Mr. Horatio Nelson Lay, 0.B., died on the dth inst. at Forest Hill, and though for many years under an apparent cloud he was one of the pioneers of British influence in China, and but for the short-sighted jealousy of the Chinese officials, might have been one of the pioneers of Chinese ogress, Born in 1832, he entered the consular Service in China in 1849 as a supernumerary interpreter, and interpreter to. the Magistracy at' Hongkong in 1851. In 1852 he was an assistant in the Superintendence, Assistant Chinese Secretary in 1854, and Vice-Consul and Interpreter at Shanghai in the same year, When, with the increasing trade relations of China with foreigners, the neces sity of organising a Customs service on Buropenn lines was brought home to the Chinese Government, Mr. Lay's services were placed at its disposal. In 1855 he, therefore, resigned his appointment under the Foreign Ellice in order to undertake the organisation of the Chinese Customs at Shanghai. He came back temporarily to Her Majesty's service in 1858, when he was attached to Lord Elgin's mission as Assistant Chinese Secretary, and he took, with the Into Laurence Oliphant, an important part in the negotiations of the tariff appended tothe Treaty of Tientsin. On the termination of his labours in this connection he resumed his administrative duties under the Chinese Government, and in 1859 he was appointed Inspector-General of the Imperial Maritime Customs, and laid the foundations of the important service which Sir Robert Hart, his then assistant, has since deve-Joped and brought to such a high state of efficiency. In 1862 Mr. Lay was instructed the Chinese Government to proceed England and purchase a fleet of gunboats "for the protection of the treaty ports and the suppression of piracy," then rife all over the coast and waterways of the Chinese Empire. On his return to China, however, after the conclusion of his mission, serious differences of opinion occurred between him and Captain She-tard Osborn, R.N., who had gone out in command of the new flotilla on the one and Prince Kung and the Chinese ters on the other. Mr, Lay with rare foresight insisted that if the reorganisation of the Chinese navy was to be really effectual the European officer in command should be placed only under the orders of the Emperor, whereas the Chinese Government, Greading the influence he might thus acquire, were bent upon subordinating him to the authority—i.e., to the obstruction—of the provincial offi Sir Fredetick Bruce, the British Minister at Peking, declined to support Mr. Lay and Captain Osborn, just as, many years Inter, his successor declined to support Captain Long, R.N., when he, too, in his turn demanded a fuller measure of executive and administrative independence than it suited the incompetency and corruption of Chinese officialdom to concede to him. Mr. Lay consequently resigned his post under the Chinese Government in 1864. Captain Osborn returned to England, and the flotilla he had brought out was sent back to Europe to be sold and broken up. Mr. HLay on his return to this country was called to the Bar at the Middle Temple. He has more or less led a quiet life for the Inst thirty years, though occasionally his vigorous views on opium xnd the short comings of Chinese officialdom were given to the public at times. There can be little doubt, that had he been supported by the British Minister in the matter of control of the fleet that the defences of China would not have proved so deficient in, say, the troublous times of 1874, 1884, and 1894.—London and Ohina Express.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.