USE OF ATOMIC POWER

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23278, 14 August 1945, Page 5

USE OF ATOMIC POWER

Progress Or Havoc? Co-operation Imperative By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright (Rec 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Aug. 12. “After I issued my statement on the day of the first atomic bomb, the blast and terrible effects of the new invention made themselves felt and the last of our enemies has offered to surrender,” said the Prime Minister (Mr Attlee) in a statement from No. 10 Downing Street.

“Tile events of these tremendous days reinforce the words in that statement to the effect that we must f’ay that the discovery which led to the production of the atomic bomb will be made conducive to peace between nations and that, instead of wreaking measureless havoc upon the entire globe, it would be a perennial fountain for world prosperity,” he added.

“President Truman, in a broadcast on Thursday, spoke of the preparation of plans for the future control of the bomb and of the request to Congress to co-operate in order that its produc-

tion and use may be controlled and its power made an overwhelming influence for world peace. It is the intention of his Majesty's Government to put all efforts into the promotion of the objects thus foreshadowed and will lend full co-operation to that end.” Detonated at Height A War Department statement said that the atomic bomb detonated in combat at such a height above the ground as to give the maximum blast effect against structures and to disseminate radio active products as a cloud. Dut to the height of the explosion, practically all radio active products were carried upward in a column of hot air, which dispersed harmlessly over a wide area. Even in the New Mexico test, where the height of the explosion was necessarily low, only a very small fraction of radio activity was deposited immediately under the bomb. It is now revealed that Britain was prepared for the possibility of a German atomic bomb attack last August says the “Daily Telegraph.” A secret memorandum was sent to the chiefs of Scotia: id Yard, provincial chiefs, constables, senior officials and defence services revealing the expected effect c: the atomic bomb and prompt measures to cope with widespread devastation expected if the Germans succeeded in sending atomic bombs to Britain. Reports received from British Continental agents indicated that German scientists were experimenting with atomic bombs in Norway. A bomb, reported to have been launched by catapult, had an explosive radius of more than two miles. The Government seriously considered the reports in view of its own progress on the atomic bomb, and thousands of men and women, police and civil defence workers, were' held in readiness for several months until reliable agents from Germany reported hat the test had proved a failure.