The San Francisco call., 1898-12-25
LIVELY TIMES ON THE MAIL
 COMP PANY'S DOCK City of Panama and Gaelic Sailed. A BIG RUSH TO SEE ROBSON HESITATE POLICEMAN R. CORDS WANTS OVERTIME. Worked More Than Eight Hours a Day on the Front and Thinks
 He Should Be Paid
 For It.
A BIG RUSH TO SEE ROBSON
HESITATE POLICEMAN R. CORDS
 WANTS OVERTIME.

There was busy time of it at the Mail Dock yesterday. The City of Panama was booked to sail for Central American ports and the Gaelic for the Orient There was the usual rush to get passengers and freight aboard, but 1t was considerably after the sailing hour of the vessels be- fore they got away. AS a general rule each passenger has about fifty friends down to see him or her off, but on this occasion the contingent was swelled to at least one hundred and fifty each, and in consequence there was very little spare room on the wharf.
 The great majority of the curious crowd was down to get glimpse at Lieutenant Hobson. That gentleman did not put in an appearance until the last moment, so there was no opportunity for farewell kisses. Once he got aboard he went on the bridge with Captain Finch and Pilot Meyer and remained there until the vessel had passed out through the Golden Gate. AS the Gaelic passed along the front a number of tugs and steamers Whistled good-by and each time the Gaelic an- swered it was Hobson who pulled the string.
 The Gaelic will probably reach Honolulu on Friday next, arriving about the same time, if not before, the City of Picking, which left here Friday night. The steamer there first will secure the dock and will, of course, be first away. If it should be the Gaelic her passengers will easily be first to Hongkong. From Hong kong Lieutenant Hobson goes to Manila to see if any of the Spanish fleet de- stroyed by Admiral Dewey can be raised and repaired.
 The British ship Matterhorn had hard time Of 1t getting from Portland to As toria. She is laden with wheat, and owing to the low state of the water in the Columbia river it took her six days to get from one port to the other The last nd ln1r -rlc found necessary to lighter some of the cargo before she could be got off.
 George White collector for the Harbor Commission at Howard-street wharf was taken suddenly i'll yesterday afternoon. He was removed to the Harbor Receiving Hospital, where Dr. FitZgibbon attended to him. In the evening he was so far recovered as to be able to go to his home
 Reinsurance on the British ship Celtic Bard, now out 90 days from Hongkong for British Columbia, has advanced to 90 per cent. On the CaradOc. 50 days out from Hiogo. Japan, for Puget Sound, 70 per cent is being paid, and on the Prince Edward, 165 days out from Philadelphia for Hono- lulu per cent. No reinsurance can be had on the Laurelbank and she is now given up as lost.
 The coasting steamer Pasadena is tied up at Eureka with her machinery dam aged Her condenser tubes have been sent here to be retinned and other repairs will keep her at the dock until the first week in January.
 1Ht crew ITOIl lue revenue cutter HUSH was landed at California City yesterday and given a couple of hours drill by the officers of the vessel.
 Robert Cords, an eX-State policeman in the employ of the Harbor Commissioners, has filed a claim for S1175 with that body for extra pay. Cords was employed along the water front from 1895 to 1898, and dur ing that time he says he worked 40 days overtime. As there is a State law which makes eight hours a day and six days a week the legal length of time a man can be compelled to work, Cords thinks he is entitled to the extra pay for his over time.