1. Mr. CASEY (Australia): Firstly, Sir, let me take this opportunity to offer to you the sincere congratulations of the Australian delegation on your election as President of this thirteenth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations. I am sure that you will bring to this high office, and to the service of us all, the qualities of wisdom and vision which we know so very well that you possess. You succeed as President a notable United Nations figure in the person of Sir Leslie Munro from Australia's sister country, New Zealand, and we are confident that we can look to you for the same Integrity and impartiality that has been such a feature of his distinguished tenure.
2. We meet this year in a climate of world tension. People everywhere are oppressed by the danger of world war. This situation is a tragic commentary on the efforts of the United Nations over the past thirteen years. In the opening words of the Charter, this Organization was set up by "the peoples of the United Nations, determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war".
3. The present situation represents a critical test for the United Nations. The immediate origin of the present tension lies in the island of Quemoy. This island is, as we know, simply one small element in much bigger differences relating to the whole China question. On this there are many views. Uncompromising positions have been taken up, and I do not think that any of us expects that unanimity can be reached on the basic issues during this session of the General Assembly.
4. But one fact stands out stark and plain: the dispute over the off-shore islands became an imminent threat endangering world peace only in the last few weeks, when Communist China began to bombard Quemoy and to threaten, more drastic military action. It is this resort to force, and the threat of further force, that has brought the possibility of war. It is no less than wicked for Communist China to endanger world peace by taking military action in respect of these islands, which in themselves do not constitute a worthy casus belli. The talks now proceeding between the United States and Chinese Communist representatives at Warsaw provide an opportunity not merely for some easing of tension, but for a considered approach to some of the fundamental questions. I hope that full advantage will be taken of the opportunities that the Warsaw talks make possible.
5. Surely we must all agree that it is criminal folly to resort to force in order to assert territorial claims. I agree completely with what the Secretary of State of the United States, Mr. Dulles, said in this debate last Thursday, 18 September; "The fact is that when one regime attempts by force to take additional territory which has long been under the authority of another Government, recognized as such by a respectable part of the world community, that is a use of force which endangers world peace." [749th meeting, para. 28.]
6. If there is one thing more than another that the United Nations was brought into existence to do, it was to eliminate the use of force as a means of solving territorial problems. The United Nations is shot through with provisions designed to this end; All nations that join this Organization are solemnly pledged, in the words of the Charter, "to ensure...that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest".
7. The United Nations has many functions, many of which have done a great deal of good in the nonpolitical fields. But it can be said with truth that 95 per cent of the real purpose of the United Nations is to ban the use of force for territorial ends. We have to ask ourselves if the world can continue to run the grave risk of another world conflagration that may well arise from this cause.
8. The most pressing and urgent task facing the United Nations today is to build up throughout all nations an effective recognition that the use of force to settle territorial issues will no longer be tolerated by the world community. Nothing would do more to allay the fears of our generation, and to improve the prospects of peace in the future.
9. Perhaps in particular for the countries of Asia and the Middle East, which are struggling with grave economic problems, and seeking to break the vicious circle of low productivity and poverty, the need for some positive assurance that force will not be used in territorial issues in unquestionable. It would indeed be a great tragedy if all the national effort and international aid that are being devoted to promoting their economic development were to be engulfed in war. In countries where the margin above degrading poverty and even starvation is still narrow, a conflagration arising out of the attempt to settle territorial problems by force could bring immediate catastrophe and set them back a great many years.
10. The Australian Government and people are very greatly concerned with the outcome of this critical situation in view of the highly dangerous potential that it contains. However, we recognize that measures to cope with this situation lie, in the first instance, with the United States, Communist China, NatlonalistChina and the Soviet Union. Active negotiation is in progress. Australia does not wish to make the delicate task of negotiation more difficult by public comment or proposals at this stage. For this reason my reference on the present occasion to this grave emergency has been very brief and I shall refrain from any more detailed exposition here of Australia's attitude.
11. Apart from the Far East, the Middle East is the region where tension and unrest is making most demands on the attention of the world. I shall not however speak at any length on the Middle East during the present general debate. An emergency special session devoted entirely to the Middle East has recently concluded and the views of the Australian Government, as well as of many other Governments, were set out very fully on that occasion. We now await the report of the Secretary-General on his mission to the Middle East, where I understand he secured the agreement of interested Governments to certain courses of action. It seems wise to await the presentation of this report at the end of this month before making any further comments on the Middle East.
12. But there is one matter that arises out of the Middle East situation that I am moved to mention, and that is the malicious and inciting uses of radio broadcasting to encourage acts of violence in the interests of foreign Powers. We heard this morning [758th meeting] disturbing recent examples given by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom. This stream of political warfare is beamed to its immediate objective and tends not to be realized by the generality of the world community and so goes practically unnoticed except in the countries to which it is maliciously directed.
13. Surely one of the major objectives of this world Organization must be to take steps to put an end to this throwing of firebrands into dry tinder. The only authoritative world organization that must assume responsibility for such action is we ourselves, this community of the United Nations. I believe we should bend our minds and our corporate authority to devising practicable means of monitoring radio programmes in areas of tension, and methods by which this menace to peace can be arrested.
14. At the instance of Australia the General Assembly will consider the special report of the United Nations Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary [A/3849], which met again in June 1958 following the announcement on 16 June that Imre Nagy, General Pál Maldter and two of their associates had been executed, whilst others were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. The rights of a public trial, of an impartial jury, in fact of a fair hearing of their cases, were denied, making a mockery of judicial proceedings. This latest Hungarian tragedy again shocked the nations of the free world which had been living in hope that the present Hungarian regime would listen to the voice of world opinion expressed through the resolutions of the General Assembly, calling on the Governments of the Soviet Union and Hungary to cease their savage repression of the Hungarian people. These hopes have not been realized and all appeals to enable the creation of an atmosphere in which free elections could be held and cruel repression could be abandoned, have been ignored. Soviet forces remain in Hungary.
15. Not only have the appeals contained in the General Assembly resolutions been completely disregarded but also the General Assembly's Special Representative on the Hungarian Problem, H. R. H. Prince Wan Waithayakon, a past president of the General Assembly, was totally denied any co-operation by the Soviet and the Communist authorities in Hungary in his efforts to carry out his assignment and was even denied admission to Hungary.
16. The execution of Imre Nagy, General Pál Maldter and their two associates was an act of barbarism which no decent people could condone. It was undertaken in flagrant disregard of the solemn written promise given by Mr. Kádár on 27 November 1956, that the Hungarian régime would not start any punitive proceedings against Imre Nagy. The Soviet Union must bear a heavy responsibility for these cruel actions.
17. In its special report on the problem of Hungary issued on 14 July 1958, the Special Committee concluded that: "The executions of Pál Maldter and Imre Nagy and their companions are striking, but unhappily not isolated, examples of the continued policy of repression carried out at the present time in Hungary..." [A/3849, para. 28.] "...these men, symbols of the hope of a nation for freedom from foreign domination, were secretly sent to death...in violation of solemn undertakings that their persons would not be harmed, and in defiance of the judgement and opinion of the United Nations." [Ibid., annex I.]
18. In asking for the inscription on the agenda of this Assembly of an item on the situation in Hungary, the Australian Government believed that the General Assembly would wish to have an opportunity to consider the supplementary report of the Special Committee and to decide what further action it might wish to take.
19. I turn now to another field where during 1958 there has been some widening of the area of international agreement, even though important differences still remain. I refer to the law of the sea. A conference of plenipotentiaries representing approximately eighty Governments, called by the United Nations, met at Geneva from February to April of this year in an endeavour to clarify and develop the international law of the sea. The United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea had as its guide a valuable report on this subject by the International Law Commission [A/3159].
20. This Conference produced constructive achievements of great significance. Four conventions covering important areas of the law of the sea were drafted and have now been submitted to Governments. However, the Conference, despite protracted efforts, was unable to agree on a convention fixing the important matter of the breadth of the territorial sea and the extent of the exclusive fishing rights of coastal States.
21. The failure of the Geneva Conference to reach agreement on this vital question has already given rise to disputes, which are not unlike territorial disputes in character, and in some cases attempts have been made to settle the issue unilaterally. This has been a matter of considerable concern to the Australian Government, as we consider that this is not a matter for unilateral decision and we believe that there is substantial authority for this view.
22. In 1951, the International Court of Justice laid down explicitly that the fixing of the breadth of the territorial sea was a matter not for unilateral action by individual States but for international law. The judgement of the Court contained the following reference: "The delimitation of sea areas has always an international aspect; it cannot be dependent merely upon the will of the coastal State as expressed in its municipal law. Although it is true that the act of delimitation is necessarily a unilateral act, because only the coastal State is competent to undertake it, the validity of the delimitation with regard to other States depends upon international law.”
23. The International Law Commission expressed in 1956 the considered view that the breadth of the territorial sea should be fixed by an international conference, for example by convention, A proposal that each State should be free to fix the limits of its territorial sea at any distance up to twelve miles was not supported at Geneva by a majority of the conference. Instead the Geneva conference has recommended to this General Assembly that the search for a basis of agreement on these matters should be resumed at a second conference.
24. Australia supports this wise recommendation. At Geneva the Australian delegation, together with other members of the Commonwealth, urged that there should be a "standstill agreement" until the further conference took place. We think it was unfortunate that this suggestion was not accepted. Anarchy in coastal waters is against the interests of international law and order. We urge, therefore, that the second conference should be held at an early date, as soon as sufficient preparatory work has been done to disclose the possibility of a convention along fair and acceptable lines.
25. Agreement to abandon the use of force in territorial disputes and to settle outstanding differences on the law of the sea by multilateral negotiations rather than by unilateral action backed by force, will also contribute to the solution of the disarmament problem.
26. A year ago the outlook for disarmament was very discouraging. In the past discussions have broken down, often apparently on technicalities, but in plain fact by reason of lack of mutual trust between countries, and their refusal to give up any existing advantages in return for concessions that may turn out to be illusory. At the same time, the clear possibility of mutual annihilation has driven the great Powers to continue despite the lack of progress. This determination to press on until worth-while agreement is reached is undoubtedly right. It is easy to say that there cannot be disarmament until there is mutual trust. This is true. However, the reverse is also true — that there cannot be mutual trust while the possibility of unrestrained military threat exists, particularly the risk of surprise nuclear attack. Mankind cannot achieve disarmament in one step, but we may be able to edge forward by making simultaneously several carefully chosen, co-ordinated steps. The search for arrangements to guard against surprise attack must have a high place in our efforts.
27. In spite of the continued tensions in many parts of the world, I believe the outlook for disarmament has improved since the twelfth session. During the past twelve months there have been a number of developments in the disarmament field. Some of them bring fresh problems, but on balance there has been progress. These developments include: agreement in Geneva between the representatives of the two major power blocs on the technical possibilities of detecting nuclear explosions; announcements by the Soviet Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom that they are prepared to suspend nuclear tests for the time being; subsequent arrangements to meet in Geneva in order to reach an agreement on suspension of nuclear tests; and now an agreement to begin international discussions on measures to prevent surprise attacks.
28. I would mention also the continuing breaking- down of scientific barriers and secrecy, which was carried a stage further in the Second United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, held in Geneva this month. The United States and the Soviet Union have succeeded in launching artificial satellites into outer space, with obvious military implications affecting both defence and disarmament. During the year also, there has been a valuable and sobering report on radiation by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation [A/3838].
29. All these developments indicate that things are on the move. Every opportunity must be seized. The suspension, and even the policing, of nuclear tests will give a respite, but possibly not much more than a respite. The time gained in this way must be used to work for a comprehensive agreement which will cover both nuclear and conventional forces and weapons. Our real enemy is war itself. Nuclear weapons and conventional weapons are merely the tools of war. Those of us who have served in one war or another know the frightful casualties which can be brought about by conventional weapons.
30. Consequently, progress in nuclear disarmament demands simultaneous progress in the limitation of conventional weapons and forces. Disarmament, if confined to the nuclear field, would leave many nations exposed to attack from countries which maintain mass armies or, at best, would force them to build up new conventional forces of their own, creating a grave burden to their economies and to their standards of living. This problem is particularly evident in the Far East.
31. It cannot be regarded as fanciful to continue the quest for a comprehensive agreement on disarmament, I believe we would be wholly wrong to say that because all efforts at disarmament have failed in the past, there is no chance of their succeeding in the future. International efforts towards disarmament have been given a new urgency by the threat of mutual nuclear annihilation,
32. It is not appropriate here and now to go into detail on the question of disarmament. Some views of the Australian Government have already been set out in previous meetings of the General Assembly and the Disarmament Commission. These views would be held by many, if not by all, countries represented here. Let me, however, set out a very few points.
33. Australia still believes, as we have said before, that one reason for special urgency in seeking to make progress in disarmament is that it is necessary to reach agreement while nuclear weapons are still confined to three Powers. The more Powers that have nuclear weapons and, in particular, have the capacity to manufacture them, the harder it will be to control their use. We can hope to reach agreement while only the present three Powers possess this capacity. Agreement, can be reached, no doubt, if only four Powers possess it. But the chances of securing enforceable agreement diminish as further countries enter the field. The likelihood of such an increase in the number of nuclear Powers will increase as knowledge becomes more widespread and as these dreadful weapons become cheaper and easier to make. Then again, Australia feels it essential that a disarmament system must in due course cover all nations and authorities, whether or not they & e Members of the United Nations or have recognition from all its Members.
34. Finally, as I announced during the twelfth session of the General Assembly in October 1957, Australia is willing to agree to the establishment in Australia of international inspection posts as part of a comprehensive agreed programme for the supervision of tests or for disarmament.
35. With regard to atomic radiation, the report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation presents in some ways a less frightening picture than some of us may have feared. But, even so, it does not reflect a situation that any of us can accept with complacency. The report shows that we have not stepped over the precipice. But the precipice is there, whether it is an inch or a mile away. One point which emerges from the report is that the exposure to radiation resulting from nuclear explosions so far, or even in the foreseeable early future, is very much less than that which arises from existing natural causes and from industrial research and medical application for peaceful purposes. Contamination could well become more significant as the peaceful application of atomic energy proceeds. This will need international as well as national consideration. I notice that the Economic and Social Council has asked the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination to examine the possibilities of concerted action by United Nations bodies in relation to the effects of radiation resulting from the peaceful uses of atomic energy. As far as the Scientific Committee's report is relevant for national action inside Australia, we are now haying it examined by the Australian National Radiation Advisory Committee. Australia is a member of the United Nations Scientific Committee and will continue to play a part in further international work in this field by the United Nations or the specialized agencies.
36. During my remarks on disarmament, I referred to the artificial satellites. When future ages look back on the past year, it may well be that what they will remember will be the Russian and American earth-circling satellites, and not the political quarrels and tensions that loom so large in all our minds at the present time. These earth satellites not only represent a spectacular advance in technology but give promise of a great new field of scientific data about those regions of space Immediately around our planet, this information about the extensive outer layers of our atmosphere, about its temperature, about the intensity of radiation at great heights, is all part of man's growing understanding of the universe.
37. In both optical and radio astronomy, the situation of Australia in the Southern Hemisphere has given us special opportunities for research of which we have taken advantage over the years. We like to believe that our Australian astronomers and, more lately, the work of the Radio Physics Division of our governmental research organization (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization), have made notable contributions to the world's knowledge in this field. In this our scientists have co-operated actively with scientists in other parts of the world, including the United States and Soviet Russia. A new giant radio telescope has been designed, and is to be built In Australia in the near future, that will be the largest and most far-reaching piece of equipment of its kind in the world.
38. Outer space beckons to us, pointing to a vast field of new knowledge, some of it frightening. We should not think only in terms of firing missiles into outer space or of space travel; there are other highly important possibilities involving cosmic rays and the harnessing or possible misuse of these and other phenomena. Some of these possibilities we may not even suspect as yet.
39. The decisions ahead of us in this field are serious. They must be met by mankind and not just by individual nations. The earth satellite was the first footprint planted in outer space. However, it still remains true that no vested Interests have been established in outer space. Outer space should be recognized as a field of international concern before it is too late. Outer space cannot be regarded like the high seas, in which anyone can do as he likes outside territorial waters, and which have been the arena of competition for naval supremacy. The world's scientists have met the challenge of outer space; on the political side, we have to meet the challenge that it presents to us in our own field of competence.
40. Outer space, atomic energy and electronics are perhaps, the fields in which current and coining scientific and technical advances are the most spectacular and impressive to the mind of the ordinary individual. Yet they are only part of a much wider revolution in man's position in the universe, produced by the current wave of research and invention of the past fifty years in practically every field of Scientific and technical progress. In the pure sciences as well as in such applied sciences as medicine, agriculture and engineering, the past fifty years have seen developments much greater than in the preceding thousand years. As one who has had direct contact with scientific activities and their application to the problem of production and human welfare, I am increasingly impressed by what has already been achieved by men of science, and even more so by the promise of the future. The scientific advances of the past fifty years have been dramatic, but it is even more exciting to consider the probable course of scientific development in the next fifty years, for the tide of research and invention flows ever more strongly. For the first time in human history the whole world may have within its reach the attainment of high standards of material welfare and security — provided we can live together in peace and concentrate our energies upon the co-operative application of man's advancing knowledge to the control of our physical environment.
41. With this prospect before us, science must inevitably figure to an increasing extent in the activities of the United Nations and the specialized agencies. Already the range of scientific activities of the United Nations family is very considerable. I need only mention in this connexion the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Meteorological Organization, the Technical Assistance Administration, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation and the United Nations International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. At the same time I would stress the factor of cooperation between these specialized organizations in attacking particular problems that call for the combination of several scientific specialties. The International Geophysical Year, 1957-1958, is the greatest and most encouraging example so far of international scientific co-operation in practice unimpeded by ideological differences.
42. Nevertheless I believe that the United Nations could do still more to stimulate and encourage scientific progress and its application; and could play a still greater part in planning the strategy of scientific advance — which is particularly important when an advance on many fronts is needed, and when the world's scientific resources are unevenly distributed between countries. I should like to mention three aspects in brief.
43. First is the undertaking of research. I do not suggest that very much research can or should be done by the United Nations itself or in the specialized agencies. The great private and national research foundations and the universities should not be set aside or duplicated, but it would be useful for the United Nations to have a look at the total picture to find gaps, to look for promising openings and to look at the adequacy of the men and facilities available for research that should be undertaken.
44. Second is the dissemination of scientific knowledge and the results of research. There is often far too long a time lag between scientific discovery and its widespread dissemination and application. Not only under-developed countries suffer from this delay. Even among the advanced countries of the world, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, the countries of Western Europe, and the Soviet Union, there is often a very long time between a discovery in one of them and its spread to another. The problem occurs inside individual countries. For example, in agricultural research it frequently takes much too long a period of time between an advance in the laboratory and its practical application by the farmer.
45. Third is the place of science in education. It is generally recognized that we need to produce more qualified scientists to meet the shortage in particular directions in so many countries of the world. But the problem of education is much wider than that. We have to recast our ideas as to what should be the proper content of a liberal or humane education. It is not enough for our educational authorities to tackle the problem by adding one more subject to the curriculum, or pf pushing in a science subject and taking out one of the humanities. This is not the answer because, just as I believe that no one is educated who does not know something about science, so too I believe that no one is educated who knows nothing but science.
46. These questions all fall in varying and sometimes overlapping ways within the sphere of the United Nations and some of the specialized agencies. All these bodies have given the natural sciences and research some attention. But I believe that a more concerted approach is needed. The body to do this, I think, is the Economic and Social Council, which under the Charter has the responsibility of co-ordinating the work of the United Nations and the specialized agencies. This task could well be made to fit in with the decision of the Economic and Social Council this year that there should be appraisals of the programmes of specialized agencies for the period 1959 to 1964. In view of the relatively little attention given in the past to the idea of a concerted approach in the field of natural science, Australia considers that the Economic and Social Council might well give it priority for 1959.
47. The stage has now been reached when, I believe, the General Assembly should request the Economic and Social Council to examine the role of the United Nations and the specialized agencies in relation to the advance of science and to consider methods of stimulating research in most needed directions, and also methods of achieving a wider application, dissemination and understanding of new discoveries, taking account of the great inequalities that exist in the scientific resources of various countries. When the report of the Economic and Social Council [A/3848] is being discussed by the Assembly in committee, the Australian delegation intends to develop this theme.
48. I should like to turn briefly to the voluntary international aid programmes of the United Nations. It is through these programmes that all States Members of the United Nations are given the opportunity to demonstrate in a positive and practical way their support for the objectives of the Organization in the economic and social fields. I am glad to be able to state that Australia's continuing interest in these programmes will be maintained this coming year.
49. Specifically, Australia will make available a total of over $1.5 million, including the following activities: Expanded Programme of Technical Assistance (for mid-1959), $625,000; United Nations Children's Fund (for 1958), $502,000; United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (for the twelve months ending 30 June 1959)) $190,000; United Nations Refugee Fund (for 1958), $112,000.
50. Apart from these programmes, Australia will continue to make the substantial contributions of the equivalent of $10 million to the Colombo Plan for economic development and technical assistance to all the countries of South and South-East Asia. Amongst other things, we are increasing this year the number of Asian trainees in Australia under the Colombo Plan from 800 to 950. This is in addition to over 5,000 private Asian students who are now at Australian universities and other educational establishments.
51. On every relevant occasion for a number of years, I have missed no opportunity to stress the need for the major producing and consuming countries to get together, in an effort to work out commodity understandings in order to moderate excessive short-term fluctuations in prices. Once again I bring this most important subject to the notice of this world community, in the sincere hope that something positive will be done about it.
52. We have seen in recent times the disastrous results of lack of stability and predictability of commodity prices, particularly on the economies of the countries, including my own country, Australia, and a number of our friends in South-East Asia, that are largely dependent on the export of a limited range of primary products and commodities.
53. Surely we cannot let the lessons in this regard of the past twelve months in particular go unheeded. There are countries in South and South-East Asia that have lost considerably more in export income through the drop in the prices of their exported commodities without a corresponding drop in the prices they have to pay for their imports. This deterioration in their balance of trade is much more than the very considerable sums that they have had in economic aid from the United States and other countries. We should not have to wait until this process results in some economic catastrophe before taking some action.
54. The tin situation is one example of what I have in mind with regard to South-East Asia, I might add in this regard that Australia, for its part, stands ready to enter into any consultations to restore stability in the tin position and to avoid any permanent breach of the International Tin Agreement.
55. For a great many commodities there is already international machinery in being which can be used for pursuing commodity studies. Australia, as a producer, is greatly interested in sugar, wheat, and now lead and zinc. As a consumer we are now ready to join with our producing friends in Asia in any consultations intended to help to moderate excessive price fluctuations in commodities to achieve greater predictability in export earnings and thereby a sounder basis for investment in development'.
56. Even now, as I am speaking, Australia's Minister for Trade is putting forward this matter at the Commonwealth Trade and Economic Conference at Montreal. He will be citing the devastating experience of many countries of the Commonwealth in recent times to demonstrate the need for urgent action to smooth out the curves of price fluctuations which have had such crippling effects on their development plans and on their economies generally.
57. Closely related to this is the fact that many of the actions of the great Powers that alter the terms of trade in respect to any particular commodity have an effect — and sometimes a devastating effect — far beyond their own borders. The trade of the world is so closely integrated between many countries — producers and consumers — that when an existing balance is affected the result may be highly detrimental to others. Such action may not be taken by s great Power with this intention — I am quite sure it is not — but it is often the result of domestic pressures. But the repercussions on the producing countries are no less devastating for that. We can only hope that the effect of such action on the economies of friendly countries will be taken fully into account before these policies are put into effect.
58. Very valuable studies in relation to this and related problems have already been undertaken in the Economic and Social Council, in various specialized agencies and in the regional economic commissions, Among the latter, the commission which covers the area in which Australia is most immediately concerned, that is, the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE), has made considerable progress in such work. Australia has taken the keenest interest in the activities of ECAFE since its inception, and is glad to note its solid accomplishments. We are particularly pleased that ECAFE has decided to hold its 1959 session in Australia. Arrangements have boon made for the session to be held near Southport in Queensland, Australia, in March 1959, when we shall look forward to welcoming the representatives of all Member States as well as Mr. Philippe de Seynes, Under-Secretary for Economic and Social Affairs. We hope very much that the 1959 session of ECAFE will effectively carry forward the Commission's work and make its contribution to furthering the economic stability and prosperity of the countries which are our closest neighbours.
59. The ground that I have attempted to cover reflects the paradoxical situation of the world today. On the one hand, man's creative activity is bursting out into entirely new and challenging fields, such as atomic energy and outer space, where man has never ventured before. But, on the other hand, we are still gravely preoccupied with national rivalries and threats of war. The tragic possibility exists that we may fumble the ball and that the very instrument which opens up vast new horizons of constructive peaceful use — that is, nuclear power — might, if wrongly used, bring the world down in flames. The responsibility for seeing that this does not occur belongs to us, rather than to the scientists.
60. I began what I have had to say today with a reference to the paramount need to avoid any resort to force to settle territorial disputes, and I end on this theme. Once fighting begins, one can never be sure where it will end, who will be drawn in, or what frightful weapons may be used. Whatever territorial differences may exist, let every nation, above all things, resolve not to initiate the use of force as a means of resolving them.