FRONTIER CLASH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20065, 11 October 1939, Page 10

FRONTIER CLASH

RUMANIA & HUNGARY USE OF RIVER LINKED TO LUMBER WAR TERRITORIAL CLAIMS Discussion on questions involving the right of Rumanian and Hungarian lumbermen to float rafts down a 40mile section of the Tisza River is be-, ing resumed at Sinaia, Rumania, by experts jof both countries, says the Christian Science Monitor. The river lias formed a part of the Rumanian- • Hungarian frontier since the annexation ,of Ruthenia .eastern tip of former Czechoslovakia, by Hungary in March. Appointment of a mixed military c jmmission to determine responsibility . i three serious border incidents dur-■in-j one week cleared the way for negotiations. These incidents, which >< •} alleged to have been accompanied by shooting from both sides, resulted f cm attempts on the part of lumbermen of both countries to float rafts in disregard of official closure of the 'river to navigation by both Governments pending conclusion of a regula-Jtir-y treaty by the commission at • C. iaia. ■ ■ j Hungarians justify their lumbermen • claiming they have paid 20,000 lei 5000) for temporary navigation visits. Her Source of Supply before the World War, the region «■ ’ .both'sides of the upper Tisza River i longed to Hungary, and the Ruth,e ijan and Transylvanian Mountains i-juplied Hungarian industry with all i 'iessary lumber. Thousands of rafts Cere floated down the Tisza each year Wit uSe. in factories along the Danube. When Hungary lost Ruthenia and -'i’ransylvania by the Treaty of Trianon In 1919, the entire lumber supply was out off. A tariff war with Czechoslovakia and Rumania prevented Hungary from purchasing lumber, and the resulting shortage was one reason • given for Hungary’s absorption of Ruthenia when Herr Hitler took over Bohemia and Moravia in March. '.. Hungary has rapidly begun to draw On Ruthenian lumber supply and rafts’ are; again beginning to find their ! way down the Tisza to the Danube. Rumanian lumber also goes down the river- part way, and as the Tisza is ■pot an’ international river like the Danube or the St. Lawrence—no international agreement for its control having been arranged—an agreement regulating its use has become neces„:sary; , Use of the river caused no friction ' Cwhile Ruthenia was under Czechoslovakia, because Rumania and the '■Czech Republic were good friends and ■partners in the Little Entente. Transported By Rail H Moreover, Ruthenian lumber was transported by rail to the Czech ini dustrial centres ,in Bohemia, and there was no competition for the use * 'of the river. Because of the high cost ■of such transportation and the abund-

ance of lumber in other parts of Czechoslovakia, the Ruthenian lumber industry is said to have suffered considerable losses. The real cause for the border incidents and the difficulty in reaching a quick settlement is believed by some observers to lie in the general tension between the two countries following Hungary’s expansion in March, and its signing of the Anti-Comintern Pact. It is well known that Hungary has territorial claims on the Rumanian province of Transylvania, which is inhabited by 1,500,000 persons of Hungarian descent. Hungarian organisations have carried on propaganda there since the war and Rumanians are concerned lest Germany and Italy might help Hungary in an attempt to annex Transylvania. As a result, tension has* continued and both countries have maintained armed forces on their frontiers as a “precautionary measure.”