Reports from Sabattus Pond Friday state that the ice is nearly all broken up and it is thought that it will all be gone by Sunday. Since the heavy wind of the first of the week and the warm sun the past two days the ice has begun to break up and with much more wind it is expected to go out most any time. The residents of Sabattus say that the pond will be clear by Monday night.

Lake Auburn, too, is beginning to show the effects of the wind and warm sun. The part of the lake which did not freeze over until February has all melted out and there is a large space of open water.

AUBURN - Lake Auburn was declared officially free of ice yesterday afternoon by Game Warden Philip J. Mahany of Auburn. Mahany said the only ice remaining in the lake was in the form of floes which drifted in Thompson Brook cove. The ice-out this year is one day earlier than last year when it was declared out on April 18. In 1956, the ice cover remained considerably longer, staying until April 29 while in 1955 the date was again April 17.

WASHINGTON - The government cost-of-living index has gone up in 16 of the past 18 months. It has declined only once in the past 26 months. It now costs more than $1.23 to buy what $1 purchased back in 1947-49.

• A critical shortage of teachers may confront Maine high schools by the end of this decade, says an educator from the University of Southern Maine, where an experimental program to get more qualified people into the classrooms is planned. According to Loren W. Downey, dean of the College Education at USM, people are just coming to grips with an impending teacher shortage, which has already touched the vital subjects of math and science.

• A new study by the New England Board of Higher Education has found that a significant majority of students who attend college in New England plan to remain in the region after they graduate.