SCIENCE'S DUTY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21801, 25 August 1945, Page 5

SCIENCE'S DUTY

SERVE HUMANITY ATOMIC WEAPONS MR. BEVIN'S THEORIES (10 a.m.) LONDON, Aug. 24. “It is the Government’s aim in the world organisation that we should eliminate the desire to exploit the discoveries of science for war and turn them into channels where they can serve humanity,” declared the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Ernest Bevin, in the House of Commons, winding up the United Nations Charter debate. He added that the advent of the atomic bomb and other forms of explosives made it apparent that in the future statesmen would have to be more conscious of the necessity of making the world organisation operate than of merely formulating rules. It was not only the atomic bomb but the whole advance of science in the field of war which must be controlled. This was the world organisation’s task. Policy made wars, not intentions alone. It was the Government’s duty to try to ensure that the policy which Britain and the world followed did not lead hack to war. They had to remove the intention to go to war and direct the mind of the collective Governments to the ideal of a peaceful settlement based on economic and social justice. He had been asked: “Why not give the secret of the atomic bomb to the Big Three?” His answer would be: “To whom are we to give the secrets —merely to three, or five or to the world organisation? I think we must postpone consideration of this question until the world organisation is established and we can see clearly how the matter stands.” Mr. Bevin added that they must aim at turning the attention of the peoples of the world towards the immense powers of modern science to serve human advancement. Scientists did not set out to split the atom for the purposse of war. He was perfectly certain that the New Zealander, the late Lord Rutherford, had net any idea of war, only scientific curiosity in order to master the forces of Nature.