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The President and Executive Officer of the Board of Health (1943-1959). Previous executive officer titles include: President of the Board of Health (1850-1925), President and Executive Officer of the Board of Health (1925-1937), and Territorial Commissioner of Public Health (1937-1943).
In 1903, the President was made the presiding officer and only salaried member of the Board of Health, and required to be a licensed M.D. or doctor of osteopathy. In 1925 the President was also made the Executive Officer of the Board of Health, having the power to make appointments, enforce the regulations and directions of the Board, and carry out the wishes of the Board through his subordinates.
In 1943 the president acquired the power to appoint a deputy, called the Assistant Health Executive, subject to the approval of the Board, who became a part of the President's office. The Assistant Health Executive's duty was to attend to routine business matters, and at the same time to be director of the Division of Local Health Services. As the director of that division, he supervised the agents of the Board stationed in the various health districts of the Territory (the employees of the Bureau of Public Health Nursing and the Government Physicians). He also supervised the District Health Officers, who were under the County Health Officers. In that capacity his duty was to ensure the uniform provision of health care across the Territory.
In 1989 when the Department of Health reorganized into Administrations, the Deputy Directors of Health of each Administration were administratively located in the Office of the Director.

Department of Interior: Bureau of Public Works: 1845 - June 1900

Laws enacted in 1845 and 1846 established the Department of Interior to manage the Kingdom of Hawaii's internal affairs.

One of the responsibilities of the Department of Interior, which was headed by the Minister of Interior, was the management and supervision of internal improvements undertaken by the Hawaiian government.

The Minister of Interior had the authority, with the approval of the King in Privy Council, to appoint a Superintendent of Public Works to assist him in directing the Kingdom's internal improvements.

From 1855-1857, the Bureau of Public Improvement was a part of the Department of War. It then, once again, became a part of the Department of Interior.

In the pre-Territorial period, the Superintendent of Public Works, as the executive in charge of the Bureau of Public Works, was responsible for government buildings, prisons, pounds, harbors, piers, wharves, lighthouses, beacons, sewage systems, electric lights, and certain roads and bridges.

The Superintendent of Public Works was also responsible for constructing public laundries and wash houses, acquiring and preserving heiaus and puuhonuas or the sites and remains, and producing surveys, maps, and plans of government lands, harbors, and internal improvements, as needed by the public.

The varied duties of the Superintendent of Public Works were not all assigned at the same time.

The last two Superintendents of Public Works were Julius H. Smith, serving from 1884 to August 1887, and William E. Rowell, who served from August 1887 to June 1900.

Territorial Department of Public Works: 1900-1913

The Organic Act for the Territory of Hawaii, which became effective in June 1900, abolished the office of the Minister of Interior (Section 8) and empowered the Governor of Hawaii, with the consent of the Territorial Senate, to appoint a Superintendent of Public Works for the Territory of Hawaii (Section 80).

John A. McCandless was appointed as the first Territorial Superintendent of Public Works on June 14, 1900, succeeding William E. Rowell, who had served from August 1, 1887. Upon McCandless' appointment, Rowell became Assistant Superintendent of Public Works.

McCandless served as Superintendent of Public Works from June 14, 1900 - May 4, 1901 and was followed by: James H. Boyd (May 4, 1901 - December 2, 1902); Henry E. Cooper (December 6, 1902 - November 18, 1903); C.S. Holloway (November 25, 1903 - November 1, 1907); Marston Campbell (November 1, 1907 - November 1, 1912); Herbert K. Bishop (November 1, 1912 - May 2, 1913) and J.W. Caldwell (May 2, 1913 - August 15, 1914).

During the latter part of World War I, the Federal government emphasized an increase in food production and food conservation programs. In a cable sent in April, 1917, Secretary of Agriculture Lane asked Governor Lucius E. Pinkham that Hawaiʻi make itself as self-supporting as possible and increase its exports of foods, especially sugar to the mainland. Legislation was rushed through the closing days of the Legislature and Act 221, which created the Territorial Food Commission and allotted it $25,000, was approved by Governor Pinkham on May 2, 1917. Two days later, Governor Pinkham filled 6 of the 9 commission posts that the act created, naming James Dole, John Waterhouse, Frank Black, C. G. Bockus, Arthur Ozawa and Richard Ivers. The last two were succeeded by Arthur Neely and William Hoogs Sr. respectively, upon their deaths in 1918. The Governor refused to name commissioners for the outer islands to fill the remaining vacancies, but did name Delbert -Metzger of Hilo, William D. Baldwin of Maui and Charles Rice of Kauaʻi as representatives of the commission. However, in June, 1918, Governor
Pinkham's successor, Governor C. J. MacCarthy gave William Baldwin, Charles Rice and also James Russell of Hawaiʻi their commissions. Attending regular commission meetings besides the commissioners and the executive officer were a representative of the U.S. Army in Hawaiʻi and legal counselors, Senator Alfred L. Castle and Charles R. Hemenway, who were appointed by the commission. Dr. Arthur Dean, President of the College of Hawaiʻi, served as executive officer without pay for four months until he resigned in August, 1917, because of an increased work load at the College. Senator Alfred Castle then resigned as attorney for the commission and was appointed executive officer in his stead.
Assisting him was John Francis Child who served as assistant executive officer with pay. Meanwhile Congress had created the Federal Food Administration with Herbert Hoover as its head and Mr. Child was named Federal Food Administrator in Hawaiʻi. It was, therefore, only natural that he succeed Senator Castle as executive officer of the Territorial Food Commission when the latter resigned in December, 1917, because of pressing work with the Red Cross. One of the first tasks undertaken by the Commission was an inventory of the different food supplies on hand in the Islands and a comparison of it with the Custom House imports of the same goods, to see which island products could be increased and imports of it decreased. It also undertook the investigation of such things as hoarding, wasting of food and excessively high costs and prices. In this endeavor, it used its powers to fix a ceiling on the price of Hawaiian grown rice and taro. Assisting the Territorial Food Commission was a Women's Committee headed by Mrs. A. C. Alexander, and with branches on the outer islands. They and the commission's publicity man, F. E. Matson, were of great help in promoting many projects, among which were meatless, wheatless and porkless days and publication of recipes using wheat and flour substitutes. Perhaps the Territorial Food Commission's most important project was the initiation of the county agent system for the purpose of advising and instructing planters of crops other than sugar cane and pineapple, about matters pertaining to plant\ng,. cultivating, spraying, harvesting and marketing. These agents, one each on Oʻahu, Maui and Kauaʻi, and two on Hawaiʻi, also served as marketing demonstrators for the Marketing Division of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry. They supplied them with information about crops that were planted or about to be marketed and other data of interest in return for $40 per month which the Board
contributed towards each agent's salary. County agents also acted as representatives of the Federal Food Administration in 1918. When Mr. Child, who was already Federal Food Administrator in Hawaiʻi, became executive officer of the Territorial Food Commission in December, 1917, the Federal Food Administration began to assume most of the work formerly undertaken by the commission so that the commission was abolished on December 31, 1918. Responsibility for the county agent system was transferred to the College of Hawaiʻi in January, 1919.

The Central Nutrition Committee was formed on June, 1938, as an outgrowth of the Committee on Human Nutrition of the Diversified Crops Committee, Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association. Membership was composed of representatives from the HSPA, University of Hawaiʻi Home Economics and Extension Service and the Experiment Station, the Home Economics Department of the Department of Public Instruction,
and a plantation doctor. Under the chairmanship of Dr. Nils P. Larsen of Queen's Hospital, the committee prepared a food ration for a plantation boarding house or restaurant based on an adequate low-cost diet for a plantation laborer, sent out nutrition circulars to plantations at their request and most important, prepared and published a nutrition primer, EATING YOUR WAY TO HEALTH, of which 20,000 copies
were printed. The Territorial Nutrition Committee was organized on December 6, 1941, in accordance with suggestions from the U. S. Office of Defense Health and Welfare with the Central Nutrition Committee as its nucleus. This larger group was made up of representatives from interested private, educational and social agencies and institutions and was not plantation-oriented like its predecessor. The purpose of this committee was to advise, coordinate and promote better nutrition among interested agencies and groups so that the public would be better
educated without the activities of the different organizations duplicating each other. Acting Chairman for December, 1941, was Dr. Charles Wilbar, but he was called into active duty and Miss Carey Miller took over the chairmanship from 1942 to 1944. Succeeding her were Mrs. Miriam Emery Jackson, Miss Inez Eckblad, Mrs. Winifred Ross Vanicke and Mr. Kum Pui Lai. From 1943 to 1945, the Federal government provided funds for an executive secretary, Miss Janet (Jamie) Cameron. Under the leadership of the above mentioned people, the Territorial Nutrition Committee undertook many projects among which were: preparing exhibits, distributing posters, promoting the importation of healthier foods, giving demonstrations and producing a movie, "Found in Hawaii." On November 28, 1948, the members of the committee voted to disband since the committee had already "served its purpose."

Motivated by the necessity for emergency planning to alleviate the effects of the depression, the National Resources Committee (called National Resources Planning Board after 1939) and forty-six state planning boards were established in the early 1930s. In Hawaiʻi, the Nineteenth Legislature in 1937 enacted Act 207 which authorized the establishment of the Territorial Planning Board. However, ventures into the sphere of civic planning had been made since the turn of the century: in 1906 the Civic Federation Committee on Streets, Parks and Public Works was established, in 1911 the Outdoor Circle was organized, and in 1915 the Honolulu Planning Commission was established.

Act 207 authorized the Governor to appoint nine members to the Territorial Planning Board. The superintendent of Public Works, president of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry, and the federal Public Works Administrator or representative of public works were designated as ex-officio members, Of the other six members who were appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, at least one had to be an architect and one an engineer. In 1939 the Legislature passed an amendment changing the membership of the Board, but the measure died by pocket veto.

The duties of the Territorial Planning Board were the preparation of a territorial master plan; advisement of territorial and local officials in coordinating territorial development; regulation, coordination and correlation of public works employment; collection and publication of information relating to proper territorial development; and responsibility for conferring and co-operating with federal and military officials in scheduling public works projects. The Board was responsible for the preparation of maps and planning studies and surveys to gather information on matters pertaining to the physical development of the Territory. Because it was charged with the approval of plans relating to public improvement, government agencies were required to submit written notices of contemplated construction to the Territorial Planning Board. The Board was further authorized to accept and use funds provided by the United States government, and was required to submit a report of its plans and recommendations biennially to the Governor and Legislature.

On January 10, 1939 Governor Poindexter appointed Charles D. Rosecrans, chairman, A. L. Burdick, Robert M. Belt, Ray Morris (architect), and Chester K. Wentworth (engineer) to the Territorial Planning Board. The ex-officio members were Louis S. Cain, superintendent of Public Works and Frank H. Locey, president of the Board of Agriculture and Forestry. The Board held its organizational meeting on February 10, 1938. Subsequently, monthly meetings were held which included public hearings and meetings on the outer islands.

The Territorial Planning Board, in practice, functioned as an administrative unit. On March 28, 1938 the Board appointed Joseph F. Kunesh as director to implement the provisions of Act 207. He headed a staff of five until his resignation in January, 1941, and was succeeded by Karl A. Sinclair.

The Territorial Planning Board received assistance from the National Resources Planning Board which provided general advisory and liaison services for state planning boards. In addition to the services of the National Resources Planning Board, the Territorial Planning Board had two advisory committees: Pursuant to a letter from Harold Ickes, chairman of the National Resources Committee, the Land Planning Committee, similar to those previously established on the mainland, was appointed by the Board. The Human Resources Committee was an outgrowth of a meeting called by Frank Midkiff to consider the problem of unemployment in Honolulu.

Following a technique of planned activity adopted from the National Resources Planning Board and existing state planning boards, the Territorial Planning Board initially concentrated on research before attempting to ascertain needed facilities. Accordingly, the first report of the Board to the Governor and Legislature was An Historic Inventory of the Physical, Social, and Economic Industrial Resources of the Territory of Hawaiʻi (Publication No. 1), which was an accumulation of data essential to planning. This was followed by its supplement, Existing Urban Resources and Facilities of the Territory of Hawaiʻi (Publication No. 2) .

In addition to the preceding publications, the Board published nine other reports. Surface Water Resources of the Territory of Hawaii, 1901-1938 (Publication No. 4) also focuses on research. One of the incentives for its publication was the prevention of costly duplication of effort in research and planning that required knowledge of the availability of water. Also pertinent to the subject of water is the "Report of a Subcommittee of the Land Planning Committee on the Molokaʻi Irrigation Project" (Publication No. 3) which evaluates a report made to the Commissioner of Reclamation, Department of Interior.

At the first meeting of the executive committee of the Human Resources Committee, a decision was reached that the efforts of the committee should be focused on the unemployment problem. Collaborating with the Education Committee of the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce, an unemployment survey was conducted by John R. Sedgwick. The results are published in Unemployment Survey Honolulu Rural Oʻahu, December, 1939 (Publication No. 5).

In the later publications the Board begins to implement Section 2 of Act 207. The following reports were mandated by the Twentieth Legislature: Lands for Our Public Schools, An Integral Part of the Territorial Master Plan (Publication No. 6) by Joint Resolution 4; Master Plan of the Town of Kapaʻa (Publication No. 8) by Senate Joint Resolution 11 which was included in Act 244 (General Appropriations Act); Master Plan of the City of Hilo (Publication No. 9) by Senate Joint Resolution 12, included in Act 244; and Report of the Executive Legislative Quarters, Civic Center, City of Honolulu, Hawaii (Publication No. 10) by Senate Concurrent Resolution 8. For the Master Flan of the Town of Hanapepe (Publication No. 7) the Board of Supervisors of the County of Kauaʻi solicited the assistance of the Territorial Planning Board when differences in viewpoint arose between the County and private interests during the development of a master plan for the town.

The last publication of the Board was Conservation Development of National Resources: Program for Hawaiʻi (Publication No. 11), which in­cluded a proposed zoning enabling act. It served the multiple purposes of being the first statement of planning objectives by the Board, the second progress report to the Legislature, and answering a request from the National Resources Planning Board for participation in the national "Program for the Conservation and Development of the Resources of the United States.

Under Act 244, $6,000 had been appropriated for a Park, Parkway, and Recreational Area Study, which was made in cooperation with the National; Park Service to implement Public Law 7701/2 [sic] (74th Congress). The study was nearly completed but was not published.

Other special studies and activities included joint sponsorship of a civic center planning contest with the Honolulu Planning Commission, and a development of the Kaimuki Library-Civic Center and the Keehi Lagoon seaport. During the compilation of the 1940 Census, the Board assisted the Census Bureau by supplying maps of centers of population that were prepared for the report on urban facilities.

During the regular session of the Twenty-first Legislature, by request of the Territorial Planning Board, a bill was introduced to appropriate funds for the acquisition of land sites for public buildings, thereby implementing the recommendations in Publication 10. The measure, however, died in committee.

The Twenty-first Legislature by Joint Resolution 22 mandated the preparation of a master plan for the construction of public school buildings. However, funds for the operation of the Board were deleted from the General Appropriations Act in the Senate, thereby leaving the Board without operating funds for the 1941-1943 biennium. On the advice of Governor Poindexter, the members of the Board continued to hold their commissions, and correspondence was continued on a limited basis by Chester K. Wentworth, acting chairman. When the Twenty-second Legislature (1943) failed to appropriate funds, with the consent of Governor Stainback and the superintendent of Public Works, the records and files of the Board were transferred to the newly created Legislative Reference Bureau at the University of Hawaiʻi.

In 1954 the Territorial Planning Board was reactivated by Governor Samuel W. King. Unlike the previous Board, the emphasis of the new Board was on rural land utilization. However, in 1955 the Legislature failed to appropriate funds for the operation of the Board, and its activities lapsed. The same legislature enacted Act 264 which established the Economic Planning and Coordination Authority. It authorized the transference of all funds and equipment, including records, of the Territorial Planning Board to the newly created Authority.

The records include the minutes, reports, and correspondence of the Territorial Planning Board and its advisory committees. The correspondence consists primarily of material accumulated in the process of compiling data for the published reports. In addition, there are materials compiled for the reports which were not published.

In addition to the records of the Territorial Planning Board, the files include the correspondence of Joseph F. Kunesh, director, as a member of various committees in the community. These are generally filed by subjects. Also included in the files is the Industrial and Commercial Survey conducted by the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce in 1935-1936.

Charged with creating a Hawai‘i general plan dealing with diverse functions such as public facilities and economic potential, including tourism. In 1960, functions transferred to the Department of Planning and Research.

The Survey Office was originally established in 1870 to prepare maps of the various islands, to determine the extent and location of land held by the government, and to prepare surveys and descriptions of government lands. The division also made harbor surveys, ran street lines, performed engineering jobs for the Minister of Interior and acted as the weather bureau of the Hawaiian Kingdom

Authorized by Organic Act, Section 78, 1900; the Surveyor became successor to the Surveyor-General.