John Stanley Verran

He was involved in the formation of the Federated Clerks' Union, and served as president of the Australian Government Workers Association.

[4] In 1924, he was selected by the party's general plebiscite as one of fifteen Labor candidates for the metropolitan area at the forthcoming election, but was defeated by Frank Condon by one vote in a Port Adelaide electorate committee vote for which two candidates would contest Port Adelaide.

[5][6] In 1925, the second Port Adelaide MP, John Price, resigned from parliament when he was appointed Agent-General for South Australia.

Verran was selected by general plebiscite as the Labor candidate in the resulting by-election, which he won, returning to parliament.

A subsequent change in party rules saw electorate committees given the power to determine their own candidates, and in August 1926 Verran lost Labor preselection for the 1927 election to John Jonas.