The Life and Work of Joseph Firbank, Railway Contractor. By
Frederick McDermott. (Long,mans.)—The great railway contractor was born at Bishop Auckland, Durham, in 1819, and laboured at a colliery till his twenty-second year. In 1841 he obtained a sub- contract on the Woodhead Tunnel, which opened the way to the fifty contracts which he completed between 1854 and 1886. There is little in the present volume beyond the mere enumeration of the various undertakings and their difficulties ; nothing about the individuality of Mr. Firbank himself. From his portrait we infer that it was unbending resolution, combined with good humour and cheerfulness, that went so far in aiding his victory over difficulties. He retained to the last those simple habits which a youth of toil necessitates, and gives another example of the dignity of labour.
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