Whisky Combine?

Rumor had it, last week, that the three great British whisky concerns --John Walker & Son, Buchanan-Oewar, The Distillers' Co.--with a total capital of nearly $100,000,000, had merged. The firms concerned would neither confirm nor deny the report.

This amalgamation, if true, will probably send up the price of whisky; for, in spite of large dividends, the distillers have complained bitterly of their small profits on home-consumed whisky. At present, whisky, with its heavy excise duty, costs in the British Isles about $3 a bottle, while on the Continent it is possible to buy it as cheap as $1.50.

Peers interested in the combine are Lords Dewar, Woolavington, Forteviot, Stevenson.