The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1928. BOLIVIAN-PARAGUAYAN DISPUTE.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11023, 20 December 1928, Page 4

The Pahiatua Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING THURSDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1928. BOLIVIAN-PARAGUAYAN DISPUTE.

This particular season A' the year has apparently no great significance for such countries as Bolivia and Paraguay. There has been another flare-up, with thte possible .prospects of bloodshed. For over fifty years these two States have disputed the ownership of certain lands in the Gran Chaco, and the last threat of hostilities was in 1894. On that-oc-casion a revolution in Paraguay put an abrupt end to that phase of the trouble, but tile territorial dispute remained. It has arisen, again probbably because the economic value of tlio Gran Chaco has now been proved. It comprises an area of about 300,000 square miles, and its timber resources are said to be practically inexhaustible. In addition there arc vast, • gently sloping plains, which have become of great value for the production of rubber, and, naturally, bath countries arc anxious to include the disputed area within their own boundaries. Bolivian history is one long record of territorial losses. Chile

and Peru took away her access to the sea, and Brazil seized part of the Gran Chr.ee, although it must bo said that the last-mentioned Republic did pay a sum in compensation for the land so taken. It would appear that, tlio Bolivians have new decided that what they claim to have, they mean to hold. The Great War added enormously to the financial strength of Bolivia. The country is rich in minerals, and when the war closed it was second on the list of tin-produc-ing countries. Of recent years, much British and American capital lias been invested, and there has been seme settlement on the Gran < liaco plains. All these developments, of course, make the disputed area a richer prize, and there may be some cliff cult y in getting Bolivian consent to methods of arbitration, ns she has Inst heavily in that way on previous occasions.