February 10, 1981

Behind Ecuador-Peru war, long- smoldering resentment A2 Spain's ruling party ends parley still divided A3 Canadian premiers to will petition Britain on constitution issue A4 Around the World A5 Iran and Iraq said to agree to visits by Islamic leaders A7 Zimbabwe invites U.S. to foreign aid donors conference A8 Reagan is asked to give main policy role to State Department A9 Government/Politics Hinson of Mississippi to resign after arrest for attempt A14 Reasons for travel often baffle U.S. agencies A16 G.A.O. predicts electronic mail will cut Postal Service role A19 Koch moves town meeting after heckling B2 Assembly passes bills on nuclear safeguards B6 Curb on publication of research on code stirs controversy B11 General Around the Nation A14 San Diego leads nation in use of solar energy A14 Houston officials act to curtail outbreak of meningitis A14 Ex-Wells Fargo aide reported aid- ing F.B.I. inquiry A24 L.I.R.R. tied up by breakdowns B2 The Region B4 The City B8 Psychiatrists agree an accused killer is not responsible B8 Women lawyers express frustra- tion at A.B.A. parley B9 Industry/Labor Proposed miners' pact offers s a form of cost-of-living pay A14 Science Times State psychiatric hospitals forced to close or change C1 Worldwide research plumbs the essence of gravity C1 Sweeping changes in Govern- ment's science policies C1 Education: Protestant schools open at rate of three a day C1 Central Park's pinetum flourishes as an outdoor lab C3 Science Q&A C3 About Education C4 Arts/Entertainment A whimsical Balanching outlines Tchkaivsky ballet festivial C7 Joey Bishop enjoys taxing role in "Sugar Babies" C7 Ronald Thomas in cello recital C7 Oscar Shumsky, violinist, plays with Jupiter Symphony C7 Paramount pays $1 million to res- cue Coppola enterprise C7 Robert Young's "Alambrista!" opens at Public Theater C8 Hard times may force D'Oyly Carte to close C11 Sam Anson's account of how Roll- ing Stone grew is reviewed C11 Manhattan Punch Line stages a new Otis Bigelow comedy C22 Eglevsky Ballet at Hofstra C22 PBS's "Nova" studies eruptions of Mount St. Helens C22 "The Choice," about abortion, on CBS-TV tonight C22 Rostropovich conducts Rachma- ninoff's Vespers C24 Style Notes on Fashion C12 Culottes step smartly for spring C12 Mrs. Reagan's special cause C12 Obituaries Bill Haley, early rock-and-roll band leader B19 Mahomed Ali Currim Chagla, for- mer Foreign Minister of India B19 John H. Mathis, retired executive of cement concern B19 G.S.DeVine, ex-president of C.&O. and B.&O. railroads B19 Jack Z. Anderson, former Repre- sentative from California B19 Sports Fordham routs Army, 75-57 B13 Syracuse beats Georgetown on a hook shot in final seconds, 66-64 B13 Free agency is subject at N.H.L. all-star game talks B13 N.B.A. teams discuss trades as deadline nears B14 Mix-up creates uncertainty about Millrose 5,000 records B15 Co-promoter says Smith has told him Garden card will go on B15 Briard advances to final at West- minster show B15 Garden show has 2,910 dog stories, the non-shaggy kind B15 Dave Anderson on Tom Seaver at his winter chores B16 Features/Notes Issue and Debate: Should regula- tions on lands ease? A21 Going Out Guide C11 Notes on People C13 News Analysis John Vinocur on West German So- cial Democrats' problems A3 Frank Lynn on government aides and political campaigns B8 Linda Greenhouse on Chief Jus- tice Burger's plea on crime B9 Editorials/Letters/Op-Ed Editorials A22 Decontrol bus travel Pakistan's Afghan feeler Learning the Rosedale lesson Topics: no deluge Letters A23 Tom Wicker: Chief Justice Burg- er's call to arms A23 Donald J. Newman: no, don't abolish parole A23 Zhores Medvedev: effects of the Soviet grain embargo A23 F. Steven Larrabee: U.S. strategy is the key to lifting the embargo A23

''We want to send a message to people coming to New Jersey that carrying guns won't be tolerated and that New Jersey jails will have a welcome mat out for criminals who use guns.'' - Assemblyman Martin A. Herman. (A1:1.)

Shirley Williams, the former Education Secretary, completed her break with the Labor Party today, a long-awaited move that signaled the creation of a new party in British politics. Mrs. Williams, a leader of the the new faction in the ideological center between Labor and the Conservatives, formally resigned from the Labor Party's 29-member National Executive Committee, saying that ''the party I loved and worked for over so many years no longer exists.'' Two weeks ago, Mrs. Williams and three other former Cabinet ministers, after long and anguished deliberations, announced the formation of what they called ''The Council for Social Democracy'' to work toward the political ideals that they said Labor had abandoned in its recent drift to the left. Reconciliation Attempt Fails Since then, Michael Foot, the Labor Party leader, has been trying hard to persuade them to stay in the party and work out their differences with it from within. But the announcement today by Mrs. Williams, the only committee member among the four, was a sign that he had failed in that attempt.

The Reagan Administration is fashioning a military budget that calls for an increase of $32 billion over President Carter's proposed budgets for this year and the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, according to officials at the Pentagon and in military-related industry. The Reagan budget reportedly will emphasize shipbuilding for the Navy, tactical aircraft and a new bomber for the Air Force, more civilian employees for the Army, despite the current freeze in other Federal hiring, and pay increases for members of the armed forces. On Feb. 18 President Reagan is expected to propose cuts of $40 billion to $50 billion in all other Federal spending for the fiscal year 1982. Only military spending will be increased, according to current plans, and the new military budget is expected to face strong opposition when it is presented to Congress later in the month.

WHAT is gravity? Of the basic forces it is the least understood. Does it, as Einstein proposed, take the form of waves, ranging from the vanishingly small to miles in length, the way light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation do? No one knows for sure. But now the effort to find out - an effort that has been growing for years - has taken on heroic proportions as scientists around the world hone existing instruments and devise new ones for a variety of tests. Physicists are virtually unanimous in their belief that, despite its seeming to be purely an attracting force, gravity has properties in common with the other readily observable force, electromagnetism. The prediction from Einstein's general theory of relativity that gravity, particularly when strong, slows time and bends space has been amply demonstrated. Watches run slightly faster on the top story of a building than at street level because, being farther from the center of the earth, they are in a weaker gravitational field. The strong gravity of the sun bends space sufficiently for stars to appear out of place when viewed along paths that skirt the sun during an eclipse.