ATOM BOMB “GRAVE DANGER” TO PEACE: SOVIET BARS CONTROL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22757, 1 October 1948, Page 5

ATOM BOMB “GRAVE DANGER” TO PEACE: SOVIET BARS CONTROL

(N.Z.P.A,—R«ut«r— Copyright.)

(10 a.m.) . PARIS, Sept. 30. “New atomic bombs far more powerful than those dropped oa Japan were capable of bringing to an end civilisation as we know it,” said General McNaughton, president of the Canadian Atomic Energy Control Board, in opening the debate on atomic energy in the United Nations Political Committee. He added that the United States was the only nation in the world with enough atom bombs to wage an atomic war.

No Adequate Safeguards

General McNaughton expressed the hope tha* the debate in the General Assembly, following the collapse of negotiations in the Atomic Energy Commission and the Russian veto in the Security Council, would create a basis for resumed negotiations between East and West. He praised the United States plan for international control of atomic energy and said that the Russian plan would not provide adequate safeguards. “Control, as envisaged by the Soviet plan, would merely seriously reduce the military strength of the United States which is the only nation in possession of atom bombs, at least in any amount capable of being used for an atomic • war,” he said. Russia’s Attitude Deplored General McNaughton said that Canada asked the political committee- to recognise “grave dangers to international peace and security” resulting from the lack of atomic energy control. Canada, he said, blamed Russia for its absence of control. General McNaughton tabled a reso-* lution deploring Russia’s attitude and calling upon all nations to fufill their responsibilities to the world community by accepting the necessary basis for such control as was approved by the Atomic Energy Commission. The preamble to the resolution recognises “no alternative to the voluntary sharing by nations of .their sovereignty” in the atomic field if the world is to survive the atomic age.

General McNaughton called upon the General Assembly to approve of the United States plan for atomic control and urged all United Nations’ members to accept the plan as the basis for the development of international control. “Sovereignty Above Security” The United States delegate, Mr. Warren Austin, attacked the Soviet plan for outlawing the bomb without effective international control. He said that slow progress on this problem was not the fault of the West but of Russia. Fear has supplanted hope because the Soviet Union insists upon placing its sovereignty above the security and survival of all,” he said. “We must have some collective effort tc lift this atomic discovery from death to lifeIf the United States alone controlled atomic energy, it could have a relatively brief term of security. “Only by international safeguards against the use of atomic energy for destructive purposes can we secure long-term security.” At the request of the Soviet delegate, M. Vyshinsky, the committee adjourned to study the Canadian resolution. American Offer Still Open Mr. Austin said the United States’ offer to place its present monopoly of atomic energy development under international control, with adequate security safeguards, still stood. The United States was willing to submit to international control and inspection because Americans “want peace for the world, for themselves and for their children.” The Associated Press correspondent says the adoption of the Canadian reso-lution-by the political committee would forecast its adoption by the full Assembly, because all member nations are represented in the committee.