Fielding, Hon. William Stevens, LL.D., D.C.L., P.C., M.P., one of the leading Liberal statesmen of Canada, was born at Halifax, N.S., November 24, 1848, the son of Charles and Sarah (Ellis) Fielding. He was educated in the public schools of Halifax, and at the age of sixteen entered the office of the “Chronicle” of that city as a reporter, and ultimately became managing editor, a post from which he retired in 1884. He early developed a rare talent as a public speaker, with a special aptitude for the handling of financial topics. At the Nova Scotia elections of 1882 he was elected to the Legislature for Halifax County as a Liberal, and two years later became Premier and Provincial Secretary. He was successful in carrying his party to victory in the general elections of 1886, 1890 and 1894, gaining an ever-increasing fame as an orator and administrator. When Sir Wilfrid Laurier, became Prime Minister of Canada, after the Federal elections of 1896, he induced Mr. Fielding to leave the provincial arena and become Minister of Finance in his cabinet. The new Minister was elected to the House of Commons for the riding of Shelburne and Queens by acclamation on August 2, 1896, and was re-elected at the general elections of 1900, 1904, and 1908. In 1911, he was personally defeated in the contest which resulted in the general defeat of the Laurier administration on the reciprocity issue. The great historic act of Mr. Fielding’s career as Minister of Finance was his establishment of an Imperial British trade preference in 1897, which has since become a permanent factor in Canadian tariff policies, and which won him fame throughout the Empire. In 1907, he also negotiated a reciprocity treaty in certain commodities with France; and during the fifteen years that he was Minister of Finance was a notable figure at Colonial and Imperial conferences in London. In 1910, he conducted on behalf of Canada the negotiations with President Taft to avert tariff war between Canada and the United States, and in the spring of 1911 was one of the commissioners who negotiated the reciprocity agreement with the United States, which, in the following September was rejected at the polls, and which became known as the Knox-Fielding pact. On the defeat of the Laurier administration, he re-entered journalism as President and Editor-in-Chief of the “Journal of Commerce,” Montreal. In 1917, he returned to politics as an Independent Liberal, supporting the Union Government on the question of conscription, and was elected by acclamation for his old constituency. At the National Liberal Convention of August, 1919, his election to the party Leadership was strongly urged by supporters in all parts of Canada; and despite his reluctance to accept the honour he was only defeated by the narrow majority of 38 in a poll at which more than 900 votes were cast. In religion Hon. Mr. Fielding is a Baptist, and on September 7, 1876, married Hester, daughter of Thos. A. Rankine, of St. John, N.B., by whom he had four daughters and one son. He resides at 286 Charlotte Street, Ottawa.
Nash, Charles William (Toronto, Ont.), Provincial Biologist, is an Englishman who came to this country to engage in farming, and was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1883. Since January, 1899, he has been a Lecturer in Biology of the Farmers’ Institutes Bureau, Department of Agriculture, Ontario, and is Biologist of the Provincial Museum, Department of Education. He has been a frequent contributor to Canadian Magazines, as also to “Farming World,” of which he was Associate Editor, writing regularly for many years under the title “Nature About the Farm.” Among other publications he is the author of “Birds of Ontario in Relation to Agriculture” (5th edition, 1913); “Check List, Birds of Ontario”; “Birds of the Garden”; “Ways of the Woodcock”; “Passing of the Pigeons”; “Migration of Birds”; “Humming Birds of Ontario”; “Wild Fowl of Ontario”; “The Bass of Ontario”; “Farmers’ Handy Book”; “Manual of Vertebrates of Ontario”; “Fishes of Ontario”; “Reptiles and Batrachians of Ontario”; “Mammals of Ontario”; and “Fishes of Toronto Region.” He has presented collections of Birds and Fishes of Ontario to the Provincial Museum, and is a member of the American Ornithologists’ Union; as also a Director of the Entomological Society of Canada. Mr. Nash was born at Bognor, Sussex, Eng., August 15, 1848, the son of Wm. H. and Louisa L. H. Nash, and received his education in England and the Isle of Jersey. He married Harriette B., daughter of Judge E. C. Campbell, Niagara, February, 1877, and has two daughters, Mrs. Eleanor E. Lacey and Mrs. Isabella L. Sweatman. He is an Anglican in religion, and a Conservative in politics.
Foran, Joseph Kearney, K.C., Litt. D., LL.B., Montreal and Ottawa, is one of the legal staff of the House of Commons, and also one of the leading litterateurs of Canada. He was born at Aylmer, Que., on September 5, 1857, the son of John Foran, a prominent lumberman, and his wife, Catharine F. Kearney. The latter was a lady of pronounced literary talent, and in her younger days was on the staff of the Dublin “Nation.” After coming to America, she for a time edited the “Ladies’ Literary Journal,” of Philadelphia. The subject of this sketch was educated at St. Joseph’s College, now known as Ottawa University, graduating in 1877. He then entered Laval University, Quebec, to equip himself for the practice of law, and in 1880 received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. During this three-year term he also obtained practical experience of his profession in the offices of Andrews, Caron, Andrews and Fitzpatrick, of which the late Sir Adolphe Caron and Sir Charles Fitzpatrick, formerly Chief Justice of Canada, were members. From 1880 to 1883, he practised law at Aylmer, Quebec, but in the latter year ill-health compelled him to spend three years in the woods of the north. In 1886 he was sufficiently restored in health to return to civic conditions, and for two years he acted as secretary to the Speaker of the House of Commons. He also became active as a writer of poems, essays and other forms of literary effort which were accepted by numerous Canadian and American publications, and in 1891 he became editor of the “True Witness,” of Montreal, which won an honorable place in Catholic journalism by the literary distinction of its contents and the breadth of its outlook. At the same time he began to acquire fame as a speaker and lecturer, and has been heard in many parts of Canada and the United States. His addresses are marked not only by rare eloquence, but by a spirit of toleration that makes them acceptable in all assemblages. In 1894, the University of Ottawa conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Letters, and his address on that occasion won tributes from the Earl of Aberdeen and other distinguished men who were present. He also speaks with equal facility in French and English. He has published a number of volumes, including “Obligations,” a legal treatise; “Poems and Lyrics”; “Simon the Abenakis,” a novel; “The Spirit of the Age,” an historical and philosophical essay; and “Irish Canadian Representatives.” The latter publication won high tributes from both Sir John A. Macdonald and Sir Wilfrid Laurier. He is a strong advocate of the cause of Irish freedom and in 1882 drafted the first Home Rule resolution presented in the House of Commons, for which the late Hon. John Costigan stood sponsor. In 1902 he entered the office of the Secretary of the Law Branch of the House of Commons as English translator; in 1908 he became Assistant Law Clerk; and in 1912, when the Parliamentary Counselship was created he was attached as Legal Officer to the Law Branch. In 1911 he was created King’s Counsel, and in 1914 appointed a Commissioner of the High Court of Ontario Dr. Foran is a Roman Catholic in religion; and in 1892 married Louisa, eldest daughter of the late Edwin Davis of Ottawa, who built many of the lighthouses on the Great Lakes. Mrs. Foran is a lady of literary culture who has been of great assistance to her husband in his work. They have two surviving children, Lieut. Herbert P. Foran, a student of McGill University, and Miss Ethel U. Foran.
