[texhax] Memoir Class and \newcommad in tabular argument

[Swami Pallasena]

With memoir class option, in tabular environment,
\begin{tabular}c @{\hspace{3pt}} c}
works fine giving 3pt intercolumn space.
But if I abbreviate @{\hspace{3pt}} using 
\newcommand{\HS}{@{\hspace{3pt}}}
and use
\begin{tabular}{c \HK c}
it does not compile and gives the  followingerror message:
Class memoir Error -- Illegal pream-token {\HS}:  `c' used.

This problem does not occur in `article class', where everything
works fine.  So, how can I make the above `\renewcommad' 
work inside Tabular when using Memoir Class?