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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

2. DR. DENNY M. H. HUANG asked the following question (in Cantonese):-

Regarding the naming of streets:

(a) It is said that the Council will have a new street named or even have an old street renamed after any person who donates money to the Council as a sort of stimulation. Is this true?

(b) Has the relevant Select Committee of the Council already set down the minimum amount of donation and, if so, what is the amount in Hong Kong dollars?

(c) In deciding to name a certain street after a certain person, will the said Select Committee only take into consideration the amount of donation made by that person, or will the Select Committee also consider the past records of the donors so as to avoid the naming of streets after some persons whose donation is amassed from drug trafficking and casino-operating?

(d) The naming of streets is one of the functions the Council must carry out in a dignified and cautious manner, quite different from the naming of swimming pools, parks and other facilities. Other cities of the world generally avoid the naming of streets after any person who is still living. Is such decision of the said Select Committee aimed at solving the financial difficulty of the Council or occasioned by other major reasons?

DR. KIM Y. S. CHAM, CHAIRMAN OF THE ADMINISTRATION SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in Cantonese): --With regard to Question (a), the Council has never made a decision that streets be named after donors in return for substantial donations to the Council. It follows therefore that Questions (b) and (c) are hypothetical and not answerable.

Question (d) mentioned that the said Select Committee has made a decision to name streets after donors in return for donations to solve the financial difficulty of the Council. This is totally unfounded and might lead to public misunderstanding. I should ask Dr. HUANG to examine the decisions contained in the relevant committee minutes and clarify this issue. I must stress that before streets are named, there are strict rules applied and consultations with several Government departments are made before a decision is taken. I do not consider that the Council has acted other than with dignity and propriety in this process of street-naming.

DR. HUANG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, after hearing Dr. CHAM'S answer, I begin to have doubts, Perhaps my English is really terrible. I raised this question because I had read the minutes of the meeting. In the minutes, it said that there was a particular street in Wan Chai and a certain Mr. TANG's name was brought up. That means that I did not create the story. Whether a decision was made, I think, I remember that more than one time it was mentioned in the minutes. Dr. CHAM seems to be over-excited. If I did not know of the facts, then of course, I would not ask the question. If I were to make a statement there was no point in asking a question. I am very glad

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to hear Mr. CHAM's answer and that in making future decision, careful consideration would be given to the matter and finally I would like to mention that if I remember correctly, I also remember that Mr. Chairman, you also mentioned in the meeting whether we ought to consider the source of donation. I think my memory serves me right.

CHAIRMAN (in English):-That was a statement. Perhaps Dr. Kim CHAM might like to answer the statement with a statement although it is question time.

DR. CHAM (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I do not know whether Dr. HUANG is interested in donating a certain sum to the Council so that we could name a street after him to carry on lawful activities. I can only answer Dr. HUANG'S question according to the context of his question, which he said that to encourage donors we would name streets after the donors in return for donations. As for discussions at the meeting as pointed out by Dr. HUANG, I think he meant the meeting held on 20 May. At that time we were discussing Urban Council facilities and not street naming. As for that particular street, I say firmly that no particular person has made any donation to the Council in exchange for a street to be named after him.

CHAIRMAN (in English):-Any supplementary questions? I feel that at this point I should ask Dr. HUANG to clarify (d) on page 2. Dr. HUANG said the Council must carry out in a dignified and cautious manner, quite different from the naming of swimming pools, parks and other facilities'. I repeat the clause he used: 'quite different from the naming of swimming pools, parks and other facilities' because I am not aware that any swimming pool has been named after any person. Only place names have been used. I may be mistaken, but are parks and other facilities named in an undignified manner? Perhaps Dr. HUANG might like to clarify the position publicly today.

DR. HUANG (in Cantonese): --Mr. Chairman, I did not say that the naming of a particular park or other facilities has not been done in a dignified manner. What I mean is that if we use a person's name as a park's name or a swimming pool's name, it is less important than naming a street, because street names would stay with us and it would affect a greater number of people. I also mentioned a matter of principle because in principle only the names of dead people can be used when we name streets, say, for instance, in the Administration Select Committee minutes, I saw that we intended to use a living person's name for a street name and that is what concerns me.

CHAIRMAN (in English):-Maybe even I, as a Cantonese, do not understand the reply (Laughter) but I believe Dr. Denny HUANG has not answered my question and that is this, as I now read the question in English, the clause is quite clear 'are there swimming pools, parks and other facilities, especially swimming pools, named after persons'.

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