The Press FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1968. The Omega Report

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31753, 9 August 1968, Page 10

The Press FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1968. The Omega Report

The report of a committee of the Royal Society of New Zealand on the Omega navigation system does not, of itself, dispose of all the arguments raised by those who have opposed the building of a station in New Zealand. It does clarify the significance of many facts; and the impartial scientific approach of the committee has put some matters of speculation into perspective. The report draws no positive conclusions; it should help those who have open minds to make up their minds. At least it disposes of the far-fetched ideas of those who profess to see a sinister plot in New Zealand’s participation in a world-wide, general-purpose navigation system, although it may not persuade some opponents to abandon a campaign never noted for its reliance on the careful sifting of facts, and most notable for the rapidity with which new and increasingly speculative arguments have had to be supplied to sustain a shaky cause. The publication of the report was preceded by the appearance of a pamphlet from the Canterbury University Students’ Association Omega Action Committee. This pamphlet confuses navigation signals with communication signals; says, erroneously, that Omega signals are immune to the ionospheric disturbances of nuclear explosions; ignores the facts on the international, non-military control of the Omega stations; overlooks the vulnerability of the svstem: and pretends that, because a nearby station cannot be used by navigators, the other stations do not complete the global effectiveness of the whole system. (The Royal Society notes one area in which the signals might be deficient—in the centre of the Asian land mass.) It is significant that this document, which is unworthy of the imprint of a students’ association, should have been prepared and distributed before its authors had had the opportunity of examining the report of the Royal Society’s committee.

Whatever the theoretical possibilities of the svstem, the fact remains that Omega was conceived, developed, and tested as a general-purpose navigation system and will be used as such. It may not be working until 1975—hardly evidence of its being of critical value to nuclear submarines. None of the proposed arrangements for its control and management suggest that it might be used exclusively by one nation in the event of war. The one doubt expressed by the committee about the presence of an Omega station in New Zealand concerns the effect of transmissions on very-low-frequency radio research.

The opponents of the system, who at first complained that its purpose was to facilitate the more accurate navigation of nuclear submarines, later changed their ground to the Government’s supposed unwillingness to supply information. When information was supplied the objectors said that the Government’s advisers were inadequately informed. The same charge will no doubt be levelled against the Royal Society. There remains perhaps only one comment to be made, and it concerns the tenacity of the objectors. The progress of humanity, uneven as it is, depends increasingly upon co-operation between nations. The richer nations are constantly being urged to share their wealth and skills. Many countries are familiar with arrangements to supply services for the benefit of others as well as of themselves. New Zealanders now have, almost for the first time, the possibility of participating in such a service.