Many thanks for this . . and also for the Don Nichols link . . apart from needing my stronger reading glasses to be able to read his page it looked fascinating and hugely informative . .Regarding the SA angle . . As noted earlier, my wife's been playing MacCann duets for about 25 years now. Early on we were doing a fair bit of finding out about 'tinas, and found a number of references to the use of Duets (esp. Cranes) by the SA.
Some years later I found myself working with a guy, rather younger then myself, who was a SA bandsman - as was his father and fiancee (now wife - OK, perhaps that should be bandswoman . . ). I asked him about the use of the 'tina and he said he'd never heard of their being used.
Regards
George