What was going on when I was born?

Because of a transmission failure, excerpts in Metropolitan Report yesterday from a judge's decision to block a referendum on a Navy base at Staten Island omitted several key sentences. An article including the omitted material appears today on page B14.

''This is a solemn moment. Leaders of all nations are assembled here and behind them is the single, collective constituency of the human race.''

The House of Representatives today approved a package of spending cuts that would reduce the Federal budget deficit by about $60 billion over three years. The package, approved by a vote of 228 to 199, includes major cuts in rural and public housing, reductions in veterans' programs, including a means test for some medical care, cuts in student loans and a one-year freeze in pay for civilian Federal workers. The Senate bogged down today on its own deficit-reducing package and final work was put off because of a dispute over attaching a measure to curb textile imports. The Reagan Administration has threatened to veto both the House and Senate proposals. Objection to Farm Proposal Agriculture Secretary John R. Block said today that President Reagan was also likely to veto separate farm legislation, to be debated in the Senate in the next few days, because of ''runaway budget exposure.'' [Page B11.] In a separate move aimed at the budget deficits, House and Senate conferees expressed optimism that they would be able to reach a compromise on legislation to mandate a balanced budget by 1991.

International President Reagan urged a fresh start in United States-Soviet relations and called on Moscow to resolve conflicts in five countries as a major step toward easing tension with Washington. Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Reagan linked progress in East-West relations to a resolution of conflicts in Afghanistan, Angola, Cambodia, Ethiopia and Nicaragua. [Page A1, Col. 6.] Nicaraguan and Ethiopian officials denounced President Reagan's speech at the United Nations and took issue with his statements on the number of Soviet-backed troops in their countries. He was also criticized for not mentioning South Africa and the global economic crisis. [A10:1-4.]

The Procter & Gamble Company, the Cincinnati-based giant, today reported a 12.1 percent gain in net income for the recently concluded quarter, leading the earnings performance of three other large food and consumer products companies also reporting today. Dart & Kraft Inc., based in Northbrook, Ill., reported a 1.1 percent decline in net income for the quarter, while the Sara Lee Corporation and The Quaker Oats Company, two other companies based in the Chicago area, reported gains of 6.8 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively. While the food and consumer products industry has been rife with takeovers and takeover rumors in recent months, Wall Street analysts said that investors who had driven prices of the stocks up recently on takeover speculation should not be surprised by the lackluster results. ''These stocks have acted so well lately, but people should remember that this is basically a very mature industry,'' said William Leach, an analyst with the Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corporation in New York. ''As a group, the food stocks are selling at historically high multiples which do not reflect great earnings, but a play on takeovers.''

The United States sent a high-level official to Jordan this week to encourage Israel and Jordan toward Middle East peace talks, the State Department said yesterday. The department said the purpose of the unpublicized trip, by Richard W. Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, was to ''sustain momentum'' generated in recent weeks. The disclosure came amid an unusual public exchange of conciliatory statements by Prime Minister Shimon Peres of Israel and King Hussein of Jordan. Officials accompanying President Reagan and Secretary of State George P. Shultz in New York said that the United States believed the prospects for moves toward peace had been advanced, and that it had decided to step up its role as a middleman.

THERE has never been, in New York or elsewhere, an exhibition quite like ''Liechtenstein: The Princely Collections'' at the Metropolitan Museum. This is not to say that it is better or worse than this exhibition or that, but simply that it is different. It is about places, and about people, almost as much as it is about works of art. Neither a monographic exhibition nor an aimless ramble, it is a show in which quintessences fall from the air like meteorites. Take, for instance, the opening sequence of the show - which, by the way, is planned more in musical than in pedantic terms, with big single statements, duets, interludes, concerted numbers and here and there a moment of rest and silence. Initially, we are in Vienna in the 18th century. We see the statue of a widow pouring oil by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt. The tin-lead alloy, so distinct from bronze in its low-keyed, bruisable look, is one often met with in fountains in the ancient inner city of Vienna, and it has a soft-spoken eloquence that forthwith makes us breathe the air of another place and time.

Representative Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told several members of his panel this week that he would support legislation that would retain Federal income tax deductions for state and local tax payments, those committee members said today. In return, the legislators said, Mr. Rostenkowski, an Illinois Democrat, asked for, and received, their pledges to support overall revision of the tax system. Mr. Rostenkowski's reported new stand would make it likely that if the committee approves a tax bill, the measure will maintain the state and local tax deductions, which are of special importance to taxpayers in New York State. A Cornerstone of Tax Plan President Reagan proposed repealing those deductions as one of the cornerstones of his plan to reduce Federal tax rates and eliminate many deductions and other tax preferences.

The United Nations turned 40 today, but the historic birthday party was marred by the failure of member nations to agree on a universal declaration of purpose. The predictable sticking point, one that has tormented the United Nations for most of its existence, was the Palestinian issue. As Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar opened the anniversary ceremony in the General Assembly hall, the Preparatory Committee for the 40th Anniversary worked furiously - and unsuccessfully - two floors below in a windowless, basement room on what was to be a ''Declaration on the Occasion of the 40th Anniversary.'' 'Back to Reality' at the U.N. ''This is the U.N.,'' a Western diplomat said as the meeting broke up. ''Back to reality.'' Another diplomat called the atmosphere ''testy,'' and even a Soviet delegate told a colleague, ''This was no way to mark the anniversary.''

The Senate today ignored threats of a Presidential veto and warnings of economic disaster and strongly signaled its approval of a severe limit on textile and footwear imports. During a hectic day of complex parliamentary maneuvering, the measure survived a key test vote by 54 to 42. But Senate leaders then set the measure aside before a final vote could be taken. To head off a filibuster by the trade bill's opponents, the sponsors are trying to attach it as an amendment to a catch-all bill that carries out deficit reduction measures mandated by Congress's budget resolution for 1986.

The tentative labor agreement at the Chrysler Corporation will be an added incentive to the company to buy more cars and parts from low-cost foreign sources, according to auto industry analysts. The impact of the new agreement will be felt first in the small-car market, where profit margins are thin or nonexistent, analysts said. ''This contract tells me that Lee Iacocca has decided to outsource small cars and move upscale,'' said Arthur G. Davis, an analyst with Prescott, Ball & Turben. Outsourcing is the industry word for transferring work to lower-cost producers.

The state has agreed to study the feasibility of constructing a 27,500-seat stadium for amateur sports and minor-league baseball at Coney Island, officials said yesterday. The review, to be conducted by Pratt Institute's Center for Community and Environmental Development, will focus on the design and financing of the stadium, as well as its potential economic impact on Brooklyn, said Vincent Tese, chairman of the state Urban Development Corporation. The agency's board approved the study yesterday.