Peshawar Lancers Redux: Kingdom of Hawaii Revised
- Thread starter chris N
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As the next election approached Prime Minister Wilcox had finally listen to George W Kamehameha's warning that the party was in serious trouble. George had helped to recruit some new candidates to run for office in an attempt to save some of the seat. Christopher Wilcox began to barnstorm the country and give interviews to newspapers and on the Radio. Polling continued to show that the Conservative Nationalist were likely to lose a lot of seats but George's efforts and the Prime Ministers campaigning were beginning to have some effect.
The election of 1912 showed the Social Democrats making gains going from 3 seats to 10. The renamed National Conservative Party dropped from 300 seats to 203 and the Liberal Democrats had made massive gains resulting in 207 seats. The result was no party had enough seats to form a majority government. Joseph Da Gama,leader of the Liberal Democrats entered into talks with the Social Democrats to form a majority government but couldn't reach an agreement. He then formed a Minority government while at the same time trying to reach an agreement with former Prime Minister Wilcox into forming a government of National unity.
The Liberal Democrat Prime Minister kept the National Conservative Secretary of Defense as he was worried about the situation in Central America and wanted an experience hand running the department. He considered an offer by the Social Democrat to form a government with them but was Leary of doing that.
Prime Minister Da Gama reached an agreement with the leader of the National Conservatives regarding the Central American Republic and the defense of the Canal. The Prime Minister as a result had ordered the Secretary of Defense to take steps. The Secretary of Defense had ordered the deployment of the 1st Royal Hawaiian Marine Regiment to the Canal Zone. Thus 4,000 marines arrived to secure the canal
The Prime Minister was very concern about the Central American Republic and Hawaii becoming involved in an internal struggle in that nation. At the same time if he did nothing he and his party would be considered the party that lost the Canal and would probably lose political control of the house. The result was that he considered reaching out to Christopher Wilcox to form a true government of National unity. He also spoke with Duke Kamehameha about the problem after a Regency council meeting but the Duke explained that there was not much that he could do. He did tell him that he believed that the Prime Minister would have to act. Failure to act would mean the problem would just get worse.
With Conditions in the Central American Republic Getting worse the Prime Minister approached the Minority Leader with an offer to form a government of National Unity. Christopher Wilcox would become Deputy Prime Minister and the National Conservatives would hold the post of Attorney General, Secretary of Defense, Director of The Royal Hawaiian Intelligence Agency and National Security Advisor.
Vice Admiral William Kamehameha II would be appointed Commander of all Hawaiian forces in the Central American Republic and the Eastern Pacific. The 2nd Royal Hawaiian Marine Regiment would be sent and the Army would deploy a Brigade from the 1st Royal Hawaiian Infantry Division.
Vice Admiral William Kamehameha II would be appointed Commander of all Hawaiian forces in the Central American Republic and the Eastern Pacific. The 2nd Royal Hawaiian Marine Regiment would be sent and the Army would deploy a Brigade from the 1st Royal Hawaiian Infantry Division.
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The Hawaiian Military dispatched more forces to the Central American Republic. Arriving as the 1st Brigade from the 1st Hawaiian Infantry Division, a Military Intelligence detachment a Military Police Battalion and the 1st Royal Hawaiian Marine Raiders Battalion. It was a clear signal to both Latin America and the rest of the world that Hawaii would stand by its friend. Brazil sent another 12,000 man division.
Prime Minister Da Gama and Deputy Prime Minister Wilcox had fashioned a compromise on a lot of spending proposal during the Crisis in the Central American Republic but now that the crisis was over it appeared that there was a giant difference of opinion regarding National Security. Only one new Battleship had been authorized during the crisis and funding for the second had been deferred . The Prime Minister wanted to deactivate some regular army units and reduce the size of the Marine Corp to help pay for the war. This looked like it would cause the collapse of the Unity Government and unless there was a new alliance with the Social Democrats an early election was a must. Polls showed Mixed results. Da Gama had come off as a strong leader but the public trust had shifted back to the National Conservatives.
Defense spending appeared to be the issue that would bring down the government. The Prime Minister after trying to form a new government found that 25 members of the party would not accept an alliance with the Social Democrats so he submitted his resignation to the Regency Council. Council President Duke Kamehameha accepted it on behalf of the King and the Kings mother then set the date for a new election. The Queen Mother then asked the Prime Minister if he wanted to form a caretaker government until the election and he said yes. There were some restrictions as to what Da Gama could do. The Palace announced the date of the new election. Christopher Kamehameha resume his post as the Leader of the Loyal Opposition. On July 14,1915 the election was held and the National Conservatives won 224 seats, Liberal Democrats 185 and Social Democrats 11. Mr Da Gama return to the Palace and resigned as care taker Prime Minister and Christopher Wilcox was summoned to the Palace and asked to form a government
Prime Minister Wilcox set about forming his new government. He would be replacing all of the Liberal Democrats that were Cabinet officers. William George Schaefer was nominated a Secretary of State. He was 42 and had headed the Royal Hawaiian Oil Company for 6 years. He was currently teaching at the University Of Hawaii Business Administration. John Kaeli was Nominated as the new Attorney General. He was 45 and had served as a Prosecutor in Oahu.
Prime Minister Wilcox had decided to start over with a lot of new Cabinet officers. He wanted to secure the American Canal with a new Treaty. Thus talks were held in the Central American Republic and then Hawaii. The idea was to hammer out an agreement which would be fair to both sides. The Prime Minister flew to Brazil to meet with that country's Prime Minister and the Emperor.
Chairman George Kamehameha of the Armed Services Committee began hearing on the next fiscal years defense budget. Both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy were called to testify. The Chairman also called upon the Chief of Naval Operations, Chief of the Navy's Design Bureau and many other people. The question was are the taxpayers getting the most for the money spent. A decision was made to end the current Capital ship program at 2 units. Because of delays it was no longer in the national interest to spend money on a ship design which had flaws. The chairman sought to fund development of powered aircraft.
The Armed Services Committee funded a new study to take place for an improved Battleship Design. It officially cancelled all production of the current design including cancelling the second ship that was under construction. There was a conflict within the Navy over this with some favoring continuing construction while others believed that the ship would require too much additional work. The first powered flight took place on the island of Hawaii on January 12,1916. It was regarded as a success but there would be a lot more work before a real plane was developed.