Worrying about Woodland

I can't take seriously the protests about Government plans to sell woodland owned by the Forestry Commission.

The function of government is to do the things we need doing but cannot do by individual effort. Growing trees is something individuals can do perfectly well. I'm growing eleven trees in my own modest suburban garden, and most of my neighbours grow several.

I suspect that people worry that if forests are sold we shall lose control over them. However, when the Government is involved the connection between ownership and control is very loose. Government property is supervised by groups of civil servants who will gradually develop interests of their own, so that the assets in their charge may be administered as much in their interest as in that of the public.

In one respect public property is harder for Government to control than private property. There is a section of the public that is inclined to defend any state enterprise just because it is a state enterprise, while there is no similar body of opinion to defend private enterprises against Government regulation.