Six hundred dollars is a steep price to pay for the use of a telephone, but that is the sum paid to a subscriber in Jerusalem for agreeing to transfer his instrument to another person.
The payment of such a large sum is a result of the announcement made by the Post Office that no new telephone lines would be installed in Jerusalem before the Autumn of 1936. The shortage of telephones is so acute in Palestine today that even business enterprises are being informed by the Postmaster that their applications for telephones cannot be considered before 1937.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
