RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29324, 1 October 1960, Page 25

RANDOM REMINDER

RIGHT NUMBERS

It was stated recently that a bird-like whistle might soon replace the telephone bell in Britain. The familiar ring, it was said, would disappear when the new electronic telephone system was installed. New call sounds, including the bird-like whistle, were being tested. This development opens up a new wide field of possibilities. If a variety of calls is possible, why should they not all be incorporated in the system? There is nothing more irritating than leaving a comfortable warm bath to answer the telephone, to find

that the subscriber has dialled the wrong number, Not much can be done about that. But other sorts of calls could be announced in advance, provided the telephone authorities played their part. For instance, in New Zealand, the Rugby referee’s three quick, shrill trills for ambulance assistance fills the Saturday afternoons. Any call for help, if the telephone rang in that fashion, would not only warn those being called that someone was turning to them for assistance; it would give them an opportunity to slip out

of the house. Then, too, a telephone emitting one of those cheerful sounds known as a wolf-whistle would allow the daughter of the house to answer, without everyone else sitting up expectantly, waiting to be called to the instrument. One of the difficulties, however, would be in providing a satisfactory service for those shady characters whose business dealings are of vital interest to the constabulary; for it is not easy to imagine the Post and Telegraph Department devising a telephone which could say “Psst!”