia.

The methods of governing a country are evolving on a daily basis. This is why a representative of each county of New South Wales (shenjin 紳衿) is elected to the Legislative Assembly and together they will produce bills for Australia. It is then the Governor’s duty to sign them to assent to the official passing of the bills, for their obligation is to govern the country according to the people’s will and therefore they cannot refuse to give assent. There are also aldermen elected by the general public who routinely convene to discuss local affairs or laws in the Sydney Town Hall with the aim of maintaining cleanliness and public safety in the city. For example, tasks such as renovating or cleaning streets as well as tending gardens are all discussed. Officers responsible for patrolling houses and maintaining cleanliness in the city are tasked with collecting taxes from citizens, ensuring the lighting of streets at night and also checking whether the wagons are clean from rubbish. The head of these aldermen is called a “mayor” in English and is in charge of the Sydney Town Hall. A new mayor is appointed every year, and this is the same with the aldermen. However, the gas system embedded in the Sydney Town Hall was built with the collective financial support of the wealthy people in the city instead of the Australian state. Likewise, the cost of the natural gas system in barracks is funded by the president of the military, and that in the post offices is not covered by the state either. The cost of lights on the streets is provided by the properties collected from the public in Sydney and therefore is irrelevant to the state as well. We found that there are approximately three deputy governors of major provinces, with Darley being one of them. The reason why the name of this position is prefixed with “deputy” is that they would be permitted the full authority over both civil and military matters in the province when the provincial governor is absent, and are therefore essentially the same as a provincial governor. The head of members of a provincial bureau of political affairs is known as a “premier” in English, with that of New South Wales being John See. See initially entered the provincial bureau through popular election, and was later elected as the head by more than one hundred forty members of the bureau after he was elected to the Legislative Assembly, and this is why he currently leads this provincial bureau. However, the management of various local affairs in the cities is still principally managed by the aldermen, with Dr Jamieson being one of their leaders. A few days ago, the British prince arrived here and appointed only Dr Jamieson and Darley as deputy governors of the Australian navy. As a result, the two now hold rival powers.

Those attending court only on trial days are known as jurors, and do not possess real power although they are also regarded as “aldermen”. This is because jurors are not publicly elected, as court officials would simply choose tens of names randomly from a name list of the people in the city and summon them to serve as jurors. Anyone appointed as a juror who does not attend court will be fined two pounds for each day they have missed from court. In addition, jurors are always temporary positions, and new jurors will be chosen for every new case, meaning that they never hold an actual official title.