Chapter 330: Secrets of the Port Authority
Chapter 327 – The Secret of the Port Authority
At the banquet site, the downstairs hall was redolent with lights, and the youth’s stirring dance steps and rich hormonal odor were waving everywhere.
However, when pulling the viewpoint to the second floor, it was found that there was an obvious difference between the atmosphere here and the cheerful ball scene.
In the second-floor recreation room, old men are nestled in couches and gathered around the fireplace, roasting a fire.
All that could be seen of the wine being pushed and exchanged was the stirring of the wine and the blurred faces reflected behind the fuchsia colored liquor.
Smoke hung in the air and the odor of expensive cigars filled the place.
The only sound that could be heard in the silence was the sound of playing cards falling on the table.
“John, have you delivered the little gift the Association asked you to forward to Mr. Hastings?”
“There’s no hurry; let him have a good time at the ball first. A little wine and some womanly aromas that can mess with the mind, it all helps the young man figure out exactly what he wants in this life.”
“Haven’t you arranged some suitable ladies and gentlemen specifically for him? And in the meantime, pry into some of the news that men aren’t quite so comfortable prying into?”
“Wow, Robert, you old pocket watch, I can hear the gears turning in your head. I’m not like you, the Gladstone family business is about openness and transparency, I won’t let go of any of the ones I should be prying into, and I won’t listen to any of the ones I shouldn’t if you invite me to do so.”
“You all don’t send someone to keep an eye on him? If I’d known you guys weren’t going to do this, I’d have sent someone to do it. I’ve heard that the London boy hasn’t been seen all day; what’s he doing out there instead of staying at the hotel and checking his accounts?”
“It’s not that all of us haven’t been sent, it’s just that it’s inconvenient for all of us to do the job. Henry’s sent a man, and he’s got a wagon company on his hands that’s best suited for the job.”
“Henry, any news?”
“I sent a man after him for a while, and he didn’t go anywhere, just around the city of Liverpool, and then to the Monroe Tavern for a little drink.”
“Heh, quite a life! It seems that this Mr. Hastings of ours is not a very difficult man to get along with, and it seems that the harsh words he spoke at the Customs Department meeting before were just a play on words?”
“The Royal Navy didn’t take his words for show; they sailed all their ships out yesterday evening. By the look of that, it’s most likely that they’ve been bored on land for too long, and their stomachs are starving.”
“The sailors may have been in it for the greed of that smuggled goods, but the colonels weren’t so sure. After all, everyone knows that every captain’s position is watched by at least three shore-based reserve colonels. Maybe the Admiralty doesn’t do a very good job of disciplining the sailors, but when it comes to disciplining the officers, they’re a casual target.”
“I don’t care what the Admiralty thinks about this, but we need an explanation from the Board of Trade about the segregation policy in the harbor. If they want Liverpool’s tariff revenue cut in half as it was during the Napoleonic Wars, then by all means enforce the 40-day quarantine in full. But if they want to hold on to Liverpool as the hen that lays the golden eggs, then they had better show some flexibility in their policy.”
“True enough, it took Britain centuries to dominate trade between the Americas and the Levant. Back then, because of Napoleon, the Europa Mega Plague, Liverpool suffered losses that could not be helped, and we fully understand the Cabinet’s decision. But now if just because of a small cholera we are made to give up these hard-won trade shares, that is also too funny!”
“Keep your voice down, Henry, that’s a really rude comparison to Napoleon. You probably don’t know it, but that little follower beside our Superintendent Hastings is a member of the Napoleonic family.”
“He is a member of the Napoleon family?!”
“That’s right, if Napoleon and his father hadn’t died, that lad would have been the first heir to the Dutch throne by now.”
“How do you know about this?”
“Quite simply, I received a letter this afternoon from Viscount Palmerston, the Foreign Secretary. In his letter, His Excellency the Viscount described to me the current situation in London, and also explained to me a bit about Mr. Hastings’ background.
In a nutshell, His Excellency the Viscount’s opinion is that we should put up with it for the time being, and that the segregation policy should not take long to be adjusted. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also thinks that the 40-day port quarantine policy has gone too far, and that it has caused panic in other countries.
Many countries have now designated Britain as a major infected area, which means that our ships traveling from Britain to other countries will have to be quarantined upon arrival. The exact number of days of quarantine will depend on the policy of each country.
Because of this incident, these days the West India Company, East India Company, Moscow Company, Levant Company, Africa Company and Hudson’s Bay Company and so on these monopoly franchise of the big companies are all blowing up inside the pot.
We’re not doing business, we’re taking a little vacation, but there are so many people in these companies who have to be fed. So, protests have been drifting like snowflakes to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of War and Colonial Affairs. Even if the two departments were able to carry on for a while, or if on a whim they were planning to join forces with the Lord Chancellor’s Department.
Then when the new Parliament opens, the positions of Foreign Secretary and Secretary of State for War and Colonial Affairs are expected to change. We all know how many brothers and nephews of MPs’ families work in these companies. Usually, they are provided with good food and drink, and their salaries are high. Now that we’ve reached a critical moment, it’s time for these lazy bastards to make some contribution to the company.”
“Mike, why do you look like you’re winning? Is Palmerston’s word so good at giving you confidence? Don’t you forget, he’s got a history in this area. He was the one who signed the order to move the cavalry to Peterloo to suppress it, and he was one of the leaders of the six special decrees. With all that talk, the Whigs shouldn’t change their minds when the time comes, should they?”
“They need to be able to change their minds! The Prime Minister, Earl Grey, is now in trouble with the Duke of Wellington over the parliamentary reforms, and although His Excellency the Honorable Duke is now in the opposition, he still has the titles of Governor of the Cinque Ports and Commander-in-Chief of the Armies hanging over his head. If the Cabinet wants to move the army and the Duke of Wellington disagrees, guess who the army listens to?”
“I guess the Cabinet will probably send someone to St. Helena to dig up Napoleon’s coffin and invite it to London.”
“That’s a business our company carries, as long as the Cabinet doesn’t make me enforce the policy of segregation.”
“Of course you can’t quarantine it, the body will be quarantined for forty days, and then it will get maggots on the shore.”
“Once you open the cabin, the room is full of miasma.”
“Ah …… messed up half a day, cholera is caused by Napoleon?”
“Otherwise, the scourge of Britain is mostly a French disease.”
Speaking of this, the old men have cracked up, bowler hats have fallen to the ground with laughter.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door outside the recreation room.
Gladstone stepped into the room, and before he could speak, the old pocket watch, Mr. Rothwell, opened his mouth with a grin and asked, “Oh, my dear William, have you had a good time this evening?”
Gladstone sniffed and his face flushed slightly as he nodded with his glass, “It was quite pleasant, Mr. Roswell. I had a good time talking tonight, my friends and I talked freely about music, literature, art, and of course, the Bible.”
Hearing this, Mr. Roswell just cupped his chin and shook his head, “William, the conversation was still too shallow, you could have talked about something more in depth.” “Uh ……” Gladstone was silent for a while and suddenly asked, “Are you saying that I should talk about the recent sudden announcement of interest rate cuts by the Bank of England and the Bank of Bahrain?”
The bad old men on the side heard this and followed suit.
“William, yes, let’s talk about that, we’re interested.”
“You can also talk about what you think about overseas trade and how the segregation policy will have a devastating impact on the price of cotton and linen products.”
“By the way, a few thoughts on the political situation overseas, the Egyptian Pasha of the Ottoman Empire, Mohammed Ali, hasn’t been too peaceful lately! Let’s hope he doesn’t affect my business in the Levant.”
Roswell heard this and rushed out to cover a bunch of old immodest voices.
“William, don’t listen to them. If you don’t want to talk in depth, some more shallow conversation will do. Either Latin, Spanish or French will do. Oh yes, and the piano! I didn’t pay that much for a tutor for nothing!”
Old Gladstone finally couldn’t stand it anymore when he heard this, having always despised old Mr. Pocket Watch, the thug who started out as a street vendor.
Although Old Gladstone himself was only from the middle class, it didn’t stop him from finding Roswell, a watchmaker, vulgar to the point of being unreasonable.
He gathered the cards in his hand together and opened his mouth to ask, “William, are you up to something?”
Hearing this, Gladstone hastily bent down beside his father and whispered, “I just saw Mr. Hurst, the harbormaster, go to the smoking-room, and Mr. Hastings was there, and they stayed there a little too long.”
“Whoa? Is that so?” Old Gladstone sniffed, threw the poker in his hand on the table, lit a cigar and rose to take leave of his friends, “It’s not good for your health to be playing cards all the time, so give me time for a dance, and I’ll be back in a minute.”
……
In the smoking room, Arthur sat in a chair with his pipe in his mouth, looking at the harbor master Hurst in front of him as he turned page after page of the documents in his hand.
“Mr. Hurst, I have had Mr. Mill of the East India Company briefly review the report you submitted to me. The problems revealed on it are indeed beyond my expectations, and the various issues are alarming.”
Hurst asked, “Mr. Hastings, it is true that there are many shortcomings in the work of the Port Authority. However, I believe that under your correction, we will definitely be able to correct these bad habits soon.”
Hurst’s attitude was shown unusually distinctly, the Port Authority was certainly willing to cooperate with Arthur’s work, but how and in which areas, it mainly depended on where Arthur had checked.
Although the Liverpool Association had already prepared close to 20,000 pounds of dispatchable funds to be used to smooth things over, but on the principle that a little less is a little more, if Arthur’s appetite was not so big, it would be fine to let them say more pretty words.
Arthur saw him in this iron king of unrelenting appearance, but also knew that he had to give the old boy some evidence.
After all, even in the territory of Scotland Yard, Arthur had to apply for a warrant to arrest someone, not to mention that this was still someone else’s field.
And the reason why Hurst can be so emboldened, is nothing more than relying on a bunch of behind him to give him backing.
The harbor expansion project does have problems, but this is more than just him to receive money to benefit, the sky is falling with the giant Goliath top, besides, London’s West India Docks project and the Thames Tunnel project will soon be opened to traffic is really so clean?
In fact, the West India Docks project is not clean Arthur is not clear, but the Thames Tunnel project is not clean Arthur’s heart clear, after all, his hands are still clutching close to 1,000 pounds of Tunnel Company shares it.
So, since it has been a puddle of toads, Arthur certainly did not intend to take the harbor project to make things difficult for him.
Moreover, this aspect of the problem has to be put into the back of the detailed discussion it, the beginning of the appetizer on the line.
However, although Arthur wants to appetizer, but he has not been in the hands of this kind of foreplay level of small handle.
But fortunately, thanks to the meticulous work of Mill and Price and other accountant’s apprentices, Arthur found another not-so-small problem in the Port Authority’s annual expenditure bill before attending the ball.
This problem, which was not next to anyone else’s, was the only one that could hammer Mr. Hurst, the harbormaster, with a stick.
With a slight lift of his hand, Arthur opened his mouth and called out, “Louie.”
Louis sniffed and pulled out a bill from the document bag in his hand and laid it in front of Mr. Hurst.
“Mr. Hurst, our audit team noticed that since five years ago when you took office as Port Director, almost every year there has been a strange expense labeled ‘Healthcare’ in the bill. And the exact amount of it was constantly changing, some months it could be as little as a few pounds, other times as much as hundreds of pounds. And we have found, after interviewing some of the Port Authority staff individually, that the Port Authority has never been responsible for their healthcare costs since the beginning, so can you now explain exactly what this money is being used for?”
“This …… “Hear this, Hurst’s tone that had just been written in a relaxed manner immediately became uncertain: “It’s true that this aspect of healthcare doesn’t cover all Port Authority employees, we’re just starting it at the management level first on a trial, if the results are good, we will subsequently consider continuing to promote it.”
“Wow…… special benefits for the management?”
Arthur raised his eyebrows and smiled, “Well, I can understand that, after all, you and the leaders of the Port Authority have a lot of work to do day in and day out, so it’s only right that you enjoy some special treatments. However, I would like to know why this payment changes from time to time? And can you disclose to us the health care program you mentioned and the hospital responsible for it?”
“The hospital well ……,” Hurst’s momentum weakened at once: “This, the hospital is not fixed.”
Hearing this, Arthur just smiled and asked, “Is that so? Mr. Hurst, you better think again. Today, the Sergeant Charles Field under my command has coincidentally contacted a doctor who has provided services to the Port Authority! According to her, the Port Authority’s designated convalescent hospitals are actually quite regular.”
As soon as Hurst heard this, his soul almost came out in shock. Because the accounts in this regard were so small, the people below were not sure what the money was for, so they just let it pass. And Mr. Hurst himself didn’t even pay attention when he submitted the bill to Arthur at that time. But who would have thought that it was just such a little bit of a small horse’s foot that was seized upon.
In fact, this kind of misrepresentation of accounts to engage in a little unclean things, Britain a few years ago there was a, and the accident is still the finance minister Viscount Goderich. At that time, Viscount Goderich almost resigned from the post of Minister of Finance for this case.
Although in the end he was bailed out, his political reputation was not what it used to be. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer is like this, he, as the Harbor Master, is even worse.
Hurst’s hand clenched tighter and tighter, he held his hand for half a day, and suddenly squeezed out a smile from his face and asked, “Mr. Hastings, this is all a small problem, why don’t we talk about the smuggling matter, that’s the serious thing.”
(End of chapter)