August 19, 1985

A caption in some copies Saturday with the Sports People column did not apply to the picture it accompanied. The picture showed the tennis player Andrea Jaeger, not the runner Mary Decker Slaney.

Pressures are building in France to sell back to private investors the great swath of industry and banking that President Francois Mitterrand and his ruling Socialists nationalized after they took power four years ago. The move comes just as many of these companies are finally turning a profit. The Socialists' nationalization spree has given France the largest state sector among industrialized countries outside the Communist world, with Government-owned companies accounting for about 30 percent of industrial output. The 12 big industrial groups that the Socialists swept into the public net at a cost of 50 billion francs in compensation (or the equivalent of about $5.9 billion at the current exchange rate of about 8.4 francs per dollar), include Saint-Gobain, the insulation maker; Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann, the metals giant; Rhone-Poulenc in chemicals: Compagnie Generale d'Electricite; Thomson-CSF and ITT's French subsidiaries in the electrical sector; two steel companies, Usinor and Sacilor; two leading armaments companies, Dassault and Matra; Roussel Uclaf, a pharmaceuticals concern, and Cii Honeywell Bull, a computer company. The Socialists also added 39 privately owned banks to the list of state-owned companies, which already included France's three largest banks; most insurance companies; the Renault automobile company; the aviation, nuclear, shipbuilding and coal mining industries; Air France and the internal airlines; the railways, telephone, post office and gas and electricity supply companies.

International South Africa's black leaders were urged by Robert C. McFarlane, President Reagan's national security adviser, to challenge the Government to produce specific changes to match its vague promises before those black leaders resorted to further violence. He made his comments as questions arose in the United States and South Africa as to why expectations were so high that President P. W. Botha's speech on Thursday would include major concessions to the country's black majority. [Page A1, Column 6.] Unrest continued in black townships around South Africa. Arson, looting and stone-throwing was reported in six townships in the Orange Free State, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Johannesburg and Soweto. [A5:1.]

Josh T. Hulce, president of the Manville Corporation, likens the impact of the past three years on his company to being hardened by fire. On Aug. 26, 1982, Manville took the unusual step of filing for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code to contend with claims from victims of asbestos-related disease. The move sparked a public outcry over what was then seen as a tactic by the company to avoid its product-liability responsibilities and even prompted Congress to amend the bankruptcy laws last year to prevent other companies from following Manville's example. Besides the grueling negotiations with asbestos claimants and other creditors, the Denver-based company has also had to fight like it never had before to reclaim market share from competitors who seized upon Manville's travails as a golden opportunity to steal its business. Manville, which sold its asbestos operations several years ago, is now mainly involved in fiberglass and forest products.

The Senator from New York put on his baby-talk voice. ''Penny, girl,'' Alfonse M. D'Amato cooed into the phone in his Washington office, ''do me a little favor, will ya?'' Penny, the secretary to Edward Rollins, a White House aide, had already explained that her boss could not talk because he was in a meeting and had to rush to a reception. But the Republican Senator, who wanted to ask Mr. Rollins about getting the President to campaign for him in New York, never takes no for an answer if he can cajole, shout, ply or pressure his way into a yes or a maybe. ''Penny, sweetness,'' he said, ''you walk into that meeting and give him a little piece of paper that says: 'Senator D'Amato' -no, make that Alfonse - 'Alfonse says he hasn't bothered you in a long, long time. So can you call him - please, please? Don't forget your friend Alfonse.' Tell him I'll only bother him for two minutes. No, one minute. Can't you do that for Alfonse? What time is the reception?''