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customers washing their faces with the towels with their running noses. Some of them even use the towels to clean their shoes. Some waiters use the wet towels to wash the table. So when we inspect the cleanliness of the wet towels, apart from requiring them to immerse them in boiling water for one minute, what other measures can we introduce?
MISS CECILIA L. Y. YEUNG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, concerning what Mr. CHAN has just described, if health inspectors are inspecting the restaurants and observing such mal-practices, prosecution will be constituted right away. But sometimes it is difficult for us to inspect all towels and ensure that they are clean because of the huge numbers of towels involved. If the restaurants do not exercise self-discipline to adhere to this licensing condition or customers do not exercise self-discipline to use the towels to clean their noses or to wrap the shoes or even to clean their own body to give themselves a towel-bath, we really can't help because of the limited manpower resources. We will however consider introducing more stringent regulations.
MR. PAO PING-WING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, according to the reply by Miss YEUNG, it reflects that the difficulty we have in enforcing By-law 20. I wonder whether the Select Committee can consider introducing some legislation in other countries to require the restaurants to use e.g. paper towel or towels which are not reusable so that we can have assurances that the towels will be clean. I wonder whether we can copy the example of other countries?
MISS CECILIA L. Y. YEUNG (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, I thank you for Mr. PAO's suggestion. In fact, some of the restaurants are serving paper towels instead. As there may probably be some room for improvement, the paper towels are not that popular. As far as the legislation is concerned, the Select Committee will definitely give due consideration to it.
MR. LAWRENCE H. L. FUNG (in English): Mr. Chairman, in Miss YEUNG's answer, she refers to a sterilizer and also sterilization facilities. Can I be enlightened what is meant by sterilizer or sterilization facilities?
CHAIRMAN (in English): Pushing a little bit hard. Are you qualified to answer that?
MISS CECILIA L. Y. YEUNG (in Cantonese): I don't think I will be able to answer this question because I have not enforced the legislation myself. I will take a look first and will give a detailed reply to Mr. FUNG. As far as the sterilizer or sterilization facilities are concerned, the department is very competent in this aspect. So I am sure there is a set of legislation defining them. I am sorry I can't give you a detailed reply offhand.
7. MR. FAN KAM-PING asked the following question (in Cantonese): As far as I know, one of the main reasons for the high usage of the Hong Kong Coliseum
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in recent years is it is often hired by singers for holding popular concerts. But as the fervour for popular concerts may not last long, has the Council considered ways of promoting the Coliseum so that this venue with top-rate facilities and more than 12,000 seats will not be frequently left idle—which is a waste of valuable resources—after the present fervour subsides?
MR. STEPHEN M. L. LAU, CHAIRMAN OF THE ENTERTAINMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): This question concerns the promotion of the Hong Kong Coliseum for events other than popular concerts.
The Hong Kong Coliseum was designed as a multi-purpose venue and it has always been the Council's objective that it should be capable of staging a range of diversified activities. Apart from popular concerts which have dominated the scene during the past few years, activities presented in the Coliseum include family entertainment, sports activities, exhibitions, and conventions. The Department has been trying hard to boost these other usages not only to maintain a diversified usage pattern for the Coliseum but also particularly to sustain the utilization rate should there be a drop in the number of popular concerts.
The Department is in contact with organizations such as the Hong Kong Tourist Association, Trade Development Council, exhibition and convention organizers both locally and overseas. The Department is also liaising with impresarios, entertainment, and sports organizers with a view to bringing or jointly presenting activities in the Coliseum. These endeavours will be sustained and intensified.
MR. FAN KAM-PING (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, Mr. LAU has mentioned that in future the department will liaise with different organizations so as to diversify activities in the Coliseum. Should we change the name of Hong Kong Coliseum in order to fulfill its objective? Can we consider deleting the word 'sports' or the connotation that the word 'Coliseum' brings forward?
MR. STEPHEN M. L. LAU (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, the name 'Coliseum' in English directly translated into Chinese would be '' but earlier on it was translated into '. Since the name was earlier decided and if it does not create any adverse effect, I don't think there is any need for us to change the name for the time being. However, in future, if there is such a need to change the name of the Coliseum, the Entertainment Select Committee will definitely give due consideration.
8. MR. JOSEPH Y. S. CHAN asked the following question (in Cantonese): (a) How does the attendance rate during the first 11 months in 1986/87 of Urban Council's cultural presentations compare with that in 1985/86 over the same period?