COOMA NEWS

 

With the changeover to the automatic telephone exchange due on November 26, Cooma has suddenly discovered that great little status symbol the coloured telephone.

 

As the telephone fever spreads rapidly through the town, the chances of finding a black tele-phone are rapidly dropping to 14 to one.

 

A P.M.G. official confirmed this today when he said that 1,400 of the 1,500 telephones in Cooma were being replaced with coloured models.

 

Telephone subscribers can have their choice between red, green, yellow, ivory or grey, and it’s, “on the house.”

 

A talking point

 

The manual telephone sets are being replaced by “dial yourself” models—and as far as authorities are concerned subscribers can pick the colour they want.

 

Ivory and grey are the most popular, but you are just as likely to find a red one in the pub bar or a green one in some business man’s office.

 

The coloured telephones offer all kinds of possibilities for interior decorating — “we will have to repaint this room to match the new yellow telephone, dear.”

 

And, of course, it has all kinds of prospects as a talking point— “I took red myself, but you should have seen the green one Bessie got and George — I always said he was a bit dull — stuck to black.”

 

For those who do stick to black the P.M.G. will convert the old manual phone into a dial telephone.

 

The Canberra Times, Tue 10^th November, 1964