The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1946. VOICE OF HUMANITY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 40, 1 February 1946, Page 4

The Bay of Plenty Beacon Published Tuesdays and Fridays. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1946. VOICE OF HUMANITY

ATOMIC experiments in the Pacific are calculated to create a thousand mile per hour hurricane and a wave one hundred feet high ! These scientific estimates are based on sheer guess work, and simultaneously comes the n ®west velation that America now possesses bombs a thousand times more potent that those that ripped out ot existence the towns of Horoshima and Nagasaki. Are not wc. the people entitled to a voice in the carrying out of these desperate new experiments. How long are we to p ut . U P with the toys of the war inventors the, effects of which we know nothing and dare not even try and guess. Is there anything to guarantee that the sinking of a larga part of the now obsolete American fleet by atomic bombing near a distant atoll will not start a tidal wave a thousand feet high and sweep across the Pacific Islands m -an avalanj che of devastation ? What of the .effects upon the salt content of the sea itself, or of its life upon which mapkind depends so muchi? Why must the most powerful o atomic destruction be used instead of the lesser quality which in itself is bad enough. Surely the people, humanity at large is entitled to some control of this new. and unknown power instead of a secretive coterie of scientific intellects who seem only capable of measuring achievement by destruction. So little is known, and yet so much has been achieved in atomic. experiments that the instinctive cry in the hearts of the average, person i» ‘halt.’ ■ Sufficient, it is claimed is now known of atomic energy for the power from a pound of salt when harw nessed to drive the largest Atlantic liner around the world indefinitely. And yet when we pause to think of tfck new marvel, we realise that the arms race m the new and deadly atomic sphere is already with us. Think of Horbshima intensified one thousand times. Can we, dare we contemplate it ? Think- of an entire fleet destroyed by a single bomb, as assuredly it will be m the Maishalls if this new experiment is carried out. Atomic energy, k every invention can and should be harnessed foi th benefit of man; for the promotion of understanding, toleration, and the raising of the standard of living m every country of the .globe. The initial experiment on the American desert, staggered even the men of science bv its A steel tower was disintegrated and the base melted like butter. Watchers three miles away were prostrated by the blast and the gale of wind created. What then of the latest monstrosity designed only to destroy and in so doing set up a series of sympathetic vibrations the results of which are as yet unknown and can only be guessed. It is strange to reflect upon the disinterestedness of the world press on this matter, which must concern every single living person, and if ours is the only voice raised in protest of warning we will at least have the satisfaction of knowing that we sought to stay the new race of destruction which appears to be the most engrossing study apart from U.N.Qv in the nations of the world today.