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MORE than half the 1,000 Hong Kong Chinese soldiers serving in the British Army will know on St Valentine's Day whether or not they will be made redundant.

  The local soldiers of the Hong Kong Military Service Corps (HKMSC) have been asked to apply for voluntary redundancy as part of the reduction of the British garrison in the run-up to 1997.

  The cuts will begin next October and run through to the beginning of 1995.

  While the Army considers the redundancy packages to be more than reasonable, some long serving corps soldiers are unhappy with their payoff.

  A non-commissioned officer, who declined to be named, said the package did not proportionately recognise long service. Morale among the corps, he said, was suffering.

  ''The [redundancy packages] do not reflect the amount of time put in,'' he said.

  Commandant of the corps, Colonel Nick Southward, said he could understand certain apprehensions among the men, but felt that the package was more than generous.

  ''We believe the overall redundancy package is not unreasonable,'' he said.

  ''When you compare it to some of the offers being made in the private sector, our terms are reasonably generous.''   He said the apparent disproportion in payment was the result of a gratuity payment in lieu of pension negotiated some years ago.

  It effectively meant time put in after 12 years' service did not generate as much redundancy pay as time worked in the first 12 years.

  The HKMSC is split between 24 different units covering such areas and work as military police, medical assistants, drivers, dog handlers, clerks and cooks.

  Their final package will depend on rank and length of service.

  In addition, everyone will receive at least six months' notice of termination, a 28-day resettlement course designed to steer them towards their chosen civilian profession and 28 days' termination leave, effectively a month's pay while they look for work.

  Colonel Southward said a sergeant with 12 years of service could expect a $324,986 payment and a lance-corporal with eight years a $158,592 lump sum. However, the sums would vary slightly according to when individual contracts were signed.

  He insisted packages would be the same for those who volunteered for redundancy and those who held out and were given compulsory redundancy.

  The incentive to volunteer, he said, was the package being offered and the inevitability that the corp would be disbanded together with the rest of the garrison by early 1997.

  A series of boards will decide by February whether to accept those who volunteer to leave, and how many men will be required to make up any shortfall.

  Redundancies will be across the board and reflect the needs of the reduced garrison between 1995 and 1997.

  The 500-odd soldiers remaining are expected to continue through to 1997 as part of the garrison which will have been reduced from about 7,000 to 3,000 during the next 18 months.



Time runs out for HK soldiers