FIELDING, WILLIAM STEVENS , Cana dian journalist and statesman, was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Nov. 24, 1848. From 1864 to 1884 he was one of the staff of the Morning Chronicle, the chief Liberal paper of the province, and worked at all departments of newspaper life. In 1882 he en tered the local legislature as Liberal member for Halifax, and from 1884 to 1896 was premier and provincial secretary of the province, but in the latter year became finance minister in the Dominion administration of Sir Wilfrid Laurier and was elected to the House of Commons for Shelburne and Queen's county. He opposed Confederation in 1864-67, and as late as 1886 won a provincial election on the promise to advocate the repeal of the British North America Act. His administration as finance minister of Canada was important, since in 1897 he introduced a new tariff, granting to the manufactures of Great Britain a preference, sub sequently increased ; and later he imposed a special surtax on German imports owing to unfriendly tariff legislation by that country. In 1902 he represented Canada at the Colonial Confer ence in London. He was a plenipotentiary for the negotiations of the Franco-Canada Commercial treaties in Paris (1907, 1909 and 1922) ; served on several Royal commissions, and negotiated various other commercial agreements. He was one of the Cana dian delegates to the Assembly of the League of Nations in 1922. From 1917-25 he was M.P. for Shelburne and Queen's county, and from 1921-25 held office as minister of finance. In 1923 he was made privy councillor. He died at Ottawa on June 23,