Diaries of Sir Daniel Gooch. With Introductory Notice by Sir
Theodore Martin. (Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co.)—At twenty- one, Daniel Gooch was appointed Superintendent of the Locomo- tive Department of the Great Western Railway. It was at his suggestion that the vast establishment at Swindon was set up. He severed his connection with the Company in September, 1864, but returned to it as Chairman in 1866. Its affairs, before depressed, steadily improved, the price of the shares rising in the course of six years from £90 to £120. In February, 1889, he pre- sided at the general meeting for the last time, and had the pleasure cf announcing a dividend of 71 per cent. But the most interesting experiences of his life were in connection with the laying of the Atlantic telegraph cables. He had bought, with some friends, the ` Great Eastern' steamship in 1862 ; and the great vessel was used in laying the cable in 1860. His diary—entered up, it would seem, from day to day—gives a graphic account of the alternating hopes and fears with which the attempt was made. It ended in failure. But Sir Daniel was undaunted, and went again the fol- lowing year. After the cable had been laid, the work of fishing for the old one was begun. After disappointments innumerable, which it seems to try one's patience even to read, this work was accomplished. On September 2nd, the cable was fished up, and it was found to be in connection with Valencia. He made a third cable expedition in 1869. In this also there were anxieties, but it ended well. The extracts from Sir Daniel's diaries, which are described as voluminous, have been judiciously made.
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