I lived in an even smaller town in NZ, it was a holiday village, only 2 places had a phone, the only people I knew were on the same party line - this one worked

I lived in an even smaller town in NZ, it was a holiday village, only 2 places had a phone, the only people I knew were on the same party line - this one worked slightly differently - on a pole was a relay - it could switch to either party, we couldn't hear the other people on the line .... but we also couldn't talk to each other (the only 2 people in town with phones couldn't call each other)