New Zealand

I welcome this opportunity to offer to the President the warmest congratulations of the New Zealand delegation on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly. The honour paid to him is also an honour to that great country, Ireland, from whose shores have come millions of people of Irish descent now living in so many countries of the world, I can assure him that many thousands of people of Irish descent in New Zealand learnt of his election with considerable gratification. To preside over this session is a challenging and demanding task. I know the distinguished part the President has played in the United Nations. I know, too, the outstanding personal qualities he brings to his high office. His responsibilities at this time are not easy to discharge, but I am sure that the Assembly will be more than satisfied and more than justified in the choice of him as its President. 53. The leaders of many nations have gathered here at a crucial moment in the history of the United Nations. Upon their decisions the future course of international organization may depend. I have come as the leader of the Government of a small nation dedicated to the purposes and principles upon which the United Nations was founded. The Government of New Zealand looks upon this Organization as the principal force for peace in the world today. They regard it as the mainstay of the freedom and independence all its smaller and less powerful Members. I have come to reaffirm in this Assembly our confidence and faith in the United Nations. 54. New Zealand refuses to contemplate the failure of the united efforts of the majority of Members of this Organization to reverse the present disturbing trend in international relations. My delegation pledges itself to work towards this reversal. 55. The events of recent months can leave no room to doubt the gravity of the situation with which this session of the General Assembly must grapple. The tensions which have for so long frustrated efforts to build a secure and lasting peace have revived; and most unhappily they have spread to blight the vigorous growth of independence in Africa. New difficulties and new dangers have arisen with bewildering suddenness. 56. Despite the limitations and defects arising from its unrevised state, the United Nations Charter does provide a framework within which the broad range of human activities can be directed towards the wellbeing of the international community as a whole. As the experience of its early, uncertain years has plainly shown, the United Nations is essentially flexible. It is responsive to the varying needs and circumstances of a changing world. It has begun in recent months to realize its fullest potentialities; and any attempts at this stage to undermine the foundations on which the structure of this international Organization is built seem surprisingly ill-timed and dangerous. 57. During the year, events of critical importance have followed one another in rapid succession. Yet I believe that, from the perspective of the future, 1960 will be best remembered as the year of African independence. The admission of fifteen African States at this session, and the prospect of additions to that number, bear striking testimony to Africa’s political awakening. I extend the good wishes and congratulations of the Government and people of New Zealand to these new African Members. I welcome, too, the admission of Cyprus, whose presence here attests the statesmanship of the United Kingdom, Greece, Turkey and the Cypriot people themselves. 58. In a few days we shall be admitting yet another independent African State, Nigeria, within whose boundaries lives one-sixth of the population of the entire African continent. We welcome the great Federation as a Member of this Organization and also as a member of that Commonwealth to which New Zealand has the honour to belong. I am sure that Nigeria’s presence here, and its contribution to our deliberations, will provide further testimony to the wisdom and effectiveness of the policies followed by the United Kingdom in leading the former colonial territories to stable and untrammelled statehood. 59. To all the newly admitted Member nations may I add that we in New Zealand will be very willing to share with them the experience which we may have had as a young nation and, to the extent we can, we shall be glad to offer practical help in dealing with problems which confront them. 60. I cannot help contrasting the circumstances of 1945 with those of today. When my country took part of the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco, we were concerned to build a secure and independent Organization. We little expected then the deep and bitter differences which have since divided the great Powers; but we did build an Organization which has proved, through all the stresses of the intervening years, strong enough to maintain, and progress towards, its objectives. The presence of our new Members is, in a very real sense, the vindication of the trust we placed in the United Nations and our loyalty to its Charter. 61. The countries newly admitted to membership are the inheritors of all that was begun in San Francisco. Their march to nationhood has been encouraged by the principles of the United Nations Charter and by the growing power of this Organization to aid their development. Yet, at the very time they take their seats among us, they are exposed to suggestions and proposals that the United Nations should trim its sails and compromise with the renewed pressure of power politics. In all that I shall have to say on this question, I shall bear in mind the position of the newer Members, who are confronted by so strange a paradox. 62. If I may be permitted to strike a personal note, I should like to quote from a book — New Zealand, a Working Democracy — which I wrote here in the United States nearly twenty years ago to explain my country’s views to the people at that time. My quotation is from the ninth chapter, "Why we fight”. There is a new imperialism arising in a slightly different form — a little bit new, and different from the imperialism of old. But the end of imperialism is what I dreamed of and sought and worked for and fought for all my life. I quote from the book: "If we are honestly determined to banish once and for all the imperialist idea and all it means, we must rid ourselves of the prejudices in which it has such fertile roots. We must rid ourselves of the idea that there exists or can exist an inherently superior person, superior nation or superior race. The principle must be recognized that no group of nations should be allowed to exercise political or economic domination over others. You will appreciate, then, how heartened I feel to see sitting in this Assembly the representatives of so many newly independent States. Their presence here, symbolizing the independence of their countries, is a source of deep personal satisfaction. 63. It is clear confirmation of my belief that there are no inherently superior persons. There are different persons-but inherently superior, no. It is a denial of all that is good that was ever taught in this universe to think that there is at any time a body of men, a body of women, always better than other people. For too long, racial differences have tended to divide peoples and nations — to divide them on issues which are the common concern of all peoples. I firmly believe that the moral force of these new nations will help us better to banish completely the spectre of racial discrimination throughout the world and to achieve the full brotherhood of man. 64. I have come to this Assembly because I believe that there are dangers in the present state of international tension which, if continued, may nullify all that has been gained. In recent weeks we have seen the cold war introduced into the African continent; we have seen the authority of the United Nations itself challenged and the integrity of the Secretary-General, who has done so much to advance the peaceful evolution of all peoples, attacked in the torrent of cold war propaganda. 65. This is not only distressing; it is highly dangerous for the small nations of the world. I would not ask the newly independent States to align themselves with any Power bloc. There is much that is hopeful in the concept of neutralism expressed by African leaders like Dr. Nkrumah, and Asian leaders like that amazing statesman, Mr. Nehru. The world community should assist new States materially and should see that they are allowed to develop their own personality. That is what the United Nations is trying to do in the Congo (Leopoldville). 66. We must all regret the tragic events in that unhappy country. We must, however, learn from these events and from the problems they have posed for the United Nations. We ought to resolve to keep other areas which are to become independent, or which have just become independent, free from the major international conflict. And I say to these new countries that the United Nations must be strengthened by the co-operation of all, and not weakened by the self-interest of some. 67. I know the contribution that the new nations of Africa can make in their own right to the objectives of the United Nations. It is unique. They come with a new freedom into an organization of nations dedicated to fostering that freedom which could enable them to build anew their own personality with a new vision, a new potential as great and glorious, if not greater, than any previously conceived by man. This may even lead them in the future to express some ideas contrary to mine. But that does not dismay me in any way, so long as we all have the heart to appreciate the liberties and the personality of one another while expressing and defending our own. 68. We must all, and especially the small Powers, co-operate to strengthen the international Organization which we already have. Human organizations are never perfect but they can be magnificent when every member has the will to make them work. 69. May I refer again to what I wrote at the same time as I previously referred to, about the United Nations when it came into being. I said, "The principles of the world charter drawn up on the Atlantic Ocean and to which all United Nations have signified their adherence can be worked out and put into practice only if we work them out together. We either stand together in this world, all nations, all classes, all creeds, all races, or we fall to the machination of those with power philosophies." 70. As the United Nations approaches universality of membership, new problems, new difficulties will inevitably be encountered. If it is to keep pace with events, the United Nations will require flexibility and vitality. But there is no reason to doubt that these qualities are present. In the fifteen years of its existence, the United Nations has displayed those qualities that I mentioned in remarkable degree. The United Nations should be the shield and defender of the independence which it has helped to create. In Asia, in the Middle East and in Africa, the majority of United Nations Members have supported prompt and vigorous action where inactivity, or ineffective action, might have led to conflict on a global scale. Recently the Security Council seemed to come to new life. Its unanimous agreement to send a United Nations force to the Republic of the Congo (Leopoldville) provided an impressive illustration of how the Council was meant to function and how it could continue to work if it received the backing of all its Members. 71. May I refer again to the role of the principal office holder of our Organization, the Secretary-General. In bringing to bear the full weight and authority which the Charter accords to his office, Mr. Hammarskjold has made a signal contribution to the work of the United Nations. His ability, his integrity — and I speak from close knowledge — and his single-minded devotion to the United Nations mark him as a great and distinguished servant not only of this Organization, but for the unity of the world in which we all live. My Government expresses to him personally its profound respect and gratitude, and to his office, that of Secretary-General, its permanent support. 72. It is disquieting that an attack should be directed against the Secretary-General, in whom the vast majority of the Assembly has placed its fullest trust and confidence. It is even more disquieting to have an alternative proposal put before the Assembly to replace unity by crippling division, decision by indecision, trust by suspicion and uncertainty. It must be clear to those who study the meaning of the Charter and who place their faith in the success of its principles, that the acceptance of the proposal to which I refer could foreshadow the failure of this Organization as the defender of international peace and security. 73. It is true, of course, that dissension amongst the great Powers has hindered the United Nations; but this dissension has not been allowed to invade the Secretariat. On the contrary, the Charter and the practice of the United Nations have placed great emphasis on the exclusive duty owed to the Organization by all members of its staff. 74. If some of the proposals and suggestions now being made were adopted, that could no longer be the case. The Secretary-General, and the Secretariat, instead of taking their instructions from United Nations organs, such as the Security Council, would instead reflect the factions represented in its directorate; and the Secretariat would not then be able to fulfil the role assigned to it in the Charter. 75. The directorate itself would, in effect, become a powerful committee to supplant the established organs of the United Nations except the General Assembly itself. The consequent stultification of the activities of the Organization would be the gravest threat to its role as an independent force in world affairs; and the smaller countries would be the greatest losers. 76. What I also find particularly striking about this proposal is that it is not really new. It appears to be a revised edition of what the delegation of the USSR — and the other great Powers at that time too — pressed at San Francisco fifteen years ago. New Zealand was on that occasion one of the principal opponents of the plan put forward by the sponsoring Powers to write into the Charter a provision for deputies — as they were then proposing — of status virtually equal with that of the Secretary-General. This plan was to secure to the great Powers — as would be done if the Charter was altered today in the way proposed — the political control of the senior positions in the Organization. 77. The New Zealand and other like-minded delegations argued that the effect of such a provision would be to contradict in actual fact the international character of the Secretariat. The deputies, who were to be elected for short terms, like the Secretary-General himself — they mentioned three years, it is five now — could hardly be expected to work under him as a team. If somebody else was appointing them for three years, and "if they were representative of groups and not of the whole of the people that are in the United Nations, they would have been a sort of diplomatic corps within the Secretariat and would have felt that their careers lay much more for future periods with their own Governments or the group to which their Government belonged. This did not seem to be the right way to secure an efficient Secretariat of people with an international loyalty. The principle of objective international allegiance should guide the Secretary-General and the Secretariat. Indeed, if the idea of an international and impartial Secretariat were abandoned, I doubt if the best staff could possibly remain. 78. It seems to me that any possible difficulty arises from the lack of precise, well thought-out directions from the Security Council itself. That is the proper body to control the Secretary-General's actions, not a political directorate inside the Secretariat, and certainly not a committee instead of a Secretary-General, involving as it would a revision of the Charter. [The speaker read Article 100 of the Charter.] 79. How could they be neutral? How could they have the dedication which is so essential to the purpose of the United Nations if they were elected by differing groups, and the Secretary-General elected by the Security Council, and this Assembly partly subject to them? It is an absurd proposal and not to be put forward by any right-thinking nation — or by persons with any integrity — that ought to be pledged and dedicated to this Organization. 80. Each of us is pledged to support the international character of the responsibilities of the Secretary-General and of the Secretariat. Article 100 of the Charter, which deals with the impartiality of the Secretary-General and his staff and their international obligations and responsibilities, is as much a part of the Charter as Article 27, which embodies the veto. Article 100 and its principles must not be brushed aside or qualified, nor should those of us who resist its violation be accused of intensifying the cold war. 81. We could spend much time, with little profit, on discussing the imperfections of the Charter. I myself do not consider that the deficiencies of the Organization itself should be explained away in this fashion. Such defects and deficiencies seem rather to be due — as was the case in the old League of Nations — to the failure of the Members of the Organization to accept their obligations and responsibilities. 82. The recent tragic events in the newborn Republic of the Congo have shown only too clearly what is bound to occur if Members ignore this Organization in pursuit of their own selfish national interests, to the detriment of the international community. 83. To small countries which, like New Zealand, depend upon the United Nations as the guardian of their freedom, it is a matter for profound concern that among those Powers which the Charter entrusts with particular responsibilities for the maintenance of peace and security, any great and powerful State should seek to wrest a narrow political advantage from the turmoil in that unhappy country, the Republic of the Congo. 84. Nevertheless, the staunch support of the great majority for the United Nations and for the efforts of the Secretary-General and the Secretariat bears impressive witness to the vitality of the Organization. My Government joins in expressing profound appreciation of the action of many Members from Africa and other regions in providing the forces and material assistance to give substance to the Security Council's decisions. The part played by the Secretariat in organizing an operation on so vast a scale commands our respect and admiration. For its part, my Government recognizes and accepts its obligation to contribute, with other Members, to the support of the action of this Organization to restore peaceful conditions and improved living standards within the Republic of the Congo and to prevent the extension of conflict to a wider sphere. 85. There is one thought worse than any other in its possible effect upon this body and the world, and that is the thought that those men in the Congo — troops and otherwise — are under anyone's command but that of the United Nations. To suggest that any country that sent its nationals to do the will of the United Nations should have the power to tell its nationals what to do is complete anathema. As far as the United Nations purpose is concerned, they are in the United Nations service when they go there — volunteers as they are or part of a nation's forces. When they go from their own nation to the Congo, it is to serve the United Nations, not the will of the nation that sent them, but that of the United Nations. The only man who can give the instructions from the centre is the Secretary-General or his officers to whom he has delegated the power. 86. There has been an appeal sent out from the General Assembly, by its resolution of 20 September 1960 [1474 (ES-IV)j, to all the Governments. I wonder whether our contribution is so small that it does not much matter; but, immediately the need was known, New Zealand — a country of 2.37 million people — decided that it would send £100,000 at once as a contribution towards the United Nations Fund for the Congo, Others can send millions, but there is just as much goodwill, power and determination behind that £100,000 as there is behind £100 million from any other source. We believe in the United Nations, and our people will do all that we can to help. The need is urgent, and it is my Government's intention to do something at once. 87. My country is privileged to belong to the Commonwealth as well as to the United Nations. We do not have divided loyalties; it would be wrong for anyone to get that idea. Our loyalty internationally is here, to the United Nations, but we have a love for the Commonwealth to which we belong. The countries of that Commonwealth, as the Prime Minister of Canada mentioned in his speech to the Assembly [871st meeting] last week, have also launched their own programme to assist the development of African countries within the Commonwealth, and this is quite apart from the appeal in connexion with the Congo. The New Zealand Government will also play its part in this special assistance plan by providing help to the emerging African Commonwealth countries up to a maximum of £100,000 annually. Despite its geographical remoteness, New Zealand shares, in a very real and practical way, in the sense of achievement and fulfilment in the newly independent States of Africa. 88. It would at this point be relevant for me to comment that in the Pacific, in the Trust Territory of Western Samoa, for whose administration New Zealand is responsible, the stage is now set for the Samoan people to assume full sovereignty within the international community. Less than a year ago, Western Samoa embarked upon the final stage of its political development. With the introduction of cabinet government — by arrangement with the New Zealand Government, anticipating the attainment of full independence, the premiership of Western Samoa was assumed by the Hon. Fiame Mata’afa, a great Samoan who will himself shortly be attending this session of the Assembly- Western Samoa became fully self-governing. At the end of 1961, a little more than twelve months from now, if the General Assembly decides that the Trust Territory is ready to assume this status, Western Samoa will become the first completely independent Polynesian State. 89. Successive New Zealand Governments have freely acknowledged their responsibilities to the Samoan people and to the United Nations, and they have welcomed the constructive advice and assistance which this Organization has offered. Western Samoa, a small State, now stands at the threshold of independence, and in the months remaining before New Zealand’s trust is formally discharged, my Government does not doubt that it will benefit from the continued co-operation of the assembly. 90. During the course of the present session, my delegation will propose that the Assembly take certain decisions which will enable Western Samoa to effect an orderly transition from self-government to full sovereign independence. It will propose that the Assembly provide for a plebiscite to be held in Western Samoa, in accordance with the recommendation contained in the report of the 1959 Visiting Mission sent there by the Trusteeship Council, to ascertain Whether the people of the Trust Territory wish their country to take this decisive step. My delegation will explain that New Zealand, in response to the frequently expressed wishes of the Samoan leaders, is prepared to afford substantial and continuing assistance to Western Samoa to enable it to establish itself in the early years of independence as a well-administered and self-reliant States We have decided to set aside, for them to spend, £80,000 of New Zealand funds every year for the expansion and extension of their education system. 91. I wish, at this point, to make it unmistakably clear that the assistance which New Zealand is ready to give, both internally and in international affairs, to Western Samoa will be provided with the fullest regard for Western Samoa’s independent status. After independence has been achieved — and I refer to its complete independence, before any agreement is made- all subsequent relations between New Zealand and Western Samoa will be conducted as between equal, sovereign States. There are no conditions associated with the transfer of government. 92. The bonds which link Western Samoa and New Zealand — bonds of friendship, understanding and affinity between our Maori citizens and other Polynesian peoples — are stronger and more abiding than any formal agreements can ever be. These bonds will remain after independence; but they will be enriched and strengthened by a new and free association, established in mutual trust and confirmed by mutual respect and affection. 93. Political independence is a decisive step, the immediate goal of national aspirations; but much more must follow if the genius of actions is to have full and free expression. Other human needs must be satisfied. Hunger and poverty must be abolished. There is a universal obligation to ensure this everywhere. May I reaffirm the phrase which was used at the Twenty- sixth International Labour Organisation Conference at Philadelphia in 1944, ever which I was privileged to preside — "Poverty anywhere constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere.” There is nothing more true. Prosperity in the long run cannot continue if outside its fence or over the wall there are people hungry, ill-clothed, and without homes in which to live. 94. Speakers before me representing countries holding surplus food stocks have suggested that the United Nations and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations might help them by distributing their surpluses to hungry people. So long as these surpluses exist, and in the spirit of FAQ's established principles for their disposals, we hope that effective ways will be found to put surplus food to use. While fear, hunger and poverty are part of the daily lives of the majority of mankind — 1,500 million, out of 2,700 million— freedom becomes, whilst there is hunger and fear of poverty, a term of hollow meaning; and a secure and peaceful world remains a distant prospect, when hunger is always there. They go to bed hungry; they get up hungry; they are hungry all their lives. But it is not that alone. Economic and social progress is the urgent and continuing concern of the United Nations, and especially the raising of the productive Capacity of the under-developed countries themselves. 95. The evidence of the latest statistics is that 1,500 million people are continuously short of food. They die early because they do not have enough food to eat. But it has nothing to do with war. It has always been like that for centuries and more — and it is continuing. It is gradually being ameliorated; but still they are hungry. 96. Economic and social progress is not, as it is too often regarded, a separate and a secondary activity; the improvement of living standards is in fact the foundation of all United Nations action to establish an enduring peace, I could give many examples of circumstances from my own knowledge. In recent years the World Health Organization has come close to the eradication of malaria. That means — so I am advised, and I think correctly — that there are 2 million people now alive who would have died had there not been this malaria eradication campaign. That extends the problem; keeping people alive increases the quantity of food that is required. But there are other projects besides the malaria eradication project hi which the World Health Organization is extending the period of life through health campaigns. But that, again, extends the problem of feeding the people thus kept alive. 97. In some countries there is an expectation of life of seventy years; in others, thirty years only. It is not possible — if my vision is right — to have a 70:30 standard for all time without war or conflict. That is one of the objectives that we have got to achieve, if we are to stop the possibility of war. 98. Among the most notable achievements of the United Nations has been the fact that its work in the economic and social field has this year been applied, with great effectiveness, in a period of crisis and conflict. For the first time, on so impressive a scale, the resources of the whole family of United Nations agencies have been brought to bear in support of the Organization’s political decisions. This development is, I believe, of the utmost significance for the future. It graphically illustrates the essential unity of all United Nations activities. It points the way towards the realization of the full potential of this Organization. 99. But if the resources of the United Nations are strained to the limit to meet a single emergency situation, they are utterly inadequate when applied to the problem of under-developed countries and under-development as a whole. Although year by year the sum of available resources slowly increases, not even the most sanguine among us would claim that more than a fraction of urgent needs can, at this rate, be met. In our country the average consumption of calories, so I am told by our statistical department, is 3,450. In many of the countries to which I am referring now, it is 1,200 to 1,600 — less than half as much. Maybe I would be healthier if I had something in between. But there is something wrong with 3,450 against 1,200 to 1,600. It is common ground, though, that only when progress is made towards disarmament will adequate resources become available to grapple effectively with the problems of health, of food, clothing and other forms of social and economic development. 100. So I propose to say a word or two about disarmament. The world expenditure on armaments goes up astronomically year by year. Less than two*years ago the annual sum spent was $100,000 million. It takes a long time to write all the noughts down but they mean much more than nought; they mean that $100,000 million is being spent on armaments. In those days, too, there were 16,000,000 men and women out on, active duty. Their equipment and reserves were becoming increasingly elaborate. In addition to the 16,000,000 there are many more — I do not know whether it is tens of millions, or not — men and women employed in the manufacture and various sciences associated with armaments production: equipment, guns, fighting ships, fighting planes. They are engaged in the production of these things and they have to be paid, in addition to the sums that I have mentioned. This expense amounted to more than 8 per cent of the total gross national product of every country that returns statistics — £8 in value, out of every £100 worth of goods and services created, is spent in preparing for war, which we all want to avoid. I believe the costs today are even greater than that percentage. 101. What a price for fears and tensions, and that is all we are getting out of it just now! What a loss to economic and social progress! What a disastrous diversion of funds and resources! If only these could be reclaimed for building the economies of the under developed nations and enriching the lives of hundreds of millions now in poverty. If the millions of men in the industrialized countries, with their trained minds and trained skills — if the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands who, I believe, have been trained in the Soviet Union, could have their amazing skill put to work by the arrangement of a disarmament treaty, if all the facilities that exist in this great country of the United States and in all the European countries could be similarly put to work, if those who are working with the metals and the wood and the chemicals and everything else associated with war, could be transferred to making other things out of similar raw materials to raise the living standards in other countries where people are dying because they do not get enough to eat, where they live in sub-standard conditions and die early because of them, if we could only find the way — and we could if we would, but not if we are going to argue with one another and try to undermine one another as has been done at this session of the Assembly. As I said, if all those millions of men in the industrialized countries could put their trained minds and technical skills, and their talents and physical efforts to better use, what a miraculous change would be wrought for mankind. 102. Some people have said that the age of miracles is past, but within a decade of our achieving what I have just suggested, we should be in the age of miracles again. If progress is to be made, we shall have to take a risk, not only in the fight against disease but in the battle for survival itself. To my mind, disarmament is the major problem today. We in the smaller countries have watched with feelings of increasing despair the utter failure of contending opinions and protracted negotiations leading nowhere but to a breakdown in the discussions among the bigger Powers. I do suggest that we should remind ourselves that we are all representatives of ordinary people, who are quite capable of solving some problems in their own minds on the basis of common sense. All that is needed is the will. I believe the genius is there, in the minds of the people in the Ten-Nation Committee on Disarmament, with the genius of the scientists and the technical experts behind them; the genius is there, it is the will which is wanting, and it is the Governments which will have to furnish the will. 103. I do suggest that we remind ourselves what we are doing. We represent the ordinary people, and as I have said they are quite capable of solving problems in their own minds on the basis of common sense; they have become very impatient with endless arguments and the needless assumption of divinity by the planners and negotiators. It is not merely the mounting threat of nuclear destruction that appals people; it. is also the monstrous waste of capital and technical effort which could be put to use for the social and economic betterment of mankind. 104. What brand of civilization is ours which behaves in this fashion? To what depths of human stupidity are we to sink in this steady decline towards self-destruction — because if we do not get somewhere in the disarmament negotiations, that is the next alternative. It will not be the destruction of somebody else, it will be self-destruction all around. I do not know what representatives we can send to do the job, but surely in a world congress such as this some agreement can be reached to achieve the end that all leaders here present sincerely desire complete disarmament. 105. May I interpolate here and say that after individual personal contact with each one of the four members of the Summit Conference that was to have been held in Paris in May 1960, I do not believe that there is anything any one of them desires more than disarmament. It seems so strange when the frustrating factors appear. Whether it is the Soviet Union, the United States of America, the French Republic, or the United Kingdom, I believe the leaders of those countries want disarmament. I shall refer a little later to some of the suggestions that have been made, but they want complete disarmament. It is not, of course, as simple an issue as that bald statement would indicate; the subject is vast, it is complex, it is difficult. Fear and lack of confidence, and a lack of will, are the ingredients of the situation. Here in the audience I can see people who have spent twenty, thirty or forty years striving to find others who would agree with their way of doing it, but I do not think the situation is hopeless although I have seen a great deal of it; I have seen statesmen broken in health and broken in mind because they could not find the way to agreement. 106. But it is not a question of prestige or of power; what is at stake above all else is the improved material conditions we have striven to build up for our people. It will be remembered that I mentioned the 1,500 million people who are always hungry; they live a shortened period of life because of what we are doing, because we have not got order in the world. They could live a longer life if we could make the transfer I have suggested; make it with safety if you like, but perhaps we should also take a little risk here and there. H we could get the material, the brains, the wisdom, and all the things associated with that $100,000, million I mentioned, all the technical skill of all those men and women, we should be on the road. It is improved material conditions that are at stake; it is the prospect of being able to spread the better conditions of life of modern civilization everywhere. Above all, it is the lives of our fellow citizens; if we do not get all these people to work in the way that I know that they could get to work, there will not be any of us left. We Shall all go on the long journey and we shall need a lot of faith in the Christian outlook, since we shall all go somewhere much earlier than we think. 107. I deplore the suspicion and the fear that pervade certain areas of the world. It is everywhere, in the Soviet Union and in other countries too, and there is nothing surer than this, that if we do not decide to live together we shall die together. We all know it; why then do we not arrest the decline, why can we not agree here and now to make another effort to achieve disarmament and, first of all, agree to negotiate? Although some may be tempted to despair, to despair of humankind, to despair of the goodness that can come through human beings, to say this cannot be done is the arch-crime. 108. I cannot help contrasting the atmosphere of today with that of this period last year, I spoke here in 1959, and I read other speeches that were made as we were going away from here to a new conference with new personnel, with all the Members of the. United Nations constituting the Disarmament Commission, but with ten of them who had been chosen to work things out in a Committee. But something stopped the whole arrangement from working properly. 109. At its fourteenth session the General Assembly looked forward to substantial progress in the field of disarmament and to the early conclusion of an agreement to end nuclear weapons tests. Neither hope has been completely fulfilled, but despite the collapse of the disarmament negotiations, the Geneva Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapons Tests has remained in session and in the meantime the three negotiating Powers have prolonged their voluntary suspension of tests. My Government expresses its earnest hope that this voluntary action will, in the near future be confirmed in an international agreement to which all States will accede. 110. During its fourteenth session, the General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution [1378 (XIV)) proclaiming that general and complete disarmament was the most important question facing the world. That session adjourned with renewed hope for progress in this field. It did so with good reason. In the first place, the improved atmosphere of international relations had made possible a resumption of negotiations after two years of inactivity; and agreement had been reached, before the Assembly met, on the composition of the negotiating body. Secondly, two new proposals for comprehensive disarmament had been submitted, one by the United Kingdom [A/C.1/820], the other by the Soviet Union [A/4219], Though there were many important differences, there were also important areas of agreement which, it was hoped, could be enlarged during the course of negotiations, 111. On behalf of New Zealand, I welcomed these proposals in this hall [819th meeting]. I welcomed particularly the reaffirmation they offered of total disarmament as the goal of our endeavours. With many others, I questioned whether general and complete disarmament could be achieved within the short span of four years suggested in the Soviet proposals; but I was hopeful that real and measurable progress could be made. The important thing was to get as far as possible within those four years, 112. I need not review what has happened since that time. It has already beau thoroughly traversed. I shall say only that I do not support imputations of lack of good faith on the part of the Western leaders and their negotiators. In my view, not only should the negotiations not have been terminated, but there was every reason for them to continue. A delay of six weeks or six months in disarmament negotiations is, much more than we can afford. 113. Despite the collapse of the work of the Ten- Nation Committee on Disarmament, some progress has been made. The revision of both of the original proposals shows that attempts were made to reduce the differences separating the two sides. It should also be remembered that neither of the revised proposals has yet been the subject of detailed negotiation. Examination of the new Soviet proposals [A/4374 and Rev.1] was still in the exploratory stage when negotiations were broken off; and the revised United States proposals have not yet even received consideration in the negotiating body. The importance of these advances should not be disregarded, 114. The situation which confronts this Assembly itself suggests a certain order of priorities in dealing with the question of disarmament. Of first Importance is the early resumption of meaningful negotiations among the ten Powers on the Committee. 115. I would also urge a more active role for the Disarmament Commission, although it is upon great Power agreement that disarmament must ultimately depend, all Members of the United Nations share a common concern to explore every possibility of progress. It is no longer enough that the Disarmament Commission should confine its activities to passing an annual report to the Assembly with a recommendation that the Assembly provide for the Commission’s continuance. There are surely, among the Members of the United Nations who do not serve on the negotiating group, those who would and could offer a positive contribution in the search for disarmament. I do not suggest that the Commission should seek to usurp the functions which clearly belong to a small negotiating body; but I do suggest that there is scope in the Disarmament Commission for consideration of matters of substance — a wide range of matters affecting the application of agreed disarmament measures to the international community as a whole. It is my hope that the Disarmament Commission will be kept more fully and regularly informed of developments within any negotiation group which may be established. 116. I wish to refer to a proposal made by Canada in the Disarmament Commission [69th meeting] and again here in the Assembly [871st meeting]. In 1959 the Assembly reaffirmed its determination to press on toward the goal of total disarmament; but neither the West nor the Soviet Union, at that time, dismissed the possibility of making progress through partial disarmament measures. What is important now is that a way should be found to start upon disarmament. It will be better to have reached agreement on a single measure than to have tried and failed to reach agreement on a comprehensive plan. Such an approach in no way means the abandonment of general and complete disarmament: on the contrary, it affords a starting point towards more far-reaching measures, leading towards that goal. Even if such a measure were, in itself, of minor importance, it could have great significance as a first step in reversing the continued build-up and perfecting of armaments and establishing international confidence. That ought to be reversed as soon as it can. 117. My Government therefore endorses the Canadian proposal to single out for special study those areas of disarmament, even the levels of conventional forces, upon which progress has already been made in the course of negotiations. It is my hope that it will receive endorsement by the Assembly. 118. I see also much hope in the suggestion put forward by the Foreign Minister of Denmark in his speech before the Assembly [875th meeting] and by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom [877th meeting] in his most earnest and eloquent speech. I refer to the proposal that administrators and scientific technical experts should be assigned the task of preparing an agreed report as to how measures of inspection and control can be made effective and fair to all countries without giving, at any stage, an advantage to either side. As I understand it, this would be an objective study by a new group of scientists and experts working away from the atmosphere of politics as such, 119. Such a technical and objective report would enable the question of control, which must accompany any worthwhile disarmament measures, to be considered on a political basis by top negotiators. It was, as I think Mr. Macmillan stated, the scientists’ report which provided the basis for the Geneva Conference on the Discontinuance of Nuclear Weapons Tests. We have had in recent years other notable and highly successful examples of scientific international cooperation. I recall — admittedly in a much less contentious sphere — the International Geophysical Year 1957-1958, and also the international agreement regarding Antarctica. The International Geophysical Year brought a vow from the scientists who were working in it, that every country should know all that each one of them knew. It was a magnificent example of co-operation. 120. If only that same approach, with its generous international communication of all relevant facts and ideas and its objectivity, could be reproduced in such a disarmament study, I am sure we should have a magnificent starting point for the vexed but essential problems of control. 121. One or two other minor notes, and I would like to emphasize the one. I think wisdom is generally related to the ratio of thought, and not talk-even though I have talked for an hour or so now. Wisdom requires more thought. We have too many long speeches, whatever may be said about the one I have just made. The more time we give to thinking, the less time there is for talking. And if we could only stop the rain — it can be spelt any way one wants — of invective and vindictive speeches, then the sun will shine again. We want more open hands, less closed fists; more “how do you do" instead of defamations all the time; more hand-shaking and less nose- punching. 122. Disarmament will never be effected without some element of risk. It calls for reason, courage and imagination in equal measure. First, by applying reason and science to studies on control the great Powers can, and must, seek to reduce to a very minimum the magnitude of the risk involved. We should then have before us, I trust, objective propositions. Second, by refraining from intemperate political attacks and by promoting international co-operation instead, the great Powers can, and must, reduce the demands on, our courage in facing the remaining risks which cannot be avoided. We should then have brought the question into the realm of political possibility. Third, to take the initial hurdle we must be assisted by some faith and imagination, remembering always that the only choice before us is a relative choice, and that in the end, inactivity will be the most dangerous course of all. If those conditions are met, we can hope that the correct political decision will he made, and in the right circumstances. 123. If the great Powers are prepared to adopt the technical and scientific approach and genuinely seek to build up confidence, the peoples of the world will, I believe, lack neither the courage, nor the imagination to carry through the first step. But I would stress that the responsibility of the great Powers is a heavy one. 124. Last year it was my privilege to address the Assembly’s First Committee [1040th meeting] during its discussions on disarmament. What I said then I should like, in conclusion, to repeat today. The words used last year apply, I believe, with added strength to our situation today. 125. The small Powers, I have heard it stated here, depend on the force of their defending agencies to keep them in existence. That is not correct. The major agency that defends the smaller Powers in this world today is the United Nations. There may be Members of the United Nations with whom the smaller nations have agreements and treaties with regard to defensive arrangements, but these agreements of the smaller nations are not exclusively made out of fear of danger from the larger Powers. This body can, by the force of its powers, its conversations and its Statements, as has been proved during the past three years on three occasions, have an influence on world affairs to save smaller nations, greater than the power of any great nation, whatever its strength may be. This body, in spite of its limitations and in spite of the fact that it cannot do all that it was intended to do, is still the most powerful agency for peace in the world and for the disarmament that we are talking about and longing for, 126. The decisions of the General Assembly and the will of the Assembly — if in accord with the wisdom available, I say, available — can, in spite of what may have been said or done, now begin an advance to a better order. It depends on each one of us, you and me individually, as representing our nation and our people. 127. If we take the road which we ought to take today, disarmament will be achieved earlier, the hungry will be fed, decent homes will be provided for everybody to live in and clothing will be given to them in order to protect them from the elements. 128. Freedom is the rightful heritage of all humans that are born on this sphere.