diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 69d357c2b..350921f5a 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -4,6 +4,11 @@ Changes from Ant 1.4.1 to current CVS version
 Changes that could break older environments:
 --------------------------------------------
 
+* <telnet> was fixed to expand properties inside nested <read> and
+  <write> elements; before this only happened when you assigned the text
+  to the string attribute. If you had $ signs in the string, they may
+  need escaping. 
+
 * the RegexpMatcher interface has been extended to support case
   insensitive matches and other options - custom implementations of
   this interface won't work any longer.  We recommend to use the new
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/net/TelnetTask.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/net/TelnetTask.java
index 0786d7e96..89c097886 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/net/TelnetTask.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/net/TelnetTask.java
@@ -246,7 +246,15 @@ public class TelnetTask extends Task {
         {
             throw new BuildException("Shouldn't be able instantiate a SubTask directly");
         }
-        public void addText(String s) { setString(s);}
+        /**
+         *  nested text elements need their properties explicitly expanded
+         */
+        public void addText(String s) {
+            setString(project.replaceProperties(s));
+        }
+        /**
+         * attribute assignment of properties
+         */
         public void setString(String s)
         {
            taskString += s;