Parke

This is an appeal by defendants from a judgment granting to plaintiff a writ of mandate addressed to the defendants, the Board of Trustees of the Firemen’s Relief and Pension Fund of the city of Oakland,- and its members, directing them to pay to the plaintiff the sum of one thousand dollars.

The question to be decided is whether or not the minor children of James H. Parke, deceased, who was- at the time of his death, and had been for a period of ten years prior thereto, an “extra man” in the employ of the fire department of said city, are entitled to the death benefit of one thousand dollars provided for in subsection 2 of section 104 of the city charter of 1911. If under his employment as an “extra man” Parke is to be regarded as having been a “member” of the department, then the plaintiff was, as decided by the superior court, entitled to the relief demanded.

The undisputed facts are as follows: On July 12, 1905, Parke was appointed to the position of extra man in said fire department, at which time what is known as the old city charter of Oakland was in force. Under the provisions of that charter there can be no question but that an extra man was a member of the department.…