A BORDER DISPUTE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 149, 25 May 1934, Page 6

A BORDER DISPUTE.

In accepting conditions for settlement of the Leticia dispute, drawn up by the Brazilian Foreign Minister, Peru and Colombia have shown a praiseworthy disposition for an amicable agreement. A year ago both countries agreed to settle their differences by bringing them to the conference table, and an Administrative Commission for the government of Leticia was approved by the League of Nations Council. The League had found Peru guilty of a provocative act in seizing the border town. It ruled that Leticia and the adjacent territory were under Colombian sovereignty according to a treaty between the two countries. The disputed area lies between the Amazon and Putumayo Rivers, and is about 50 miles wide and 100 miles long. The town was seized by Peruvian troops who had the support of the military' authorities of the Peruvian Department of Loreto. More significant still was the approval of the Peruvian Minister of Foreign Affairs to the illegal seizure. The basis of the League Council’s settlement was the evacuation by Peru of the disputed territory and withdrawal of support from the Peruvians in occupation, and then negotiations for a defined frontier. The inaccessible nature of the scene of conflict alone prevented a clash of arms more serious than happened in the early stages of the affair, and now, with the'acceptance of a formula for a final settlement, both Peru and Colombia in effect affirm the value of arbitration which Bolivia and Paraguay deny in the Gran Chaco War. Since the Leticia affair occurred Colombia has had a peaceful Presidential election, in which a Liberal candidate was returned to office, with an able executive. Referred to as the most stable of the Latin republics of South, America, Colombia has as her new President Senor Lopez, a former Minister to Great Britain, whose broad experience and capacity to administer his country with courage and wisdom may largely be responsible for the disposition to make the Leticia affair the means of improving the relatione with Peru, rather than widening the gulf that in the earliest stages threatened to bring war and its horrors to both.