a
`verandah'; in Ballaarat there is a `verandah.' The verandah is
a kind of open exchange--some place on the street pavement,
apparently selected by chance, on which the dealers in mining
shares do congregate."

1895. Modern. Private Letter of an Australian on Tour:

"What I miss most in London is the <i>Verandahs</i>. With this
everlasting rain there is no place to get out of a shower,
as in Melbourne. But I suppose it pays the umbrella-makers."

<hw>V-hut</hw>, a term used in the province of Canterbury,
New Zealand. See quotations.

1857. R. B. Paul, `Letters from Canterbury,' p. 57:

"The form is that of a <i>V hut</i>, the extremities of the
rafters being left bare, so as to form buttresses to the walls"
(of the church).

1863. S. Butler, `First Year in Canterbury,' p. 73:

"I am now going to put up a V-hut on the country that I took up
on the Rangitata. . . . It consists of a small roof set up on
the ground; it is a hut all roof and no walls."

1879. C. L.Innes, `Canterbury Sketches,' p. 20:

"In case my readers may not know what a `V' hut is like, I will
describe one:--It is exactly as if you took the roof off a
house and stood it on the ground, you can only stand upright in
the middle."

1896. Jan. A Traveller's note:

"Not long ago a Canterbury lady said--`I was born in a V-hut,
and christened in a pie-dish.'"

<hw>Victoria</hw>, <i>n</i>. the name of the smallest of all
the Australian colonies. It was separated from New South Wales
in 1851, when it was named after Queen Victoria. Sir Thomas
Mitchell had before given it the name of "Australia Felix," and
Dr. J. D. Lang wanted the name "Phillipsland." He published a
book with that title in 1847. Previous to separation, the name
used was "the Port Phillip District of New South Wales."

<hw>Village Settlement</hw>, the system, first adopted in New
Zealand, whence it spread to the other colonies, of settling
families on the land in combination. The Government usually
helps at first with a grant of money as well as granting the
land.

<hw>Vine</hw>, <i>n</i>. In Australia, the word is loosely
applied to many trailing or creeping plants, which help to
form scrubs and thickets. In the more marked cases specific
adjectives are used with the word. See following words.

1849. J. P. Townsend, `Rambles in New South Wales,' p. 22:

"With thick creepers, commonly called `vines.'"

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol.