I"ve wondered why on the new Magnum P.I., why the creators had a british woman in a Hawaiian setting? Anyone know?

In the original tv series Magnum was a PI who lived rent free on the state of enigmatic mystery author Robin Masters.  The estate was overseen by an Englishman named Higgins who, like Magnum, was a war veteran (in that case WWII, while Magnum had served in Vietnam).  The tension between the somewhat stuffy Higgins and the more free wheeling Magnum (who was a sportscar driving womanizer who often conducted business in his trademark Hawaiian shirts) was an ongoing factor in the series. 

When they rebooted the show they decided to make Higgins a woman to get a little away from the sausage fest cast that the original had.  So she's British because the original Higgins was British.  In the original they presumably made him British (actor John Hillerman was American) because it fit in more with his stuffy persona and his role as an estate manager. 

Presumably for the same reason the creators of the original show had a British man in a Hawaii setting.

Why not? People move around the world.