January 28, 1981

The Governor's Special Fire Safety Task Force will immediately seek legislation that would require operators of public facilities to read an announcement pointing out exits and emergency procedures at all public gatherings of more than 20 persons. Secretary of State Basil A. Paterson annnounced the proposed legislation today in response to growing public concern because of recent tragic fires. Spokesmen for Assembly Speaker Stanley Fink and Senate Majority Leader Warren M. Anderson, who are members of the task force, said it would be premature to predict the fate of such a bill in the Assembly.

The Exxon Corporation reported yesterday that its fourth-quarter earnings dropped 1.1 percent from the comparable period a year earlier, but said profits for all of last year surged 31.8 percent, to a record $5.66 billion. The world's largest oil company also said that revenues for all of 1980 soared to $110.47 billion, up 30 percent from $84.97 billion in 1979 and believed to be the highest sales figure ever reported by an industrial company. Exxon's quarterly decline surprised many analysts, who generally expected somewhat better results. ''I don't think we thought it was going to be as bad as what they're coming in with,'' said Merz K. Peters of Brown Brothers Harriman. ''It reflects some of the rough crosscurrents in the world today,'' added Joel Fischer of Drexell Burnham.

The sharp and largely unexpected rise in interest rates in last year's fourth quarter played havoc with bank earnings, causing a surge in profits at some institutions and dramatic declines at others. ''Those banks that depended on very short-term funds to finance longer-term loans and investments were penalized, and those that purchased money at considerably lower rates during the summer and early fall were handsomely rewarded,'' said Thomas H. Hanley, vice president and manager of bank research at Salomon Brothers. Primarily as a result of the higher interest rates, earnings of the Western Bancorporation soared, making it the most profitable by far of the nation's 15 largest bank holding companies. Western, with total assets of $32.1 billion at the end of last year, is the nation's ninth-largest bank holding company.

An Indonesian passenger ship caught fire in a storm and sank in the Java Sea yesterday, and Indonesian officials said early today that more than 500 people were missing. Officials reported that 620 others had been rescued and 20 bodies had been recovered. Describing the sinking as Indonesia's worst ship disaster, they said rescue efforts were being hampered by heavy seas and driving rain.

Paul A. Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and senior economic officials of the Reagan Administration disagreed today over whether tax cuts should come before or after reductions are made in Federal spending. In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Mr. Volcker called for ''concrete action on spending cuts before a final decision is made on tax cuts.'' Earlier, Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan told the committee that the ''tax program cannot wait until budget outlays are reduced.'' Mr. Regan also maintained that ''we must not make the mistake of assigning a higher priority to balancing the budget than to revitalization of the economy.'' While the two sides disagreed over timing, they were in accord that tax reduction would best come as part of a package whose other central feature would be substantial reductions in projected Federal spending.