VICTORIA, capital of British Columbia, Canada, and princi pal city of Vancouver island, in the south-east corner of which it is finely situated. It is on the Canadian National railway, and is the terminus of a line from Esquimalt and Nanaimo and the coast be yond. There is also a line across the Saanich peninsula. Vic toria, which is a fine city with many gardens, the oldest in the province, has a splendid parliament building, the large Dominion astrophysical observatory, and a university. The city is a favourite tourist resort. The population was 39,082 in 1931 (over 6o,000 including suburbs), and includes a number of Chinese. The port, which is the fourth in Canada, is fine and well-equipped. Steamers run daily to points on the British Columbian coast, and to Aus tralia and the East, and it is the headquarters of the Royal Ca nadian navy. The city is an industrial centre, the principal products
being canned fish, biscuits, timber, soap, machinery, furniture, boots and clothing, bricks and cement. There is a large trade in coal, timber, canned salmon, etc. Until the redistribution of the fleet in 1905, the headquarters of the British Pacific squadron were at Esquimalt (pop. in 1921, 6,484), a fine harbour 3 m. W. of Victoria. It is provided with graving and dry docks, and another dry dock was in course of construction in 1924. It has a naval college, and is defended by fortifications of a modern type.