OCR Text |
Show Events Moving Swiftly to Conclusion Con-clusion of Dispute on Strip o Land BUENOS AIRES. June ZZ. Purchases Pur-chases by Chile of the British dreadnought. dread-nought. Canada, and two British destroyers de-stroyers is regarded by diplomatic circles here as an indication that events are moving swiftly toward a definite conclusion of the Tacna-Arlca controversy between Chile and Peru. This dispute has long threatened the( peace of South America. It is consld-, ered that such an increase in Chile's naval power must have an important' bearing on tho settlement of the inter-1 national dispute for the possession of the port of Africa now held by Chile but claimed by both Peru and Bolivia.. Powerful Argument I While Chile's naval forces already exceed those of Peru, it Is pointed out that the acquisition nt this time of three fighting ships would constitute a powerful argument to enforce a settlement set-tlement of the differences between the two nations over the title to the two Pacific provinces. Peru's seaports, naturally, would bo at the mercy of Chile in any resort to arms. Purchase of the- vessels at this time is believed in some quarters to be especially sicnificont In view of a widely hold opinion that the! Tacna-Arlca dispute .' will reach a definite, crisis , within, a year. Well informed observers say Peru will I likely seek a settlement of the question1 before the league of nations of which! she is a 'member. She is unable to, reach an agreement with Chile on the! long delayed plebiscite which was to determine tho sovereignity of the pro-! vinces and the opinion is held here! that she can expect nb arbitral aid. from the United States owing to thci fact that (he American, government in a recent note to Ch'Ie accepted a policy of "non-intervention" in the Tacna and Arlca case. Resist. League Hand Chile, on the oiher hand, will resist re-sist interference bv the league of nations, na-tions, it is believed, having unequivocally unequivo-cally made her position clear in a reply re-ply to a note of the United States saying that she will not accept inter-; I vention "from any power or powers." 'Chile's position is that under the terms of the treaty of Ancon, her ! rights are so clear thut there is nothing noth-ing to arbitrate. Consequently, it is predicted that Chile will hasten the d'spute to a conclusion before it reaches the stage of consideration by the league of na-i tlons. with the idea of presinting the league with an accomplished fact, thus forestalling Peru's attempt to gain in arbitration. This "accomplished fact," it is asserted, as-serted, would be the cession to Bolivia of the port of Arlca in return presumably presum-ably for certain compensations. Whatever may be the official atti-1 atti-1 tudc of the Chilean government and I notwithstanding its repudiation ofi ! Peruvian charges that it has instigated! uonvia. J1K"-1"01- in i 'a . urn known fact in fouth America that Chile'3 publicist , and statesmen are entirely in sympathy with Bolivian as- piratlons for an outlet to tho Pacific It is not regarded as strange, therefore, there-fore, that predictions are heard that when the Tacna-Arica controversy comes to a crisis, it will be seen that Chile is supporting Bolivia's claims. |