The Daily News. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1921. CHEMICAL DISARMAMENT.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1921, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1921. CHEMICAL DISARMAMENT.

The disastrous explosion, vvhieh recently occurred at a German factory for the manufacture of chemicals and explosives, has naturally d-awn attention to the question of utilising poison gas as a destructive agency in warfare. This factory at Oppau has the unenviable distinction of having been engaged during the late war in supplying the German troops with the deadly gas from which a number of men from the British Dominions will suffer as long as they live. There is always a great risk of explosion in factories of this kind, the marvel being that disasters are not. more frequent, but the stringent precautions that are taken are generally sufficient to overcome the many risks inevitable to the industry. On the details of the disaster we do not propose to comment. The point that the terrible occurrence brings to the fore has been ably stressed byMajor Lefebure, who, during the war, was organiser of the interAllied commission of chemical and munitions experts. After emphasising the danger of any nation having a monopply of the world’s supplies of potential explosives, Major Lefebure remarks:

“I fail to see how any disarmament attempts at the Washington Conference. or the League of Nations, can be effective unless this problem is dealt with. If the disaster serves to attract world attention to the hitherto ignored issue of chemical disarmament, it will have a far-reac-bing and beneficial result in the world.”

If those who are responsible for framing the agenda for the Washington Conference did not aetna 1 - ly have the question of poison gas in mind, they have given the matter of framing rules for the control of new agencies of war a prominent place in the business to be dealt with, and as poison gas is certainly a new and horrible agency that has been the subject of strong condemnation, it may confidently be expected that the delegates will deal with the matter as effectively as such an international body can. Major Lefebure’s plea for chemical disarmament should be endorsed and upheld by all civilised nations. War, under any circumstances, is a terrible affliction, but when chemists and scientists devote their energies to evolving powerful explosives and poison gas, then war becomes absolutely a fiendish contest in which torture plays a Urge part. A recent cablegram relating to the Oppan explosion states that “a dreadful aspect of the disaster is the number of those stricken with blindness.” The truth of that statement can readily be accepted, for it, expresses exactly what might, have been said about those who suffered, and are still suffering, from the gas used by the Germans in the late war. These [sightless victims are with us toLday, and with all the Allies- They

cair testify to the “dreadful as | pect,” as well as add their plea to | that of Major Lefebure for chemical disarmament- If war cannot be robbed of its terrors, a determined effort can and should be made to eliminate agencies intended to inflict lifelong suffering from blindness, lung troubles and mental afflictions that condemn strong men to years of infinite suffering as compared with which the loss of limbs is a mere trifle. AH rational people must deplore the Oppan disaster and its results, and the French troops in that region have done, and are doing, all in their power to be of service. At. the same time there w can be no question as to the danger of any country having a monopoly of the world’s supplies of potential explosives and poison gas. The disaster has happened at a time when the obvious moral to be deduced . therefrom should be taken to . heart by the delegates to the 1 Washington Conference, by whom every effort should be made to . solve a problem that affects the whole world. It is not merely a ; matter of framing rules for the ' control of new agencies of war, < but of the nations entering into a j binding compact to eliminate inhuman warfare, to discourage scientists from evolving methods , of torturing troops, and, as far as ‘ possible, to prevent the manufac- 1 ture of gases intended to be used in war, as well as to agree on punitive measures against those who defy the compact. Even the ; Germans should now be convinced that it is time to desist from the course they have pursued, and it is < to be hoped that the disaster will lead to chemical disarmament-—“a far-reaching and beneficial result ! for the whole world.” ]