The Special Committee of the Pan-American Conference `has drawn up
a Protocol of Conciliation for ratification by Bolivia and Paraguay. This is the first step towards a, settlement of the territorial dispute about the Chaco. When we write Bolivia and Paraguay are still disputing the terms of reference to the panel of judges who will -try-to settle the dispute. -Apparently both of them want to submit to the panel only the immediate question of the ownership of places on the frontier where the fighting occurred, and to leave till later (and perhaps to another tribunal) the decision as to sovereignty over the whole of the Chaco. The panel of judges is expected- to sit for six months at least, and if it cannot produce agreement it will no doubt publish the facts and perhaps lay the blame where it is deserved. The Washington corre- spondent of the Times says that the whole controversy has suggested the desirability of some permanent Pan- American machinery for disputes of this nature.
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