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VI. GENERAL DEBATE After the elections to the Security Council and Economic and Social Council had taken place, the Assembly devoted the first days of its Session to a general debate on the report of the Preparatory Commission. Delegates from the following countries took advantage of this debate to state on broad lines the attitudes of their Governments to the United Nations United States, Brazil, Chile, Iran, China, Denmark, Netherlands, El Salvador, Ecuador, Norway, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Poland, Haiti, United Kingdom, Peru, Bolivia, Czechoslovakia, Costa Rica, Yugoslavia, Union of Socialist Soviet Republics, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Canada, Greece, Uruguay, Venezuela, India, New Zealand, Byelorussian Socialist Soviet Republic, Australia, Luxembourg, Belgium. Mr Fraser in his speech made the following points:— On the League and the United Nations—- " The League of Nations, with its many great and beneficial achievements, failed to stop world-wide aggression at its initial stages, and finally collapsed. The fear in the minds of millions to-day—and we ought to realize it —is' that the United Nations will tread the same disastrous path. Judging by some unfortunate signs of the times, there is, in many parts of the world, no evidence of undue haste to subordinate any particular national interests for the common good." On the Charter — " A. number of delegates have referred to, and rightly acknowledged, the admitted defects in the Charter. The most conspicuous of these defects is the failure to include as a positive aim of the Qrganization the preservation against external aggression of the territorial integrity and political independence of every member, and a pledge to resist collectively such aggression. " Then of course the Veto remains, in my opinion, as a blot upon the Charter. However, I believe it is so bad, so completely bad, that it will not conceivably be used except as a last desperate throw of one of the large powers labouring under a sense of guilt, or complete lack of faith and trust in the combined fairness and. sense of justice of the other members of the Security"Council. In any case, its use would be such a shock 'to the nations as to endanger the whole structure of the United Nations." On Atomic Energy — " In regard to the draft resolution concerning the establishment of the proposed commission to deal with the problem raised by the discovery of atomic energy, we are not completely satisfied that the procedure suggested in the resolution is the best possible. We think that better account would be taken of the many sided nature of the problem if the Commission were to work under the direction of the General Assembly." On the Economic and Social Council—- " New Zealand hopes to play her part in the fulfilment of the objectives of economic and social co-operation outlined in the Charter."

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