Oriental Telephone and Electric Receipt

To obtain a telephone to be installed in a shophouse after world war 2, you had to go through many procedures such as paying rent for the telephone, payment for wire installation and also payment of subscription for the first year. Oriental Telephone and Electric is the only company in Malaya that provide electricity and telephone services and are managed by the Englishman. After the war in 1947, many shophouses and residence decided to obtain a landline phone for calling purpose and there was a lot of people applying for it back then.

The charging rate of using the telephone service during 1947 to 1957 is 175 Malaya dollars for a business unit and 140 Malaya dollars for a residence unit and this chargers are based on per annum basis. The charging rate increased from 1st July 1958 with a new rate of 250 Malayan dollars and 180 Malayan dollars per annum for business unit and residence unit respectively. Back then, it was really expensive and not many people could afford to have a landline phone especially after world war 2.

The first photo that you saw was the original receipt kept by my great grandmother who used to own a charcoal shop back in Johor Bahru old town. It was the year 1951, where my great grandfather got his first landline phone for the shop and the telephone number was 2757. It was indeed very easy to remember back then, but the telephone number had change over the years as 4-digit landline phone number became extinct in the 1970s. 

You can even see that King George V stamp beautifully pasted on the receipt itself. This is a true treasure for collectors.