ATOMIC ENERGY CONTROL

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 249, 2 August 1946, Page 3

ATOMIC ENERGY CONTROL

SOVIET ATTITUDE EXPLAINED SYSTEM OF INSPECTION DISCOUNTED (N.Z. Press Association —Copyright.) NEW YORK, July 31. Mr A. A. Gromyko (Russia) told a private meeting of the Control Committee of the Atomic Commission that it was a misinterpretation of the Soviet’s proposals to suggest the Soviet favoured only national action against the violators of any treaty for outlawing

atomic weapons. The Soviet plan, lie said, presupposed that the Security Council should take international action and, if necessary, impose sanctions for violations. The importance of the system of inspection, on which the United States laid such emphasis, was greatly exaggerated. No inspection could guarantee peace and security. The only guarantee .of control was co-operation among the nations. Only if treaties were strictly observed was it possible to imagine the continued existence of the United Nations.

IF was neither right nor lawful for any country to say ‘‘either accept our plan or we will refuse to conclude the convention,” lie continued. The peoples of the world would not understand such an attitude.

Mi Gromyko spoke as the result of requests that he should explain the Soviet plan in greater detail. M. Alevandre TParodi (France) said the Commission had been working fast, but so far had found only obstacles to agreement. He suggested that the committee should ask the scientific and ' technical committee whether effective control was possible and how it was best achievable, upon which Mr Gromyko remarked that nobody questioned that there should be some kind of control.

M* Parodi’s suggestion was adopted