SOON TO RETIRE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 51, Issue 133, 18 March 1931, Page 4

SOON TO RETIRE.

COUNTY BRIDGE BUILDER.

MR P. NORMAN'S INTENTION. After having supervised the building of practically every bridge in Ashburton County, since the County Council was appointed, Mr Philip Norman will shortly retire from active service. Much water has passed under the bridges built by Mr Norman in the last 40 years, and his record as a bridge builder would be difficult to parallel. For all of that long period fie has been supervising bridge-building for the County Council, and his earliest work yet stands, except for the ordinary ravages of time, as solidly as ■when it was put up. Many of the crossings of our rivers and waterways will for years stand as monuments to the solid workmanship of liis master hand. Responsible leaders of local bodies have spoken in eulogistic terms of the conscientious work of Mr Norman and his co-labour-ers in bridge construction, of the expeditious and at the same time careful allegiance to specifications of the work. At present Mr Norman has the Mayfield bridge reconstruction work well tinder way, and with this completed, ho will probably .lay down the tools of office. In addition to bridge construction!, Mr Norman has undertaken at various times the transportation of many large buildings in Ashburton, the latest being the removal of the Band rotunda from Baring Square West to the Domain. Mr Norman will later in the year pay a visit, to his son, Mr P. Norman, who holds a. professional engagement in the Malay States. Mr Norman, juur., an old pupil of tlje Ashburton High School, has been associated with: developmental work for many years on tiie Malay Peninsula. He paid a brief visit to Ashburton a year ago. He will retire in a. few years on a liberal retiring allowance, and as lie will make the East his permanent home, his father intends to pay a visit to the forests and jungle, with its wild beasts, among which his son has had much hard survey work and no little adventure.