THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O' CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1878.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3006, 3 October 1878, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O' CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 1878.

We have received the following note from Mr J. Bull by way of reply to what appears to us (as also probably to Mr Bull) an unprovoked attack on him in our morning contemporary this morning, and we give it extra prominence because it shows how innocently a. citizen may be made .to appear what he is not. At a recent meeting of the Waterworks Corporation a letter was received signed " John Bull," and accusing Mr Nodder of using the water of the Corporation in an illegal manner. In fact it amounted to a charge of theft, as such a breach of the Waterworks Act practically amounts to. At the meeting the letter was re. garded as an anonymous production but Mr If odder appears to have filed upon Mr John Bull of Parawai as the author of the letter, and in to-day's Advertiser, in a communication conceived and written in exceedingly bad taste, he proceeds to lamb down Mr Bull in a decidedly "characteristic fashion, but throwing away a deal of labored sarcasm, as a trifling enquiry would have satisfied " John Nodder" that the letter to the Water Committee was anonymous, and the informer living probably \ much nearer home. Mr Bull's disclaimer is as follows:— ■ ''

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.) Sir,—Will you allow me through your columns to inform John Nodder that I am not the person .who "reported " him for using water from his neighbor's tap. If John Nodder really had the regard for me, or my " official dignity," which he professes, he would have had the courtesy to make enquiries before deciding that I was the informer. Thanks,! John, for such regard, but I don't want it. Keep it. I have learned to mind my own business; Jou try and do the same.—l am, &c, ohn Bull, Parawai.

Now, Mr Nodder admits having used would have done better for himself to have said nothing about the matter. Having, in addition to a gratuitous insult to Mr John Bull, water without paying for it, and he. pleaded guilty to a proceeding which, under the Waterworks Act renders him and another liable to a fine of £10, we would advise him to tender payment of a year's water rate, apologise to Mr Bull, and look pleasant. On publio grounds the Waterworks Corporation cannot give water for nothing even to the most strenuous advocates of its merits as a universal beverage.