This is a quirky story about a funeral service in Suva where the coffin was empty. It appeared in The Fiji Times of December 4, 1897.
Many strange things happen in a young colony such as Fiji, but surely never a stranger one than that which occurred a few days back, when the burial service was read over an empty coffin.
From what we can gather of the circumstances, it appeared that an old settler named Lockwood recently died at the Suva hospital and the Suva Relief Fund took charge of his funeral.
The coffin was ordered and was brought to the hospital, where it was left by the bearers in the usual place.
They retired and returned a little later.
No one from the hospital was present, but the lid was on the coffin and the pallbearers evidently thought the body had been placed inside.
So the coffin was borne on their shoulders from the hospital to the cemetery where it was met by the reverend gentleman, and the usual burial service having being delivered with all due impressiveness, the coffin was lowered into the grave.
But imagine the consternation of all concerned, when, a few minutes later, a message came from the hospital authorities asking when the body of the deceased was to be buried, as the coffin had not arrived.
It was then discovered that the service had been held over an empty coffin.
The coffin was then at once taken back to the hospital where the body was put in without fail on this occasion and buried, the clergyman again reading the service once more.