His parents were Canadian-born mining engineer Zebina Lane and Irish-born Mary Kearney.
[1][2] At age 15, he managed a mine at St Arnaud, Victoria, later joining the Colonial Smelting Co.
[1][2] In 1885, Lane moved to Broken Hill, New South Wales, to manage several mines.
After that, he invested in jarrah timber and urban development, floating the Collie Proprietary Coalfields Co.[1][2] In January 1902, he moved to Perth, Western Australia.
He was elected to the Metropolitan-Suburban Province of the Western Australian Legislative Council at a by-election on 11 September 1903.
He had strong participation in debates at first, but was quiet after criticism from the 1904 royal commission into the Great Boulder Perseverance mine.