W. G. T. Goodman
Sir William George Toop Goodman KBE MICE MIEE MIEAust (14 March 1872 – 4 February 1961), until his knighthood invariably referred to as "W.G.T. Goodman", was an engineer and administrator who supervised the installation of New Zealand's first electric tramway and went on to oversee the foundation and growth of the Municipal Tramways Trust in Adelaide, South Australia. Early life. William Goodman was born in Kent, either in St. Peter's or Ramsgate, a son of William Henry Goodman and his wife Emma Ann Goodman, née Limeburner, and educated at St. George's School in Ramsgate . He later studied at King's College London and perhaps Finsbury Technical College. He was articled to Squire & Newton of London, then joined Maudslay & Field. In 1891 he joined the firm variously reported as Poole & Wight or Poole & White and worked on the Blackpool electric tramways, the Liverpool electric railway, the City and South London electric railway, and the City and South London Railway. He has also been reported as working for Simpson and Co. of London, and for his father, who may have been a consulting engineer or a carpenter. Early engineering career. In 1894 Goodman may have visited  America and Germany to gain further technical knowledge and experience. In October 1894 he was in Hobart, Tasmania as a representative of the Brush Electrical Engineering Company setting up that company's exhibit at the International Exhibition, then installing an electric lighting plant for the Mount Lyell Mine reducing works, and advising on the feasibility of installing a hydro-electric generator on the Zeehan Falls for a company floated by Samuel McLean. In 1897 he joined the tramway construction branch of the Department of Public Works, New South Wales, and also served as an officer in the Sixth (Volunteer) Infantry  Regiment. He next joined the Sydney engineering company Noyes Brothers for whom in May 1900 he travelled to New Zealand to install electric urban tramways to link with the Roslyn and Dunedin cable tramway systems, which had been designed and installed from 1881 by George Smith Duncan. He left Noyes Brothers in 1902 to take up an appointment as electrical engineer to the city of Dunedin, and was involved in the Waipori hydroelectric scheme, the Christchurch refuse destructor, tramways for Petone and Hutt, and Auckland city lighting. Municipal Tramways Trust. In 1907 Goodman take up the position of electrical engineer  with Adelaide's Municipal Tramways Trust at £1,500 per annum. The following year he was further appointed chief engineer and general manager. The progress of the MTT under his management, and subsequent dismantling, is covered in the Wikipedia article "Trams in Adelaide". Goodman retired from the MTT in 1950 at the age of 78. Other highlights of Goodman's professional life included the following. Royal Commission into public transport Auckland, New Zealand. In 1928 he and Alfred Edward Edwards? of Sydney were appointed to a Royal Commission chaired by J. S. Barton of Wanganui, into the tram service in  Auckland where the introduction of competing private bus services had resulted in crippling financial losses to the tram service and financial failure of the bus companies. Having buses servicing outlying areas created expectations that the services would continue, leading to compulsory takeover of uneconomic routes by district councils, which were then saddled with recurring debt. The terms of enquiry were: The Commission's report, handed to Parliament in late July 1928 made the following recommendations Committee of Enquiry into the Hume reservoir. In May 1929 the three States with a vital interest in the Hume Dam, New South Wales, South  Australia, and Victoria, impatient with progress of its construction, called for an enquiry. The Commonwealth Minister for Works (William Gibson) appointed three commissioners: E.G. Ritchie, (a Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works engineer), W.G.T. Goodman, and E.H. Graves, a land valuer, of Sydney. Its terms of reference were: The recommendations and outcome of this enquiry do not appear to have been made public. Railway Investigation Committee (South Australia). On 27 May 1930, at the onset of the Great Depression in Australia and with a serious drought gripping South Australia, the Hill Government appointed Goodman to head a committee to investigate  the control and administration of the South Australian Railways and the causes of the heavy, and increasing, losses incurred. The other members of the committee were Charles Miscamble (former Railways Commissioner of Tasmania), John W. Wainwright (Assistant Auditor-General), and Archibald McInnes (secretary of the Boilermakers' Society). The inquiry was instigated only two weeks after the return to the US of Railways Commissioner W.A. Webb, who had been eight years in the job. Webb had become unpopular with the government for a number of reasons. Although South Australia was beginning to feel the effects of the depression evident in all  states, much of the loss of revenue in the state was blamed on the railways. Most of the witnesses at the hearings were loyal to Webb, but the committee concluded that despite Webb's legacy being a greatly upgraded railway system, his ideas were too ambitious for the times; many of Webb's reforms had been expensive and extravagant, and had damaged the state's economy. Chief among their recommendations was that management of the railways should be run as a business on behalf of the taxpayers, removed from political influence, and be controlled by a board of six members  selected on a non-party basis, with only the director having railway experience. Other activities. His hobbies included flying, deep-sea diving and music. He had interests in a number of private companies. Family. He married Florence Letitia Attreed ( – 1956) on 7 January 1893. While in Adelaide the family lived at "Lea Lodge", Strangways Terrace, North Adelaide 1909–1916; LeFevre Terrace, North Adelaide 1917; Brougham Place, North Adelaide 1928–1952; and 58 Palmer Place, North Adelaide 1932–1949 (sic). Their children included: Following three years in hospital, Goodman died at College Park on 4 February 1961, aged 88. He was buried at North  Road Cemetery, Nailsworth. Sources. Radcliffe, John C., 'Goodman, Sir William George Toop (1872–1961)', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 9, Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1983, pp. 48–49. Also available at http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090047b.htm. 'Goodman, William George Toop', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1475625. Details MCCARTHY, G.J. Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 4 February 2010 Cite this: http://www.eoas.info/biogs/P001252b.htm Encyclopedia of Australian Science 2015