The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1946 THE HOPE OF THE WORLD

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 39, 15 January 1946, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1946 THE HOPE OF THE WORLD

NEVER before in the historyo f mankind has the assemblage of so many national delegates for the sole purpose 01 preserving peace taken place, as that which now attends the first-momentous meeting of the United Nations Assembly in London. That the Prime Minister of New Zealand has been elected to such a position of prominence is an honour not to be ignored, but in speaking of the. gathering of 2000 delegates one must endeavour to always entertain the broad outcome upon which so much will depend, Ase As* sembly is broad-based upon the articles laid down by the famous Atlantic Charter, and their interpretation will largely spell success or otherwise of this, the first and most! experimental of what is hoped will be a series of meetings giving rise to greater harmony and confidence. A featuie o great moment to the Empire was the official opening oi the first general session by His Majesty the King;. This gesture must go down in history, as a further indication oi the British determination to preserve the democratic ideal fn the mirst of the pageantry of Royalty and crowned diplomacy. The first step towards the foundation of a new and better world order is now in progress. It is vital m that it means the future of approximately two thousand mi lioii people, their aspirations and their fears. Behind the new deliberations are the bitter lessons which were learnt from the records of the ill-fated League of Nations We can hope most fervently that they will not be repeated, foi another world conflict must mean annihilation for untold million* of undeserving innocets. Atomic energy has made the worst horrors of war in the past appear as mere shadow* by comparison with the awful nature of the wholesale slaughter now possible by means of the newest weapon discovered by science. Over the Asembly there hangs tin, spectre of enormity at which every nation now trembles for the possibilities. The world delegates have therefore not merely a trust to do their utmost to make war impossible but rather a stern and personal duty to then fellow men, which unless it is carried out to the letter may be e means of unleashing a fury of destruction unlike an>t ng yet known or imagined. On this Assembly therefore we. repeat is fastened the very hopes of the entne wovld.