August 5, 1987

LEAD: ALTHOUGH New Yorkers seem to think they pay more than everyone else for just about everything, prices in city supermarkets are below the national average, according to a recent sampling conducted in 17 cities by food editors of newspapers.

LEAD: Stepping through the rubble in the pitch-dark basement of a burned-out South Bronx building, Morty Feldman was suddenly scared out of his wits by a man holding a flickering candle up to his face.

LEAD: Antony Berry, the chairman of Blue Arrow P.L.C., Britain's leading employment agency, tested the London financial district's faith in his management abilities today when his company's broker scrambled to line up financing for Blue Arrow's surprise $1.24 billion bid for its much-larger American counterpart, Manpower

LEAD: Eastern Parkway, once one of New York City's most majestic and elegant roads, will be restored to its former grandeur in a nearly $60 million renovation, the largest single road construction project ever undertaken by the city, officials announced yesterday.

LEAD: The head of New York City's high schools, hired a year ago, was dismissed yesterday in the wake of the widely publicized failure of the Board of Education to carry out several job programs for high school students.