NELSON.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3875, 31 May 1881, Page 2

NELSON.

This day. Mr Levestan addressed a crowded meeting of electors last night, and said the class to which he belonged would never be properly represented until it returned men from the masses. He claimed for the children as a right, liberal and secular education; but said the ad ministration of the education system was too extravagant. On the land question he thought it would be better to give land away in order to make it pro* ductive. He opposed the Property Tax and Beer Tax, advocating an income and a land tax on a sliding scale, with ad valorem duties. He advocated slight protection rather than bonuses, and would support a capitation. He thought modified Provincial Councils without power of legislation would give better local government. He applauded Sir G. Grey's liberal measures, but censured him for certain actions. He said the present Government were not Liberals, did not deserve credit for economy, and were to be charged with dishonesty regarding the District Railway Bill. He was opposed to the redistribution of seats on the population basis, and would support measures he believed to be for the good of all, but lacked confidence in the leaders of either side. He received an unanimous vote of thanks, with the addition of expressing him a fit and proper person to represent the constituency. Mr J. C. llichmond, iv the morning papers, says he did not roundly declare himself a Socialist, but in common with the great Liberal party, of which he was a member, he sympathised with the aims of Socialists, which he understood to be to secure to the working man a fair share of the fruits of his labor, and to mitigate as far as possible the inequalities of his lot.