January 24, 1994

The annual report for Four Seasons Hotels Inc. is as inviting as a turned-down bed in one of the company's five-star hotels. The photographs are of dreamy places, the tone is reassuring and the ledgers show the company to be solidly in the black. But the market is beginning to wonder how healthy the Toronto-based company really is. The stock trades in Toronto at $12.75 Canadian a share, or about $9.70 American, 35 percent less than when the company last sold equity to the public in December 1992.

The frigid Buffalo weather froze the pond in Bruce Smith's backyard and last week a few of the kids in his neighborhood decided to try their hand at ice sketching. Taking into account that the Kansas City Chiefs and their legendary quarterback, Joe Montana, would meet Smith and his Buffalo Bills at Rich Stadium this afternoon for the American Football Conference championship and a trip to the Super Bowl, the little darlings decided to leave the defensive end an indelible message.

Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Perry, the leading candidate to succeed Les Aspin as Secretary, told the White House on Saturday that he did not want the job, Pentagon officials reported today, but the Administration has mounted a major effort to change his mind. Mark D. Gearan, the White House communications director, said tonight that the Administration considered Mr. Perry "very much in the running" for the job. He said preliminary vetting of his record had begun. But a close friend of Mr. Perry said the Deputy Secretary was "still quite reluctant on this."

Public health officials are still struggling to cope with the resurgence of tuberculosis in the region - especially among the homeless and people with H.I.V. The number of new cases continues to grow, but apparently at a slower rate. New York and New Jersey still accounted for 21 percent of the nation's 26,673 tuberculosis cases in 1992. New York City spent about $40 million that year to prevent or treat tuberculosis. 10 times as much as it spent five year before. Last year New Jersey spent about $8 million on tuberculosis control, up from $2.1 million in 1986. Other New Jersey cities besides Newark have high rates of tuberculosis. The 1992 rate per 100,000 people in New Jersey was 46.9; in Paterson it was 56.6.

As the battle for Paramount Communications Inc. lurches toward a finale, analysts are pointing out a strange paradox: the winner may be the loser. Several media analysts are forecasting that whichever bidder -- QVC Network Inc. or Viacom Inc. -- is the victor in the vicious four-month-old fight, its stock is likely to fall sharply, if companies in comparable situations are any guideline.