  In two recent preprints (hep-th/9710131 and hep-th/9710132), Abe and
Nakanishi have claimed that the proof of the gauge independence of the
conformal anomaly of the bosonic string as given by us in 1988 was wrong. A
similar allegation has been made concerning our proof of the gauge independence
of the sum of the ghost number and Lagrange multiplier anomalies in
non-conformal gauges. In this short note we refute their criticism by
explaining the simple logic of our proofs and emphasizing the points that have
been missed by Abe and Nakanishi.
