Show bealhWHAT WHAT DOES IT MEAN Great Britain to Send War Vessels to Victoria SAN FRANCISCO July 12A statement is printed here based upon a letter from an English army officer to a wealthy Englishman sojourning in San Francisco that contigency orders have been issued to the Fifth battalion Royal Rifle brigade bri-gade now in England to hold itself in readiness to proceed to Victoria The letter further says the powerful ship Minetaur is also especially commissioned to duty at Esquimault and the commander of the ship is appointed naval commandant command-ant The commander of the royal bri gade is made commander of Esquimault station succeeding the dock yards superintendent I super-intendent and Colonel Pryor of the Canadian I Cana-dian force who has heretofore held both I posts Two batalions of royal marine artillery are also under orders for duty at Victoria and Canadian authorities are said to be devising measures to overhaul and put Esquimault harbor in a more complete defensible condition The British officers writes to inquire about the climate and manner of living at Esquimault and seems indicate that the sudden activity on the part of the Brills authorities has direct connection with the Behring sea controversy From the tone and language of the letter the San Francisco Englishmen faelives that England Eng-land anticipates an unfavorable termina tion of the Behring sea arbitration and proposes to place herself in a position to defend and enforce what she considers her rights in seal properties The recent arrival of the war vessel r > i f ijJi Royal Arthur at Esquimault with Admiral Ad-miral Stevens aboard and these unusual movements of British forces appear to end some tinge of probability to theory |