Jim Slater's back in town - but don't quote us

''I WON'T be back'' was the promise in 1977 of Jim Slater, one of the most colourful expatriates in Hong Kong in the mid-1970s. But he is. Jim was speaking after the Singapore Government had narrowly failed to have him extradited from the UK after Jim's adventures in Singapore and Hong Kong had gone sour. His words in 1977 contrast rather sharply with his statement in 1972, when he first arrived here: ''Let's just say it's my kind of town.'' Jim is back, financially, because he's now writing a newspaper column for The Independent, a newspaper in England, where he has been doing a great job telling the Hong Kong/China investment story, counselling Mr and Mrs Britain to put 20 per cent of their portfolio into Hong Kong stocks. ''I often wonder what a very commercial alien, landing on Earth for the first time, would conclude from a survey of the world's economies,'' Jim wrote last June, when he first started tipping Hong Kong stocks. ''I'm sure that our alien would invest in China. In case you want to join him, I will show you the best way next week.'' Jim reckons the best way is to buy Hong Kong stocks with low price-earnings ratios, good mainland connections and high growth potential. His comment about staying clear of the region in 1977 was made at the end of a 14-day extradition hearing in London. Jim's adventures here started when he bought control of Haw Par Brothers, the Tiger Balm medicine company, and he followed this with Hong Kong-listed Kwan Loong Medicine Oil and King Fung, also listed, into which he injected an unbuilt Fiji holiday resort. Share prices of his firms zoomed worldwide, but gravity re-exerted itself and in the end the group was saved from collapse by a GBP40 million (then $392 million) rescue package from the Bank of England. In the end Jim didn't get his jaunt to Singapore, although he did receive a small fine in London for allowing one of his companies to finance its own share dealings. Flamboyant financiers jetting in, strange asset injections, reverse takeovers: could it ever happen again? Big Deal BUT how has Jim's portfolio fared? Well, the man who disliked being called ''Big Jim'' had tipped three local stocks. He tipped Innovative International on June 10 when it was $2.90; he tipped S. Megga International Holdings on June 24 at $2.25; and in December he tipped Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) at $1.87. Incidentally, it's pretty clear that he's a big reader of South China Brokerage Research reports. Innovative has since risen 12 per cent, S. Megga is up three per cent, while Yue Yuen is up eight per cent - plus those who followed his advice have collected a couple of dividend payments. Nothing special. Jim's thinking was right, but the stocks he picked were too small and missed out on last autumn's boom. If he'd picked CITIC Pacific, which also fits his criteria, his followers would have enjoyed a 20 per cent rise and his return would be more triumphant in tone. Piqued AMOY Properties, the star of today's Inside Business feature, is responsible for the Peak Galleria project on Victoria Peak, and whoever allowed it to build it should be ceremoniously dunked in the computer-controlled fountain outside. Any tourists newly arrived must think ching ming is Cantonese for ''Day off to sit in a traffic jam halfway up the Peak'' as the narrow roads got jammed with would-be shoppers, all tempted by the prospect of free parking. Even those who managed to get through the doors were amazed at the standard of service. A number of people, including Merwin Chan of Kowloon Tong, commented on Cafe Deco, the ''theme restaurant'' which is the only eatery open in the development. The theme, incidentally, is sitting in a long queue waiting to eat even when there are tables obviously free. Sticky claim IN case you missed it, on page three of Saturday's paper there was a story about the American consulate officially announcing details of the lottery allowing Hong Kong-born people to win a genuine green card. We promised we'd repeat the details, which we will - tomorrow. Meanwhile, some immigration lawyers have been advertising that they know ''hidden loopholes'' which allow their clients to beat the system and increase their chances of winning. Neither we nor the US consulate know how they can offer this service. One suggestion is that they coat your application with glue, so that when Bill Clinton is picking the winners out of a hat your application sticks to his hand.