U.N. Move T o Limit The Nuclear Club

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 29055, 18 November 1959, Page 15

U.N. Move T o Limit The Nuclear Club

(N.Z. Press Association-Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW YORK, November 16. The United Nations main Political Committee today suggested that the new 10nation disarmament body, which will begin talks in Geneva next year, should consider means of limiting the possession of nuclear weapons to the present “nuclear club” of Britain, the United States and Russia.

The committee adopted by 66 votes to nil with 13 abstentions —three delegations were absent—an Irish-sponsored resolution, solidly backed by New Zealand, to this effect.

dimensions of the problem of nuclear armament before its solution has passed entirely beyond our reach. “It does not underestimate the complexities of the problem, but it does propose an approach from which we trust practical measures of action will emerge,” he said.

General Assembly endorsement of the committee’s resolution was certain since it had already obtained the required two-thirds majority in the committee. The New Zealand delegate, Mr Foss Shanahan, said his Government favoured a “standstill agreement” subject to effective control, under which non-nuclear Powers would refrain from producing nuclear weapons. Mr Shanahan said his delegation “viewed with considerable sympathy” the initiative of the Irish delegation in bringing this matter before the United Nations.

“We are very conscious of the dangers which might arise if no effective steps are taken to limit the nature and extent of the disarmament problem,” he said.

•‘Unless such action is taken at the international level, more governments may feel impelled, for security reasons, to have nuclear weapons under their own political control. The complications that would thus be added to the already complex nature of the disarmament question are self-evident,” Mr Shanahan added. The New Zealand delegate, welcoming the suggestion made in the draft resolution, added that New Zealand would expect that full account be taken of the need to ensure that “measures of verification were universal in their application.” No region of the world must be immune from inspection and control, Mr Shanahan said. He said his delegation hoped that serious consideration would be given to the suggestion that countries possessing nuclear weapons should refrain from handing over control of them to other countries. “It is our view,” he said, “that the idea embodied in the draft resolution presented by the Irish delegation deserves widespread support.” “It underlines the urgency of devising measures to limit the