British Atom Test Ban “Suicidal”

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28267, 3 May 1957, Page 9

British Atom Test Ban “Suicidal”

(Rec. 11 p.m.) CANBERRA, May 2.

The Minister of External Affairs (Mr R. G. Casey) said in the House of Representatives today tha'. it would b< “entirely suicidal” if Britain yielded to the clamour from certain quarters to sto.' her nuclear tests at Christmas Island when she was “just on the verge of emerging as a nuclear Power.”

It was “not guesswork” to say that the world-wide propaganda against the British tests was motivated by Russia, he said. Mr Casey was replying to a Government back-bencher, Mr W. D. Bostock, who asked whether he had seen a statement by the Leader of the Opposition (Dr. H. V. Evatt) urging the banning of nuclear tests.

Mr Casey said he had regarded this statement with “some astonishment.” He said Dr. Evatt appeared to be advocating the Unilateral stopping of nuclear tests.

“You cannot have nuclear defence without testing nuclear Weapons,” he said. “The policy of the Government is that nuclear defence must be maintained by all countries in a position to maintain it until there is an internationally agreed scheme for the limitation of armaments, both nuclear and orthodox, which must be accompanied

by a rigid and watertight system of inspection. “The strongest possible efforts have been made towards this end for many years—particularly by Britain and the United States.

■Mr Casey added: “The inference of Dr. Evatt’s statement was that if our side were to make a high moral gesture and give up nuclear tests, this would be followed by the U.S.S.R.

“I know of no evidence whatsoever that Russia would follow a moral lead of that sort,” he said. Two young British men, who intend to “squat” in the danger zone in the Pacific while Britain explodes her hydrogen bombs there, said at New Delhi today that they would go to the area by way of the Fiji Islands instead of through Japan. They had to change their plan after they had been told that Japan would grant them visas only on condition that they would not endanger their lives. The young men, 25-year-old David Graham and 21-year-old lan Dixon, set out from Britain eight months ago to hitch-hike to India. . „ They said today that they hoped to fly to Fiji in a fortnight and to sail to Christmas Island in a chartered boat. Mr Graham said the British Anti-Nuclear Test Committee had told him that so far it had been able to raise only £5OO. They would need at least £5OOO.