apxs present but not functioning

I recently compiled & installed apache 1.3.31

httpd -v
Server version: Apache/1.3.31 (Unix)
Server built: Jun 6 2004 22:12:58

httpd -l
Compiled-in modules:
http_core.c
mod_env.c
mod_log_config.c
mod_mime.c
mod_negotiation.c
mod_status.c
mod_include.c
mod_autoindex.c
mod_dir.c
mod_cgi.c
mod_asis.c
mod_imap.c
mod_actions.c
mod_speling.c
mod_userdir.c
mod_alias.c
mod_rewrite.c
mod_access.c
mod_auth.c
mod_auth_dbm.c
mod_so.c
mod_setenvif.c
mod_ssl.c

The build ==>
$APACHE/bin
../ apachectl* dbmmanage* httpd*
.../ apxs* htdigest* logresolve*
ab* checkgid* htpasswd* rotatelogs*

ls -l $APACHE/bin/apxs
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24718 Jun 6 22:13 /usr/local/apache/bin/apxs*

As root, wheel member, or anyother user including "nobody" any attempt
to do an Apache extension as in say php4 install with apache ==>
/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs: permission denied

another example - extension from the src/module collection ==>
apxs -i -a -c mod_usertrack.c
/usr/local/apache/bin/apxs: Permission denied.

Could someone say what could possibly be the problem

Thanks

-- Adam --