ALLEGED DISTORTION

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 5, 21 December 1928, Page 9

ALLEGED DISTORTION

BOLIYIA>-FAKAOIAX DISPUTE, PROTEST TO LEAGUE.

GENEVA, December IS. The Paraguayan Minister lit Paris protest's to M. Briand against' the “unheard-of distortion of truth by Bolivia, which, without a declaration of war, attacked certain positions and made an aerial bombardment. “The Bolivian arguments seek to conceal that her design was deliberate aggression by presenting herself as the victim.- Paraguay, having asked for an inquiry and accepted a peaceful procedure, is not the aggressor.” I ' The Bolivian Legation has issued a statement contradicting the Paraguayan account of the opening of hostilities.

The Bolivian Foreign Minister has notified M. Briand that the commanders of military, post s have been instructed to confine themselves purely to defensive measures. He declares Paraguay has ordered the mobilisation of all classes from IS to 28 years of age. The Paraguayan Foreign Minister denies that Paraguayan detachments attacked Bolivian outposts, and asserts that Bolivia invaded Paraguay without declaring war. Bolivia has accepted the offices of the Pan-American Conference for an investigation of the conflict. . j For ithe first time in history the, newest and most rapid means of communication, ’wireless (telephony, was used in the efforts to settle the differences between the two nations. M. Bertheloy, under instructions from

M.'Briand, spoke for som e time to M. Clinchent, French .Ambassador at Buenos Ayres, learning the latest information in connection with the dispute arid,transmitting M. Briand's in structions from Paris.-