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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 4, 4 January 1873, Page 2

The Otago Daily Times says : — " In the address presented to -Sir George Bowen on tbe occasion of his arrival here, tbe hope is expressed that his Excellency's translation to the Governorship of VicFor continuation of news see fourth pjge.

toria may enable him to 'suggest such measures as will result in mutually beneficial relations betweeo New Zealand and that colony.' To this his Excellency replied:-— 'With you, Mr Mayor -aiid gentlemen, I trust that my accession to the Government of thegreat neighboring colony of Victoria may enable me to assist in strengthening the many- tieß which connect it with New Zealand, andespeciaily with the province of Otago.' There is on either side a happy Vagueness of phrase well suited to the character of the occasion on which this address and this reply were made. , According to a man's temperament or his ignorance, he may fancy what he likes as to the possible effect upon the relations between New Zealand and Victoria of Sir GeoKge Bbwen's removal from" one sphere to the other, and of his desire to bear his part in any action that may ' assist in strengthening the many ties which already connect the present with the future scenes of his activities." Life's Bkightest Hotjr. — Not long since I met a gentleman who was assessed for more than half a million. Silver was ih*bis hair, care upon his brow, and he stooped beneath his burden of wealth. We were speaking ot that period of life wheu we had realised the most perfect enjoyment, or rather when we found the happiness nearest to be unalloyed, "I tellyou, said the millionaire, ** when was the happiest hour of my life. At the age of 21 I had saved up 800 dollars. I was earning 500 dollars a year, and my father did not' take it from me, only requiring that I should pay for my board. At the age of 22 I had procured a pretty cottage just outside the city ; 1 was able to pay two-thirds of the value down, and also to furnish it respectably. I was married on Sunday — a Sunday in June — at my father's house. My wife had come to me poor in purse, but rich in the wealth of her womanhood. The Sabbath and the Sabbath night we passed beneath my father's house, and on Monday morning I went to my * work, leaving.uiother and sister to help in preparing my home. On Monday evening, when the labors of the day were over, I went not to the paternal shelter as in the past, but to my own house — my own home. The holy atmosphere of that hour seems to surround me now in my memory. I opened the. door of my cottage and entered. I laid my hat on the little stand in the hall, and passed on to the kitchen*— our -kitchen and diningroom was all in one then. I pushed open the kitchen door and was —in heaven ! The table was set against ' the wall, the evening meal was ready — prepared by the hands of her who had come to be my helpmate in deed as well as in name; and by the table with a throbbing, expectant look upon her- lovely, loving face, stood my wife. I tried to speak, and could not. I could only clasp the waiting angel to my bosom, thus showing the ecstatic burden of my heart. The years have passed — long, long years — and worldly wealth has flowed in upon me, and I am honored and envied; but, as true as heaven, I would give it all, every dollar, for the joy of the hour of that June evening in the long, long ago. — New York Ledger. '