BUSINESS TAX CUTS, like income tax reductions, are out for 1956. After Treasury Secretary George Humphrey testified that the U.S. will need another $1 billion this year, the Senate Finance Committee voted to block the scheduled $3.2 billion cut in excise (liquor, cars, etc.) and corporate taxes.

NATIONAL AUTO SHOW, the U.S. equivalent of the big European shows, will be held again this year for the first time in 16 years. Show in New York Coliseum next December will include all U.S. makes, except possibly Ford, which has sometimes stayed out of the show in the past.

HIGHER RAIL FARES are coming on 89 eastern and western railroads. The roads are asking for a flat 5% fare increase on all trips west of the Mississippi and north of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers. They will probably get it, since the ICC is sympathetic to their claims of a $700 million annual loss on passenger operations.

PUBLIC PAYROLLS are still climbing, despite all efforts to cut down on federal, state and local employees, says the Census Bureau. For October 1955, the last month for which figures are available, the total public payroll hit an alltime record 7,432,000 civilians, up 200,0000 from October 1954. Salaries: $2.3 billion per month.

BRITISH BIKES are pumping ahead in their race against U.S. makes. Despite a 50% tariff hike last August, Britain shipped a record 538,429 bikes to the U.S. in 1955, captured 24% of the market.

NICKEL PINCH will be eased by more metal from the Government stockpile. After diverting 12 million Ibs. during the first quarter, the Office of Defense Mobilization will divert another 18 million Ibs. in the second quarter.

TURBINE AUTO will be started across the U.S. this week by Chrysler in a rugged endurance test. After two years of testing on Detroit city streets, Chrysler has installed a jetlike turbine engine in a Plymouth, plans to drive it 3,000 miles, from Manhattan to Los Angeles.

U.S. ATOMS FOR PEACE program overseas will get a boost from General Electric Co. G.E. has signed up to build Spain's first and Europe's second sizable U.S. reactor, near Madrid (the first: the 11,500-kw. Westinghouse reactor sold to a Belgium syndicate last November). The 3,000-kw. reactor will be used for agricultural and medical research and as a trainer for bigger power plants.

PARTNERSHIP PROJECT for the Priest Rapids Dam in Washington state will get under way soon. Major legal obstacle to the big dam, a suit challenging disposition of power sale contracts, has been withdrawn, and the Grant County Public Utility District will soon award the construction contract. Apparent low bidder: Merritt-Chapman & Scott, for $91.8 million.

BIGGEST OIL REFINERY in Germany will be built near Cologne by Standard Oil of New Jersey. To be ready by 1959 at a cost of $119 million, refinery will have an initial capacity of 3,000,000 tons of crude oil annually, will build up to 5,000,000 tons by 1961, some 50% of West Germany's total current capacity. Project also involves six 36,000-ton tankers, plus a 150-to 200-mile pipeline from North Sea ports to Cologne.

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