News is to hand of the death, un February 25 at Iron Bridge, Shropshire, of Mr. Herbert Elgar Hobson, who was Senior Commissioner of the Chinese Maritime Customs at the time of his retirement. He was the eldest son of the late Mr. Robert Hobson, of Wellington, Somerset, and was 1 his seventy-eighth year.
Mr. Hobson arrived in Shanghai in August, 1861, to join the Customs Service. In the following winter the Taiping rebels were closing round Shanghai, so like nearly every other European rssident he joined the Volunteers. In 1863 he went to Peking, end shortly after this, consequent 7 the beheading of the Taiping rebel chiefs, he was appointed Staif Interpreter to General Gordon whom he served with until the end of the campaign in 1864. For his services he was decorated with the Gordon Campaign Medal. He then rejoined the Customs, and served in one capacity or other at no less than eighteen of the Treaty ports in China. Mr. Hobson thus possessed a varied and unique experience of China.
He opened Wenchow to trade in 1877, Chungking in 1890, and Tens-yueh (Yunnan) in 1900, besides which he spent three years Yuling on the Thibet frontier. He closed his Chinese service in Shanyhai, where he endeared himself te all with whom he came in contact.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.