Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1928. BOLIVIA AND PARAGUAY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 49, Issue 67, 29 December 1928, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1928. BOLIVIA AND PARAGUAY.

Tlie relaxing of tlie tension between Bolivia and Paraguay is another instance of the changed sentiment in international relations that has been so marked of recent years. It was not long ago that an incident such as that on the frontier would have inevitably have resulted in armed conflict, but though the armies of both countries were mobilised, the intervention of the PanAmerican Conference and of the League of Nations, of which both disputants are members, averted the final resort to force. The disputed territory, Gran Chaco, (Spanish, “ great hunting ground ”) is a vast area of 230,000 square miles in the middle of South America extending through eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay and the north of Argentina. The region is sandy and mostly Oat. Among tlie scanty inhabitants are uncivilised Indians. No territory could be less worth a conflict. Both States! are without a sea coast, though a navigable river supplies the need for Paraguay. Bolivia is the third largest of South American Republics, but it is not third in importance. Half its population of three millions is composed of illiterate Indians, most of whom refuse to learn Spanish, the official language. About 13 per cent, of the people are pure whites. Paraguay has a, population of a million, of whom those of Indian origin largely predominate. Both countries have had troubled hisitories. Bolivia saw the last stand made for the Royalist cause in the War of Independence. In the ’seventies; in alliance with Peru, it had a war with Chile, which lasted for four years and proved disastrous. Paraguay had it,si tyrants even last century, the second of whom embroiled it in a disastrous war. In 1864 the then dictator, the younger Lopez, precipitated a dispute with Brazil. A Paraguayan army was marched to the attack through Argentine territory. As a result Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina combined against Paraguay. The struggle lasted for five years.

Every mule Paraguayan capable of bearing arms was mobilised. The women were pressed into service .to carry ammunition and stores, and tlieir sufferings were, if anything, more terrible than those of the soldiers. When the war started the population of Paraguay was some I,dd7,UUU souls. At its end there remained 28,740 men and 106,250 women over 15 years of age, and 86,000 children. The country was devas- ( tated, the people in a state of aboslute prostration. With all the modern contrivances for making war devilish, there would be danger of a conflict being equally as disastrous and terrible. bo that though the world in general may not be directly affected by strife in that remote portion of the globe, the avoidance of hostilities is a matter in which common humanity has a vital inteiest.