The Chaco Embargo Certain minor but hopeful developments have to
be recorded in the matter of the Chaco dispute between Bolivia and Paraguay. The two European States, Belgium and Norway, which were withholding full co-operation in the execution of the arms embargo agreement, have now come into line, and every State in Europe has now undertaken to prevent the export of arms from its territory. The embargo may not be completely effective, owing to the possibility of arms reaching one at least of the belligerents through some contiguous country, but it is something that the League should have established the principle, and shown that an arms embargo can exist in reality and not merely on paper. Our own Government is entitled to credit for initiating the proposal and driving it forward to success. The dispute may now enter a more interesting stage, for the sub-committee dealing with it is to make a report next week, and if that report is adopted unanimously by the League Council and by a majority of the Assembly (a special Assembly is likely to be summoned for the purpose) other means of pressure may be employed against whichever belligerent is held to be mainly in the wrong. The result may be the evolution of machinery suitable for application in case of need in more important cases.
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