TNAG-1724-FCO40-2437-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 216

7.

CHIEF SECRETARY:

Sir, my original answer indeed addressed the

question from Mr. LEE. He is asking me to comment on the professional judgment of a survey firm in forming their questions and what was in their mind when they formed those questions. I repeat, Sir, that I do not believe it is

for me to make such a judgment.

However, I may be able to

My understanding of the

help Mr. LEE in two regards; firstly, I would like to reiterate that as far as the company was concerned, neither the Survey Office nor the Government had in any way sought to give detailed directions on how the survey should be conducted or to influence

the drafting of the questionnaire. position of AGB McNair is that having been asked to conduct public opinion surveys on the issues and options set out in the

Green Paper, it was their professional opinion that they

should as far as possible follow the wording of the Green Paper

since to depart from that wording could lead to a distortion

of the findings of the survey.

Mr. CHEONG-LEEN:

Sir, in view of McNair's

findings,

based on simple and direct questions, I believe, that broadly

speaking the general public favour retaining the existing

30-member composition of Urban Council and does not advocate

Urban Councillors relinquishing their ex-officio seats on

district boards, why is Government putting forth proposals

which are opposite to such public opinion ?