If I understand you need that your string begins in character 31. If so then modify the block of code for:
*- Try playing with substr function and printing the returned valus until you get the correct values.
DO WHILE !FEOF(nhdl)
cString=FGETS(nhdl, 185)
*-- New Line
cString=Substring(cString,31,len(alltrim(cString)))
*---
cStr1=Substr(cString, 1, 30)
orig_lata=Substr(cString,31,3)
cStr2=Substr(cString, 34, 44)
term_lata=Substr(cString,78,3)
Bill_dur=Substr(cString,81,5)
cStr2=Substr(cString, 86)
ENDDO
ENDIF
ENDIF
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." A.E
"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." A.E