Chapter 39: Newspaper Release

September 27th, 1900, on the streets of Sydney.

On this day, David Collins was walking home from work as usual. As an ordinary person with little ability, David was lucky enough to be selected by the Sydney police and was hired.

Although he was still in the training phase, he earned more than two pounds a month to support his family.

Being able to get this job made David very satisfied, so he worked hard every day and was enthusiastic about his training.

Passing a newsstand, David instinctively glanced at the booth. It was just a casual glance, but he didn't expect to see the same newspaper displayed on the entire stand, and there was even a thoughtful sign next to it that read "New policies from His Highness."

Wait, His Highness?

David Collins was full of questions and turned back, grabbing a newspaper and handing a penny to the newsstand owner, who was staring at him.

With the newspaper in his hand, David Collins no longer had the indifferent expression he had before. Although he continued to walk on the road, his eyes were fixed on the newspaper, as if trying to peer into every detail.

Finally, after more than ten minutes of walking, David Collins arrived home.

This was a house located in the outskirts of Sydney. Although the house looked a bit old, after David Collins and his family decorated it with simple flowers and plants, it still had a hint of warmth.

"David!" Upon hearing the sound, David Collins' wife came out first, smiling and handing him a glass of water, then asking, "How was your training today? Did your boss give you a hard time?"

"Hahaha, how could he? Today's training went smoothly, and the boss also gave me this month's salary. Look, it's exactly two pounds, five shillings, and three pence!" David Collins handed his salary to his wife and said with a smile.

"Oh! Thank God. With your good job and all this food we can get for free, we can have a comfortable new year," David Collins' wife exclaimed with joy, receiving his salary gratefully.

"You should thank His Highness, Emily. If it weren't for His Highness, you wouldn't be able to get so much free food, and I wouldn't be able to find such a high-paying job," David Collins interrupted his wife's mistaken speech in time and corrected her.

"Oh, yes, you're right. I'm sorry," Emily also corrected herself in time, apologizing to her husband.

"Okay, Emily. You go prepare dinner, and I'll take a good look at this newspaper. It says His Highness has released new policies," David Collins picked up the newspaper he had been longing for and instructed his wife.

With newspapers from various states being integrated into one company by Arthur, the previously chaotic and disunited newspaper industry in Australia is now largely controlled by him.

Currently, there are two major newspapers in Australia: the Australian Daily, which mainly covers lifestyle and entertainment news, and the Victoria News, which focuses on political news.

Although each newspaper is responsible for its own domain on a daily basis, they print important news together when there are important policies and announcements from the government and the royal family.

The newspaper that David Collins received today is Victoria News. However, because it is a special day, the content printed by both newspapers is the same.

Picking up the newspaper, there is a very prominent headline on the front page, which reads Arthur's Education Policy.

Mentioning education, David Collins, who already attaches great importance to it, becomes even more focused and begins to read the news carefully, word by word.

The content of the news is actually very simple. In general, it is Arthur's several education reforms and corresponding welfare policies.

Not only the previously agreed university enrollment, but also in order to improve Australia's basic education environment, Arthur will invest at least two million pounds annually for a period of ten years to encourage all Australian families to send their children of appropriate age to school for learning.

For this purpose, the royal family will pay at least 40% of the tuition for each child, and for children who perform well, all tuition and miscellaneous fees can be waived.

To take care of relatively poor families, Arthur promises to lend funds to students from impoverished families in the form of interest-free loans to meet their learning needs.

And scholarships are established in all schools nationwide, with approximately 10% of the total school population eligible.

Under these various policies, students receiving basic education and advanced education are given a lot of discounts, and the problem of wanting to go to school but not having the money to do so has been largely eliminated.

It can be imagined that the new round of Australian school enrollment will be very popular, especially for basic education that doesn't cost much, there will be a large number of students.

Although most Australians are from poor backgrounds, they are immigrants from Europe after all and know the importance of education, especially basic education.

Once these people have a choice, they will also choose to give their children a good education, at least not to fall behind others at the starting line.

"Oh! Emily! Emily! Come here quickly!" Seeing this, David Collins became a little uneasy and quickly called his wife.

"What's wrong? What happened?" Emily hurried over and asked her panicked husband in surprise.

"Damn it, take a look at this, Emily. His Highness is going to invest in improving the education situation. Now our children can go to school!" David Collins said excitedly.

"Where, where?" Emily also came over and looked around.

"The royal family promises to pay 70% of the tuition fees, and the remaining 30% can also be paid on behalf of the students, to be repaid after graduation?" Emily read each word and her eyes were full of disbelief.

"Set up scholarships at Australian national universities, and award at least 200 morally outstanding students with scholarships of at least £10 per year?" When she read this, Emily became agitated and incredulously asked, "My goodness, David, the scholarships for these students are almost half of your annual income. Doesn't this mean that going to university not only doesn't cost money, but also makes money?"

"Yes, dear. Not only does Rick have a place in university, we may not even have to pay for it!" David Collins nodded heavily and said to his wife.

Rick Collins is the only son of David Collins and his wife Emily, and he is their pride and joy.

At the age of only 19, Rick Collins is already a high school graduate that everyone envies, but because his family cannot afford the expensive university fees, he can only reluctantly give up his dream.

But now, it seems that Rick still has hope of going to university, and even in a situation where he doesn't have to pay.