Close beside the elegant residence of Sir William are extensive vineyards, to superintend which he imported German vine-dressers from the Rheingau. Each of these families has his own hut, a plot of garden ground, and in addition to rations of milk, bread, and butter, receives £25 per annum wages. When these good folks heard that strangers, compatriots of theirs, were among them, with whom they could converse in their mother-tongue, a dozen or so at once assembled to bid us welcome. Most of these betrayed a certain amount of hesitation in expressing themselves in their own language, and, like the same class in Pennsylvania, whenever they were at a loss for a word supplied it by its English equivalent. There resulted from this a most comical jargon, sometimes most grotesque in its eccentricity, as, for instance, when, on our remarking to one of these vine-dressers who had been in Australia for ten years that he seemed to have quite forgotten his German, he replied, with an air of outraged national dignity, "Oh no! _wir_ keep it _immer_ in exercise." The entire number of Germans in New South Wales is estimated (in 1858) at 7000. They are usually settled on the larger rivers, such as Hunter, Clarence, Brisbane rivers, where they have small farms on the alluvial soil, or are engaged in agriculture, or vine cultivation. Their industry, perseverance, and frugality soon make them independent and well-to-do. We were told of one poor peasant of the Rhenish districts, named Frauenfelder, who arrived here from Germany, in 1849, with twelve daughters, and settled on Clarence river as a vine-dresser. After ten years of unwearied activity he became a prosperous man, got all his daughters well married, and now owns one of the most flourishing settlements in the entire colony.[15] A German enjoys in Australia, after five years' residence, the same political rights as the English. After twelve months he becomes naturalized and may possess land; after three years he may vote; and after five years' residence he may become a member of Parliament. Should there be anything specially affecting German interests in the colony, they can at least influence one vote in Parliament. The reason why the number of Germans in Australia is yet so small is undoubtedly owing to the high price of land. The same quantity which can be purchased in the United States for one dollar costs £1 here, and this solely because the Colonial Government contracted a loan in former days with the wealthier colonists, for which they pledged the land, which was taken at £1 per acre; this has never been paid off, so that the mortgagee is virtually the proprietor of the soil, without Government being in a position to profit by its contract or get rid of its liabilities. It thus has become necessary for them to enhance the value of the land, and this seems to be the chief difficulty in the way of lowering the acreage price, to the manifest encouragement of emigration and the cultivation of the soil.