The Press WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1959. Progress Towards Nuclear Test Ban

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28793, 14 January 1959, Page 10

The Press WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1959. Progress Towards Nuclear Test Ban

Rejoicing about the Geneva talks on the suspension of nuclear tests would still be premature; but there are grounds - for sober optimism. The conference—among the United States, Britain, and the Soviet—opened cm October 31 last year. For more than a month, there was no progress while the delegations argued about an agenda. The Russians insisted that a start should be made by condemning all tests for all time, after which control could be discussed. The Western Powers were equally insistent that suspension and control should go hand in hand. On December 4, an ad hoc committee was set up to draft an agreement. When the conference adjourned on December 19 until January 5, four articles of the draft agreement had been approved. The first pledges the three Powers not to carry out tests on territory under their control, and not to take part in or encourage tests in other States. The second embodies the obligation to co-operate with the control organisation to be established. The third says the control organisation will consist of a control commission, a detection system, a chief administrator, and a conference of the parties to the treaty. The fourth says the control commission will consist of the three nuclear Powers and four other countries -which they will elect. Approval of these articles resulted from Russian concessions, first, that agreement on control is essential to any worth-while treaty; and, second, that the control commission should consist of seven Powers, and not only the three nuclear Powers, as the Soviet had originally proposed. But much more substantial Soviet concessions will be needed for the conference to succeed; and they will certainly be more difficult to secure. On December 24, officials of the United States State Department predicted that, if the Russians really wanted a ban on nuclear tests, they would come to terms before March'3l. The American officials, according to the “New York Times”, believe the Russians want a ban because their military leaders think their stock of

nuclear weapons is sufficient; their political leaders think that, since Russia has taken the lead in promoting the ban, its achievement would be a propaganda' triumph; and their scientists and other intellectuals are vividly aware of the horrors of atomic warfare. Since the Geneva talks. adjourned for Christmas, both . the United States and the Soviet have demonstrated, even more clearly than before, their ability to guide nuclear missiles to any target on earth. They have also forecast the production of satellites from which the constant surveillance of any part of the globe will be practicable, and from which nuclear weapons may be discharged. These developments render academic earlier arguments about the supervision of warlike manoeuvres.

The Western Powers, in their attempts to promote world stability and end the cold war, look back on a long series of frustrating, inconclusive negotiations with the Soviet. Nevertheless, the Geneva nuclear conference seems to hold more chance of success than any other since the Austrian Treaty was signed in 1955. Both East and West may be surfeited with nuclear tests and weapons. Agreement to end tests might lead to progress towards general disarmament. '■ Though the Russians have recognised the principle of international control over nuclear tests, there has been till now a basic cleavage on the nature of control. This applies to the composition of inspection teams, of which there may be 180 throughout the world. The Western Powers want each team to be truly international; the Russians want to staff- the posts in their own country themselves. The Western delegates are hopeful that the Russians will accept their insistence that an inter-nationally-supervised exception to the test ban should be made for peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The latest reports of Russian compromise proposals in Geneva encourage, restrained

confidence that, at last, something is being achieved. But no-one should yet conclude that the Russians are prepared to end the cold war for anything less than their own full price.