September 17, 1981

The Federal Trade Commission today dropped its broad antitrust case against the nation's eight major oil companies, saying further proceedings in the eight-year-old case "are not in the public interest." The case has made little progress since the commission issued the complaint in 1973, charging "collusive action" by the companies . F.T.C. lawyers said in June that the trial co uld not begin for at least three years. "While the length or complexity of litigation does not in itself constitute a basis for dismissal, the circumstances of this proceeding, including the limited progress of litigation, call for this result," the F.T.C. said.

A senior Administration official said today that, although Pakistan had refused to foresake its nuclear development program, its leaders ''totally understand, without a doubt,'' that a nuclear detonation could cost the Pakistanis the $3.2 billion aid package just agreed upon with the United States. Under Secretary of State James L. Buckley said that, even though the Administration was asking Congress to waive the law that bars aid to Pakistan because of its unmonitored nuclear program, the Administration ''is firmly committed'' to halting the spread of nuclear weapons to countries such as Pakistan. He made the statement in testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on the sixyear package. Assurances by Zia Cited Mr. Buckley said President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq of Pakistan had given him assurances that Pakistan would not develop nuclear weapons but had refused to rule out developing the potential to explode a peaceful nuclear device. Any such explosion, Mr. Buckley said, would be regarded by the United States as tantamount to nuclear weapons testing.

''It may be easier to cut off the head of the Federal Reserve, but when you have the Federal Reserve running around headless, you'll still have the same problem you started with.'' -Paul A. Volcker, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board. (A1:4.)

New York state and city officials are increasingly realizing that they must shift their emphasis from building new projects to restoring their existing transportation, water and other basic facilities if their economies are to survive. That assessment was driven home today by economists and public officials at the opening of a two-day conference here intended to focus attention on a growing public crisis: that many of the basic facilities provided by government, constructed in the early part of the century or before, are rapidly reaching the end of their useful lives. The conference was called by Speaker Stanley Fink of the State Assembly, a Brooklyn Democrat. He described the condition of New York's physical plant as ranging from ''very bad to worse.''

SHE thinks he is not attentive enough. He finds her impossible to please. She contends that all she wants is someone to talk to about her troubles. He knows that she really needs much more than that. She suspects he is only in it for the money. He wishes she would realize that a man has to eat. She does not trust him. Without her trust he can't perform. In the end they will probably part amicably, but, in the meantime, they will hurt each other and violence may even cross their minds. Ill-fated lovers? Not at all. He is a decorator and she is his client. It is no one's fault, really - just that the relationship between designer and client is bound to be tense at times. Consider what the client is buying: a home that says, in the most flattering terms possible, ''This is me.'' And consider what the designer has to sell: Taste, in all its subjectivity. And, then consider the cost. ''They want your money and your life,'' said Stephen H. Schwartz, a lawyer who signed up and discharged several designers before decorating his own apartment. ''One was pushing platforms, another was selling tradition. They all wanted to do what they wanted to do rather than help me do what I wanted.''