QUES: The iconic department stores of New Zealand's three major centres are Smith & Caughey's (founded 1880), in New Zealand's most populous city, Auckland; Kirkcaldie & Stains (founded 1863) in the capital, Wellington; and Ballantynes (founded 1854) in New Zealand's second biggest city, Christchurch. These offer high-end and luxury items. Additionally, Arthur Barnett (1903) operates in Dunedin. H & J Smith is a small chain operating throughout Southland with a large flagship store in Invercargill. Farmers is a mid-range national chain of stores (originally a mail-order firm known as Laidlaw Leeds founded in 1909). Historical department stores include DIC. Discount chains include The Warehouse, Kmart Australia, and the now-defunct DEKA.

When was Laidlaw Leeds first established?
What is the answer?
ANS: 1909
QUES: The absence of a formal mechanism within the Conservative Party for choosing a leader meant that, following Eden's resignation, it fell to the Queen to decide whom to commission to form a government. Eden recommended that she consult Lord Salisbury, the Lord President of the Council. Lord Salisbury and Lord Kilmuir, the Lord Chancellor, consulted the British Cabinet, Winston Churchill, and the Chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, resulting in the Queen appointing their recommended candidate: Harold Macmillan.

In what year did Lord Salisbury become the Lord President of the Council?
What is the answer?
ANS: unanswerable
QUES: Glass is in widespread use largely due to the production of glass compositions that are transparent to visible light. In contrast, polycrystalline materials do not generally transmit visible light. The individual crystallites may be transparent, but their facets (grain boundaries) reflect or scatter light resulting in diffuse reflection. Glass does not contain the internal subdivisions associated with grain boundaries in polycrystals and hence does not scatter light in the same manner as a polycrystalline material. The surface of a glass is often smooth since during glass formation the molecules of the supercooled liquid are not forced to dispose in rigid crystal geometries and can follow surface tension, which imposes a microscopically smooth surface. These properties, which give glass its clearness, can be retained even if glass is partially light-absorbingi.e., colored.

What type of glass absorbs some light?
What is the answer?
ANS:
colored