WAR NOW CERTAIN

Hokitika Guardian, 4 August 1932, Page 5

WAR NOW CERTAIN

IN S. AMERICA BOLIVIA-PARAGUAYAN DISPUTE. (United Press Association —lly Electric Teiegraph—Copyright.) (Received this day at 10.15 a.m.) LA pAZ (Iktlivia) August 3. The Ministry of War to-day ordered the mobilisation of a.l classes v youth bctufceii lAventy-two and tw.ulynir.a <in anticipation uf war with D.uaguay in tj:e Chaco region. A hi;,:. official states that Bolivia, will inform the League of Nations that an immedia,t!j. settlieinemt of th;-. Chaco depute must 1.0 brought about or she wi'-'l go to war.

PARAGUAYAN WOMEN URGE AVAR

DEMAND FOR ACTIVE' SEE,VICE.

ASUNCION (Paraguay), Aug. 3,

Hundreds of excited Paraguayan women, society belles, debutantes and broad shouldered farm wives, desieged the Government to-day demanding the right to go to war. They came by dozens hanging on the trucks and waggons. Crowding but of the trains, they rushed for the. stadium where recruiting activities- wieire going on in anticipation of war with Bolivia. The women demanded active service on the battkfroafc, The Government regards this as impossible in the dleop Chaco wilderness where even the. mildest non-combatant service i/a considered too severe for women. Officials tried to suggest service in a civilian capacity at home ; filling the positions vacated by the men, but 7 the women scoffed, insisting that, if Paraguay gioes to war, their place should be in Chaco, not at home. In a proclamation, President Girgiari called upon the army to prepare to achieve deedb of prowess. Five hundred Paraguayan soldiers, the first to leave here for the front to engage in undeclared war against Bolivia, started up the river to-day, toward Chaco. There was considerable confusion and almost disaster at the start, so eager were thei linen to join up. Three hundred volunteers stormed the vessel and nearly capsized her. They were ejected.During the night twelve hundred men reached the capital answering mobilisation orders. Most of them are- college students and schoolboys. Ca.ptain Almouaeia the Argentine flier, who served with the French during the War, arrived from Buenos Aireis to train the Paraguayan air corps.

NEUTRALITY OF ARGENTINE/. TUCUMAN (Argentina), Aug. 3. Twenty battalions of Argentine infantry, and one battalion of engineers were ordered to proceed to the Bolivian frontier to maintain Argentine neutrality in the Bolivian-Paraguayan dispute.

BOLIVIA NOT GOING BACK

DETERMINED TO SECURE PORT. LA PAZ (Bolivia), August 3. Bolivia flatly declared her determination to win an outlet to the.sea on .the banks of the Paraguay River in. a message to-day which amounted to r jeetion of the latest peace plead of the .neutrals at Washington. The land-looked nation., which hag long been frustrated in her struggle for a seaport, said that she was determined to press for a final solution of the Gran Chaco dispute with Paraguay, even if armed force was necessary. The note continued: “We are not interested in investigations which do riot define the fundamental question. Bolivia desires a final solution of the dispute arid does not want always to be on guard in the Chaco repulsing Paraguayan advances. For this reason this country is reaching forth all her for cog to solve the dispute, even by foroe of arms. We are defending territory which is ours historically. We have a right to a bank on the River Paraguay.”

BOLIVIA REPLIES TO LEAGUE. (Received this day at 11.15 a.m.) LA PAZ (Bolivia), August 3. The Foreign Offce has informed the League of Nations to-day that Bolivia does not decline pacific means for solution of the controversy rvith T*araquay over the Gran Chaco territory. Responding to the League’s communications asking that war be averted the Government recited its version of the' conflict, concluding: “These facts place Paraquny outside the law and oblige us to defend ourselves energetically.”

INTERVENTION OF AMERICA. WASHINGTON, August 3. Bolivia and Paraquay are requested to end hostilities and submit to neutral proposals to avoid war, in a joint note, signed to-day by representatives of the United States and eighteen other American republics.