REFERRED TO ARBITRATION.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 11505, 11 February 1903, Page 7

REFERRED TO ARBITRATION.

I (Received February 10th, 10.17 p.m.) NEW YORK, February 10. The dispute between Brazil and Bolivia over the Acre territory has been submitted to arbitration at the Hague Court. The long-standing dispute between Brazil and Bolivia over the "Acre Territory" culminated in Noremlber in a more or less serious military encounter. The district in question, which is said to -oe veay rich in forest* of the india-rufo-ber tree, is situated between, the Acre or Aquiry river, a sub-tributary of the Amazon, and the Madre do Dios river, at a point where the frontiers of Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru meet, and of late years a large number of Braziliane hove settled in the country. A large portion of the BoliviaBrazil boundary forms auutter for dispute, and in October, 1899, Jt was agreed to appoint a joint delimitation commission. The territory can be located only by the Teffe line of * 1874, formally accepted by both countries in 1896. After a long diplomatic controversy and after much trouble on the frontier, in which the Brazilians were guilty of invading Bolivian territory, and inciting a revolution there, Bolivia finally agreed in 1899 to a new survey of the Bio Javary. The Brazilian commission woe under the direction of Dr. Cruls, director of the Rio de Janeiro Observatory, and, according to recent report, he has located the source of thlalt river aibout halfway (between the latitudes given by Teffe and 1 Cunha Gomes, and a little to the west of the longitude given by the latter. This divides the contested terri'Dory into two almost equal parts, which should be satisfactory to 'both parties. Writing in November lost, an American journal said: — , "As Brazil is still dissatisfied and trouble still continues on the Bio Acre, it will be readily seen that there are reasons other than territory for the conflict. These reasons are—revenue and jealousy. The Brazilian States of Amazonae and Para do not wish to lose the export duties on the rubber from that region, much of which comes from Bolivian territory, and the citizens, if not the Government, of those two Spates are responsible for the revolutions that have occurred on the Acre, and for the opera bouffe republic established there by the Spanish adventurer, Luiz Galves. "The Brazilian Government, also, is secretly opposed to the development of Bolivian interests in the Amazon Valley, for that means a large increase of population there, the opening of commercial ports, and the free use of the Amazon and ite tributaries. Brazil does not wish to have the Amazon thrown open unreservedly to the commerce of the world in the interests of a competitor. She was compelled in the sixties to declare it open, but the declaration did not include all the tributaries, nor yet their whole navigable length. For example, the Madeira was opened only to Bprba. The Purus, of which the Acre is a tributary, is one of those not included. The .Jurua, whose free navigation is claimed by sPeru, was likewise not included. The Wilmington incident is an illustration of Braill's suspicion and jealousy, and the witbdrawal of the new commercial treaty with Bolivia last May is another. Thw treaty was signed on July 31st, 1896, and grants Bolivia a free outlet to the eea for her commerce, but it was held up in Congress nearly six years and tben withdrawn because of a Bolivian concession to an AngloAmerican syndicate for the development of territory on ti»e upper water* of the Purw and Jurua. The true reason for all this '* the secret, perhaps undefined, purpose of Braziliane to prevent Bolivian development in the Amazon Valley."