WAR NOW INEVITABLE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 540, 18 December 1928, Page 9

WAR NOW INEVITABLE

BOLIVIA AND PARAGUAY SECOND FORT ASSAILED (United P.A.—By Telegraph—Copyright j (Australian and N.Z. Press Association) ( United Service) VANCOUVER, Monday. Energetic fighting continues between the .Bolivian and Paraguayan troops, and excitement is running high. Official advices from the Paraguayan Government to its legation at Washington were received last night stating: “Bolivia has opened war activities against Paraguay.” Bolivian troops attacked Fort Mariscul Lopez, in the Gran Chaco territory. They drove back the Paraguayan defenders, who were forced to retreat after an "energetic resistance.” GREAT ENTHUSIASM It is also reported that Paraguayan troops are occupying the forts at Valoys and Riverola, and that general Guemes has retired to the base “in viejv of an advance by Bolivian troops.” Greatly intensified military activity is reported to be taking place along the frontier. The danger of open war with Bolivia has become more acute, as the people of Paraguay have demonstrated in favour of the Government’s mobilisation action. Over 10,000 men volunteered to fight, amid scenes of great enthusiasm, and the capital and provincial districts are gripped by a tremendous excitement. Reports state that Bolivian troops are massing in the region of the Mennonite settlements. It is also reported that a Bolivian' airman dropped four bombs in Paraguayan territory. The bombs, however, failed to explode. A number of retired Chilean officers have offered to aid Paraguay if necessary. SLENDER PEACE HOPE A message from La Paz, the capital of Bolivia, says the populace of Bolivia is in a high pitch of excitement as a result of official reports of a Bolivian victory yesterday over the Paraguayan troops on the frontier. Hopes for a pacific settlement of the trouble have been brought to a low ebb. Little response has been given to the suggestions for a settlement advanced by the Council of the League of Nations. A Note addressed to the League by the Bolivian Government stxited that the encounter was a “logical consequence of aggression instituted by Paraguay.” The Bolivian Foreign Minister, Dr. Thomas Elio, has announced that the Pope and the King of Spain are among those who have offered their good offices toward a settlement of the dispute. Unofficial reports of the fighting in the Gran Chaco district state that more than 100 Paraguayan soldiers were killed, but that the Bolivian losses were light. The Bolivians captured many prisoners.