Sirs, dames get Clark's new order of the boot

By JOHN ARMSTRONG and STAFF REPORTERS

New Zealand will scrap the titles of "knight" and "dame" from the honours list.

The decision, which has been approved by Buckingham Palace, means none will be named in the Queen's Birthday list in early June.

Cabinet ministers may be next in line to have their titles chopped. The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, yesterday floated the idea of dropping the "Honourable" from in front of their names.

The National Party slammed the ditching of titles as "robbing New Zealanders of the chance to recognise their heroes" and immediately promised to reinstate them for the first two levels of the Order of Merit.

Act's leader, Richard Prebble, said the dropping of titles reflected the politics of envy. "The real motivation is an ideological hatred of the country honouring success."

His party had not debated the matter, but his personal view was to move to reinstate such titles.

Helen Clark defended the lack of public consultation, saying that had already occurred with the 1995 prime minister's advisory committee on the honours system, which recommended scrapping knights and dames.

Belinda Vernon, a member of that committee who has since become a National MP, accused Helen Clark of hiding behind that recommendation.

The experience of the last four years had shown titles sat comfortably within a modern honours system and the committee's reservations had proved unjustified, she said.

But the Prime Minister predicted public opinion would have moved on "quite a long way" since then. "I think it is just seeming increasingly quaint that we hang on to these trappings of another society."

Helen Clark said knight and damehoods also overshadowed the country's highest honour, the Order of New Zealand, along with the host of other awards recognising community service.

She suggested the term "Honourable," traditionally attached to serving and former cabinet ministers, could also be ditched.

She had already taken advice on that, although there was a complication with the title of "Right Honourable," which comes with membership of the Privy Council. "That's a debate we now need to have."

The cabinet's decision to drop "sirs" and "dames" brings the honours system fully into line with the recommendations of the advisory committee, chaired by former National minister Philip Burdon.

That report revamped the system, but the recommendation to scrap knights and dames was rejected after a revolt in the National Party caucus.

The Order of New Zealand, the highest honour, is restricted to 20 living members. Introduced in 1987, it has never carried a title.

Next in line is the Order of Merit, which has five levels. The top two rungs were previously designated as knights and dames "grand companions" or knights and dames "companions." They will be relabelled as "principal companions" and "distinguished companions."

The other descending levels - companions, officers and members - remain the same.

Helen Clark yesterday refused to talk about a possible honour for Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts, saying she could not comment as the cabinet's honours committee had met during the afternoon.

Knighthoods fan Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand organiser of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor, said his knighthood was a wonderful honour.

Sir Richard led a procession of knights into St Paul's Cathedral, Wellington, on Sunday, to swear an oath of chivalry and fealty to the Queen.

"One of the sad realities will be that our greatest sporting champion of the century, Peter Snell, will never be known as Sir Peter, and I think that's a tragedy," he said. "Because he's the sports champion of the century, clearly he's achieved more than any sporting knight."

The last woman to be made a dame, Dame Professor Evelyn Stokes, of Waikato University, said she had been ambivalent about accepting it and would not be upset at its passing.

"I was happy to accept the honour, but I'm not so sure about the label, so I'm not going to be terribly grieved about it.

"I think we should have an honours system, but I'm not worked up about the titles at all...

"There is some merit in making sure the Order of New Zealand, which is the top honour, is seen as the top honour."

Sir Wilson Whineray said he had no real opinion on the discontinuation of the titles. People did not often call him Sir Wilson.

"Occasionally they do in a more formal setting, but it is not a big issue for me one way or the other."

He was unsure if titles would be reinstated, even if National won office again. "The time moves on, so you never know what happens by the time they get back in. Maybe attitudes are the same - maybe different."