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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).

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 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.

Charles Augustus "Cabby" Brown was born in Worchester, Massachusetts on June 25, 1856. He arrived in Honolulu on March 12, 1877 and worked as a bookkeeper at Wailuku and Olowalu plantations. In 1878, he entered Bishop & Company banking house and worked there until 1887. On September 3, 1886, he married Irene Kahalelaukoa Ii but later divorced. Brown and Ii had three children: George Ii Brown, Francis Hyde Ii Brown, and Rose K. Davis. From 1887 through 1916, Brown managed and developed land holdings of John Ii estate. On June 27, 1900, Brown married Gertrude Lawrence Brown. He died in Lowell, Massachusetts on May 3, 1937.

1864 b. Honolulu, Nov. 30, son H.A.P. and Sybil Carter.
1887 Univ. of Michigan law school graduate
1888 m. Mary S. Scott or Ann Arbor, Michigan, April 11
1895 special commissioner to Washington
1894 prominent in framing constitution of Republic
1895 shot Jan. 6 during Wilcox Rebellion
1895 Jan. 7 died in Honolulu.

Provisions for the establishment of county governments were made by the Territorial Legislature in 1905; and in 1907 the island of Oʻahu was incorporated
in the City and County of Honolulu. Subsequent legislative sessions made amendments affecting the operation of county government. In 1917 a bill to establish a charter revision commission for the city and county of Honolulu was passed by the legislature, but was vetoed by the governor. During the Nineteenth Regular Session of the Territorial Legislature in
1937, Act 218 was enacted which authorized the creation of a charter revision commission for the city and county of Honolulu. The 15-member commission was charged with making a "study and analysis of the existing governmental structure of the city and county of Honolulu for the purpose of securing such factual data as will enable it to draft, and the commission is hereby directed to draft a proposed new charter, adapted to the requirements of such city and county and designed to provide for the people of ·such city and county a more efficient and economical form of government." Mayor George F. Wright appointed former governor Lawrence M. Judd as chairman of the commission. The commission held 47 meetings between November, 1937 and February, 1939, twelve of which were designated as public hearings. They heard testimony from members of the Board of Supervisors, department heads of the city and county of Honolulu, members of the territorial legislature, and from civic organizations. The terms of office of the commissioners expired with the convening of the Twentieth Regular Session of the legislature in 1939, during which the commission submitted a proposed charter. After extensive amendment by the legislature, the proposal was passed as Act 242.

The Supreme Court established by the Constitution of 1840 was abolished in December 1852 and reestablished by an 1853 act which mandated the transfer of the civil and criminal jurisdiction from the Superior Court to a new Supreme Court consisting of the three members of the former Superior Court.

Chun Afong arrived in Honolulu in 1849. He became a wealthy merchant and sugar planter. He was a commercial agent for China. In 1857, he married Julia Fayerweather. Together, they had 15 children. In 1890, he returned to China. He died in Macao in 1906.