ANOTHER SOUTH AMERICAN DISPUTE.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 117, 13 November 1902, Page 5

ANOTHER SOUTH AMERICAN DISPUTE.

[PRESS ASSOCIATION.] LONDON, 12th November. A telegram from Valparaiso stated that owing to the defeat of Bolivians by Brazilians ia i~e Acre territory of Bolivia on Sunday, President Pando decreed Bolivia in a state of siege. The quarrel arose over the disputed ownership of a rich rubber district. [The present trouble in Bolivia has arisen over an agreement made by that country- with a United States syndicate in the early part of this year. The syndicate asked for a concession over a vast area, of rubber forests in the territory along the Acre (or Aquiry) River, a tributary of the Purus, which flows into the Amazon. Bolivia agreed to a lease giving the syndicate powers of internal administration and the use of military force, thus practically abrogating her own sovereign rights. The other South American republics looked upon the agreement with disfavour arid distrust, fearing it would lead to the United States gaining a permanent foothold upon the southern continent — a thing which they look forward to with dread. Brazil was most nearly concerned, as all communication with the Acre district is by the inland waterways in her territory. She took prompt action, and in April sent a note of protest to the Bolivian Government, at the same, time asking Congress to withdraw the treaty of navigation and commerce with Bolivia which had been submitted to it. It was also pointed out that the territory leased by Bolivia was the subject of contention with another nation— Peru.3