19 JULY 1957, Page 7

ON THE CREDIT side of Fleet Street, I must offer

congratulations to the Sunday Times on their 7,000th issue, in which they were able to boast that their circulation had reached 750,000—an increase of over 15 per cent over the equivalent figure last year. As the Observer's circulation has also risen considerably in the same period, the two Sundays are clearly gaining a new reader- ship, and gaining it at a pace that is the envy of many members of what used to be called the popular press. That this advance has not been achieved by any lowering of sights is particularly satisfactory; and perhaps it will give certain other newspapers—notably the Daily Mail, whose general• standards have shown a depressing decline in recent months—reason to pause, before trying to reach even lower levels.