BORDER COMEDY.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1920, Page 11

BORDER COMEDY.

DUTCH-BELGIAN TERRITORIAL DISPUTE. THE, TWO BAERLES. Some time ago it was announced that the .Dutch authorities wero engaged in making an inquiry at Baerle into the quantity of land cultivated by Belgians on Dutch territory on the one hand and that cultivated by Dutchman on Belgian territory on the other (says the Brussels correspondent of the Morning Post). The question naturally arises whether this inquiry is being made with a view to rectification of the frontier. Is it really a fact that Holland in a spirit of forgiveness towards those naughty children, the Belgians, whom she jield so long under her sway, contemplates the throwing of a sop to them? Will there be an exchange of territory like that which was proposed in iSfl-2 'but did not materialise in view of the concern manifested by the Belgian inhabitants of Baerle-Hertog, whose village it was sought to deliver over to Holland? We must wait and see. Most likely that we shall, eventually learn something on the subject, as also of the solution of the vital problems of the lower Scheldt and the Mi-use in Lemberg. The existence of the twin villages named Baerle is one of the most curious geographical and political anomalies in Europe. Baerle is situated on the railway line from Turnhout to Tillburg, about midway between those two towns] Completely. separated from the province of Antwerp by Dutch territory, it is divided into two urban districts, BaerleHertog. which is Belgian, and BaerleNassau, which is Dutch. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the topographical division of the two villages is of the most irregular character. Moreover, the Belgian portion is linked up for municipal purposes with the hamlet of Zondereygen, which is completely isolated within the province of Antwerp. Baerle-Hertog has 1400 inhabitants, and Baerle-Xassaii.2(loo. including the hamlets of Casterle ' and t'liooten, which are at a considerable distance from the centre.

Belgian houses have gardens on Dutch territory, and vice versa. In the hamlet of Looveren one house, has two rooms in Belgium. That estimable man M. van Gilse, the Belgian Burgomaster, cannot .proceed from his residence to the parish hall without crossing Dutch territory. The two Bacrles are provided with "a Dutch railway station, which is largely on Belgian territory. The frontier station at Bacrie Grons was partly occupied during the war by German troops. Such a singular state of things might have had its advantages bad that portion of Belgian territory which was held with so much tenacity by King Albert's troops, fallen into the hands of the enemy, for in that case there would still have remained one little spot, Baerle, where the Belgian flag would have still been flown on the summit of the old Gothic tower of St. Remi, which is surmounted by a model of the Imperial crown of Charles Quint. All through the war taxes were levied there for the defence of Belgium recruiting for the King's Army continued, and Belgian postage stamps were issued from the local post office. The French Government having granted to the headquarters of the Belgian Government in France, the privilege of extra territoriality, it was possible to send a halfpenny postcard from Baerle-Hertog to SainteAdresse.

But the most amusing part of the business concerns the wireless telegraph station. The Dutch, who are a phlegmatic people without any very great sense of humor, have not" yet forgiven us for what happened there. One day they were informed that it was intended in the isolated portion of Baerle-Hertog, to construct some hutments for refugee's in Dutch territory. With stupefaction the Dutch soldiers and Custom House officers one morning became aware that an enormous structure had been erectedthere. It was the wireless telegraph station, the material of which the Belgians had been engaged for months in smuggling across the frontier bit by bit. Then came the difficulty of conveying supplies to the operators, but this was got over with much painstaking ingenuity. Tho Germans were furious, and they made constant :omplaints to the authorities at the Hague. The station was of the utmost service to the Allies. In particular it was the means of tapping the messages of the Zeppelins en route from Cuxhaven to England, which proceeded by way of the islands of Tphsehclling and Sehiermouikoog. The legal complications to which the anomalous conditions at Baerle give rise can only be removed by a rectification of the Belgian-Dutch frontier. Let us hope that the Governments of the two countries concerned will succeed in finding a solution of the difficulty which will deal tenderly with the feelings of She populations 'affected. If not," one must despair of diplomacy.