BIKINI ATOLL

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 150, 1 July 1946, Page 5

BIKINI ATOLL

3400 MILES FROM HERE Bikini, which is about 3400 miles north of Vvanganui, has been inhabited lor centuries by a small group of natives, who knew nothing mucn of the outside world until the adjacent islands passed under the control ot the Spanish. The latter were succeeded by the Germans Finally, the Marshalls were taken over by the Japanese— part of the price that the Allies had to pay for the services of Japan in the First World War. The islands north ot the line, following the Japanese occupation, then became a sealed book. ft was known that the new owners, desp.te the fact that they held them only by mandate from the League of Nations, were carrying out important fortilications. Bikini, however, was not among the islands on which fortifications were set up. Early last month a train left Washington for the Pacific Coast carrying more than 230 observers who will witness the test. Among them were 14 American scientists, one British, one French, one Chinese, two Polish, two Dutch, two Egyptian, and two Russians. The party comprised physicists, mathematicians, geologists, oceanographers, bioloists, chemists, bio-chemists metallurgists, and engineers.

The cost of the Bikini experiment is estimated at approximately 500,000,000 dollars. The original value of the ships which are being used was 400,000,000 dollars, but most of them were already -scheduled for the junk heap, and their scrap value is probably not more than 4,000,000 dollars. Despite the enormous cost, the service experts of the United States contend that the experiment will be cheap, because they regard it as a form of insurance for the future defence of their country.