January 19, 1983

When things go wrong with the economy, the alcoholic beverage business usually holds its own. Drinking customs resist change, and almost anybody can afford a glass of beer. But in today's recession, many drinkers have reduced their intake or switched to less expensive drinks, and the $47 billion industry is suffering. Indeed, for the first time since the Great Depression, the experts report, an economic downturn is having a noticeable effect on the consumption of liquor, beer and wine.

THIS is the tale of an incredible gravy whose five-day sojourn in the refrigerator was an inspiration to the cook, a gravy of such finesse that ... ''Oh, come, come,'' the skeptic objects. ''Leftover gravy, even if it is not five days old, is cold comfort indeed. What an unpromising beginning for a piece.'' Not necessarily. With leftovers, as with hand-me-downs in general, certain distinctions must be made. With most of them, admittedly, it is only conscience that cows us into keeping them around. We carry a roost of moralizing watch-birds in our heads: If we but think of tossing last Saturday's shank of lamb to the dogs or of secreting Aunt Martha's sequined calendar towel in the trash, they raise their ancient racket about ingratitude and waste. Though we would like nothing better than to have both items out of the house, we hang the one and serve the other, hardly caring which treatment is given which, so depressing is the thought of either.

South Africa dissolved the four-year-old National Assembly in South-West Africa today and announced that it was resuming direct rule. The move followed the resignation of the Council of Ministers made up of members of a multiracial political front called the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance. The Alliance was initially sponsored and promoted by the South African authorities as an alternative to a black nationalist insurgent movement called the South-West Africa People's Organization. The insurgents are seeking to turn the territory into the independent nation of Namibia, a name already frequently used for the territory.

Slowed by bad weather, housing starts fell 13 percent in December, to an annual rate of 1.22 million, the Government reported today. For all of 1982, work was started on just 1.061 million units, the lowest number since 1946. The December decline came after three consecutive months of sharp increases that brought housing starts from a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 1 million units in August to a rate of 1.404 million starts in November. The November figure was 24.7 percent above October, the Commerce Department's report said, a slight downward revision of the 26.5 percent increase reported last month.

Mark White took the oath to become the new Governor of Texas today and minutes later led a fervent crowd of about a thousand well-wishers through a chilly downpour to the gates of the Governor's mansion. Once there, he used a bolt-cutter to lop off a lock that had been symbolically placed on the gate for the ceremony. Then he led the damp contingent into the big house, where certificates were handed out. Bearing the state seal, they proclaimed that the bearer had ''assisted the Honorable Mark White, Governor of Texas, in removing the lock from the front gate of the Governor's Mansion, thereby opening it to and for the people of the state, to whom it rightfully belongs.''