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The bureau system within the Navy Department of the United States of America was formed in 1842 with five departments charged with procurement and material support for the Navy: Bureau of Naval Yards and Cocks; Bureau of Construction, Equipment, and Repairs; Bureau of Provisions and Clothing; Bureau of Ordinance and Hydrography; and Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

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. In the pre-Territorial Government period, the Superintendent of Public Works, was the executive in charge of the Bureau of Public Works.

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.

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).

Bureau within DLIR.

The Bureau of Rodent Control was officially established by the Territorial Legislature in the 1950s. From 1900 to the 1950s, most of the funding to prevent and/or suppress vector borne diseases and vector nuisance by maintaining vector (principally rodents and mosquitoes) populations below disease-transmitting or nuisance-causing levels was financed by public-spirited private efforts; principally through fund-raising by the respective island chambers of commerce. These problems were assumed as territorial functions by the Board of Health under two separate bureaus in the 1950s, Rodent Control and Mosquito Control. In 1970, the two separate bureaus were merged into a single state Vector Control Branch. This merge facilitated program and economic efficiency in the protection and prevention of vector borne diseases.

The Bureau of Tax Maps, Territorial Surveyor's Office, was originally created in 1896 and was the predecessor of the Bureau of Taxation Maps, Office of Tax Commissioner of the Territory of Hawaii, 1947-1959.

The predecessor to the Property Technical Office, The Bureau of Taxation Maps' function is to supervise the operations of Hawaii’s tax map system for the classification of real property and to develop uniform classification and valuation systems for use in property assessments. Their functions are documented in the Cancelled Tax Map Prints (Series 278). Cancelled Tax Map Prints show all parcels of land in the mapped area. The prints contain land ownership information and illustrates the Tax Map Key System which assigned each parcel a unique four-part numerical identification. There are some gaps in coverage and many lack dates of cancellation. Cancelled Tax Map Prints are available on microfilm.

Cancelled Tax Map Prints complement the following record groups or collections in that they also provide information about land ownership: Department of Interior, 1849-1900; Island Governors, 1839-1897; Finance Department, 1839-1900; Judiciary, 1839-1970; Public Land, 1839-1879; Department of Land and Natural Resources, 1846-1900, and the Archives Map Collection.

The Bureau of the Budget was established by Act 56, SLH, in 1925.

In 1925, the Governor and the Legislature recognized the need to establish a personnel classification system and a standard salary schedule for the territorial civil service. The personnel classification system would define classes of occupations, list the skills required for levels within each class, and establish comparability among classes to ensure that equally demanding jobs received equal pay. The standard salary schedule would provide ranges of pay with a hiring rate and a maximum rate. The classification system and the salary schedules would help eliminate favoritism and nepotism within the civil service by providing for competitive appointment to jobs. Since the Legislature was unable to agree on a process for establishing the system, in 1927, the Governor directed the Bureau of the Budget to prepare and administer to territorial employees a questionnaire that would produce data for the development of a personnel classification system for the territorial civil service.

In 1929, the Bureau of the Budget published, “Report of the Director of the Bureau of the Budget on the Classification of Personnel,” using data from the surveys. In 1933, the Bureau published a similar report, this time using data collected by the Bureau of Governmental Research.

In 1933, the Supplies Division of the Bureau was established by Act 148. In 1941, the chairmanship of the Board of Disposal was transferred to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget by Act 127, from the Territorial Auditor. Act 264, SLH 1951, transferred functions of the Insurance Commissioner concerning risk to territorial property to the department.

Act 1, SLH 1959, Second Special Session, transferred the functions of the Bureau of the Budget to the Department of Budget and Review, but excluded insurance management, surplus property management [Board of Disposal] and central purchasing functions [Supplies Division], which were transferred to the Department of Accounting and General Services.

The first worker's compensation laws covering industrial accidents were enacted in Europe in the late 1800's and in the United States beginning in 1911. Prior to the enactment of these laws in the United States, the only legal recourse for employees injured on the job was through court action under the common law. Employers often prevailed in these cases by relying on a number of defenses available under the common law. There was widespread dissatisfaction with this system, and workers' compensation laws spread across the United States during this period, providing uniform and predictable methods of compensation for employees injured while on the job.
Modeled after uniform legislation, Hawaii's Workmen's Compensation Law was signed into law as Act 221, Session Laws of Hawaii, 1915. The act mandated payments by the employer to employees suffering personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of their employment. Payments were made based upon a stated benefits schedule and covered medical costs, lost wage replacement and certain death benefits.
From 1915 until 1939, the administration of the Act was effected by industrial accident boards set up for each county. From January 1, 1940, pursuant to Act 237, SLH, 1939, the functions of the four boards were assumed by the newly created Bureau of Workmen's Compensation, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
In 1961 the bureau was redesignated as a division within the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. In 1974, the Workmen's Compensation Division was disestablished. Since then, the program has operated within the Disability Compensation Division. Finally, by Act 41, SLH 1975, the title of the program was changed from Workmen's Compensation to Worker's Compensation. The records in this sub-group were created both by the predecessor agencies, the industrial accident boards, and by the Bureau of Workmen's Compensation itself. The records are not complete for any one board or for the bureau, but together comprise a cross section of records including correspondence, minutes, statistical registers and case files for both employee claims and delinquent employers which provide information on the history, enforcement and evolution of the workmen's compensation law. The records also reveal information on working conditions along with detailed statistics on wages, nationality, job categories, and types of injuries.

The granting of charters of incorporation is one of the oldest functions of the government. The oldest corporation on record in Hawaii is Kaneohe Church, which was registered in 1849. Kohala Sugar Company is the oldest profit corporation on record. Its charter was granted on February 3, 1863 by Lot Kamehameha, Minister of the Interior.

The Minister of the Interior of the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands also had the duty of registering partnerships, trade names, trademarks, prints and labels. Partnerships were first registered in 1880. Benson, Smith & Co. registered the first trademark on October 25, 1888 for Buhac insect powder. Upon annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States as a territory, the powers and duties of the Minister of the Interior were vested in the Treasurer of the Territory of Hawaii.

Today, these functions are carried out under the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs by the Business Registration Division.