bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Glenn Schloss

Britain is expected to hand out a greater number of honours at Government House in the final days before the handover.

 The final list of new members of the Order of the British Empire will be published on June 14, 1997 - the last British honours to be awarded in Hong Kong.

  A much larger number of awards will be handed out in the Queen's Birthday Honours to reflect the historic occasion.

  Retiring civil servants, residents who have given meritorious service and those who play special roles in the handover ceremony will swell the list of recipients.

  About 40 people normally receive the awards.

  This year's Birthday Honours will be published in the South China Morning Post on Saturday.

  There will be no separate ceremony to hand out medals commemorating the end of Hong Kong's status as a British territory.

  In a rush to beat the handover deadline, the presentation ceremony for the 1997 Queen's Birthday Honours is likely to be moved forward from late in the year to June so they can be awarded at Government House.

  Otherwise, they could be presented at the British consulate, or recipients would have to travel to Buckingham Palace for a ceremony.

  With the transfer of sovereignty looming, many recipients of the awards are likely to have mixed feelings.

  Publisher and contender for the post of Special Administrative Region chief executive, Lo Tak-shing, stopped using the initials CBE - which he is entitled to use as a Commander of the British Empire - after his name appeared in his Window magazine in 1994.

  China would have no objection to people retaining their honours but it would not tolerate their use in official communications, said Preparatory Committee member Dr Raymond Wu Wai-yung.

  'I think people will feel difficult, of course,' he said of those receiving British honours so close to the handover.

  Another committee member, Tsang Yok-sing, doubted that many people would be pleased to receive the honours.

  But he said: 'I don't think there will be any negative effect if you put those letters on your name card.' 



Honours bonanza expected