No appointment was made immediately to Foochow. It was not, indeed, until the latter part of 1844 that steps were taken to introduce the Consular system there. The duty was then entrusted to Mr. Lay, who as an experienced official was well equipped for what was realised would be a difficult and delicate work owing to the fact that the Emperor had only with the greatest reluctance allowed Foochow to be included in the list of Treaty ports. The anticipations of trouble were abundantly realised. Mr. Lay, on landing, found the officials indisposed to grant him a suitable place for residence, and he noticed symptoms of a disposition to slight his authority. At the outset he had to be content with a site in the insalubrious vicinity of the river suburb. But by tactful negotiations he was ultimately able to acquire the lease for resident purposes of a temple on an eminence known as Black Stone Hill, overlooking the city. This temple was beautifully situated amid pleasant groves and terraced gardens and it constituted in every way an agreeable contrast to the ill-placed building at first set apart for the Consulate.

—Arnold Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China, (London, 1908) "Early History and Development", p. 63.