Durig the snooker game, why does the referee often brush the white ball?

Question

Durig the snooker game, why does the referee often brush the white ball?

Answer 1

to try stop white getting a kick

Answer 2

he cleans the white ball of all the chalk dust that is on it. they try to do it to make the game as fair as possible. if one player hits a clean white ball then the other should have the right to aswell